The berries are here December 8, 2011

Netting: my berries (this was 2-3 weeks ago now).

Eating: strawberries. I’ve also just had my very first redcurrants and raspberries of the season.

Flowering: you know the potatoes I mentioned in my previous post… oops. A bit slack on writing things up.

Also eating: zucchini, cavolo nero, celery, multiplying onion and a few remaining broad beans. I’m sure my zucchinis are a couple of weeks earlier this season. The growing conditions have been good – rain but not too much – and I had them under the cloche.

You can still the the cloche in this picture – it was before I removed it, before I netted the berries and before I pulled out the bunch of weeds in the foreground. OK, maybe I should take another picture tomorrow.

Cheeseburgers! November 5, 2011

Here are the crazy cheeseburgers I made today.

I think maybe I’ve been watching too much Heston Blumenthal…

Planting (last week): potatoes (unknown, Agria, Cliff’s Kidney, not sure but maybe Jersey Benne), oca, red onions, radish seeds (which I forgot to water so don’t expect to see them germinate). Also transplanted some chard.

Preparing: the zucchini bed.

Planting (yesterday): zucchini (Zephyr x3, green x2, yellow x1),  yellow cucumbers, under a cloche in one of my beds. I bought the green and yellow zucchini seedlings, the rest were from seed.

 

Traditional Labour Weekend October 23, 2011

Two great Labour Weekend traditions:

- Labour Weekend is the time to have your vegetable garden sorted for summer

- The weather will not be good gardening weather

I’ve been trying today, but have nearly been blown over several times. So now I’m inside for a break.

Eating: broad beans (I think that it is mostly “dwarf early green”. Whatever it is, I’m saving some pods, as it beat the other varieties by a month), coloured chard (of course…), cavolo nero, the last of the  ”miniature” leeks, a few very small new potatoes from a self-sown plant, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, a few snow peas, broccoli flowers and a few shoots of broccoli that haven’t bolted.

Germinating: most of my cucurbits have germinated, except the blackjack zucchini and the pumpkin (both a little old). Also most of the tomatoes except Tigerella, which has never thrived for me anyway.

Buying: to eat, asparagus only. Seedlings of capsicum, chili, tomato and cucurbits to make up for the fact that I’ve never been too successful with seed-grown capsicum, and I could do with a few extra tomatoes and cucurbits of some varieties.

Sowing: beans.

Planting: another O’Neal blueberry. I lost the last one, but it tastes so good I want another try. Also transplanting “petite blue” as it wasn’t in quite the right spot, and feeding, acidifying and mulching the blueberry bed. I’ve put down netting over the cardboard mulch and soil, but I’ll need to properly enclose it within the next month. Also planning to put a few more strawberries in that bed.

Tying: I’ve attempted to tie up my broad beans, but this wind really is thwarting my efforts. Even the dwarf varieties are flattened.

Weeding: 1/3 of my soon-to be zucchini bed, blueberry bed, the end of the bed that will be mostly beans and potatoes, and not much else. Things are so out of control…

Painting: the fence at the flont of my house. So far, if you looked at the front of my house you would never believe a passionate gardener lived there. But I’m making slow progress to fixing that. A neat grey fence is one step, then there is some major weeding and digging to get a decent plantable area, followed by some actual plants. It won’t be food plants – not the right conditions really.

I’d add some new pictures, but my camera is getting fixed, so here are a few renovation pictures. Not the best quality ever, but you get the general idea.

Getting somewhere? October 8, 2011

I’m slowly tidying up the overgrown garden beds…

Weeding: last weekend I pruned the overgrown Cape gooseberry and unearthed the lemon tree which was growing happily and fruiting under a pile of Cape gooseberry and random weeds. This weekend I pulled all the bolting parsley out of the carrot bed, tidied it up and replanted it.

Planting: celery and onion seedlings that I really should have planted weeks ago.

Sowing: carrot seed, in the former parsley/ carrot bed, along with the celery and onion. Also sowing tomato seeds in pots last weekend.

Uncovering: my choko. It survived the snow and is still alive under the parsley.

Pruning: I cut back most of the dead bits on my sarracenias. They look much better, I think it is a couple of years since they had a trim. A few pitchers were basically functional but with dead tops – I left those as I think the plants are still getting nutrition from them.

