Frost preparations

Last year I was totally unprepared for the severe frosts that we experienced here in Nanango. Actually we have our own frosty micro-climate down at Eight Acres, as our neighbours on top of the hill had no frost around their house! This year I was determined to be ready for frost, and I have taken several preventative actions:

Bella helping to trim the arrowroot

I planted frost tolerant veges so I have something growing in the garden - this includes brassicas, peas, broadbeans, silverbeet, leeks and spring onions, and I won't get so upset when the beans and tomatoes die :)

plenty of frost-tolerant brassicas and asian greens this winter :)

I bought a small greenhouse for the sensitive plants that I want to keep - chillies, eggplant and avocado that took SO long to mature, I don't want to start from scratch next spring, so I hope to keep them all alive over winter, I also put away the greek basil and the ginger. We were planning to have the aquaponics greenhouse finished, but got carried away with other projects, so a $40 plastic greenhouse is sufficient to keep a few things safe from frost this winter.

a mini greenhouse to keep a few plants safe over winter

I cut back the frost sensitive perinnials - last year the beans, arrowroot and comfrey all died back from the frost and I was left with heaps of brown leaves and stalks to remove, so I thought I may as well cut them back while they were green and use them for mulch before they died. This also reduced the shade around the garden (great for summer but unnecessary in winter). In the end I didn't get to use any of it for mulch as Bella and Molly decided to eat it all and I didn't mind. I didn't have the heart to cut back the giant paw paws though!

Arrowroot and comfrey trimmed

More arrowroot trimming

The paw paws have no idea what is coming!

I plan to keep sprouting - even in the middle of winter if you can't get anything to grow outside, you can always sprout! Over summer I used lots of sprouts in salads, and in winter I like to grow the larger sprouts (mung beans and fenugreek in particular) to throw into stews and steamed veges.

sprouting - always something green to eat even when its cold outside

I have changed my watering routine - instead of watering in the afternoon after work using the hose with spray nozzle, I have rigged up a large sprinkler so I can water first thing in the morning, this means the plants won't have soaking wet leaves overnight, which can cause extra frost damage. Early morning water can also help to warm up frosted leaves before the sun hits them and causes them to heat too quickly.

I should be grateful that we don't have to deal with snow, so many blogs I read can't grow anything over winter, and that would be another challenge in itself! I guess I get frustrated because we are so close to having a sub-tropical climate here, but for a few cold nights over winter, however if you're prepared, you can at least keep something growing.

Actually I was trying to think of things to which I should be grateful to frost for and I did think of a few:

It does kill off a number of annoying weeds and bugs
At least I can grow veges that do like some chill time, like carrots, turnips, swedes and broadbeans, and fruit trees like apples and stonefruit (or at least I hope I can grow them!).

Do you get frost? And how do you deal with it?

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...

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine. If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans). And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA. Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans). I know, that is a lot of beans. And then I didn't really know what to do with them! Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession. If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com. While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy their story.... -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

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