Winter Seeds

It’s the dead of winter in Sydney which is anything but a dead season in the garden. Many plants do better in winter than summer here – lettuce and peas being the biggest examples – and I continue to enjoy regular harvests. But a gardener can never rest on her laurels and so I’m thinking ahead. I honestly have no idea how long this crop of lettuce will last but I want to make sure I get year-round salads if I can. (The climate allows it but can I arrange it with clever planting?) All of which drove me into the winter drizzle to sow a few seeds.

First (there’s always a project or 2 that delays putting anything in soil) I had to empty the target seedling tray of some disaster-radishes. A little while ago I sowed some radish seeds in my long green planter. Shortly thereafter one of my chickens (I’m sure it was Bronwyn) hopped up on the plant stand and stood on the seed tray full of radish seeds, knocking it over and spilling the contents on the lower trays and the grass. I scooped up some of the mess and decided I’d replant with something else when inspiration struck. Of course nature can’t be so easily deterred and some of the stubborn things sprouted. As I have a strong aversion to throwing away anything edible that’s at least trying to live, I had to move the little seedlings to a site more suitable. They went between 2 cauliflower plants in a spot where an earlier batch of radishes was much less than impressive. Maybe their tenacity will hold them through a transplant (which is a no no for radishes) and being positioned in a spot that just may not be radish-friendly.

Once the pot was “empty” I could put in more soil, which I did, and I also put soil into 3 other round pots. The 3 round pots in the top right of the photo below each contain a bunch of red onion seeds. The long green pot on the bottom has a row of cos lettuce and one of iceberg.

By the time these seedlings are ready to be planted out I hope to have a couple more empty and fenced beds. There’s always something to do before putting anything into the soil…

No, I don’t have 200 chickens, it just looks that way since my 3 chooks are always interested in what I’m doing and so they tend to be in the frame any time I point my camera.

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