Garden Update December 2014

What is happening in the garden…

Our beautiful mulberry fruit are starting to change colour from green to red to that intense purple that will cover our clothes, hands and lips whilst harvesting for our platters and jam. Coriander, fennel, borage and calendula flowers fill the vegetable gardens with their iridescent colours, some are harvested for use in the restaurant and the rest will set seed and be collected for future planting.

Our garlic has completed its growth stage and beginning to yellow off so time to harvest and hang to dry for storage. Asparagus is abundant and we should have a few more weeks left in them before they push out their fern like growth and replenish their root system for next year. Peas are nearing their end and beans will taking over their place on the menu. It is amazing to witness the inherited intelligence of plants and their ability to adapt and change, sprout and grow and flower, form seeds and then return to the soil.

We have had a busy month with the biodynamic preparations having been dug out of the ground and the creek and have been digested by our wonderful micro-organisms into the finished products ready to be used on our land and compost heaps. We were involved in a nationwide BD500 spray on the 10th and treated all the grassland where our beautiful and pregnant cows have just returned from the coast to graze for the summer.

It is a good time to apply horn manure, make compost, transplant seedlings, pruning, wine racking and harvesting for storage from the 1st-7th and 28th-31st of December. This is a descending or waning period and is influenced by the earth and water signs. From the 8th-23rd of December it will be a good time to apply horn silica, plant seeds, graft and harvest for early consumption. This is an ascending or waxing period and is influenced by air or fire signs.

WE ARE CURRENTLY HARVESTING…
Asparagus, carrots, fennel bulbs, broad beans, capsicum, rocket, beetroot, zucchini, swiss chard, salad greens, mulberry, radish, spring onions, snap peas, tomatoes, herbs, edible flowers.

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