Garden Update March 2015

What is happening in the garden…

The autumn rain has arrived giving the vines, trees and lawns a much needed drink after the long dry summer. Fig and lemon trees are still producing and the pomegranates aren’t far away from being ripe. The bees have been hard at work and the fruits of their labour have been harvested with the sweet amber honey being used in the restaurant and available at the cellar door.

Late plantings of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and capsicums are still bearing their fruits although ripening takes a bit longer as the temperatures cool and the days get shorter, the flavours in the form of sugars and minerals still shine through from our balanced soils.

Beetroot, radish, jerusalem artichoke and sweet potatoes are bringing the earth or root component into the restaurant, cos and four season lettuce leaf, rocket, mizuna, cress, chard and kale bringing in the water or leaf component. The air or flower component is filled with our range of edible flowers, with calendula, vetch, rocket, fennel, nasturtium, borage, viola, dianthus and radish flowers complementing our cuisine adding colour and fine flavours. The warmth or fire we get from our chilli, horseradish, cress mustards and rocket. All these aspects and influences are constantly at work in every aspect of our farm from our soils through to our vegetables, wine and people that make it all happen.
Summer crops and being removed from garden beds and being made into compost with fresh compost replacing the nutrients for our winter crops of broccoli, kohlrabi, fennel bulbs, cabbage, cauliflower and salad greens.

It is a good time to apply horn manure, make compost, transplant seedlings, pruning, wine racking and harvesting for storage from the 16th-19th and the 22nd-28th of March. This is a descending or waning period and is influenced by the earth and water signs. From the 4th-15th and the 31st of March 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…
Aubergine, capsicum, rocket, beetroot, zucchini, jerusalem artichoke, sweet potatoe, swiss chard, salad greens, radish, spring onion, tomatoes, herbs, edible flowers.

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