Looks fantastic, Cosmic! I like the look of the Golden Hubbard and Pink Banana. What are the best uses for them? Good for soup? Roasting? Steaming?

Glad you beat the birds to the peaches!

So what have you planted for autumn?

I'm not sure - first time I've grown them. I'll let you know in due course. They were very easy growers and good pollinators. There'll be plenty seed available for those who want some! I think Hubbard is probably good all rounder because I remember having it in South Africa when we lived there, Ill be trying it for soup too. Pink Banana ( I read on other forums) is good for pies too so I suspect its a firm flesh. I'm a roasted veg type of cook and will be trying it with other roasting veg - there's about 15 more coming on and thank goddesses my neighbour loves pumpkin! Planted for autumn ( thinking of the rows) More Lettuce ( can't live without it) Flat Leaf Parsley ( cos I hate paying for it) Green Heading Broccolli, Purple sprouting Brocolli, Italian Brocolli, Leeks, Carrots, Parsips, White Beetroot, Gold Beetroot, Red Beetroot (Bulls Bood) and Striped Beetroot ( Magic Lights or something)Parsnips, Baby salad carrots, Russian Garlic, French Garlic, Broad Beans, Snow Peas, English Spinach, Florence Fennel, Bok Choy, Cress, Brussels Sprouts, all mulched down with pea straw. I think that's about it but I've got about 6 sq metres unplanted so I'll find something else but have been told not to plant silver beet! Artichokes are coming to life and I've just winnowed seeds of those snapdragons your Mum admired if you want some. I'll be setting lots of flower seeds for Carousel's Kid friendly garden and will hopefully have a nice cheery show for spring. I'm taking Cundall's advice and putting the Broad Beans in now - he reckons you get better crops if you let them overwinter and they do make a good windbreak! My back is killing me...........need a peach or three!

Hi...CG...!!! WOW !!! all your veggies and fruit always look great those pumpkins are new to me I have never heard of them before let alone seen them thanks for the pics..Those peaches look terrific...bet they taste a lot better than the ones I took back to Coles yesterday as I am sick of paying $6 kg for garbage that taste like a lump of dried flour, no sorry thats no taste at all...I asked to see the manager as I wanted tell him about more than just peaches, but was told O sorry he is very busy at present what at 8.30am, bet he was not in the store.. I was told to go and get another 7 peaches but to take the white ones this time, I had one last night after dinner and it was just as bad..

Now that my pumpkins are ready for picking the price has gone down a lot $2.48 kg but why does the humble cabbage have to cost $9 each beats me. BirdsEye must be laughing all the way to the bank as frozen veggies are so cheap, two years ago hubby would not eat them no choice now, you would know that the supermarkets up here doubled the price of bananas overnight on Tuesday when Cyclone Larry dumped its load further North, bunch of thieves as their cold stores or warehouses are full of things like that probably last years too, people are refusing to buy anything that has doubled its price this week...

Today I planted seeds, of luttuce, spring onions, radish, basil, pak choi, for us and silverbeet for the chooks to eat in the winter when the grass goes brown, they managed to get their necks through the fence and ate some of those capscium so I put more wire there...The Black Russian tommys have fruit on them the size of apricots and the 232 spring onions I planted from the one punnet are coming on very well, but do I miss those broad beans here,( I tried but they got a type of rust ) when I lived in Melbourne I use to plant three packets just before my birthday every year mind you a lot never got to the pot nothing nicer than raw sweet baby BB they are up there with peas..Your Autumn planting sound great you will have lots to eat and to share well done,,and I reckon you are right about the rain you said we will get in the Autumn we got 9mm yesterday so thats a start and Cyclone Wati is out there. Cheers..MM.

My god - $9 for a cabbage - must have been a Tasmanian one! I stopped growing them on request from my family because they grow huge here. Peaches in supermarkets are crap because they are picked gree and ripened artificially. I picked mine just after he full moon when sugars have risen and even the few under ripe ones are sweet. These are yellow ons good for bottling but also nice to eat. I have alerted all my associates not to buy bananas that are imported. One of he reasons Peter Cundall suggests planting braod beans in autumn is that the collder weather over winter helps kill off any rust. ( I've got a recipe for somethingg somewhere too) Not sure how it would go in Brisbane, if it gets cold enough. It migh be worth a try.

Cosmigardener, did you experience the pleasure of gem squash when you were in South Africa? Definitely one of my favourites! I have introduced them to the local vegie growers and some have their childen fighting over them - no-one doesn't love them. If anyone wants seed to plant next Spring let me know - 1 or 2 seeds gives you enough squash (cricket ball size) for the season.

