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15.01.2022 What a surreal scene! The grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) are having the season of a lifetime in far-eastern Victoria. Hundreds are in bloom across fire-burnt country near Cape Conran. : Frank Flynn via ABC Gippsland

14.01.2022 Seeds: Yesterday, I spoke about what you can plant in terms of seeds to sow for this time of year and in todays post I want to discuss seeds and, some things y...ou need to know about getting the most out of them. Storing seeds properly will increase your success with good germination. It is extremely important to keep your seeds stored somewhere that is very dry, cool, and away from vermin or pests. Using containers like glass jars, paper envelopes, zip lock bags all make good receptacles for seed storage, however the paper envelopes, you should store them in another container to keep any pests away. This will insure that the viability of the seed is kept high for a longer period ensuring higher germination rates when you sow your seed. You also need to make sure that the containers you use, are well labelled and if you have collected it, you should record where you collected it from, eg; Uncle Joes backyard. When labelling your seeds, if using glass jars I use a glue stick and a bit of scrap A4 paper cut it up and stick it on the front of the jar. I use either a lead pencil or sharpie permanent marker, name: date: where: Viability: means keeping seeds healthy so that they can germinate when conditions are right, for as long as they are kept this way you have a greater chance of getting more of what you plant to germinate. Over time seeds as they age, they lose their viability naturally but this does not mean that if they have passed their BB (Best Before) date you should be throwing them out. Seeds lose a small percentage of viability each year to the point that eventually they wont germinate but that may take many years. I recall watching a series on restoring an old walled kitchen garden, and they found some seeds that had been stored that were 50 years old. They sowed them and around 20% of them still germinated and grew very well, they harvested fresh seed to store once again, so it just goes to show you some seeds will last a long time. Having said that some do not last a long time, but none the less they are still worth keeping and trying to sow at some stage. In terms of sowing seeds, if you are going to sow them direct into the garden, make sure that the soil is well prepared and ready to have the seed sown. For example: turn the soil over, raking or picking out any stones, or large clods, and making sure the soil is relatively open and friable. If you are sowing fine seeds like carrots or lettuce? Consider putting it into a small amount of fine sand and mix it together in a container and then sprinkle the mixture out evenly into furrows and cover over. A note for when planting carrot seeds: Don’t fertilise the soil or make it too rich where you are going to plant carrots as it will make them fork and twist as if they have hit stones. A rule of thumb to use as to the depth to sow seeds is generally is twice its diameter deep, particularly for larger seeds like broad beans. An example of this would be a broad bean seeds diameter is 2cm therefore it should be planted about 4cm deep. Planting things like beans, zucchini, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, I always plant two in the sale hole and thin out the weaker one, this also counteracts a failure, so if one doesn’t germinate the other does. Make yourself a seed register so that you know at a glance what you have in stock. If any of you are like me seeds seem to be a collectable and I am forever going through packet after packet looking for the one I want to sow. I have now got seed register and the minute I receive them in the mail or save them and put them in the seed cupboard in the garage I enter them into the seed register and then I know what I have at a glance. Note: if you use a pencil with a rubber on the end this makes it easy when you are updated it. We will deal with collecting seeds and all that goes along with that in another post, I hope that this will give you enough info for looking after your seeds to get better results. Please share this info with others I am sure you know someone that could get something from these posts. For more information like this and on edible gardening you can obtain a copy of my book Edible Gardens a practical guide or my NEW eBook of over a 100+ Plant profiles that will take your edible garden to the next level, (Please note the two books are very different one compliments the other) at www.craigcastree.com.au

12.01.2022 Planting in pots: Whilst this topic may seem like one that does not need any explanation or guidance, I can assure you that people often get this wrong and then... wonder why what they plant in them either does not grow or dies. So, what is there to know about planting in pots? When we are talking edibles like vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, regardless of whether they are plastic, concrete, or terracotta, they all need a good scrub and wash. Pots can harbour diseases, viruses and pathogens that can be harmful to plants you grow in them, so this is a particularly important step. If you know the pots history (you know what was grown in it prior and it grew ok) then a good scrub and a wash is in order, however if you do not know the pots history or, what you grew in it died, or had some type of disease? Then I highly recommend that you use a bleach solution to wash the pot in. This will stop any risk of passing on any virus, disease, or pathogens, that might be passed on inadvertently to the plants you grow in pots. Depending on what you are going to grow in a pot will depend on what size pot you choose, so be careful that you do not over pot some plants. Plants that do not do well when over watered should not be potted into large pots as the tendency for most is to water according to the pot size rather than the plant size. You are better off to keep these plants in smaller pots and allow them to grow and then systematically pot them up as they need it. Whilst we are talking about watering issues, it is also important to ensure that the drainage holes are clear, and if they are on the bottom of the pot, it will be necessary to raise the pot off the ground to ensure that the water drains from the pot. You can buy pot stands from your local nursery if it is a large pot to do this. Saucers can be a dangerous thing to use under your pots, as it stops drainage, and will overtime contribute to overwatering and fungal problems. The only time I would be tempted to use saucers would be if I were going away on holidays and was unable to get someone to water for me. The next consideration is probably one of the most important of all when it comes to growing anything in pots. It is what type of growing medium to use in it. Your garden soil no matter how good you think that it is, is not suitable for pots, it will compact and will not drain well, and you simply will not get any success. The reason this is the case is garden soil is made up of exactly that, mostly soil that can compact, while potting mix as the name suggests is made up of a mixture of ingredients that is ideal for growing plants in pots. Most potting mixes these days do not have much soil if any, the following are ingredients found in them; washed sand, peat moss, coir fibre, scoria, lignapeat, pine bark, perlite, vermiculite, rice hulls, fertiliser, water holding granules, So, as you can see there is generally no soil to speak of in most potting mix today. This is to help the medium stay open allowing roots to grow penetrate freely, also to help retain moisture helping the plant out by giving it access to moisture when required. There are particular type of potting mixes that better suit some plants than others, like when you are growing Blueberries, it is a good idea to use an Azalea and Camellia mix as they all like a slightly acidic mix. As a rule of thumb, I recommend that you buy the best potting mix that you can afford, as in my experience the real cheap potting mixes are not terribly good as they often have poor quality ingredients, or far less of the good stuff in it to make it worth using. There are some specific vegetable mixes available that can be quite cheap, but I have found them to have a high pH so the work around is to buy a bag of good quality compost and mix the two together and , which fixes the problem. As I explained earlier the cheaper mixes can be troublesome, and inferior quality ingredients used, so be warned whilst you think you are saving money you are having to spend what you saved and more, on something to fix the problem. You can also mix up your own if you want, that way you have complete control over what goes in it. All of the ingredients are readily available and are quite inexpensive if bought in large bags, but of course this does depend on your storage capabilities and how much potting mix you need, but it is often the best potting mix you will get as you tend to but the best of ingredients when you are making your own, while when you buy it you are relying on others. For more information on edible gardening you can obtain a copy of my book Edible Gardens a practical guide or my NEW eBook of over a 100+ Plant profiles, now also available in hard copy, that will take your edible garden to the next level, (Please note the two books are very different one compliments the other) at www.craigcastree.com.au Please share this post with others.