Cool Season Gardening

We live in South East Queensland so are in the sub tropical zone of the country, but we are also about 100km inland from the coast so during to cooler months we have more of a temperate climate but with warm daytime temperatures. This means we get 2 distinct season's, a winter with mild days and cold nights with frosts from June - August, and hot wet summers where we can grow things like bananas, paw paws and mangos.

Summer for us is actually a challenging time to grow veggies as there are usually endless fungal problems and the good chance of plants drowning.  For this reason I plan to fail between mid December and March and if I do get crops they are a bonus.  I also use this time to clean out garden beds and plant green manure crops to be dug in at the end of February.
From April till September we get our version of Winter.  I say from April because that is when you can feel that a change is afoot and the night temperatures start to drop.
For me March marks the start of my growing season and because our winter only has a couple months with really cold night temperatures you have to be organised.
So in late February I get my seeds sorted and planted out in seed raising mix.  I know that I am gong to prick out the seedlings as soon as they pop up so the other thing I have to do is wash out all my pots with soapy water and leave them to dry.

 Once they are potted on they spend some time in the shade house getting established so that they get a head start and during this time I also prep the garden beds.

There are some things however that did not go as planned.
My Bok Choy for example.  I planted it directly into the soil and it all sprouted beautifully.  Oh the stir frys that we were going to have.
Not!
Some nasty little critter decided to dine on all my little seedlings leaving me a few stalks.  Most of these seedlings will not recover as they had no leaves left. some not even stalks.  Bloody critters!

There have been a few bonuses though.  Some of my beans that started to rot on the vine self seeded and now we are having a late run on beans.

Next week i hope to get some of the first seedling in the garden, although i might have to do some critter proofing first.

What's growing at your place?

Change of Season

We are now officially on day 3 of Autumn but I am not feeling it yet.
Our days are still over 30 degrees so with fingers crossed I am doing some plant experimentation.

I planted out seeds for both summer (watermelon, cucumber, zucchini, artichokes) and winter veggies (leeks cabbage, kohlrabi, silver beet) plus some mid season lettuce and rocket on Wednesday...

And they are sprouting already, well the rocket and cucumbers are.  I would show you a picture but am having some camera issues.

Our Cherry/Strawberry Guava (not sure which) is loaded with fruit and the branches are bending under the weight.  I saw a recipe for guava jelly the other day but what else can I do with them?  Any ideas???

Last year I planted a fig because for me having grown up in NZ this is one of those fruit that are still the epitome of exotic. 
It has only been in the ground 12 months and it has decided to fruit so I am waiting with baited breath till those little fruit ripen and can be eaten with ricotta and honey, roasted with blue cheese or poached in port and served with icecream mmmmm I should stop now. 
Evey time I walk near it I can smell the sweet musky fragrance of figs.  They are hard and green still so where does that lovely aroma come from?  No wonder the critters out there love them.
I have been out there inspecting the tree every day, squashing the caterpillars that are trying to eat the leaves along with any other bug that happens to be there that I cannot identify.  Sorry bugs if you are good guys but I am taking no chances.  Hmmm I wonder if I am being obsessive?


My little Fig Tree with a bit of wind protection

 I also have a whole lot of beans planted out for drying but after this last lot of rain some are looking a bit worse for wear.  Well best be off to try and sort it out instead of sitting here.