The Backyard Vegetable

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.

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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!

14/05/2026

These are fine nurseries.

This one is a good one! BUY 1 Vegetable Seedling and get 1 Free. 🥦Or you could say, 2 for the price of one? But which ever way you put it, I would just say its a REALLY good deal!

Now is the time to get those winter vegetable seedlings in to the soil. Melbourne is pushing out this PERFECT planting weather and we want you to reap the benefits. We don't do this very often, but we know times are tough and those checkout prices at the supermarket are just going up and up. SAVE big and start growing your own food. 🥕

ALL VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS that are usually $5.95 each are included in the sale.

SALE is on Saturday and Sunday ONLY and only while stocks last.... get in early before they sell out.

This GREAT deal is on at both locations:
📍4 Banksia St Heidelberg
📍126 York Rd Mt Evelyn

14/05/2026

The gardener’s lament!

14/05/2026

Autumn in the food garden - things to do in May:

Food for people ready now: early season mandarins, lemons, limes, cherry guavas, feijoas, pomegranates, rhubarb, silverbeet, salad greens, parsley, coriander, the last of the beans and cucumbers, potatoes, fennel seed, Warrigal greens.
Persimmons are just starting to ripen.

Food for bees blooming now: chrysanthemum, calendula, dahlias, salvias, plectranthus, Japanese windflower, fuchsias, salvias, African daisies, marigolds and roses.

Sow these vegies now: Asian greens, broad beans (soaking overnight in a weak seaweed solution apparently helps speed up germination - testing this!), broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce and other salad greens, spring onions, spinach.

Sow these herbs now: coriander, chervil, and judging by the number of seedlings popping up here, parsley too!

Green manure crops can be sown now to rejuvenate vegie beds: tic beans or broad beans, dun peas, mustards, ryecorn, or oats.

Seeds will be slower to germinate in the cool weather. A simple greenhouse – even just a plastic bag over the seed tray/pot will get them moving a bit more quickly.

Plant now: garlic

Among the fruit trees and berries:

Clean up any fallen fruit or diseased leaves. Some experienced gardeners recommend a light feed with a potassium-rich organic fertiliser too.

If Curly Leaf has been a problem on stone fruit, be diligent in clearing away fallen leaves, and apply a copper-based spray. As this can affect good soil fungi too, cover the soil below the tree with an old sheet while you spray.

Remove finished berry canes, tie up new canes that will fruit next season and spread compost and or fertiliser to give the plants a boost.

Keep a watchful eye out for Queensland Fruit Fly in any remaining fruit. Warm days may allow the flies to be active enough to infest fruit like mandarins and cumquats. (Search this page for more information about this destructive pest.)

It's time to collect autumn leaves, manure, straw etc to make a nice big compost heap that will brew over winter and be ready for spring plantings.

13/05/2026

SOLD
One of the things to do in May is to plant cool season greens.
We have one more ‘Eat Your Greens’ collection waiting to get into a garden.

9 seedlings; cultivation notes; 4 packs of seed. $20

28/04/2026

We don’t have quite this variety at the moment, but there are two ‘Eat Your Greens’ collections available.

A selection of green vegies that will grow through the cooler months.

9 advanced seedlings plus seeds, plant descriptions and cultivation notes.
$20

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Diversity is the basis of a healthy garden ecosystem. 🐞🐝🦋🐜🕷️🦎🪰🪲

The Backyard Vegetable will be selling a range of flowering and edible plants shortly.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming post with pictures of the available range.

25/04/2026

Pest control!

Golden Orb Weaver versus Bronze-orange Citrus Bug.
Spider wins.

20/04/2026

Even though the days are cooler Queensland Fruit Fly is still around unfortunately.