The Backyard Vegetable

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The Backyard Vegetable

The Backyard Vegetable encourages home food growing consultations, classes, and this page. We come to you, work with you to plan an edible garden.

The Backyard Vegetable aims to teach you how to grow your own fresh, healthy vegies, herbs and fruit. Learn how to successfully raise seedlings, propagate plants, select suitable varieties of fruit and vegetables for your space, control pests and diseases safely. Consultations; assistance with planning or problem solving. Large or small gardens can grow food: traditional garden beds, raised garden

beds, no-dig gardens, and wicking (self-watering) boxes are all options. Our times are very flexible - we aim to suit your timetable. Hourly rate of $30. Learn through our classes:
The Backyard Vegetable offers a range of classes, usually run through local libraries or community houses. These include:
+ Success with Seeds and Seedlings - tips and hints to raise and nurture your own
plants
+ Habitat Gardens
+ Backyard Zoo - a pictorial "who's who" in your garden
+ Backyard Chooks

See www.thebackyardvegetable.com.au for more information.

31/08/2026

Last job for August: keeping the chooks (and/or ducks, quail etc safe from bird flu.

The Department of Agriculture has guidelines for safeguarding backyard poultry.
It includes:
• Ensuring wild birds cannot enter the poultry enclosure;
• Ensuring wild birds cannot share the drinking water (or bathing water in the case of ducks);
• Covering pens so any contaminated matter (eg 💩) from birds that fly over or land on the pen cannot get into the pen;
• Keeping separate footwear for when you enter the pen.

H1N5 bird flu hasn’t moved far from the coastal regions yet - it’s early days.
So it’s time to work out what needs to be done.

18/08/2026

The tomato babies! And one chilli.

It looks as if all the older tomato seeds (some from 2020) have germinated, but not the new pack I bought 🤔

Chilli seeds don’t remain viable for more than a year or two in my experience and there’s certainly no sign of the older ones appearing.

11/08/2026

EDITED:
Strawberries and loganberries are all spoken for but there are plenty of youngberries!

It turns out that commercially-grown berries are sprayed with quite a lot of pesticides/fungicides that may not be very good for us.

Berries are easy to grow and very productive.
If you’d like to have a go we have:
• Thornless Loganberries (in pots, $5)
• Youngberries (bare-rooted, $1)*
• Strawberries (bare-rooted, $1)*

* just to cover the cost of the coir they’ll be packed in.

The loganberries are the first to ripen; they’re a cross between a raspberry and a bramble berry and delicious!
We have four of these.

Youngberries have large, juicy black fruit, also delicious. The prickles are worth it!
We have lots of these. (I just got the berry jungle into order after neglecting them for a couple of years. 🙄)

Strawberries - not sure of the variety but the parent plants had fabulous fruit last summer.
We have a dozen or so of these.

10/08/2026

August - Early Spring

And it’s that time again: preparing for summer crops.
And given the dire reports of a severe El Nino event and a consequently hot, dry summer, it’s time to prepare for that too.

Seeds of your favourite tomato, chilli and capsicum varieties can be sown now in a cosy greenhouse, on a sunny window sill or on a heat mat.

Getting started now means that your seedlings will be ready to go into the garden beds when the weather is warm enough - November.
Unless they can be given their own in situ greenhouse such as a large plastic bag over a frame, in which case you can have a crack at getting a reasonably advanced tomato plant into the garden.

Also sow these vegies now: broccoli, Asian greens, lettuce and other salad greens, snow and snap peas, spinach, turnip and parsnip.

Sow these herbs now: coriander and parsley. Divide and replant chives and garlic chives.

Plant these vegies now: potatoes , yacon, asparagus and rhubarb crowns.

A diverse mix of flowers will keep bees and other beneficial insects happy so look out seeds of sunflowers, zinnias, poppies, cornflowers, marigolds and other spring and summer-flowering species.

Prepare garden beds now to receive all these little plants: add manure and/or compost.
Where fruiting plants will grow sprinkle a potassium-rich fertiliser such as Sudden Impact Rose Fertiliser (the roses, fruit trees and berries might like some too).

Consider setting up a wicking bed.
Tomatoes, basil and coriander thrive with the consistent moisture and this system is very water-efficient.

Among the fruit trees and berries:
• Finish any fruit tree pruning now before the sap starts moving. (Not apricots - wait till after fruiting to reduce the risk of fungal/bacterial infection.)

• Potassium sulphate sprinkled around the trees and berries will help with flowering and fruit set.

• Spray peaches and nectarines just as flower buds start to swell to prevent Curly Leaf.

• A thick layer of newspaper spread under fruit trees and covered with mulch will help if Codling Moth or fungal diseases were a problem last season.
Apply any fertiliser first and ensure the soil is damp.

• If you haven’t done so yet, cut out last season’s dead berry canes and make sure the new ones are well supported.
Remove and dispose of any spotty leaves to reduce reinfection as new leaves form.
White spots along the canes are scale insects. A sq**rt with EcoOil will kill these.

**Bird flu**
As if we needed another pestilence! 😫

The Department of Agriculture has guidelines for those of us with backyard poultry.

31/07/2026

In Winter the pickings can seem a bit thin for bees and other pollen and nectar feeders.

However there actually are plenty of winter-flowering plants, and these are some.

A bit of soul food for the gardener too!

