Veges
Spring Veg
07 June 2008 20:33 Filed in: Planting
The main vege beds are full and spring veges are
assured! As well as leaving in the last of the
current carrots and silverbeet they have:
- spinach
- red onions
- broad beans (two varieties)
- peas (tall ones this year)
- potatoes
- lettuces
- silverbeet (more bright lights :)
- garlic (elephant garlic this year)
- shallots
- pak choi
- red cabbages
- cilantro
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Winter planting
15 May 2008 20:15 Filed in: Planning
It's that time of year again; I'm planning for winter
and spring.
The broad bean and pea seeds arrived yesterday, the bulb orders went in over the weekend, and there are punnets of lettuce, rocket and onions waiting for a chance to get planted. Another silverbeet glut is only a few weeks away :)
This year the picture is added to by the chooks who are moulting and looking decidedly autumnal. They seem completely cheerful as the hoon around looking raggedy (particularly the girl who lost all her tail feathers in one go) and retain their passion for sunflower seeds and puha.
The real challenge is working out the planting plan for the mound by the pond with the nectarine. The plants need to handle clay, but won't drown as it's a mound, need to be beautiful year round as they're next to the pond, but I still want seasonal variation.
I'm thinking about a spinossima rose as I think the hips are gorgeous, but pink flowers will need some thought :)
In other rose news the Souvenir de la Malmaison growing around the compost is still growing madly; it should be gorgeous next spring, and the Graham Thomas is also holding out against winter.
The broad bean and pea seeds arrived yesterday, the bulb orders went in over the weekend, and there are punnets of lettuce, rocket and onions waiting for a chance to get planted. Another silverbeet glut is only a few weeks away :)
This year the picture is added to by the chooks who are moulting and looking decidedly autumnal. They seem completely cheerful as the hoon around looking raggedy (particularly the girl who lost all her tail feathers in one go) and retain their passion for sunflower seeds and puha.
The real challenge is working out the planting plan for the mound by the pond with the nectarine. The plants need to handle clay, but won't drown as it's a mound, need to be beautiful year round as they're next to the pond, but I still want seasonal variation.
I'm thinking about a spinossima rose as I think the hips are gorgeous, but pink flowers will need some thought :)
In other rose news the Souvenir de la Malmaison growing around the compost is still growing madly; it should be gorgeous next spring, and the Graham Thomas is also holding out against winter.
Snakes in the garden
13 April 2008 19:33 Filed in: Harvesting
Life has been busy, and the garden's been thriving.
My discovery for this season has been the
'Rampicante' zucchini I got from King's. They haven't
grown like zucchini, but they're very grown! Huge
vines all over the boardwalk by the pond, and the
strangest fruit!
This one ended up at 95cm long, which is more than I could contemplate cooking in a single go.
The raspberries also grew more than we could eat, as did the paste tomatoes and the basil. So I've been giving away eggs, silverbeet, basil, and raspberries. Oh and plenty of baby fish :)
It really is the end of the season now, only a few raspberries left, the tomatoes are slowing down and the basil is getting mildewy. On the up side the grapes have just started to ripen, and the chinese gooseberries are looking like they're going to be great in a few months. The kohlrabi are just coming through too, having grown caterpillars for the chooks they're going to be dinner for me very shortly :)
I'm hoping to spend some of next weekend planting the winter crops. Two varieties of broad beans I think, plus peas, lettuces, more silverbeet, spinach and maybe potatoes. Then I'll see how much room I've got to sneak in some treats like some beautiful beetroot and radishes.
This one ended up at 95cm long, which is more than I could contemplate cooking in a single go.
The raspberries also grew more than we could eat, as did the paste tomatoes and the basil. So I've been giving away eggs, silverbeet, basil, and raspberries. Oh and plenty of baby fish :)
It really is the end of the season now, only a few raspberries left, the tomatoes are slowing down and the basil is getting mildewy. On the up side the grapes have just started to ripen, and the chinese gooseberries are looking like they're going to be great in a few months. The kohlrabi are just coming through too, having grown caterpillars for the chooks they're going to be dinner for me very shortly :)
I'm hoping to spend some of next weekend planting the winter crops. Two varieties of broad beans I think, plus peas, lettuces, more silverbeet, spinach and maybe potatoes. Then I'll see how much room I've got to sneak in some treats like some beautiful beetroot and radishes.
