Sweet potato harvest

I noticed the other day that some of the sweet potatoes where rotting in the ground so although my initial idea was to just let the vines keep growing I dug them all up and replanted some of the tubers



12.5 kgs worth, not bad considering we have been picking them for at least 6 months now to eat and give away.
If you live in a mild climate then try growing sweet potatoes just buy some tubers from the super market and stil in ground just under the surface not deep like you would potatoes. They like a long growing season so it will be autumn when they are getting ready to start harvesting.

Ph problems

I have an embarassing admision. My silver beet ( apparently the easiest thing for newbie gardeners to grow) is dismal. After 3 months it looks like this



Yes that's it in the plastic container! Now I have grown silver beet fine before but this year it just doesn't want to happen. After fertilizing it with varying substances with no luck I decided to check the ph and got a suprise



It was 8 which is quite alkaline. Vegies normally like neutral to slightly acidic. I think the fault here was a load of mushroom compost that I got last year. They add lime to the compost to sweeten it. Lesson learnt check the ph of your bulk manures. Not helped by the fact that before I checked it I limed the area as well :-(

Anyway reading up seems I can add sulphur to lower the ph, lots of compost will lower it as well aparently but takes a long time. I'll see if the sulfur makes a difference be an interesting experiment.

Time for bean planting

Things have been getting a bit warmer here and I'm starting to plant some stuff. Beans went in today reusing the frame intended for the ill fated rock melons last year.



Placed it amongst the leeks as they will be all gone soon. Especially when Ros keeps pulling them out for dinner!

Tatties for tea

Hmm new season potatoes!