13/07/2026

July - late winter in the food garden 🥶

Harvesting now: loads of citrus: lemons, limes, mandarins, cumquats.
Windfall grapefruit, tangelos and oranges are still pretty tart but juiced with sweeter oranges make a delicious drink.
Kiwi fruit here were picked a while back - as soon as the wildlife started eating them. They ripen up inside.
Asian and salad greens, silverbeet, kale, broccoli, parsley, coriander and spring onions can be harvested if you got them in early enough (some we did; some we didn’t 😕).
With a bit of ‘bandicooting’ spuds can be found too.

It’s time to sow these vegies: Asian greens, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage*, onions*, peas, salad greens, spinach, turnips.
* Check the seed packet.

They’ll be slow to germinate but coriander seeds can go in too. 🌱
Speed things up by sowing them into pots under cover of a greenhouse.
Bottomless pots made from cut off 2L milk bottles are good as coriander seedlings don’t enjoy their roots being disturbed when transplanted.

Plant out potatoes, rhubarb and asparagus crowns.

Fruit trees and berries:
Some pruning can be done - probably best on a fine day so cuts can dry out quickly.
With the leaves of deciduous trees gone it is easier to see criss-crossing branches that need to be removed.
Aim to keep smaller lateral growth rather than vigorous vertical growth.

On peaches and nectarines look out for sets of three buds on last season's new growth. These will produce flowers (the two outside buds), and then fruit. Most of the stems that produced fruit last summer can be cut back.
Dispose of any mummified fruit to avoid the spores affecting next season's fruit.

If your plum trees were affected by aphids (new leaves curled and distorted) spray will EcoOil now, and again when leaf buds appear.

Dead berry canes that fruited in summer can be removed, as can spindly canes if there are lots of them. Tie up the remaining canes to keep them off the ground and at a good fruit-picking height.
Tips of brambleberry canes that reached the soil may have grown roots. Snip these off with about 20cm of stem attached and pot them up to produce new plants.

Time to plant strawberries.

Garden pests:
Look out for snails after rain - go collecting!

Adult Queensland Fruit Flies over-winter in sheltered spots. Keep out bait stations for both male and females just in case they emerge to look for a bit of food.

Rat and mouse populations are probably lower at this time of year, so it's a good time to set out traps and (hopefully) reduce their numbers even more before the warmer season provides them garden banquets.

Despite the cold there are flowers that will brighten the garden and bring cheer to both you and beneficial insects. Enjoy them and add more!

29/06/2026

Trees over things 🌱

This National Tree Day, we're celebrating 30 years of Australians choosing trees, plants, birds and nature 🌳

Host a planting event in your community or volunteer at a site near you this 26 July https://nationaltreeday.org.au/

01/06/2026

Preparing the last of the basil for freezing in an ice cube tray…
Apart from two tiny spiders and five green caterpillars there was this.

It is the cocoon of one of the parasitic ichneumon wasps, a beautiful piece of work, and very welcome in the garden.

18/05/2026

SALE : Saturday 23 May
10.30am - 2pm or by arrangement.
Message for address.
$3-$7 per pot.

(NOTE: this is just a little backyard ‘nursery’ - we have these plants because we just can’t avoid potting up prunings and divisions.
So we don’t have a huge stock, just a few of each plant.)

Plant diversity encourages insect diversity, and a diverse population of insects helps control the ones that we don’t want - like aphids.

We are selling on a range of plants that grow well in the Backyard Vegetable’s plot and which add colour as well as food for beneficial insects.

As well as those pictured below there are:

Iresene - deep pink-red leaves; good for semi-shade and for pots.

Canna - decorative leaves with streaks of orange/red; good for semi-shade.

Bearded Iris (soft pale green) - hardy; sunny spot; perfumed; divide every few years for best flowering; flower stems to about 600mm.

Chilean Guava - small tasty fruit; good hedging plant; reportedly Queen Victoria’s favourite fruit!

Veltheimia bracteantha - bulb with spikes of dusky pink flowers to about 450mm and pretty, bright green leaves; grows well in shade, minimal watering once established.

Calamint (Calamintha nepeta) - shrubby herb to about 600mm; aromatic leaves and tiny pale pinkish flowers beloved by bees; cut back after flowering.

Verbena bonariensis - hardy perennial with tall slender flowering stems and small round heads of bright purple flowers which bees and butterflies love; dead head flower stalks to reduce self-sowing.

16/05/2026

Seeds!
How amazing they are - so tiny (mostly - we’ll exclude broad beans from that descriptor!), and yet tucked inside is all that is needed to start a plant growing with nothing more than soil and moisture.

This is seed-saving time for a lot of the warmer seasons crops and flowers:

• Saving your own seeds means not having to buy them. Save money as well as seeds!

• Over time plants acclimatise to your garden’s individuality so the ones you save will do better and better at your place.

• You can select for features you want: the longest pods with the most beans inside, the earliest ripening tomatoes etc.

***************************

Pick seed heads as they start to dry off.
Finish drying them in paper bags in a cool, dry place (I peg them up in the laundry).
Add a slip of paper with the date and plant name.
You might think you’ll remember, but some seeds look very similar (eg the brassica family), and if time gets away you can find you have no idea when you harvested them. This is the voice of experience. 😅

Use sieves to remove extraneous plant material and those tiny beetle creatures that feed on seeds.

Pack cleaned seeds into ziplock bags with the slip of paper that has the date and plant name and freeze overnight. This will kill off the eggs of any seed-eating insects.

Store in a cool dry place - if you have space for seeds in the fridge this will give them a longer lifespan.

Seeds come in such a variety of shapes, sizes and colours - and they’re quite gorgeous.
So here’s some portraits!

Address

Heathmont, VIC
3135

Website

http://www.thebackyardvegetable.com.au/

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