The harvest so far (spring to midsummer 2007-2008)
02 February 2008 15:23 Filed in: Harvesting
- Silverbeet (two crops)
- Peas (two crops)
- Broad beans
- Lettuces (successive plantings)
- Spinach
- Mesclun
- Basil (sweet, black and cinnamon)
- Perennial and biennial herbs (a wide variety including various thymes, parsleys, lemon balm, chives, garlic chives, marjoram, oregano, winter savoury, lovage, bay)
- Zucchini
- Coriander
- Rhubarb
- Beans (yellow bush)
- Cress
- Corn salad
- Sorrel
- Carrots
- Radishes
- Dill
- Garlic
- Shallots
- Plum (yep, one plum from a new tree)
- Black currants
- Blueberries (just starting, and again new plants so a very restricted crop)
- Raspberries (the summer flush on autumn varieties)
- Gooseberries
Lots of little things
20 January 2008 20:26 Filed in: Doing
There are baby fish in the pond and legs on the
tadpoles! It feels strangely springlike for
midsummer.
The big task for the weekend was reorganising the compost; using the last of one pile and turning the other. The compost got used on the main group of tomatoes, which have baby tomatoes showing; on the gooseberries, which did well this year and deserve encouragement; and on the lemon tree which produced a nice crop of lemons and needed a feed.
I took advantage of the compost around the tomatoes to express optimism by planting some vines at the feet of the tomatoes:
The same need to squeeze things in lead to me fitting some more lettuces in around the sweetcorn (which is still not thriving) and some more basil in amongst the rest.
Sadly I'll need to replant the fennel seeds from last week as the chooks took advantage of the compost rearrangement to get into the vege garden briefly and scratched up the baby plants. Otherwise not too much damage I think, surprising as they had access to silverbeet.
The big task for the weekend was reorganising the compost; using the last of one pile and turning the other. The compost got used on the main group of tomatoes, which have baby tomatoes showing; on the gooseberries, which did well this year and deserve encouragement; and on the lemon tree which produced a nice crop of lemons and needed a feed.
I took advantage of the compost around the tomatoes to express optimism by planting some vines at the feet of the tomatoes:
- Melon 'Tigger Moon'
- Buttercup squash
- Apple cucumber
The same need to squeeze things in lead to me fitting some more lettuces in around the sweetcorn (which is still not thriving) and some more basil in amongst the rest.
Sadly I'll need to replant the fennel seeds from last week as the chooks took advantage of the compost rearrangement to get into the vege garden briefly and scratched up the baby plants. Otherwise not too much damage I think, surprising as they had access to silverbeet.
The vege garden is chocka again
13 January 2008 13:55 Filed in: Planting
Once again my weekend vege gardening effort has been
finishing a harvest and squeezing something else in.
I don't know how people manage proper crop rotation, I'm forever squeezing something into the gap left when I harvest something else, so big planning just doesn't seem to happen. I do try to rotate in a general way, so the dwarf beans went where there had been brassicas, the potatoes went where the broad beans were, the next crop of broad beans will go where there are currently alliums.
I have given up on the original place I put the sweetcorn, so I've moved it into the main vege garden, half replaces the end of the last crop of silver beet, half is in the next section squeezed in between lettuces than only have a fortnight or so to live. The new crop of silverbeet is now harvestable, although the ones the chooks got at are probably a week away, so the very end of the previous crop is in the kitchen waiting to be made into quiche.
I also harvested the garlic, washed it (using the washing water on the pear tree) and started it drying. It's been replaced with four more lots of florence fennel seeds (the previous planting is doing well).
The plantings of bush beans are now flowering, so beans shouldn't be far away either.
