Beck’s Basics

Pulling Our Corn Plants and Preparing for the Next Crop What you can do with the old corn plants and how to prepare the bed for Autumn planting #becksbasics

I Love a Sunburnt County ….. But NOT a Sunburnt Tomato With the weather now really heating up for the latter part of Summer, the intensity of the sun can be damaging to tomatoes. In the past I’ve had tomatoes cook in the greenhouse and get burned on the plant (like the one in the picture here) in really hot sun. So…. a couple of tips on how to avoid damage from REALLY hot sun: - provide overhead protection for tomato plants by covering with shade cloth, cardboard, a sheet or towel draped over trellises in the REALLY hot parts of the day - protect plants from radiating heat from metal fences by placing cardboard, a towel or old blanket between the fence and the plants - if you’re growing in a greenhouse, open roof vents, windows and the door in the heat of the day - water each morning (not evening) so that the plants have sufficient moisture to last the hot day - DON’T water in the heat of the day - this can burn your plants and fruit - ensure plants are well mulched to keep in the moisture #becksbasics

Choosing Garden Stakes #becksbasics

Take Care in the Garden! Remember: They live in OUR environment but we live in THEIR environment, too😁😁 #becksbasics

TEA TIME TIP What is Mushroom Compost and How Do You Use It? #becksbasics

FREE PLANTS!! 🌱 🌱 Saving and growing seeds from fruit and veges you’ve bought or grown is a wonderful way to save money and expand your garden. It’s VERY easy. Be mindful, though, that saving and growing seeds from fruit like apples, peaches, citrus, etc will take many years to yield fruit and trees may not produce the type of fruit you ate as most of these trees are grafted (it’s a complicated story - just trust me on this one 😁😁). So save seeds like pumpkin, cucumber, (in fact most veges) tomato, berries, etc. Don’t forget to share this post with others who may benefit💕 https://t.me/becksbasics

Saving seeds from your garden saves you money, ensures you have good quality and fresh seeds for the following season. It’s super easy and extremely rewarding. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s2CPLw_YGHQ&t=7s https://t.me/becksbasics #becksbasics

TEA TIME TIP How to Save Bean Seed To save bean seed from your own plants to sow next Spring: 1. Choose several bean plants to save seed from (allow for about 5 seeds saved from each plant) 2. When harvesting your beans to eat, ensure you leave one well formed bean on the plant and allow it to continue to grow and develop fully. You can continue to harvest other beans from the plant during the season but leave the bean you’re going to keep for seed on the plant 3. Allow the plants to die back completely at the end of the growing season and for the bean pod to dry out with the plant 4. Once the plants and pods have become dry and papery, remove the pods from the plants and open them and remove the seed 5. Save only the best seeds and discard any small or shrivelled seed. Your been seeds should look plump and not shrivelled. 6. Lay your seed out on paper in a dry spot out of the sun and allow to dry for a week. 7. Store your seed in paper packets in a cool dry place until next Spring #becksbasics

TEA TIME TIP How to Save Corn Seed To save corn seed from your own plants to sow next Spring: 1. Choose at least two of your BEST corn plants - it’s important to have seed from more than one plant to maintain genetic diversity. 2. Allow at least one ear/cob of corn from each plant to fully mature and dry out COMPLETELY on the plant. Do not pick them off the plant until the husks (outside papery covering) are dried out and the corn kernels are hard and wrinkled 3. Remove the ears of corn from the plants and peel back husks WITHOUT tearing them away from the ear (as per the picture here) 4. Hang up or lay out the ears in a dry space out of direct sunlight to dry out completely to reduce the risk of mould formation. Your corn kernels are ready when then are very hard and dry 5. Remove corn seed from the cob by holding the cob with both hands and twisting in opposite directions. The seed should come off relatively easily. 6. Store seed in paper packets until next season’s planting #becksbasics