Admiring: lots of black and white nemophila flowering. It would be a nice combo with broad beans, as the flower at the same time, both with black and white flowers.

Buying: asparagus only. Apart from that, I’m entirely on my own veges.

Bolting: kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli, with first signs of bolt in celery, celeriac and chard. Celeriac never really did anything before bolting.

Eating: broad beans (one variety is super-early, the rest are barely setting fruit), bolted cabbage stalks, broccoli flowers, lettuce, celery, chard, cavolo nero, carrots, leeks (rather mini ones).

Renovating September 17, 2011

I have no idea what is wrong with wordpress, but it decided to save an earlier version of my post and won’t let me edit it. That is why there is a half-completed sentence in the previous post.

So here is the bit I was trying to add.

The reason I have been distracted from the garden and blog is that I have been renovating. I have a completely rebuilt laundry and sunroom, and a shiny new kitchen. I haven’t taken a lot of photos yet, but here is the sunroom.

Progress September 17, 2011

It isn’t quite as bad as it appears from the blog – I have actually been gardening for the last couple of months. Just not writing about it. That is largely because almost all I’ve done is weed.

Eating: romanesco broccoli, cavallo nero, coloured chard, pumpkin (stored), garlic (stored), Liliputian leeks (well they are meant to be ordinary leeks, but they didn’t get very big and they are more like big spring onions).

Buying: I’ve had to buy a few vegetables, but not much. Over the last few weeks, I’ve managed to get by without buying vegetables again, except for bought onions.

Planting: quite a bit really. I planted early potatoes (rocket I think) that are up already. I bought a ‘Rose Chiffon’ dwarf peach – I have been wanting one for ages – and planted it in a half wine barrel beside my bench. The soil in that spot is pure clay, so pots were the best option. I planted a few new strawberries but the blackbirds killed them. I have bought a few more and will make sure they are netted better this time. I planted various annual flowers – poppies, stock, pansies in the garden and in pots.

Assembling: a new mini-greenhouse. This is a proper one, made of galvanised metal and glass, with a stand that is on wheels. I made the wooden shelf underneath myself – it just seemed too useful a space to waste.

Sowing: curcurbits (yesterday). In pots in my new mini-greenhouse.

Bolting: my giant white carrot that I left for seed is flowering. Most of my kohlrabi and a couple of my romanesco broccoli are bolting before producing anything much edible. Note to self – don’t bother planting kohlrabi in winter.

Anticipating: broad beans. The first pods are just a week or two away on my Sutton’s dwarf. The others are all a bit later.

Worrying: there are a few shoots on the purple asparagus, but no sign of the older green plants at all. They are normally earlier than this. I hope they are still alive, and just delayed by the crazy weather (hail, snow etc).

Renovating: I haven’t written about m

Mad things July 29, 2011

Picking: daffodils. Not just jonquils or erlicheer, but big, cheery yellow trumpets. I’m not complaining that they are flowering – since the sight of a daffodil must be one of the happiest sights in the world, but it is still mid-winter. More messed up weather and confused plants…

Eating: not much of anything from my garden, but I’m still getting some carrots, potatoes, silverbeet, broccoli, parsley, parsley, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, white alpine strawberries (I told you my plants were confused) and various feral greens. I’ve had my first kohlrabi and leeks, although they aren’t too big. And did I mention that I have plenty of parsley?

Buying: I started buying vegetables a few weeks ago. Not much, a few parsnips, a celeriac, some pak choi, a proper-sized leek and a few more carrots.

Tidying: I got so sick of the piles of dirt and weeds that I bought 3 plastic compost bins and filled them. The garden is much neater now. The bins are ugly, but in the summer I reckon I can plant pumpkins and cucumbers in them and hopefully that will make them look a bit more interesting.

Battling: I’ve got 3/4 of my garden looking quite tidy, and the rest is a mess of weeds. But that’s better than it was a few weeks ago.  I’ve also now got a tidy cupboard for all my tools, which makes a real difference.