I'm still not sure how heavily I should be fertilising the vege garden. As the soil is new and good I didn't fertilise the first crops, and now I'm just adding a couple of centimetres of compost each time I replant. I use a seaweed foliar feed once a fortnight or so, but nothing else. I don't know if I should be adding something like blood-and-bone, but at the moment everything's doing ok.
I don't know how people manage proper crop rotation, I'm forever squeezing something into the gap left when I harvest something else, so big planning just doesn't seem to happen. I do try to rotate in a general way, so the dwarf beans went where there had been brassicas, the potatoes went where the broad beans were, the next crop of broad beans will go where there are currently alliums.
I have given up on the original place I put the sweetcorn, so I've moved it into the main vege garden, half replaces the end of the last crop of silver beet, half is in the next section squeezed in between lettuces than only have a fortnight or so to live. The new crop of silverbeet is now harvestable, although the ones the chooks got at are probably a week away, so the very end of the previous crop is in the kitchen waiting to be made into quiche.
I also harvested the garlic, washed it (using the washing water on the pear tree) and started it drying. It's been replaced with four more lots of florence fennel seeds (the previous planting is doing well).
The plantings of bush beans are now flowering, so beans shouldn't be far away either.
I'm still not sure how heavily I should be fertilising the vege garden. As the soil is new and good I didn't fertilise the first crops, and now I'm just adding a couple of centimetres of compost each time I replant. I use a seaweed foliar feed once a fortnight or so, but nothing else. I don't know if I should be adding something like blood-and-bone, but at the moment everything's doing ok.
Photos from a windy summer day
12 January 2008 12:17 Filed in: Pictures
This time with pictures
09 January 2008 19:33 Filed in: Pictures
Sprouting seeds in rainwater
08 January 2008 21:37 Filed in: Doing
If it wasn't raining so hard I would take photos of
all the beautiful seedlings pushing their heads above
the soil. Although if it wasn't raining so hard
perhaps they wouldn't be growing so well.
After a few days away I came home to bush beans unfurling, little groups of kohlrabi (so obviously brassicas) and cilantro and dill (already feathery). The beetroot need thinning once I can get outside again, and the last few peas that haven't caught hold of the netting will need propping up against the wind.
Oh, and I have one meal of black currants and one meal of gooseberries left to be picked.
The garden is a constant joy at this time of year, every day there is change and growth. Each meal can have something fresh in it – particularly if it's silverbeet! :)
After a few days away I came home to bush beans unfurling, little groups of kohlrabi (so obviously brassicas) and cilantro and dill (already feathery). The beetroot need thinning once I can get outside again, and the last few peas that haven't caught hold of the netting will need propping up against the wind.
Oh, and I have one meal of black currants and one meal of gooseberries left to be picked.
The garden is a constant joy at this time of year, every day there is change and growth. Each meal can have something fresh in it – particularly if it's silverbeet! :)
Replanting the vege gardens in midsummer
29 December 2007 14:47 Filed in: Planting
The replanting is done, well for now anyway :)
I'd already taken out the peas and broad beans, and reduced the silverbeet, mesclun, carrots and lettuces by eating them. A couple of days ago a new row of peas went in and I bought a couple of punnets of plants, so I was ready to go!
Today I took out almost all of the rest of the gone-to-seed silverbeet, the last of the carrots, and the last two lettuces in one row. So with all the space I planted:
In general I'm pretty pleased with how it's go so far. The rotation is mostly working – once the broad beans go in each section will have had a legume season. What I'm not managing so well is constant production, I'll have a couple of weeks of total glut of one kind or another, weeks like this one where there are relatively limited options (leafy green things and the last of the carrots), and then the occasional well balanced fortnight.
And before I forget, the tomatoes are fascinating me. Clearly the ones in the lemon garden are much happier than the ones in the front garden. The lemon garden ones are huge happy plants and I expect to start seeing tomatoes soon. The front garden ones get solid morning sun but not so much in the afternoon, and it shows.
I'd already taken out the peas and broad beans, and reduced the silverbeet, mesclun, carrots and lettuces by eating them. A couple of days ago a new row of peas went in and I bought a couple of punnets of plants, so I was ready to go!