TEA TIME TIP Seedlings or direct planting? Although we can buy or raise seedlings to transplant into our garden, some vegetables need to be planted directly into the position we’re growing them to get the best results. This is mostly due to the delicate root systems of these plants which can be damaged or deformed in the transplanting process. Some examples of veges that will grow best when planted directly into their final growing position are: ⁃ carrots ⁃ parsnips ⁃ melons ⁃ peas ⁃ beans ⁃ radish ⁃ spinach ⁃ beetroot ⁃ cabbage So, if you’re growing these veges, buy or save seed and plant them directly into the ground or pot rather than buying or raising seedlings to transplant later. Please share: https://t.me/becksbasics/265

TEA TIME TIP How long to grow that veg? Great question from Pamela on this. Here’s a list of common veg and how long they take from sowing seeds to harvest (depending on the variety of each veg): - beans: 2 months - beetroot: 2 months - broccoli: 2-3 months - cabbage: 2-3 months - capsicum: 3 months - carrots: 2-3 months - cauliflower: 2-3 months - corn: 3 months - cucumbers: 2 months - eggplant: 3 months - lettuce: 1-2 months - melons: 2-3 months - onions: 3 months - parsnips: 4-6 months - peas: 3 months - potatoes: 3 months - pumpkin: 4 months - spinach: 1-2 months - silverbeet: 2-3 months - spring onions: 2 months - squash: 3-4 months - sweet potatoes: 3-4 months - tomatoes (full sized): 2-3 months - tomatoes (cherry): 2 months Please share: https://t.me/becksbasics/403

Note on Picking Corn It is CRITICAL that you don’t leave it too late to harvest your corn. If you do, it can lose its juiciness and sweetness. We just had some of our harvest for dinner - the older cobs were definitely less juicy and not very tasty or sweet. The ones picked while they were younger were much better. So heads up! Pick your corn earlier rather than later 💕💕

Anyone else harvesting Anasazi Sweet Corn at the moment? How beautiful do the colours of the kernels on these cobs look while at the same time a little weird?😂😂

ORGANIC, NON-GMO, NON-HYRID, HEIRLOOM Vegetable Seeds - Autumn/Winter planting varieties Each pack contains enough seed for one season - so you have super fresh seed each season which is more likely to germinate. Posting Australia-wide only **NOT posting to WA or TAS due to quarantine restrictions   Beetroot - 30 seeds $2.50 Broad Beans - 20 seeds $2.50 Broccoli - 20 seeds $2.00 Cabbage (Golden Acre Green) - 20 seeds $2.00 Cabbage (Red) - 20 seeds $2.00 Carrot (All Season) - 100 seeds $1.50 Carrot/Radish Mix (to make sowing easier) - 100 seeds $1.50 Cauliflower - 20 seeds $2.00 Celery - 20 seeds  Fennel - 10 seeds $2.00 Kale - 20 seeds $2.00 Leek - 20 seeds $2.00 Lettuce (Iceberg, Cos, or Salad Mix) - 100 seeds $2.00 Onions (Brown) - 20 seeds $2.00 Parsnip - 50 seeds $2.00 Peas (Greenfeast) - 30 seeds $2.50 Radish - 30 seeds $2.50 Rocket - 100 seeds  Silverbeet - 20 seeds $2.50 Spring Onions - 20 seeds $2.00 DM me for orders

TIME TO THINK OF NEXT SEASON If your summer crops are coming to an end, it’s time to start preparing for Autumn planting. As promised, here are our Autumn/Winter seed varieties which are available now and for the next few months. I’ll get garlic in for you in a few weeks once the weather starts to cool down enough to plant garlic. Please message me directly if you’d like to place an order. As always, I want you to have the best success in your garden - that’s why I’ve tried to make the best seeds available to you - I hope it’s helpful. 🙂🙂 Thank you all so very much for your support. 💕💕Beck

End of the growing period for your cucumbers? What should plant next and how to prepare the bed. #becksbasics

How to tell if corn is ready to harvest. #becksbasics

Beautiful harvest today. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video on how to tell if your corn is ready to harvest. What are you harvesting today? Post your photos in the comments 💕💕Beck

https://www.youtube.com/embed/u7F0Z5whjkA #becksbasics Important to share this one please folks🙏👍