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Crops

Setup

We've got most of our non-root crops in a large raised garden bed, that's working out pretty well for us. We've put a frame on it so we can put netting over it, which helps keep pests out. In summer, we also put shadecloth over to protect the crops - I think that's pretty much essential for the summers these days.

For watering, we've got a dripper/sprinkler hose which we've hooked up to a timer on the tap. It's pretty crap material, it's split after less than a year. We've bought a Maze water-sensing drip irrigation system to replace this. We planned to hook it up to a water tank, but the tank itself needs to be raised to a height above the raised garden bed, which brings its own issues... I'll update here how it works out.

Specific crops

Peas - we tried planting them in summer like the common advice but the sun was too hot for them. We recently sowed them in autumn, they seem to be doing okay. We've got some flowers, hopefully we'll get some peas before it gets too cold.

Broad beans - we sowed them toward the end of summer, which was a little too late for crop production. We'll try sowing them in spring in future.

String beans/runner beans? - I think they prefer the cooler weather too, the ones we sowed toward the end of summer are doing better. We've harvested an okay amount, it could be more, but it's the best we've gotten so far, so I'm not complaining!

Chili - They grow pretty well throughout the year, even in the heat of summer. Apparently they're an annual crop, but the one we've got has survived 3 years so far. We pruned it back pretty hard for winter and the crop this year isn't so good, but it's still alive.

Amaranth (chinese version?) - this is growing so well, especially in summer. It's even growing out of the cracks in the ground in my mum-in-law's place. I'm afraid it might turn into a weed... best to keep the birds away from the seeds. We use it in soups, stir fries, anything that could do with some leafy greens.

Cucumber - we had a good crop in the first year, but not sure why it didn't grow as well the second year.

Lettuce

Rocket - it self-seeded and we've got heaps of seedlings popping up all over the place.

Asparagus - we've just put it in, it still needs a few more years to develop.

Root veggies - potatoes, onion, garlic, carrot - It seems like we've got quite a few issues growing root vegetables, the plants spring up but then they don't tend to survive for very long because they get smashed by pests like caterpillars last year, or the rats this year. Hopefully this winter we might get better luck.

Fruit trees - mango and pecan - we've just got these, they're not ready to bear fruit yet.

Herbs - parsley, basil, thai basil, coriander, dill, thyme - all have done well under the veggie pod.

Pests

Aphids - we used to have a big problem with aphids especially when plants were under netting and getting a lot of moisture. We noticed the problem seems to go down after we lifted the netting for a while. We also bought some lacewings and ladybugs, though we don't spot these insects around our garden much, the aphids seem to be under control now. Although they still attacked things like cabbages/cauliflower, I wouldn't be trying those again anytime soon.

Rats - these are are our current problem. Unlike the caterpillars, they ravage everything and don't leave anything behind. We've lost 12 lettuce seedlings to rats, and they've probably ruined our potato and beetroot crop by eating the leaves. We used poison (reluctantly) and it seems effective. We're currently trying out a "walk the plank" style trap, I'll update this when we actually catch something.

Caterpillars - It's such an irony that butterflies help pollinate but their young feed on the plants. Opening the netting to let the birds in seems to help when the plats are getting decimated.