Our bed with Saffron Crocus in it is doing OK albeit very slow this year for some reason. The plants are clumping this year, with about 6X plants per clump, so the first three clumps have given us over 12 flowers to date. The slower growth this season will mean the plants stay longer and will also flower over a longer period.
Once the plants die back, we'll lift the Corms and replant the bed, so that the whole bed is full instead of just the middle.
Well, my Garlic is starting to look like I'll get a full bed as planted. The rain is helping and well over half the crop are up, with Purple Stripe (top photo) well ahead of the other two varieties.
Jan is making a couple of moveable Worm Towers for her raised garden beds. These will feed the garden worms over Winter when they're less active. These will start off in the Saffron bed, then move to the Strawberries.
Today the towers were given some soaked Rolled Oats, which will show us if the worms are interested in using them.
When growing Garlic, it's always good to see the new shoots coming up in the garden bed. These are some I planted recently.
Today we expect our first flower to open on our Saffron Crocus. We managed to get a few pop up earlier than the main bed for some reason.
Below are what we harvested from our first Saffron flower this morning, they are known for their orange-red stigmas, so this is what they look like. These need to dry now before being stored in an airtight jar.
Getting the most from your Zucchini plants. As mentioned earlier we still have three zucchini plants left with fruit growing on them. Here's a way to prolong the life of a plant, just by simply removing old spent leaves. In this video you will see the new fruit on the plant, then look at the stalky stem of the plant to see how it got this way. These plants went into the ground on 16 September as seedlings, so after 181 days as of today, they are still going.
It's March and the Saffron Crocus we have growing in a dedicated bed, is now shooting. Two years ago we planted 35 corms and we managed 35 flowers last year, with some multiple flowers in the many shoots that grew.
Today there are five plants that are up, with a few having up to 6 shoots, meaning the corms we put in back in 2019 have multiplied nicely.
More to come on these plants when we get more plants showing.
Well it's getting close to Garlic Season, so with the garden bed prepared, I planted out three X 3.6m rows on March 13th just prior to 13mm of rain, then another two rows the next morning. Three rows of Monaro Red, one row of Tasmanian Purple and one row of Purple Stripe, all three varieties belong to the Turban family.
Now for the wait to see what the germination is like and how well the seedlings look once up. We've settled on just the three varieties this year, as there is no Meeniyan Garlic Festival this year to get different seed varieties, we're more than happy with what we've now sown.
Out of boredom, I spent some time sorting a few Garlic globes and pulled them apart for individual cloves ready to plant. I have Purple Stripe, Monaro Red and Tasmanian Purple. I'm still 4 weeks or more away from planting, but a job that needed doing.
All the Garlic has dried enough to start dehydrating as flakes, so by the time this post goes up, there won't be a lot left. Here's what our season looks like as far as picked garlic globes goes.
Wilde Pearl
Monaro Red
Here is one of four varieties of Garlic we grew this year and have just cleaned up, these being Monaro Red. These will sit for another month now before going through the dehydrator as Garlic Flakes.
While we had a great Garlic crop this year, some of the globes we got were huge, with a few between 75mm - 80mm. Here's one of our purples which was 80mm when pulled, now just under as it dries.
A sneak peek at our Zucchini cross and the minor differences that have shown up, which will determine which ones make it next season. The ribbing and stripes are the main thing we think will make these appealing to growers. In no particular order, these range from all yellow to ribbed and striped. All these zucchini's will be saved for seed this year, currently range from around 30cm up to 40cm.
Here is a photo of the first picking..
This photo shows the striping from the Jade Numbat showing up in this new cross.
I guess with 9 plants pumping out zucchini's, it won't be long until picking starts in earnest. These are our Gold Rush X Jade Numbat cross, which needed to be hand pollinated due to lack of male flowers. We have a few marked to keep for seed, so all being well we'll get some.
My Macalister tomatoes are fruiting, not as many as I'd hoped for, but it maybe the season perhaps. Here's a look at one starting to get some size to it. I hope I get a few with bags on to save some seed.
Well, the benches are now finished, thanks to Jan lacquering the bench tops and me fitting the vice yesterday. I purchased a LED fluorescent light to go over the longest bench, so will get that installed soon.
This is the last photos of them.
Making room in the garden for other things saw some Ruby Lou potatoes dug this morning. I like these boiled with some butter and cracked pepper.
Jan cut off the un-pollinated zucchini's this morning and will cook these to eat. There is nothing wrong with them, so why waste them.
These are heavy, but won't need to be moved once tops are sealed.
Well, I pulled some of my Garlic this evening, not by solstice or the moon, but because they were ready. I started with three rows of Tasmanian Purple and I'm very pleased with the results. Well over half of those pulled were a great size, with a lot of big globes among them. I have three or four more varieties to do tomorrow and will lay out on the lawn to start the drying process. The bigger bulbs in the Tasmanian Purple measure between 75-80mm, can't ask for more than that.
Bottom two photos show:-
Monaro Red, probably the smaller size bulbs of all pulled so far.
Wilde Pearl, a good mix of sizes medium to large.
