The ducks are frustrated in the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden!

Date posted: 23 July 2021

Netting saves the day

The tasty veg include: lettuces, beetroot, kohl rabi, cabbages, cauliflowers, kale, mustard, turnips and comfrey.

It’s so lovely in the Kitchen Garden with these new additions… so why are the ducks frustrated?

They love to nibble on leafy green vegetables so we have had to protect these tasty veg with netting.

There are a pair of ducks that gaze wistfully at the green vegetables through the netting most mornings. They were even eating kale, so we had to cover that as well!

You can cover up your fruit and veg with netting to help protect them too. Help keep birds and bats safe by choosing your netting wisely: make sure it has a mesh size of 5mm or less at full stretch and is white in colour.

How to use white oil on pests

Do you have sucking insects such as aphids munching on your crops? Consider using an easily home-made white oil to keep them at bay.

Ingredients for a batch of white oil

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup dishwashing detergent (grey water safe, if you can)

1 litre of water.

Method

Mix 1 cup of this mixture with 5 litres of water. Pour into a spray bottle and spray the offending insects, making sure to coat the leaves on both sides well. You may need to reapply a few times throughout the season.

Fruit fly update

Adelaide CBD, including Adelaide Botanic Garden, was put in a fruit fly Red Outbreak area by PIRSA in May 2021. This has meant certain fruits and vegetables must be kept, processed or disposed of on-site (there are dedicated fruit fly bins); none can leave the garden.

Because of this, we have unfortunately not been able to send our school, pre-school and OSHC learners home with the full range of vegetables we would like.

They have been able to take kale in vast quantities, but the capsicums, eggplants, and other fruit and vegetables that fruit fly love have instead been donated to Restaurant Botanic, where they are being processed and used in their cooking!

You can read more about the fruit fly outbreak and what you can and can't bring into the garden here.

So what’s growing in the garden next?

We are currently growing sweet peas on the trellis and they're beginning to take off.

We are planning our plantings for August; tomatoes; potatoes, broad beans, corn and maize varieties..... and lots of flowers to attract the pollinators!

The rain has been most welcome but we could certainly use some more to get them off to a great start.

Kitchen Garden Workshops

Our kitchen garden workshops are friendly ways to give you practical, hands-on knowledge of how to start and maintain a kitchen garden of your own. Held on Sunday afternoons in Adelaide Botanic Garden, there is a workshop to suit everyone! Find out more here.

Happy sprouting, gardening friends!