MM, at the school garden last year, our broad beans went wild, overgrew everything and heaps of beans. Glad when it was time to pull them out. They were planted in Autumn.

Cosmicgardener, your photos and food lists are making me hungry. Keep up the good work.

Hi GH I know of others who have grown them up your way too but I have no such luck here.
It may be just a little too warm, or maybe humid you would get more frosts than us down here I would think.
Never mind I will have lots of veggies on the go soon that do grow well here..Thanks anyway....Cheers..MM.

Yes, Koeksoetie, I did enjoy Gem squash with lots of butter and black pepper. My kids were raised on them! I'd love some seeds in due course. GH, they probably grew well because they were started in autumn because they are a cold weather crop, if you get frosts, it would be ideal because the soil would cool down, maybe you can send some to MM!

I've just planted 300 punnets of flower seeds for the childcare centre! Then within the hour of staggering to my massage chair, two of the Mums phoned and volunteered to help with the garden - bugger - we still have all the building work to get through but I'll be calling on them when the planting is due! Seems I've been appointed unpaid gardener as well as unpaid office manager and unpaid 'one who opens up at 6 am' and unpaid 'teach the kids about making bread' and assorted other stuff.......this is called retirement???

It's so wonderful that you care enough CG.
What a better place the world would be if there were more people like you...
And a few others on our GW Forums I can imagine how your back felt, and your energy levels.
Well done and keep up the good......Cheers..MM.

Sorry that should read

" Well done and keep up the good Work "

Cosmic, you seem to be very well covered with your autumn planting. Fantastic! But where is the Kohlrabi? Swedes? Purple Mustard? Rocket? Radishes? ;)

Gem Squash? That sounds fascinating. And did you see 'The Hairy Biker's Cookbook' on SBS last night? They traveled through Namibia and used Gem Squash in their cooking.

Sooo, if there are still some seeds for this squash I'd be very interested in growing it.

Must put in some Broad Beans now. Stagger them over the next few weeks. :)

Yeah right Spatz - I've got enough people wanting to give me work without you adding to it!!!

Misty - I've added 'unpaid demolition of ceilings and walls' and tomorrow we are going to cut out all the viewing windows. and start digging the trench for 70 metres of guttering to drain the car parking area. Builders labourer was never on my CV when I gave up the lecture circuit and lucrative school for no pay and hard slog!

The fellow across the road who raised the objection because "children are an abomination" has gone to ground after council unanimously approved everything and gave their full support to the project. So its all systems go now. We take a few littlies up there for a couple of hours every day so they can get used to the new place and they love it. We have been given a tame pig, some chickens, a cow and calf, some rabbits and ducks and we have two volunteer artists who will do a lot of internal murals and things, I love how people get behind each other in this place and it is rewarding. I do what I can and Bob is amazing but physically I still have some challenges, but I think the more you rise to a challenge the stronger you become. I've lost 3 kilos , so it has its side benefits! Saturdays are for my own garden work so I'd better get out there before Bob spits it and accuses me of delaying tactics!

all green veggies have been thru the roof :( we had to sell our cabbage/caulies at 5bucks to make a profit( and we lowered our markup too) ..we have a great cabbage/cauli supplier but his isnt quite ready, we can sell them for $2 or 2.50 during winter

they are down to 3 bucks atm

Hi Cosmic,this island is our land of plenty.The beautiful balmy days ripening all our veg's and fruit.I am growing heaps of stuff and trying to give it away.My strawberries have started again, passionfruit are eating well as are my neighbours golden del. apples.I have planted broccolli and sprouts and carrots.don't want to much as i am going up to the big island in June for 2/3 months.
This week i had to go out and get some fresh fish to go with all the veg. Got six big cocky salmon all over the kilo and four big pike, not bad for a couple of hours.
Wednesday a cruise liner came in for the day just below our house with over a thousand people on. Imagine how good our weather is when they were sunbaking around the pool.
Today my wife and i sat out on the back deck having lunch and coffee watching the yaughts sailing around. Tough life, but somebody has to do it.
Roughie

Yeah its a hard life. I have no time to fish lately but great neighbours who swap trout for veg. So we get a good supply. If you like to fish try a trip south and go to Gordon - plenty escapees from he salmon farms there and they've been in the wild long enough to taste like real salmon not farm clones. Yep my strawbs are giving me another go. Still on the lookout for canes for you. You were just a bit lae because we got rid of all ours 18 months ago because they were taking over and the birds got all the fruit.

Looks great Linda. You make Tassie sound like the Garden of Eden.. I guess it is for the Taswegians!