GARDEN UPDATE APRIL 2014

What is happening in the garden…

Seeds are germinating all through the vineyard as the brown earth turns green. The rain has allowed the clover, oats, rye and other cover crops to start their cycle of drawing nutrients from the air and earth to help condition the soil.

Broccoli are about to start forming their heads and seem to be enjoying the company of the snap peas planted amongst them. The snake beans are climbing for the clouds and producing 700mm beans. Snap peas are as sweet as can be, with the first decent crop picked at the beginning of the month. Sweet potatoes have been harvested with some weighing in at 1,5kg! Very yummy too! The late planting of tomatoes have started ripening with yellow, red and black adding colour to the dishes. Capsicum are still producing, although ripening is slowing down in the cooler weather.

Our composting is steaming along with one pile being used to make compost teas that go out on the garden beds. We have a 10 day compost on the brew which gets turned daily and is cooking away at 60 degrees.
It is a powerful month in the Solar system with a lunar eclipse on the 15th April and a Solar eclipse occurring on the 29th April. We will be applying a BD 500 spray to the vineyard and gardens around the time of the descending period when the Moon is opposite Saturn on the 28th of April. It is a good time to apply horn manure, make compost, transplant seedlings, pruning, wine racking and harvesting for storage from the 1st -5th and 20th-30th of April. From the 6th -19th it will be good time to apply horn silica, plant seeds, graft and harvest for early consumption.

WE ARE CURRENTLY HARVESTING…

Tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum ,sugar snap peas, sweet potato, beans, tatsoi, mizuna, rocket, beetroot, wong bok, salad greens, herbs, edible flowers, radish, Chilean guava

If anyone has any queries in regards to the garden, please feel welcome to ask…

Cheers, Jaimie