November 2010 - Rain and More Rain

So far in November 2010, the Gosford area has had 168mm of rain in 11 days.

This has provided plenty of water for the vegetables to thrive.Unfortunately the wet weather has also increased the number of pests in the garden. Many of my young plants have suffered from bug attacks. The solution is to ensure that the foliage is sprayed regularly with Pyrethrum (Defender) and that Snail baits are used around the garden to reduce the numbers of snails.


Most of the seedlings planted two weeks ago have survived and the lettuce and tomatoes are going very well. The chili plants have suffered from pest damage and were also being slightly shaded by the parsley growing in front of them.

My next job in the garden will be to add a few more large tubs. I am going to move the chili plants to a tub near the citrus trees. This area gets a lot of sun and will be more protected from ground pests.

The pumpkin plants are getting larger and I will need to remove the wire mesh from this end of the garden to allow them to spread.

Until next time. Enjoy your gardenings.

October 2010 - Fruit Trees and Rabbit Protection

Busy day in the garden today. I planted two fruit trees into some large plastic containers. This is a technique I saw used on Better Homes and Gardens and thought I would  give it a try. It has the advantage that these plastic tubs are very inexpensive compared to large planters and the only necessary modification is to drill some large holes in the base for drainage.

The trees I planted today are a dwarf lemon (Eureka) and a dwarf lime (Tahitian). There trees only grow to around half the size of a normal citrus tree and can be grown in large containers. The fruit produced are of a normal size.
Along with planting the citrus I also planted some more corn plants. The reason I had to do this is that our pet rabbit has recently been spending more time outside his hutch and has managed to find my garden.

After replacing the corn into a not so accessible part of the garden I also spent some time creating a barrier out of chicken wire and tent pegs to try and discourage the rabbit from nibbling on the seedlings.

The tomato and lettuce seedlings in the planter are going well and hopefully will be large enough to plant out next weekend.