The Green Acre in Apollo Bay, Victoria | Farm

The Green Acre

Locality: Apollo Bay, Victoria

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25.01.2022 Woot! My new glasshouse is finished :) This fancy-pants plant-palace has been a long time in the planning and saving up. Its going to double my capacity to produce seedlings for the market garden and also for home gardeners in the community. Ive got big plans for seedling sales in spring! When I was boot-strapping the market garden in 2016 I built the cheapest kit greenhouse I could find on the internet - it was way too small and it pretty much started falling apart immediately. Every spring has been a kind of seedling Tetris, with plants on every available surface including in my kitchen. This is such a massive upgrade. Next job is sorting out new benches, then filling it up

25.01.2022 Gorgeous garlic scapes are back - a very special seasonal treat - they taste like garlicky green beans, and are perfect in stir-fries Ill have a bundle of these alongside loads of greens, broccolini, and other springtime treats at the Apollo Bay foreshore market tomorrow morning. The weather forecast is actually looking OK for once :) Ill also have a big table of tomato, eggplant, and pepper seedlings for all your cup weekend gardening needs! See you there, bright and early

24.01.2022 See ya later summer, its been quite a ride this year! Im still crossing my fingers and toes for a warm spell to ripen all those green tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins, but honestly I prefer autumn weather anyway :) Ive been properly rugged up for todays harvest of gorgeous rainbow carrots, which will be heading to the Apollo Bay foreshore market tomorrow alongside a mountain of beets, spuds, salad greens, cherry toms, zukes and cukes, green beans, shishitos, eggplants, bok choi, celery, masses of glorious flowers, and LOTS more hope to see you there bright and early, from 8ish

24.01.2022 Dreamy flowers this week Im grateful for everyone who continues to order flowers, whether direct from me or via the wonderful @earthflowerapollobay (Steph is buying 100% from local growers like myself for her beautiful arrangements, shes a legend). Flowers can seem a little frivolous compared to the serious business of producing food, but I see them as totally complimentary: they add important biodiversity and habitat to the market garden, and play a hugely beneficial rol...e in my organic pest management. They make the nicest gift, they cheer up any room, and I honestly think theyre good for our mental health. I have one customer who told me that so long as she can afford flowers, she feels like shes living an abundant life, and I agree. Harvesting and bunching them up each week is basically my favourite thing, and Im making sure to leave a big bouquet on my own kitchen table these days See more

23.01.2022 Who needs an excuse to buy flowers when theyre super-fresh, local, and organic? I grow flowers in the veggie garden for the biodiversity, the habitat and food for beneficials, and because they are incredibly beautiful. They lift my heart every day I go to work. As with veggie growing, each season I get a little bit better at it, and this has been a bumper year Im bringing LOTS of bunches to the Apollo Bay foreshore market on Saturday, alongside a stall groaning with summer veg. Hope to see you there, bright and early, from 8ish

23.01.2022 Ill be hosting a Demeter Biodynamic field day for my local BD group, with instructor Keith McCallum on Sunday November 24th. If youre BD-curious this will be good introduction: well get an overview of the practices and philosophy from Keith, make compost and 500, and look at the storage and use of other preps. Hope to see you there! 9.30am arrival for a 10am start, 4pm finish.... Cost is $80 / $50 concession / $120 couples. Lunch included. The Green Acre Market Garden, 38 Ocean Park Drive, Marengo Book via Keith on [email protected] or Steffi on 0411193046 See more

23.01.2022 Hand-picked beans are a labour of love - and one of the nicest summer veg to eat - so slow to harvest but so delicious! These lovelies will be the star of the stall tomorrow at the Apollo Bay foreshore market, alongside a mountain of eggplants, shishito peppers, and cherry toms. Ill also have loads of salad greens, zukes and cukes, bunches of gorgeous flowers, and LOTS more see you there bright and early, from 8ish