Wondering: whether I can fit in another dwarf peach or nectarine…. how to get a load of mulched up pine tree from an organic farm in the Wairarapa onto my paths… when my kitchen will actually be usable… if my choko will survive the winter, and if so, whether I will get any fruit from it… how to fit a more permanent greenhouse (one that doesn’t involve a plastic cover that keeps ripping) onto my deck… how to create a better edge for my terraces… whether I’m going to get some asparagus to eat this year…

And a random picture. Remember that ash cloud from the Chilean volcano a couple of months back. As well as disrupting travel, it had a good side. I took this picture from my bedroom window.

Waiting for winter June 11, 2011

Not that I’m complaining, but May has been unseasonally warm and June is continuing with little sign of change. My plants are a little confused, but all forms of fungi appear to be thriving, since along with the unseasonally warm weather, it’s been wet too.

Feeling: grateful. I wasn’t expecting a lovely sunny morning, and I’ve barely seen the sun in weeks. So I was out working by 9 today and got lots done.

Squelching: everything is wet.

Eating: I’m eating a lot of venison and vegetable casserole at the moment. See ingredients list in the recipe below for the vegetables I’m eating from my garden (I didn’t grow the venison, olive oil or tomatoes, but I grew the rest).

Also eating: a few white alpine strawberries, lettuce, Jerusalem artichoke

Flowering: my first jonquils are out, with more in bud. Also, feral broad beans that came up where I dumped the old plants from last year.

Disturbing: by far the largest trapdoor spider I’ve ever seen. It was twice the size of any other I’ve encountered. Cute in a “big fat spider” sort of way. It wasn’t pleased to be disturbed and ran away looking a bit startled.

Digging: I’ve removed the top layer of dirt, complete with all the weeds, from the path between the raspberry bed and my vegetable garden. This path was the source of a lot of weeds in the two gardens; this should make next season a lot easier. I’ve put down pea straw and a few pine needles over the remaining mud.

Weeding: most of my vegetable garden and the raspberry bed are ok. The “orchard” and the terrace with the blueberries, asparagus etc are a complete mess still.

Planting: cavallo nero – seedlings bought at the market. Also, over the last few weeks I have transplanted feral chard and planted more kohlrabi.

Anticipating: my first kohlrabi is probably only a couple of weeks away. Nothing else is close. My leeks are still too small, no other brassicas are doing much. So I’ll be continuing with the same food for another 1-2 months unless I run out and have to buy something.

Actually, I may have to buy something just to save my sanity. Pumpkin, potatoes and silverbeet are not my favourite vegetables, but that is what I have most of. Next year I hope for better, as by next summer I will have a new freezer with abundant space for freezing my summer and autumn abundance.

Until then, this is what I’m doing to make pumpkin, potatoes and silverbeet more interesting.

 

Venison and vegetable casserole

Brown 500 g chopped venison pieces in a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.

 

Remove, and add 1-2 chopped onions and some garlic, and some more olive oil. Cook until soft.

 

Add chopped celery and one chopped lovage stem, then tinned tomatoes. Also add about 2 tinfuls of water and tomato paste if you want to. And some salt – about a teaspoon but you can check later and add more.

 

Peel pumpkin, chop into 1-2 cm pieces and add to pot.

 

Chop and add some or all of the following, in approximately the order listed below. I haven’t bothered with quantities. Other vegetables, such as parsnips, would be lovely, but so far I have failed to germinate a single parsnip.

• beetroot (peeled)
• potatoes
• oca/ yams
• carrots
• herbs including parsley, dill, thyme, pizza thyme or lovage leaves
• silverbeet stems
• silverbeet leaves
• pak choi or other random brassica leaves

 

If you work through chopping as you are cooking, and you are as slow as I am at preparing vegetables, you then need to leave it for about another half hour I think. You may need to add more salt. Or water – it is best to have it somewhere between a soup and a casserole in consistency as it sticks if it gets too thick.

 

With the quantities of vegetables I use, this makes about 8 meals.

So far behind… May 14, 2011

I’ll never catch up. That’s the blog, the garden and my life. Sigh.

Transplanting: celeriac, chard and kohlrabi. Kohlrabi are ones that I sowed only 3 weeks ago. The celeriac and chard are older. Celeriac in particular is slow, like celery.

Observing: the three rows of leek seedlings that I planted out about 3 weeks ago (at Easter I think) are doing ok. They are in trenches about 15cm deep, and I’m adding compost to fill the trench as the seedlings get bigger. There is also a row of spinach by the leeks. It seems to be thriving.

