Alan's Garden Blog — What to plant

All is good this winter, particularly my cash crop, ninety garlic. On the way out but hanging in there: sweet basil, chilli, eggplant and cherry tomatoes. I still have a good range of herbs saving me money at the supermarket: galangal, dill, coriander, vietnamese mint, thai mint, thai basil, greek oregano, thyme, flat leaf parsley, rosemary and dill. Veges all doing well: kale, fennel, rocket, silverbeet, cabbage, snow peas, spring onions, carrots, chinese veges, and broad beans. All this with the minimum of fuss in the watersaver gardens.  You can see some of my garlic on the left and the fennel on...

While the weather through winter has been cold at times there has not been the extreme cold in Toowoomba knock plants about. I have had basil survive which is remarkable. Anyway some of the veges you should be thinking about: asparagus-Ihave been getting spears for about three weeks which is quite early. beetroot cabbage potatoes-bought four varieties from Torrington nursery and planted about two weeks ago. I shared the boxes with a mate which allowed me to put in a range. schallots/spring onions-I always have spring onions in the garden, better yield than schollots and much quicker than onions. lettuce-mixed...

Yes I know we can grow broccoli and cabbage but I am not the biggest fan of either. So have a look at the snow peas. I have seven flourishing at the moment so I should end up with plenty.

There are still plenty of veges to grow in now: cabbage, carrots, lettuce, chinese veges, onions, peas, shallots and silverbeet to name a few. I’m sticking with what works for me, spring onions (they grow quicker and have a better yield than schollots), chinese cabbage, carrots, chinese veges (still a fast grower), snow peas and silverbeet. I have already planted some ‘green manure’ in about one third of my garden area which will be ready to dig in for planting August/September. I will be taking out my sixty odd garlic then as well and plan to plant a heap of spuds and ginger. Fresh ginger from your own garden is just the best.

This was an interesting job, converting half the chook run to a high garden. Three of the walls walls were already there so I added the fourth to separate the chooks from what they love most. Then it was wood chip on the bottom to lift the level.       OLD PLASTIC   Plastic to hold the sand.   SAND BASE FOR LINER     RESERVOIR LINER   You will notice the liner does not go all the way to the top of the garden. This is because the garden is wider than normal(1600 mm). In a conventional garden...