Summer harvest, Winter planting

This weekend I harvested the last of the tomatoes and pulled out the plants. I still have heaps of beans and squash, so I've left them in the ground for now, but its time to start thinking about winter. The main crops for winter here are broccoli (too humid in summer, too many bugs!), silver beet and peas.

The last of the tomatoes and one giant button squash!

giant button squash, oops! Still ok to eat, but large seeds aren't so nice!

My yellow button squash is still going,
this is the correct size for buttons!

Curcubits are taking over the garden! This is a "winter squash"
so I have to wait for the squash to ripen before picking them

Winter squash (I think!), not sure what it will be like, this is a new one for me!

I've cheated and bought some pea seedlings from the market. I made a rough structure for them to climb up using chicken wire and some tomato stakes, I tried to find a sunny spot for them, as they don't do well in the shade. I'm letting them get a bit bigger before I plant them or the slugs will eat them!

I'm going to plant some broccoli seeds as I saved heaps of seeds from last season. And I'll plant some more silver beet, as we only have two large plants at the moment. I was excited to see broccoli on the front of Organic Gardener magazine when it came in the mail today, with some nice tips (the one I noted was to check the soil pH is around 6 and use molasses spray for the caterpillars, will definitely be trying that).

waiting for these peas to get bigger before I plant them
(for fear of the dreaded slugs!)

I've made a space for the peas where the silver beet was,
and they can climb up this scrap of chicken mesh.
Note the beans still going wild in the background!

My herbs are doing well, I keep most of them in pots so they don't take over the garden, especially the mint. I love being able to pick fresh herbs to use in cooking. The only one missing at the moment it parsley and I have a couple of small plants growing in another area. They take so long to grow big!

My herb garden includes (clockwise from left) basil, mint,
peppermint, mini capsicum, rosemary, sage, comfrey, oregano, ginger and thyme

Some tomatoes decided to sprout from some compost I spread around, so I've transplanted them to a more sensible area of the garden, even though its not really a good time for tomatoes, it will be too cold soon, I thought I'd give them a chance, seeing as they're so keen!

These tomatoes were keen to grow, so I'm giving them a chance, out of season!

What are you planting this winter?? Like a said previously, we are in a weird climate zone, so I'm still trying to figure out what will grow here, any tips?

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here . You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!). I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months. I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Neem oil for insect control

** Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post! New soap website and shop opening soon.... I also make neem soap, neem insect repellent and neem salve, all available in my Etsy shop .** A few weeks ago now I was watering the garden just after dark, torch in one hand, hose in the other, when I was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes (mozzies). I could feel them biting me, but there wasn’t much I could do with both hands in use and I really needed to finish watering. When I came inside I found that I had several bites on each leg between the top of my gumboots and the bottom of my shorts. These proceeded to itch, swell and annoy me for several days. At this time of year, when the mozzies start biting, as I do have such a terrible reaction to the bites, I usually reach for my bottle of conventional insect repellent, typically containing DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamid...

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