Sprouting: the broad beans and peas that I sowed at Easter are all up and a reasonable size. I’ve tried a slightly different strategy with the plastic mesh. I have made little tunnels rather than flat on the ground. The mesh does its job of repelling the blackbirds, but makes it very hard to weed.

Also sprouting: a selection of seedlings – brassicas, leeks and spinach – that I planted in pots at Easter. I’ve transplanted a few of the kohlrabi already, but I’m not sure how they will do.

Harvesting: last week I harvested the crop of Desiree potatoes I planted on December the 18th. The tops had turned black despite no frost. I think it was blight but the tubers seem ok.

Cursing: the last two weeks have been much warmer than average, which is nice, but also rather wet. Leaves that should have been yellowing on fruit like raspberries have gone black with fungus instead.

Eating: potato, pumpkin (my two bulk vegetables), carrot, beetroot, celery, chard, pak choi, lettuce, chickweed, puha, sorrel, random other leafy brassicas.

Lamenting: my garden is a complete mess. I’m so far behind. I have a few small areas with food and a few small areas that will be food soon as long as I keep them weeded, and the rest is just weeds, weeds and more weeds.

Cheering up: I think I may have done better this year at keeping enough food going so I don’t need to buy vegetables. Right now I’ve got lots of potato and pumpkim, and enough carrots, beetroot, celery, chard and onion. I make a huge stew with my vegetables (plus a packet of venison from the market and a tin of tomatoes) about once a week and mainly live on that. I’ve still got the oca, which aren’t quite ready to harvest, plus a much larger Jerusalem artichoke this year. I hope that by July/ August the seedlings I’ve planted through April and May will be edible. Already one kohlrabi is starting to form a…actually, I’ve got no idea what it is. The swollen stem base that is the edible bit.

Instant winter April 9, 2011

After spending part of last weekend in shorts and t-shirt, I spent most of the week in winter clothes after 2 freezing southerly storms sailed through. Combined with the end of daylight saving, it felt like winter had arrived. Fortunately, yesterday was lovely and I got some gardening done.

Germinating: all my seeds are now up. Not the best germination, but I did forget to water them for a couple of days in the first week. Celeriac was last by about a week, but celery is typically slow, so not surprising. Weeds are also germinating, plus things like Limnanthes and Nemophila. I’ve now got a half dozen feral coloured chard as well, in everything from red stems with dark purple leaves to green leaves and white stems with just a hint of pink, as well as yellow stems and orangey-pink stems (hard to describe that one, but it is almost fluorescent). Probably nearly enough for the winter, although I have planted more seed.

Eating: carrots, potatoes (stored), silverbeet, feral pak choi, celery, zucchini (some very small ones, I really need to pull out the plants now and plant broad beans), beans (I thought the plants were nearly finished, but they have started up again), garlic (now stored) onions, tomatoes (just a few), spaghetti squash, strawberries, apples (nearly all gone). Also salad leaves – chickweed, lettuce and the first of the miner’s lettuce.

Cursing: my onions were supposed to die off in the summer when it was dry. But it was never very dry and most of them are still in full leaf. A couple dried off properly and I’ve tried pulling some up and leaving them in the sun in the hope that that works. But I’m coming to the conclusion that onions are difficult to grow.

Harvesting: 6 pumpkins this year, 3 good size and 3 that are fairly small. I only managed to grow 3 spaghetti squash though (a fourth got some sort of rot). I’ll need to remember – fewer pumpkins and more spaghetti squash next year

Tidying: I’ve been pulling the weeds out of, and putting compost on, overgrown vege beds in preparation for more autumn planting. The garden is still a mess, but at least it is a bit better than it was a month ago.

Observing: I’ve grown some distinctly priapic carrots this year. One of the white Koanga ones has a diameter of about 8 cm. Even some of the ordinary orange ones were enormous. I’ve decide to leave the largest of the giant white carrots to go to seed, because I could do with some more seed. Saving carrot seed is a bit of a pain though, as they have to be left for a winter and then bolt in the spring. I’ve never saved carrot seed before, but I’ve found some of the Koanga seeds aren’t always available, so if I like a variety, it is often worth saving.