A winter blog done in absentia! Off to Spain to celebrate my eldest son’s 30th birthday.
Nature marches on regardless, so Rob is sowing my tomato, eggplant and capsicum seeds in the First Quarter of this month for me. Then he’s off on holiday, so I’m looking after his for him while he’s away.
Check out our video here on how to sow tomato and chilli seeds. Things to have on hand to make the operation go smoothly… punnets or any kind of container with holes in the bottom, seed raising mix or sieved potting mix, something to make the rows with, all your seeds, labels and trays to put the punnets/containers on.

Cool weather lettuces like Iceberg and Cos and spinach can be sown now too.
And in the Full Moon, we’ll start chitting the early potatoes that take a smidgeon longer than others to grow like Cliffs Kidney, Maris Anchor and Jersey Bennes. So make sure you have your supply of seed potatoes secured. We’ll chit the quick ones like Rocket and Swift next month.

Our mustard cover crop is starting to flower, so I forked it over before heading off. The time to do this is once it starts to flower (Rob says when ten per cent of potential flowers are showing), otherwise the plants become woody and don’t break down easily. You can apply lime to assist the breakdown, but I’m simply covering it with weed matting and it should be lovely for planting in on my return.



French Breakfast radishes are ready for harvest.

Peas are tasting good.

Rob has beautiful bananas. He’s had them covered with blue bags for three months to assist with maturing and once they reached the size he wanted, off they came. They ripen once cut.



Our shop is closed while I’m away (the month of August) so we’ll have our beautiful 2025 calendars available in September and all our regular supplies ready to be ordered again then.
Enjoy the last month of winter!
Jan and Rob
4 Responses
Hi, I’m interested in what type of banana plants these are ?
Happy holiday to you Jan and thanks again for your fantastic blog – to you and to Rob. Cheers, Kate
Hey Murray and Rob, Greetings from Dean and Betty (SmarTours) in New Mexico. Speaking of capsicum seeds, Hatch, New Mexico is famous for the chile plants grown there, and boast to being the chile growing capital of the United States. We roast our chiles here, which makes a wonderful around town. Off on holiday again are you, safe travels to you and Rob.. I recently learned about potato chits from a friend who is an avid gardener.
Take care.
Hi, I am a friend of Dean and Betty and am new to your site, thanks to them. I have been experimenting with snapping of chits and starting potatoes plants. About to start my harvest while chiles are roasting here in New Mexico (USA) zone 6b