22.01.2022 And that’s a wrap! It’s the end of my fourth CSA season, thanks to all my subscribers for sticking with me for 8 and a half months of 100% local, in-season fresh veggies! It's been 37 weeks, 22 households, 666 boxes (number of the beet), and a pretty wild and challenging year. There's been successes and failures, and difficult weather, and several calamitous world events to deal with, and within this little group of people I have observed a lot of kindness and generosity for which I am very grateful. I am lucky to be able to grow food this way in my home town

22.01.2022 I am loving bunching up flowers on harvest day so much this year :) Ive picked so many lovely blooms for tomorrows Apollo Bay foreshore market, theyre going to take up half the stall. There will also be veggies! Coriander is back in all its juicy, delicious cool-season glory; theres the first harvest of Roma cooking tomatoes (thank you 30 degree day, we needed that); heaps of carrots, cherry toms, beets, greens, zukes and cukes, beans, basil, and LOTS more. See you down there bright and early, from 8ish

21.01.2022 It was a pre-dawn start today to beat the heat and harvest all the beautiful veggies for tomorrows pre-christmas market on the Apollo Bay foreshore. I was bunching greens by torchlight! Ill have so many gorgeous things available in the morning: Dutch cream and ruby perfection spuds, strawberries, a mountain of salad mix, dill, coriander, baby carrots, beets, cucumbers, rhubarb, buckets of sugar snap peas, bunched flowers, garlic plaits (which make a fantastic gift) and some special treats like this very handsome red dandelion chicory. Come down and get some properly fresh, 100% local, delicious organic produce see you there from 8ish

21.01.2022 Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of interest in my produce over the last month. Ive had such a deluge of emails and messages and requests for veggies and seedlings, I havent even responded to everyone (sorry). Thank you to all my customers who ordered veggies and flowers in April you allowed me to pivot my business from Saturday markets to home delivery with only a few days notice - and Ive somehow muddled through. Im now winding up any extra deliveries, as I have fe...wer veggies to sell at this time of year. This has come at a time of year when the harvest steadily declines from the peak of summer. Im picking fewer veggies, the growth rates are slowing with the shorter days and cooler nights, and the garden is winding down for winter. The cool-season crops for my regular CSA veggie box subscriptions were carefully planned for and planted many months ago (even a year ago for some veggies), so unfortunately I cant increase production this late in the season to accommodate extra customers. Ill have more produce available in spring, and Im planning to have lots of veggie seedlings for the community in October and November, so please hang in there with me. Its wonderful there is so much interest in local food right now, and I hope it continues to grow If youve joined my mailing list Ill stay in touch :) See more

21.01.2022 It’s nearly tomato planting time! Hundreds of tomato plants are going out into the Apollo Bay community over the next two weeks, and I’d like to remind my lovely customers to save and return the 10cm pots the tommies are grown in. I hate buying these new: they’re expensive, and it’s a massive waste of plastic since they easily have a useful lifespan of 5-10 years if stored out of the sun. If everyone could please give them a rinse, and store them somewhere dark and dry until you get a chance to return them, I will keep using these pots for many years to come. Thanks legends! Ps if you haven’t already ordered your tomatoes there’s a few packs left here: https://openfoodnetwork.org.au/the-green-acre/shop#/shop for pickup this Tuesday and on the 27th :)

21.01.2022 Getting ready for tomorrows market on the Apollo Bay foreshore! I am busily pre-weighing, bunching, bagging, and boxing up every single thing on the stall to avoid double-handing, and Ill be well-armed with hand-sanitizer and a card reader in the morning. Ill be a bit more spread out than usual, and I appreciate everyone being mindful to give each other plenty of space. Theres loads of gorgeous veggies and flowers, I hope to see you down there from 8ish (from a socially appropriate distance :))

