Cooler season vegetable gardening.

Perth's gardener's holiday is over and autumn is trying to cool us down. It is a good time to get some vegetables in for the rainy season, meaning we don't need to rely on daily water to get them through to maturity.
We made the mistake last time round of planting cabbages. They take up a fair bit of room and we don't really eat much of them so I am making sure we only plant what it going to be of most use to us. It's only a small patch, too, so it needs best use of the area.
Little seedlings.
I put in some lettuce seedlings (various, as I rescued some from work, too) and broccoli and popped some peas in near the best climbing spots.
The soil is looking really good, too, despite being the end of summer, it is still quite brown and rich. Is it because of the biochar we used when the bed was set up? It's sure to be helping. We also regularly apply minerals, bentonite, various organic manures and composts and it shows.
Soil profile in our veg bed.
You can see the good soil above the line of original sand.

Autumn rain, make my seeds germinate.

In the last week or so it has seemed like a good time to get some veges started. The heat has backed off and the soil is good to grow a few tasty things.
I am trying out some Brussels sprouts and broccoli, while the silver beet is coming along nicely already.
It also seems like a good idea to grow leeks and spring onions. Both these onions are expensive in shops and so I don't eat as many as I'd like to; they are easy to grow, and delicious.
I reckon that I'm gonna grow some of the leeks hydroponically too. It will probably make them go a bit faster and they won't have a lot of crud inside them.
There is also a stainless steel sink full of potting mix that has some carrot seeds waiting to germinate. I've only grown tiny carrots before, so it will be interesting to see how big ones go. Our soil isn't that flash, so thought potting mix may be okay.
I always reuse the mix anyone, beefing it up a bit with some manure or something for potting plants up into.


The other day we had a tree out the front cut down by our arborist friend and have replaced it with two young Grevillea plants - G. "Honey Gem" and G. "Pink Surprise". I'm really looking forward to them growing and flowering. They will be quite beautiful and will attract more birds to the garden.