Hawthorn Garden Update - Week 10 & 11

Wow, oops I forgot to put an update up the week before, the fornight before, last...eek!  Oh well there's a huge amount to update you all on which is very exciting!

The snow peas are going mental, and flowering like crazy, and the broccoli has also started flowering which is great!  I have had to keep a watchful eye on the broccoli though as the grey wooly aphids have made a comeback and like munching in the new growth.  I have given them a good spray of EcoOil, and will continue to keep an eye on them to see whether they need another dose by next weekend.

The beetroots are also growing well.  The seedlings in the planter are growing and I have also taken the seedlings that have sprouted out of the hothouse to continue growing in a more natural environment.

And we have baby mushrooms!  It has taken, what, almost a month and a half, but we have the first signs of little white funghi in our shed!  So exciting :)
 

 All looking very green :)

 Almost ready to pick!

 Snow peas continue to grow and flower like mad.

 The first of the Broccoli!

 Beetroot are going well.  I have also planted the last three Kale seedlings to see how they go.  The companion planting herb containers are to be made this coming weekend - how cute are they!  Dan has made one as a test and I think it looks great!  It's just made from little offcuts that we had after making the timber containers.

 The worms are almost ready to be transported to another section of their Worm Cafe.  I'll leave them another week or two to demolish the last of the food in the bottom tray and then attempt to lure them into a new upper section.

 The baby mushrooms!  It looks like the plain button mushrooms have started growing which is very exciting :)

Aphids Going Wild!

I went outside yesterday to have a look at the garden, and my goodness, we have been invaded by all species of aphids suckering on the Pittosporum hedge.  The new growth has been inundated by green and black aphids both with and without wings, they're all getting into it!  So, I decided to take some action, as they had started eating the sprouts on the iris bulbs in the ground as well, and doused them with EcoOil and squished as many I can.  Take a look at the photo below - its crazy! 

So many aphids!  This was taken after I had sprayed...

I'll be following up the treatment in 5 days and will see how effective it has been.  I have also planted two of the nasturtium seedlings into the first planter to attract the aphids away from the vegetables we have planted.  Apparently nasturtium is really easy to grow and aphids just love the leaves so they can be utilised as sacrificial plants in the garden to keep the aphids away from your precious veggies.

Attack of the Little Black Flies!

So, under my nose, it seems like a hoard of little black flies have decided my snow peas at home are a nice place to live!  I had left the plants alone for a couple of days during the week, knowing that they were receiving enough rain to keep them going, and came back to them yesterday morning to see that there were heaps of little black flies on the snow pea shoots!

After a bit of google investigating, it seems that these little guys are a type of aphid with wings that love to suck the nutrients out of new buds on all types of plants.  They do, however, love new shoots on soft vegetable plants and will get at them at any opportunity.  After a bit of observation, it looks like they're actually all over the hedge plants that we have in the backyard, so they have naturally migrated across to the vegetable plants located nearby.

The Little Black Flies (Aphids)

Hungry for a way to organically manage the issue, I went on the hunt for a home made spray that might do the trick.  The best way to deal with them is to actually squeeze them off yourself everyday, but the infestation was such that I thought it needed more drastic action.  I actually heard about a product called 'Eco-oil' that had been discussed in a few gardening threads on the internet.  Some people had used it before and recommended not using it on anything you intend to eat, but I thought I would head down to Bunnings to see if they had any, or anything similar that would be organic and suitable for use on vegetables.  To my delight, they sell EcoOil, and low and behold the one that they sell can very safely be used on your veggies.  Its a natural plant oil based concentrate that smells a lot like a cross between eucalyptus and tea tree oil.  You just need to dilute it and spray on your plants. 

 Organic Eco-Oil

They recommend you reapply 3-5 days after the first application, then again another 3-5 days after that.  I sprayed last night, and went out to check on the plants tonight and the vast majority of the little insects have left the plant - very nice!  I just squished the remaining couple, and will repeat the spray in a couple of days time.  I think  there is a warning that you shouldn't undertake more than 2 regimes over a 6-8 week period, but from what I have seen today hopefully I will be able to keep them under control myself by doing a bit of squishing now and then, and giving the surrounding bushes a bit of a spray as well :)