20.01.2022 Seedling subscriptions are open for spring! This year Im delighted to offer a limited number of veggie seedling subscriptions to the Apollo Bay area, with deliveries starting in early October. There are 3 sizes available - compact, family, and jumbo garden - with all the essential seedlings for an abundant kitchen garden. All my plants are organically grown here in Marengo from the high-quality seed I use in the market garden. Theyre properly hardened-off in local conditi...ons, and most importantly, I sell them at the best time of year to plant them in our climate. If youre planning a bumper veggie garden, or if youre giving it a try for the first time, a subscription will set you for success. To find out more and to order go to www.greenacrefarm.com.au

20.01.2022 Gorgeous crisp sunny morning the spring flowers are looking beautiful this week, and there’s still a couple of bunches and some veggie bags available for pre-order on my online store, for pick-up Tuesday in Apollo Bay. openfoodnetwork.org.au/the-green-acre/shop Orders close 5pm Monday so get on it if you’d like some locally grown goodness in your week!

20.01.2022 Oh spring, hi first proper little harvest of spring blooms this morning, Ill have a few posies at the southern Otway food coop this afternoon, 3 til 5

19.01.2022 *September planting guide for Apollo Bay* Spring! Suddenly there are SO MANY jobs to do and never enough dry sunny days to do them in. First outdoor bed of carrots was seeded yesterday, onions are planted, and I've put up a planting guide for September on my website http://www.greenacrefarm.com.au/re/planting-guide-september It's most applicable to Apollo Bay and our weird little cool, frost-free, unbelievably windy maritime climate :)

17.01.2022 Sowing the first tomatoes today, into tiny 5mm soil blocks for germinating on a heat mat. Ive tried to exercise such restraint this year, and Im still planting 27 varieties This first succession is just for me, and a few extras for @little.black.duck.produce who spent some time interning with me last season and is starting a small-scale market garden near Timboon. So great to see another local farmher growing food for our community! These seedlings will be planted int...o polytunnels in early October. Ill hold off another fortnight before starting plants for my seedling customers who will be growing outdoors. Ive always felt a bit of pressure to have tomato plants at market early in the season before its entirely sensible to put them in here in Apollo Bay - since the big chain nurseries (cough*bunnings) have them months too soon. But late October or early November is a much better time to plant heat-loving veggies outdoors if we get a cool, windy spring. And we usually do. This year Ive pre-sold most of my seedling production to CSA subscribers which gives me the freedom to plan around the best planting dates for our climate and region, and ignore the pressure to be early at markets with the summer veg See more

16.01.2022 This spring is really throwing some incredible wild weather at us the forecast is wet and windy and Ive had a little flood (luckily no damage but the garden is surrounded by a moat of knee-deep water) so Im out of action for another market day. Ive had a couple of enquiries about tomato plants, and if you were hoping to grab some tomorrow at market I still have a few trays left and I would be delighted to box some up for pick up at my gate any time over the next few day...s. Ill also be back at the farmers market next weekend with lots of mixed summer veg seedlings! I have the following tomato varieties left: Jaune Flamme, Rouge Marmande, Moskovich, Roma, Black Cherry, Pink Bumblebee, Yellow Bumblebee, Grosse Lisse, Stupice, Chocolate Truffle, and Black Krim. Also Black Beauty and Fairy Tale eggplants, Cayenne chillies, and Shishito peppers. All plants are huge, properly hardened off and ready to go in the ground, although wait for a slightly nicer day :) $4.50 each or 5 for $20. Send me a text if youd like to order 0431 188 312. Many thanks! See more

16.01.2022 Some of the lovely, supportive folk who queue up patiently to get their local organic veggies at every Saturday market in Apollo Bay Small farmers cant do it without a great community, and Im grateful for mine as we go into 2020. Thinking of all the producers who have lost stock, crops, infrastructure, and homes over the last few weeks - and hoping they get the support they need to rebuild and keep feeding their communities. If youre in Apollo Bay tomorrow Ill see you at market - with a small mountain of lovely veggies and flowers - from 8ish

