Spring is coming, hurrah, hurrah. Spring is coming hurrah! In Australia our seasons run by calendar months with September the 1st being the start of Spring. The forecast for Sunday is for a partially cloudy day with a top temperature of 23. A very big hurrah!!! It’s amazing how often it happens that the first day of Spring is warm. Wintery conditions usually return not long after, but that lovely first day is soooo welcome.
Anyway, I’m hoping my garden will appreciate it. I have gone a bit sowing crazy of late. I sowed 55 different veg varieties yesterday on top of all the tomatoes etc that I sowed in July. I think this overly enthusiastic sowing is a response to my current lack of things to harvest. Except for parsley – I have a lot of parsley.
I also have parsnips. Or to be more accurate I had the first of my parsnip thinning’s to eat. I pulled these to give the remaining crop more space to grow into.
And those were my rather paultry harvests this week. Well, actually, I also harvested lettuce, lots of lettuce but none that I photographed.
For more harvests head over to Daphne’s Dandelions where she hosts Harvest Mondays.
Oh I envy your organisation. I fear I will be doing a lot of direct sowing and even *shock horror* buying seedlings this year.
It’s always fun to hear about spring and all your planting enthusiasm when we are quickly approaching fall and the end of our major gardening season. About 3 more weeks and we will be done for the year, except for our fall greens and winter lettuces.
Oh the excitement of spring. Whereas I’m getting into fall which is also nice. The heat is starting to abate. We have had some really nice weather recently. Unlike in July and early August where we all wanted to stay indoors in air conditioning.
Yay for spring. It’s nice there are plants that will winter over for you like the parsley. Virtually nothing survives our winters here, but at least we don’t have fire ants or walking catfish to worry about.
55 varieties, were you ever busy! My garden is like yours on the cusp of spring. I was just noticing that my harvest this week was nearly what I harvested for the entire month of March, and more than January and February combined (but I was away for nearly a month back then). You’ve got so much to look forward to and I can’t wait to see it.
Oh dear that means autumn is approaching for us!!!
For me Parsnips are the archetypical Autumn veg. But I’m not ready to let go of Summer yet. It’s a lovely sunny evening here, and I’m sitting with the door open (at 7 p.m.) listening to the birds twittering and bees buzzing. Winter must wait its turn!
Spring is such an exciting time for the gardener! I can just feel your enthusiasm. I love autumn, but it always makes me sad to leave the summertime behind. I think the Australian method of calling the seasons makes perfect sense. Maybe it’s because of my school days, but I always think of September 1 as the first day of autumn, Dec. 1 as the first day of winter, and so forth. It’s a regular “argument” with me and my husband!
55 varieties! I’ll be following your blog with interest to see what you’re growing this summer and picking up ideas for my own spring sowing in 6 or 7 months time.
Hi, can you please share what have you sown? I have been reading your blog for the last two years, because we migrated from Slovenia to Eastern Melbourne in October last year and I wanted some references :). I have been admiring your crops since finding your blog! Coming from a country with dead winter I have been really enjoying winter here :). I have been playing in my hot house the whole winter this year but I neglected indoor projects. Last year I started with sowing way too late (mid Oct) for a proper crop before the summer heat waves . Please share what is best to be sown now. You will still suprise us with your beautiful photos 🙂
Regards, Spela
Hi Spela,
Thankyou for being interested! The winters here are so much easier than those in Europe aren’t they? As for what I’ve sown – aside from the tomatoes listed on this post, I have sown Swiss Chard, Parsley, Leeks, Chervil, Spinach, celery, celeriac, lettuce mix, Capsicum mix, Cucumber mix, Catalina pickling cucumber, lemon cucumber, Lebanese cucumber, Summer Dance cucumber, Hungarian Hot Wax capsicum, Capsicum Purple Beauty, Capsicum Golden Wonder, Long Cayenne Chilli, Habanero Mix, Tobago Seasoning Chilli, Birdseye chilli, Cherrytime Capsicum, Bonica Eggplant, Eggplant Kamo, Listada de Gandia eggplant, Spring Onions, Black Zucchini, Golden Nugget Pumpkin, Ebisu pumpkin, Basil, Thai Mix, Basil – mixed colours, Russian Red Kale, quite a few flowers including: Nasturtiums, Cosmos, Marigolds, Lobelia, Sarawak Heirloom eggplant, Red amaranth, Beetroot Cylindria, Beetroot Detroit Dark Red, Coriander, Pak Choi, Wombok, Chives, Another 10 chillies I don’t know the varietal names of, Tronchuda Cabbage, Padron chillies, and Capscium Golden Wonder. I think that was it. I know it seems excessive (and is) but I will donate quite a few of the plants to my daughters school’s kitchen garden so hopefully it wont all go to waste. Basically the only summer crops that I have yet to sow are melons and those that I sow direct outside – beans and sweet corn. Most of the things I’ve sown I germinate indoors and then move into one of those plastic covered mini greenhouses. Hope this answers your question.
I’m glad that Spela asked the question which I wanted answered! Wow! I’m impressed with your sowings.
My tomatoes are just starting to emerge and the chillis, capsicum and eggplants are only just sown. I thought it too early to sow the zucchini, cucumber and pumpkin but spurred on by you, I’ll give them a go this week. I’ve got a few other bits and pieces on the go too, but nearly as much as you. Impressive, as always.
And spring must be springing! One of my girls is laying again, the day after I caved and bought eggs. She must have sensed my disappointment.
55?! Wow, I’d better get going… 🙂
I had such a poor garden this year that I am ready to pull it out (mostly weeds) and get a fall garden going. I think your parsnips look very nice as I hardly ever get any root vegetables to grow here.
I have started my parsnip harvest too…. any thoughts why some turn out with perfect tap roots and other just get fat at the top and sprout multiple roots at the bottom?! same soil, same nutrients, same water…. one of life’s mysteries ?!
I’m looking forward to harvesting my parsnips, it will be a while though yet. You’re just starting up for a new season and here we are winding down. Still plenty to harvest yet though.
I really need to get on to my sowing of seeds. I’m excited to hear that you already have tomato seeds in the ground, so it’s not too early for me either!
Lettuce, spring-dug parsnips, and plenty of parsley — enough for a grand meal, I’d say!
Spring and fall are my favorite time of year. Wow you do sow lots of seeds, my spring planting is usually very small because our weather is extremely unpredictable and windy, leafy greens will bolt at beginning of March just when temp starts to warm up.