Today I took out almost all of the rest of the gone-to-seed silverbeet, the last of the carrots, and the last two lettuces in one row. So with all the space I planted:
- Beans – Roquefort (the last fornight of the progressive planting I started a little over a month ago).
- Red onions – California red
- Potatoes – unlabelled well sprouted ones from the cupboard :)
- Kohlrabi – Early Purple Vienna
- Carrots – Mini sweet, the same as the ones I'll eat the last of this weekend
- Coriander – Indian Summer
- Parsley – Flat leaved, this time in the blueberry garden as the ones in the herb garden were replaced by the summer basil crop last week
- Dill – Bouquet
- Lettuce – a mixture
In general I'm pretty pleased with how it's go so far. The rotation is mostly working – once the broad beans go in each section will have had a legume season. What I'm not managing so well is constant production, I'll have a couple of weeks of total glut of one kind or another, weeks like this one where there are relatively limited options (leafy green things and the last of the carrots), and then the occasional well balanced fortnight.
And before I forget, the tomatoes are fascinating me. Clearly the ones in the lemon garden are much happier than the ones in the front garden. The lemon garden ones are huge happy plants and I expect to start seeing tomatoes soon. The front garden ones get solid morning sun but not so much in the afternoon, and it shows.
Using up carrots
26 December 2007 19:38 Filed in: Cooking
The usual combination, two days of strong winds form the north (and some heavy rain) so today it turned round and a southerly front came through with thunderstorms and heavy rain.
In the gap I managed to pull up all the past-their-best plants from the southern vege bed and get a row of peas in. I also pulled almost the last of the carrots and made chilled carrot and orange soup. Which, with fresh rye bread, was a damned fine lunch.
The bread is a current favourite; I've finally found a good rye recipe. The trick is burnt sugar and caraway seeds, plus it's only 25% rye flour :) Today's loaves were baked baguette style, so sprayed with water every two minutes at the beginning and cooked really hot.
It's been a cooking couple of days, yesterday I made the best ever date scones and I know I'll never manage to reproduce them. They were made with dodgy old dates (soaked in orange juice) and the dough was way too wet – so a lucky accident I think.
Then, to continue the theme, I spent the evening shelling the last of the broad beans. Once they're blanched for freezing they lose the colour, but at least until then they're beautiful!
A real Wellington weekend
17 December 2007 07:44 Filed in: Doing
It feels like the house will blow away, and I'm
worried about the damson plum in the front garden.
The roses are losing petals in small snowstorms (the
photo is my first ever Graham Thomas flower) but
there are more buds for later
The vege gardens are coming along well; the peas and beans are nearly done, the rocket is looking well, and the corn has germinated and is growing like crazy. I'm trying to wrap my head around how much change there is in the main vege gardens, they look so different week to week as I take out some big tall plants and replace them with seeds or seedlings. I kinda like this as the shape of the garden and the view on the pond will keep changing.
The pond is the big drama at the moment; today the liner is being replaced with a non leaking one, also this one will be EPDM so it should be much more robust. I ordered one group of the pond edge plants yesterday, and hopefully will order the rest in the next day or two – so the pond should be done very very shortly.
The other big changes around here are the chooks; they're loving free-ish ranging, and clearly look forward to me coming home from work and letting them out. The vege garden protection is getting more settled, the trick seems to be a visible low firm barrier (e.g. a half width of plastic mesh) coupled with a couple of wobbly looking string lines so the chooks don't feel they can land half way.
The vege gardens are coming along well; the peas and beans are nearly done, the rocket is looking well, and the corn has germinated and is growing like crazy. I'm trying to wrap my head around how much change there is in the main vege gardens, they look so different week to week as I take out some big tall plants and replace them with seeds or seedlings. I kinda like this as the shape of the garden and the view on the pond will keep changing.
The pond is the big drama at the moment; today the liner is being replaced with a non leaking one, also this one will be EPDM so it should be much more robust. I ordered one group of the pond edge plants yesterday, and hopefully will order the rest in the next day or two – so the pond should be done very very shortly.