15.01.2022 The flowers are so beautiful this week they barely need arranging Ill have lots of bunches at the Apollo Bay foreshore market tomorrow alongside a mountain of in-season, locally grown veggies - freshly harvested and delicious! Ill be bringing tons of salad greens, tomatoes, strawberries, cukes and zukes, red onions, basil, eggplants, shishito peppers, carrots, spuds, beetroot and LOTS more. See you there bright and early, from 8ish

15.01.2022 Edit: fully subscribed for 2020! Thank you :) Ive had an awesome response to my veggie seedling subscriptions over the last couple of weeks. They are getting close to selling out (six left!) so if youve been thinking about getting one for spring dont sit on your hands :) Im offering subscriptions for compact, family, and jumbo gardens with deliveries starting in early October (go to www.greenacrefarm.com.au for more info). Im just finalising all my seed orders and planning now and I cant wait to get growing! The first tommies, peppers, and eggplants will be seeded up in just 5 weeks. Spring is on the way

15.01.2022 Loading the car with my second round of seedling subscriptions; mostly tomatoes in this delivery, alongside a few zucchini, rainbow chard, and celery. I decided to do pre-ordered subscriptions for my seedling production this spring because I was (quite rightly) worried about market closures and it's turned out to be fun! It's been quite a process planning them out (and trying to imagine what it's like having a normal-sized domestic garden instead of 80 x 15m beds), aiming f...or lots of variety but not massive amounts of any one thing. I have genuinely enjoyed pondering how many zucchini plants the average household needs (it's two), and I've been able to grow lots of seedlings I wouldn't normally try to sell at market, but that are really fantastic high-yielding veggies to grow on a backyard scale: things like beetroot, broccolini, celery, and leeks. It's also been lovely seeing the range of people who have signed up for the subscriptions: brand new gardeners who want their hand held a little bit, some experienced growers who wanted to make sure they could get seedlings this spring, local hospitality businesses with substantial kitchen gardens, and quite a few people who are sharing and splitting subscriptions with other households. It's all awesome local-food-growing goodness. The final delivery is in 3 weeks (the heat-loving veggies like pumpkins, sweet corn, cucumbers, beans, and basil), after which I will hang up my seedling-producer hat and focus on growing my own veggies and flowers for a few months. More seedlings to come in autumn :)

14.01.2022 Compost making at yesterdays Biodynamic field day in the market garden - is there anything better than watching 15 people build you an absolutely glorious compost pile? It was such an interesting day with a lovely bunch of people, I learnt a lot and Im excited to incorporate more biodynamic methods into my growing practices. Thanks to Keith at @australian_demeter_biodynamic and my local BD group for organising!

12.01.2022 I will be proceeding with my regular stall at the Apollo Bay foreshore market this Saturday, but its not business as usual. I will be implementing a range of social distancing and hygiene strategies, so please stay home if youre sick, be patient, keep at least 1.5m from others, wash your hands, and bring a card rather than cash. Yes, this pandemic has finally convinced me to buy a card reader :) This will be my last market before I switch to home deliveries for the rest of... the season. I will keep all my wonderful market regulars in the loop, and make arrangements for ordering over the next week. In the meantime we all still need fresh, nutrient-dense food, beautiful flowers to lift the spirits, and to support our local businesses and producers as best we can. See you there on Saturday, from 8ish Ps isnt this a most handsome kohlrabi? See more

12.01.2022 Heat waves mean the summer veggies are pumping - if youre in the Otways the next 8 weeks are the time to eat eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, zucchini, and cucumbers - they are abundant and absolutely glorious. Tomorrows Apollo Bay market is looking to be positively monsoonal so grab your brolly and stock up on some gorgeous summer veg Ill also have masses of flowers (the heat brings them on too), salad greens, carrots, beetroot, and LOTS more. See you down there from 8ish

11.01.2022 I've spent the morning organising and boxing up all my tomato seedling orders, and I still have a couple of trays of cherry tomatoes left. They are available to order now on my online store here: https://openfoodnetwork.org.au/the-green-acre/shop#/shop I'm down to just my 3 favourite cherry varieties (I always plant loads): Tommy Toe and Camp Joy - both super productive mid-size red cherries - and Sunrise Bumblebee, a beautiful yellow stripey egg-shaped tomato. They are the earliest to fruit and the most reliable producers in our cool climate. There's also some punnets of lettuce seedlings online. Pick up only in Apollo Bay :)

