February In the Patch

Gardenate suggestions for February (temperate zone):* Broccoli (seedlings)* Cabbage (seedlings)* Carrots (sow direct)* Cucumbers (direct)* Dwarf beans (direct)* Florence Fennel (direct)* Leeks & onions (seedlings) well after heat has subsided (maybe wait till march this year)* Mustard greens (direct)* Sweetcorn (direct)


Sowed seeds of: Lettuce Flame, Butter crunch, Cos, Rocket Mustard streaks, Kale red Russian, Carrot western red, Beetroot white (Eden Seeds) & Bulls Blood, King of the Blues beans: Jade beans (I've had no success to date with these sprouting, Peas Greenfest, Broad beans, Cucumber Marketmore : Capsicum Topepo Rosso, zucchini Romenesco.
seedlings of Pak choy Broccoli with a net curtail over them to deter cabbage moth and celery

Seeds collected to date:: King of the Blues climbing beans: Parsley: Coriander: bunching red onions: Kale Red Russian:


Applied foliar fertiliser (Organix Harvest) to my garden to build up plant strength & reduce heat stress and i have also watered Tomatoes fortnightly with 2 dissolved aspirins in watering can. Supposedly to build up disease resistance; to date no diseases affecting them, just heat.
I have also side dressed most of my veg with compost.

Sweetcorn needs to be absolutely soaked with water at the crucial stage when the cobs are forming. When the little tassel at the end of the cob starts to wither it's almost ripe. A good watering, and it will produce delicious corn. · There are a number of tell tale signs one when to harvest your cobs:
· Harvest the ears 18 to 21 days after the silk first appears.
· The female silk goes from pale yellow to dark brown.The angle of the cob changes from being straight to around 30 degrees from the stalk

I pruned all the non producing branches of my fig by about half and any smaller figs in a bunch, so i get fat juicy figs and stimulates a second crop. I will attempt to summer prune my apples by cutting back all new shoots to leave about four buds.


Ooh i found this idea, that i though i might share with you all, just brilliant, as I'm always looking for my yogurt container labels at the start of another planting. http://debsvegetablegarden.blogspot.com/2008/11/from-chaos-to-order-in-few-minutes.html