home grown (the cold season edition)

 since my recent promotion to full time house girlfriend (finally got rid of the drain on my energy in the form of a soul sucking job), i have decided to use my new found time to be as productive as possible. so i have turned a good portion of my attention towards tossing over our little no-dig garden (a garden that you build up from ground level and surround it with bricks or wood planks as support, versus digging a garden into the ground) and setting it up for winter crops. i'm actually really excited to plant all those little seeds and watch the seedlings pop up from the ground! plus it makes our shopping list smaller and cheaper.

i've researched what to plant for the best winter season turn out. as i live in a temperate zone, the veggies, fruits and herbs i plant will be different from someone who lives in more northerly regions (subtropical and tropical zones), or more southerly regions (cool zone).
i'll be sticking to what we use the most during winter (things like broccoli, carrots, garlic, asparagus, silver beet, spinach and some asian veggies) but you could also plant cabbage, broad beans and mustard greens to harvest over winter.
there are other non specific veggies that survive through winter well,  like parsnips, brussel sprouts, shallots, horseradish, lettuce, peas, and leek, but seeing as i'm restricted by space, i'm keeping my varieties to the ones we use a lot of. this will also help reduce wastage of any produce we don't eat.

i'm also going to incorporate some companion plants to naturally help keep my garden pest free. herbs are really fantastic for warding off pests, for example,

• basil protects surrounding plants from disease and insects. 
• garlic repels aphids and controls cutworms and hornworms in tomatoes. 
• horseradish near potatoes controls potato bugs. 
• thyme near cabbage deters cabbage worms. thyme also attracts bees to tomatoes and other plants, and bees will pollinate the plants, which equals more plants! 
• chives prevent mildew, and deter aphids and green flies. 
• catnip is good for controlling flea beetles (and your cat will be happy!). 
• and marigolds secrete a goo from their roots that destroys root eating nematodes. 

so not only do you get natural pest protection, but most of those plants are edible herbs that add beautiful flavour and body to meals.
another thing that i have to be particularly wary of is that during winter, the sun is lower in the sky, meaning that my little garden will get less sunshine, even when the sun is shining. leafy and root vegetables are best to survive without so much sun, which is brilliant for my winter garden list (if you are looking for seeds to buy, and it says 'full sun' on the packet, it usually means about 8 hours a day).

also, now is a perfect time to be planting as the weather has finally changed to proper autumn (chilly but not freezing), so summer pests won't be a problem anymore, but if i plant now, the chilly weather will prepare my baby seedlings for the coming winter cold. also, i won't need to water so much because there is less evaporation from the sun during winter.

i'll probably be posting heaps more about my garden, because i'm getting excited even writing about it!

x