11.01.2022 I swear this celery has a little taste of the Bass Strait in it. Its sweet and crunchy but theres also an amazing complex umami that makes you realise how completely insipid hydroponic supermarket celery is. Its quite addictive! Weve just had three straight weeks of cold, cloudy, drizzly weather with sea-mists and easterly winds. Its bizarre to be in late summer and not be drowning in zucchini and tomatoes, but here we are! Nothing predictable about this summer Theres still a respectable harvest for tomorrows Apollo Bay foreshore market, with lovely celery, plenty of cherry toms and shishitos, spuds and eggplants, heaps of greens, a mountain of gorgeous baby carrots and beets, and LOTS more. Hope to see you there, from 8ish

10.01.2022 *Apollo Bay veggie planting guide late March* Some people around The Bay may know I do a regular veggie gardening segment on Tony Webbers 3abr community radio show, although one reason Im so relaxed about doing it is Im convinced no-one is listening :) Thats on hold for now, but I thought Id share my seasonal planting guide anyway. The calenders you find in books and on the internet are suited to Melbourne or Sydney, but not our unique little southern, coastal micro-cl...imate. The seedlings sold in big nurseries and hardware stores (cough*bunnings*cough) are often wildly out of season, or not even suitable for transplanting (carrots, garlic, radishes) which sets you up for disappointment. Some local knowledge is useful! What Im planting right now is: Direct seeding in the garden: rocket, mizuna, coriander, radishes, purple globe turnips, Tokyo turnips, and getting ready to plant garlic and broad beans over the next few weeks. Seeding in the greenhouse for planting outdoors in April: lettuce, the last broccolini and purple sprouting broccoli, lots of spinach, kale, bok choi, tatsoi, napa cabbage. Transplanting seedlings in the garden: lettuce, kale, bok choi, celery, parsley, broccoli, broccolini, spinach, rainbow chard/silverbeet, radicchio, leeks. Its too late to get any root crops in (except turnips and radishes), or slow-growing brassicas like Brussels sprouts. With only a few more weeks of warm-ish weather this is the time to concentrate on quick-growing greens or crops that can over-winter and produce in spring like leeks, broad beans, and purple sprouting broccoli. If youve been using lots of straw as a mulch during summer I reckon its worth removing from beds around now in our climate it keeps the soil cold and wet, and is wonderful habitat for slugs. I prefer a thick mulch of compost for winter veggies, or really well-aged wood chip on my perennials. Some of the online seed companies I recommend for home gardeners include Lambley Nursery, 4seasons seeds, Green Harvest, and Seed Freaks. Charles Dowding is a great resource for no-dig gardening, lots of useful YouTube videos. And Im happy to answer questions :) Happy gardening!

10.01.2022 Sowing the first tomatoes today, into tiny 5mm soil blocks for germinating on a heat mat. I've tried to exercise such restraint this year, and I'm still planting 27 varieties This first succession is just for me, and a few extras for @little.black.duck.produce who spent some time interning with me last season and is starting a small-scale market garden near Timboon. So great to see another local farmher growing food for our community! These seedlings will be planted int...o polytunnels in early October. I'll hold off another fortnight before starting plants for my seedling customers who will be growing outdoors. I've always felt a bit of pressure to have tomato plants at market early in the season before it's entirely sensible to put them in here in Apollo Bay - since the big chain nurseries (cough*bunnings) have them months too soon. But late October or early November is a much better time to plant heat-loving veggies outdoors if we get a cool, windy spring. And we usually do. This year I've pre-sold most of my seedling production to CSA subscribers which gives me the freedom to plan around the best planting dates for our climate and region, and ignore the pressure to be early at markets with the summer veg See more