The other big changes around here are the chooks; they're loving free-ish ranging, and clearly look forward to me coming home from work and letting them out. The vege garden protection is getting more settled, the trick seems to be a visible low firm barrier (e.g. a half width of plastic mesh) coupled with a couple of wobbly looking string lines so the chooks don't feel they can land half way.
Highs and Lows
The weekend started up a ladder, then on top of the pergola rearranging the female chinese gooseberry. I've disentangled her from the willow and now she's now draped across the supports, so if the willow branch goes she'll survive. Next week I'll feed her; which will mean pulling back the decaying branches around her roots, putting a bag of zoodoo, some blood and bone, and a couple of grow tabs down, before putting the branches back.
I've never really understood why the female was planted at the shady end, but with a little bit of spoiling she should start doing as well as the male.
In the photo as well as the pond and the chinese gooseberry there are the squash (planted by the base of the male), three Guinée roses, and the two Adam elderberries planted last year. The elderberries have survived remarkably well given the earth moving equipment that hung out there for a while.
The chooks kept me busy, having worked out how to get over the low fences on the raspberry and blueberry beds, so there was quite a lot of chasing followed by some fencing improvements. I'm trying to work out what is enough for them, I've added a couple of strings to the top of the 65cm fence around the raspberry bed taking the total height to more like 85cm.The chooks can definitely fly that high, but they don't seem to like the fact they can't land on the string so it's working so far.
I also took out the last of the spinach and corn salad, and shortened the row of carrots (carrot soup!) which left me enough room to put in a punnet of spinach and another of silverbeet. There'll also be room for a few more rows of beans, which I'm planning to plant fortnightly. The last bit of planting was a punnet of cornflowers in the blueberry bed to replace some pansies.
Watering everything is turning into a bit of a mission, particularly as I haven't found the energy this weekend to put in as many watering lines as I'd hoped. The squash, tomatoes, and black-, boysen- and goose- berries are still being watered by hand. The rest are either on watering lines or can be reached by the sprinkler. So quite a lot of hose dragging. I did manage watering lines for the herb garden and blueberry bed though, both of which seem to be working well.
On the down side I'm anaemic and overworked and spent a lot of the weekend napping, so not as much progress as I'd've hoped. I have the next two days off work, so I should be able to make a little more progress, perhaps even get more of the front path weeded!
The chooks are out
The chooks left the chookery for the first time
today, very very cautiously. It's been a really hot
day so they spent a lot of time hanging out under the
trees, but now it's cooled down are exploring the
bank under the plums.
Sometimes the way they move in a group reminds me of fish; it's not just that they stick near each other it's the way they move in sync.
As well as running plastic mesh around the garden to keep the plants safe, I got heaps of planting done:
Sometimes the way they move in a group reminds me of fish; it's not just that they stick near each other it's the way they move in sync.
As well as running plastic mesh around the garden to keep the plants safe, I got heaps of planting done:
- Grapes – Golden Chasselas, Albany Surprise, Iona and Steuben
- Squash – Rampicante
- Beetroot – Bulls' Blood seeds
- Bush Beans – Roquefort seeds
- Florence Fennel – Orion F1
- Melons – Tigger Moon and French Charentais (inside)
- Watermelons – Moon and Stars (also).
The veges are in
09 June 2007 21:57 Filed in: Planting
Today I planted the vege gardens; the soil is in,
they're pretty safe from harm, so K's agreed I can
plant them this weekend.
As you can see the stepping stones haven't arrived, so there's spare macrocarpa standing in. The seat and handrails are also still to come, but the seeds and seedlings are in! I enjoyed all the measuring and counting and lining things up – I'm sure they'll get messy over time but right now they're very precise.
I planted:
As you can see the stepping stones haven't arrived, so there's spare macrocarpa standing in. The seat and handrails are also still to come, but the seeds and seedlings are in! I enjoyed all the measuring and counting and lining things up – I'm sure they'll get messy over time but right now they're very precise.
