So it's the weekend coming, and my two regular dive partners are available. And the weather looks like... weekend weather. Blowing a gale. I did go and dive for some Abalone today - but even being lazy and using an aqualung that only took 70 bars out of the tank. I worked harder carring the dratted thing and weightbelt to my spot than I did diving, which is wonderful, but then my concience said, get out and go and do some work. I am getting a bit stir crazy with too much writing, not enought sunlight :-). It is I am afraid creeping into the winter of discontent. The water in September is pure murder (It's at its coldest then, HURTS), but at least it means spring is coming. We have rather weird seasons, because of the Warm current that comes down the Australian coast. It takes a few months to get from warm parts to us, cooling as it comes, but still means everything is delayed as we're getting 2 months ago's warmth (or cold) into the big radiator (the sea) that surrounds us.
My garden is suffering neglect and winter - I left getting in the winter veg a bit late so we have carrots, parsnips, salsify and silverbeet, and still lots of spring onions, and no brassicas (I've got some struggling up). Beet seedling are still growing but very slowly. Have still been getting tomatoes, which is why the rest were late. There are a few capsicums and tomatoes in the makeshift greenhouse.
Of course we do have pumpkins, potatoes still, and quite a lot of frozen and dried stuff.
Garlic in meanwhile is desperate to get planted.
Have you ever tried radish? They are quick growers and very cold hardy. I think you could grow them in the dead of your winter with only a tent. Simply a plastic sheet strung over a line between two stakes, bury the sides and leave the ends open.
ReplyDeleteI have grown radishes. They're just, in my experience, a bit limited in their use. A little goes a long way :-)
DeleteI'm going to try the plastic sheet on some potatoes. They sometimes get through winter here, if the frost is mild, so worth trying.
It's more a case of we will run low on veg in September, than are low now. We will get asparagus and artichokes then, but the seasons are little shifted because of the East Australian current.