10.01.2022 It’s nearly tomato planting time! I’m offering my extra tomato seedlings online this year: 5-packs of big beautiful plants for $20, available for pick-up on the 20th or 27th of October (just in time for cup weekend). There's over 20 of my favourite varieties available: organically grown, open pollinated cherries, sauce and slicing tomatoes, all grown from seed at The Green Acre market garden in Marengo.... Varieties include Tommy Toe, Jaune Flamme, Stupice, Moskovich, Siberian, Tigerella, Black Truffle, Roma, Big Boy, Grosse Lisse, Pink Bumblebee, Sunrise Bumblebee, Black Cherry, Rouge Marmande, Salad Special, Raspberry and many more. You can make your own selection (subject to availability) or take farmer's choice. https://openfoodnetwork.org.au/the-green-acre/shop#/shop Happy gardening!

10.01.2022 The polytunnels are stuffed with early crops, and while I know I’ll be sick of picking cukes and zukes in about 5 minutes I can’t wait for those first zucchini babies to size up. We’re almost through the kale and radishes bit of spring, bring on some warm-season veggies :)

09.01.2022 Ive tried calling this braising mix and stirfry mix but neither moniker properly describes how versatile (and pretty) this mix of young greens is: spinach, baby kale, chard, pea shoots, and mizuna - you can sautee it, juice it, or put in a pasta sauce - its all good! Ive picked a mountain for tomorrows Apollo Bay foreshore market, alongside stacks of salad mix, a stupid amount of rainbow chard and baby carrots, lots of strawberries, beets, spuds, red onions, the first trickle of summer crops like tomatoes, eggplant, and basil, and LOTS more. Im busting out the trailer for the first time this summer! See you down there bright and early (i.e. 8ish)

08.01.2022 Lovely to see David Holmgren and Su Dennets inspiring garden at Melliodora on Gardening Australia this week - Im helping to organise a conversations event with David in Apollo Bay next month, and contributing veggies to the community supper - if youre in the area please join us :) Its on Sunday 22nd of March at the Apollo Bay community centre - tickets are just $15 - available here: https://events.humanitix.com.au/retrosuburbia

08.01.2022 Oh spring, hi first proper little harvest of spring blooms this morning, I’ll have a few posies at the southern Otway food coop this afternoon, 3 til 5

08.01.2022 Edit: fully subscribed for 2020! Thank you :) I’ve had an awesome response to my veggie seedling subscriptions over the last couple of weeks. They are getting close to selling out (six left!) so if you’ve been thinking about getting one for spring don’t sit on your hands :) I’m offering subscriptions for compact, family, and jumbo gardens with deliveries starting in early October (go to www.greenacrefarm.com.au for more info). I’m just finalising all my seed orders and planning now and I can’t wait to get growing! The first tommies, peppers, and eggplants will be seeded up in just 5 weeks. Spring is on the way

07.01.2022 **Edit - sold out - thank you!** There are a couple of $20 winter veggie bags still available on my online store - for pick up only on Tuesday arvo at the food coop in Apollo Bay between 3pm and 5pm. Orders close at 5pm today so get in quick if youd like one! https://openfoodnetwork.org.au/the-green-acre/shop#/shop The bags this week are (most likely) going to contain salad mix, micros, bunch of kale or rainbow chard, broccoli or broccolini, and either celery or a baby Napa cabbage. But theres always some surprises on harvest day :)

05.01.2022 A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported me at the Saturday market this growing season. This has been my fourth year market gardening in Apollo Bay, and I had a real sense all summer that people had seriously committed to showing up - sometimes in the worst weather - to support me as a local grower. Ive sold out every week, and the long queue at my stall on Saturday mornings has been both slightly anxiety-inducing, and a source of real delight. There was one ...Saturday when the queue reached the road on the other side of the market and my knees started shaking :) Farming veggies is the hardest Ive ever worked, but its that feeling of being valued and supported in a community that makes it worthwhile. Ive decided to finish my market season a few weeks earlier than I intended although the market is still operating on Saturdays. At this point in the season when things are slowing down in the garden, I am selling 80% of my veggies and flowers to the same 20 people who show up early at market every week. Offering them home delivery so we can all bunker down for a while feels like the right decision, especially since a lot of people are still not observing social distancing at market and other public places. But Im looking forward to being back at market in spring. Big thanks also to the volunteer committee who run the Apollo Bay Community Market, they do an enormous amount of work behind the scenes. Stay healthy everyone. If you want to stay in the loop about veggies you can join my mailing list via my website www.greenacrefarm.com.au :)