I planted:
- Silverbeet – Rainbow Chard
- Peas – Petit Provençal
- Mesclun – Italian
- Broad Beans – Dwarf Early Green
- Lettuces
- Carrots – Mini Sweet
- Onion – Stuttgart Longkeeper
- Shallots – French Red
- Leeks
- Garlic
- Radishes
- Spinach
- Corn Salad – Verte de Cambrai
- Cress – Broadleaf
Late Autumn
07 May 2007 00:08 Filed in: Pictures
I think that we’ve reached the end of the tomatoes —
the sungold cherry tomatoes were definitely the
outstanding performers and are on next year’s must
have list. The paste tomatoes aren’t too bad either,
but the rest hated the slow start to summer and
didn’t make it to red.
The sweet peas are also winding down, with seed pods galore and only wind battered flowers left. The mulberry has already lost its leaves, perhaps because it’s exposed to the northerly and we’ve had a few over the last few weeks. I’m hoping that planting Raubritter up wind from it next year might give it some protection, but it’s been pretty happy and has lots of glossy buds waiting for spring.
The grape and persimmon are also losing their leaves — I can’t wait until the persimmon gets a little bigger, the leaves are truly gorgeous as they change and it works well next to the grape.
The herb and flower bed along the front of the house is still going strong, the pineapple sage is stunning (possibly because it was also delayed by the summer), and the alliums, salvia and oregano are also in full bloom, I’m enjoying the salvia more than I thought I would, the strangely curled flower stalks make a strong display and the bumble bees love it.
Anyhow, lots of late autumn tasks to do, the roses need to be tied up once I disentangle them from the sweet peas, then I should weed and mulch that bed. Although I really need to get some seeds in pots today and the daylilies need temporary homes for the next few weeks.
The sweet peas are also winding down, with seed pods galore and only wind battered flowers left. The mulberry has already lost its leaves, perhaps because it’s exposed to the northerly and we’ve had a few over the last few weeks. I’m hoping that planting Raubritter up wind from it next year might give it some protection, but it’s been pretty happy and has lots of glossy buds waiting for spring.
The grape and persimmon are also losing their leaves — I can’t wait until the persimmon gets a little bigger, the leaves are truly gorgeous as they change and it works well next to the grape.
The herb and flower bed along the front of the house is still going strong, the pineapple sage is stunning (possibly because it was also delayed by the summer), and the alliums, salvia and oregano are also in full bloom, I’m enjoying the salvia more than I thought I would, the strangely curled flower stalks make a strong display and the bumble bees love it.
Anyhow, lots of late autumn tasks to do, the roses need to be tied up once I disentangle them from the sweet peas, then I should weed and mulch that bed. Although I really need to get some seeds in pots today and the daylilies need temporary homes for the next few weeks.
Selecting Seeds
25 April 2007 21:15 Filed in: Planting
I think the autumn seed orders are done. I just sent
off orders to Kings Seeds and Select Seeds; so I
should be able to spend the weekend planting inside.
This has all been based on my having (finally) sorted out a plan for the vege beds. The challenge has, as is so often the case, been one of restraint. While I want to fill them up straight away I’m going to plan one with a green manure crop for the winter (lupin), then hopefully do the same for the other next winter.
In other news it turns out that the guys took out one of the plums, so I’ve ordered a replacement. J and I have found a couple of possibly acceptable waterfall options. I’ve also made some decisions about where some of the berry bushes go and what I want to plant inside the chookery.
Even more importantly I can now get into the basement!!
This has all been based on my having (finally) sorted out a plan for the vege beds. The challenge has, as is so often the case, been one of restraint. While I want to fill them up straight away I’m going to plan one with a green manure crop for the winter (lupin), then hopefully do the same for the other next winter.
In other news it turns out that the guys took out one of the plums, so I’ve ordered a replacement. J and I have found a couple of possibly acceptable waterfall options. I’ve also made some decisions about where some of the berry bushes go and what I want to plant inside the chookery.
Even more importantly I can now get into the basement!!