Peas flowering in our green manure - 16 August 2021

The quickening is happening…

The transition between Winter and Spring here in Southern Victoria - when the sunny days are truly WARM, blossoms are popping and the activity on the farm has increased even as cold rain falls and the wind still chills. The bees are busy, the green manures are noticably growing and the glasshouse is filling up.

I’m often asked if I have a favorite vegetable.

I LOVE the vegetable that is glowing and shining in the field! To me this is the one that has found its sweet spot, is loving growing right NOW in this season, is fully tapped into soil, sunlight and clean water.

This is seasonal eating and a great reason to grow food, even if all you have is a container!!

There are many cultivars which will thrive in containers!

A dwarf tomato, genovese basil and ‘Sparky’ marigold would make great companions in a large pot!

And smaller lettuces, spinach and cress can be beautifully combined in a pot to form a multi textured salad just a scissor clipping away.

This week I’m sowing a true Spring delight…Butter lettuce!!!

A few years back we did a Butter Lettuce tasting with chefs. This tasting gave me insight into how salt and acidic dressing can compliment, enhance or take away from the texture and flavour of a cultivar. You can find the winners of the trial here with descriptions that include flavour!

And with thousands of seed packets in growers hands and hopefully soil and many more seeds to sow in the coming months, we have written about:

DECIPHERING THE SEED PACKET - how to create the perfect environment for seed germination and transplant growth

What else are we sowing this week?

More flowers - we are trialing more early bloomers this season as well as extending our range of Summer and Autumn cut flowers.
Tomatoes, basil and marigolds - although a bit early for field tomatoes on our farm (we are in a frost hollow), we have a protected corner for these!!!
Successive plantings of lettuce (including another farm favorite ‘Reine d’ Glaces’), brassicas, spinach and peas
Parsley and Spring sown chamomile
Carrots
Onions - we love sweet onions!!