05.01.2022 First carrots! Ill have these sweet babies at the Apollo Bay foreshore market tomorrow morning alongside a small mountain of greens, garlic, strawberries, and more. Locally grown, organic, and fresh! Harvest days are starting to feel more abundant as we head into the main growing season, and Ill be a regular weekly fixture at market (extreme weather notwithstanding) from now until May. See you down there, bright and early

04.01.2022 My veggie box CSA restarted yesterday with a big, slightly frantic (Im out of practice) harvest of radishes, coriander, tokyo turnips, leeks, rhubarb, broccolini, many many greens, and garlic for my subscribers. This is my fourth growing season, and every single household from last year has re-subscribed. It is honestly the nicest vote of confidence and the best motivator to keep on planting!

04.01.2022 Lovely spuds - Dutch creams just harvested for the Apollo Bay foreshore market tomorrow. I know its officially summer but Im picking very typical spring produce: beautiful salad greens, strawberries, sugar snap peas, broad beans, cucumbers, new potatoes, carrots, beetroot, and lots more. 100% in season, organic, fresh and local! Ill also have lots of garlic plaits which make a fantastic gift for anyone who likes to cook see you down there from 8ish, bright and early

04.01.2022 Ive been a very intermittent presence at markets this spring. Partly because my veggie box CSA has grown so much it absorbs most of my production in the cooler months (which is wonderful), but also because its been a very cold, windy spring down here on the Otway coast, and growth in the market garden has been slow. Im just harvesting my first broad beans and peas, which is three weeks later than every other year Ive been growing here! So Ill be skipping one last market this weekend, to finish getting the garlic in and to help run a workshop, and then Ill be back down the Apollo Bay foreshore as a regular. Im looking forward to having some abundant harvest days again - see you next week with garlic plaits and LOTS of beautiful organic veggies

02.01.2022 Apollo Bay Veggie Planting Guide mid-April As we head into late autumn the window of opportunity to plant most winter veggies has closed. You can still put in a few quick growing greens and herbs, but now is the time to concentrate on crops that over-winter and produce in spring. Mid-April is the ideal time to plant both garlic and broad beans in Apollo Bay. If you cant source certified seed garlic for planting, any quality Australian organic garlic bulbs will do. Dont bo...ther with imported garlic the bulbs will have been treated with toxic fungicides and preservatives to inhibit growth. I prepare my clay soil with plenty of compost, pelleted chook poo, and a sprinkle of gypsum. The bulbs are divided into individual cloves a few hours before planting and soaked in a weak sea-sol solution to aid quick root development. I plant each clove 3-5cm deep and at a 15cm spacing in the bed. They will sprout within a week or two and grow steadily over winter, finally bulbing up in late spring when the days lengthen. If you want nice big garlic bulbs its vital to plant them in full sun and to keep them weed free. A thick straw mulch will suppress weeds, but if you have a slug problem its better to top-dress your bed with a layer of compost and stay on top of your hand-weeding. There are hundreds of interesting garlic cultivars grown in Australia; my current favourites are Otway Pink, Red Creole, Spanish Roja, and an unnamed artichoke variety saved by my mum, originally from a lady called Pam in Marengo. Broad beans can be planted in early spring, but you get bushier plants and more generous yields from an autumn-planted crop. They are best direct sown, unless you have bush rats, in which case start them in trays indoors and transplant when they have a couple of sets of leaves. The plants get enormous so give each one 20-30cm of space in the row. They have a rapid growth spurt in late winter so make sure to give them some support they will blow over in a strong wind. I grow a crimson-flowered heirloom variety which is both beautiful and delicious. The seeds were recovered from Norfolk Island, where they were first planted by convicts in 1788. What Im planting right now: Direct seeding in the garden: garlic, broad beans, harukei turnips, rocket, mizuna, radishes, coriander Starting from seed in the greenhouse: lettuce, spinach, bok choi, tatsoi Transplanting as seedlings: lettuce, broccoli, broccolini, kale, fennel, spinach, radicchio, napa cabbage, bok choi, parsley Many online seed companies have experienced a 10-fold increase in sales over the last few weeks, and some have had to close sales because they cannot meet demand. Before purchasing ask friends and neighbours to share seeds, there will be plenty to go around in various collections in the community. If you do need to buy online, I recommend Green Harvest, Lambley Nursery, 4season Seeds, and Seed Freaks. Happy gardening!

02.01.2022 And thats a wrap! Its the end of my fourth CSA season, thanks to all my subscribers for sticking with me for 8 and a half months of 100% local, in-season fresh veggies! Its been 37 weeks, 22 households, 666 boxes (number of the beet), and a pretty wild and challenging year. Theres been successes and failures, and difficult weather, and several calamitous world events to deal with, and within this little group of people I have observed a lot of kindness and generosity for which I am very grateful. I am lucky to be able to grow food this way in my home town

02.01.2022 Pulling out the pumpkin patch and sowing green manures today; these beds were delightfully weed free after a lush pumpkin crop followed beds of religiously hand-weeded garlic. I wish bed flip was always this easy. After 9 months of constant propagation and planting Ive finished putting in all my crops over the last couple of weeks - late garlic, broadbeans, broccoli, salad greens, dividing rhubarb and strawberries - and now Im onto the de-install part of the growing season. Beds to clear, trellises to take down, long-lost tools (so many harvest knives) to discover in the jungle Its a nice change of pace :)

02.01.2022 Its been so nice to get into the first new-season garden jobs this weekend. Ive planted potatoes, propagated some early, cold-tolerant flowers and veggies in the glasshouse, and Im about to start my peppers and eggplants on a heat mat. Tomatoes will be later in the week! Although winter is definitely not over, theres a few things that are worth cracking on with this early in Apollo Bay. Ive written another one of my sporadic planting guides for our area, which Ive put on my website under resources (I might be starting a blog. Is that very 2005 of me?) http://www.greenacrefarm.com.au/resources/august-planting

01.01.2022 Late summer flowers are the prettiest Ive picked some glorious bunches for tomorrows Apollo Bay foreshore market, alongside a trailer load of freshly harvested veggies: plenty of cherry toms, eggplants, zukes and cukes, the first harvest of red (ish) peppers, shishitos, a mountain of carrots and beetroot, spuds, salad greens, and LOTS more. Hope to see you there, from 8ish

01.01.2022 It's been so nice to get into the first new-season garden jobs this weekend. I've planted potatoes, propagated some early, cold-tolerant flowers and veggies in the glasshouse, and I’m about to start my peppers and eggplants on a heat mat. Tomatoes will be later in the week! Although winter is definitely not over, there's a few things that are worth cracking on with this early in Apollo Bay. I've written another one of my sporadic planting guides for our area, which I've put on my website under 'resources' (I might be starting a blog. Is that very 2005 of me?) http://www.greenacrefarm.com.au/resources/august-planting

01.01.2022 Back at the Apollo Bay farmers market tomorrow with veggie seedlings this will be your last chance to grab some locally grown tomato plants from me this season! Ill also have eggplants, chillies, cukes, zukes, and a grab bag of herbs, greens, and beneficial flowers. There will be a few veggies and bunches of flowers on the stall too. If youve already bought tommies from me I would love to get the square 10cm pots back - I can keep reusing them for many years. See you there from 9am