A year in my garden #6.....- (plus the rest)...

 

Grumpy Old Farts

I don't know what McDs problem is ... I suggested in the week that we go out to watch a movie ...... "What movie shall we watch"  McD asks - "well there's a movie called "Grow Your Own" about people at a vegetable allotment" says I .... At which point McD runs out of the house screaming and pulling her hair out !!!   .... "Womans finally lost it"  says I...To my self this time........ .I guess she'll return one day  -  when she's ready ........ :O)

So maybe I'm a little too focussed on the garden these past few months .....

 But I'm not alone on that one - Check out the guerrilla gardeners

 

The Vegetable Garden

 

The above is the planned vegetable beds ... Beds 1 and 2 exist now ..Bed 1 is pretty much planted as written - the spaces that are blank have additional celery, spinach etc .... in mid spring I'm hoping to replant for summer crops .... 

Some questions asked on my previous post coincided with McD asking a similar set .... "what are we going to do with all those vegetables " she asks ... And so did Arbi !!   Well I like your positivity :O)  So far we've had a bird attack that decimated the cabbage seedlings ...well the green ones any way - the red ones they do not seem to favour .... A soil dilemma in trusting soil delivered from a reputible "green" composting and soil making company That in this past weeks winter rain has allowed a puddle(!!) Yes a Puddle(!!) to form on the surface near one corner of the 1st raised bed !!!.... And now we have iced cold 130kmh winds with sleet and hail at times slamming into house and garden .... I wonder what will be left ...........  

This was in our toilet !! Big Bertha of a spider it was ...

However, I think you will both eventually be right in that the number of beds we will create will be in excess of what we can actually eat .... BUT .. Does that really matter ?  I'd rather have too much than too little ... The plot of land in question is of little use for anything else ...So why not use it to it's max capability?? There are always the kids, M-in-L, and the neighbours to hand it over to .... Or the compost bin ... and really, secondary to the harvesting is the desire I have to actually do it .... The djd mini-everest ...'I did it because it was there"  "I did it because I could" .......

I can hear McD screaming again ....... 

Looking a little worse for wear from the weather - this cabbage plant has avoided the bird attack .....So far

 Jule asked as to who so many Brussel sprouts .... Well it's that block .. The problem is that even in summer that block will be too shaded due to the wall and fence to the north of it (Remember we are in the southern hemisphere so everythings reversed) ...What will grow happily are the brassicas and like ...such as cabbages, b'sprouts etc .........

Now of course I could very easily fix that with a few cheap frames made up with mirrors in them I have a bank on the west side of no use for anything and could easily angle them in place there to reflect sulight back into the problem border ...... 

But I have to think of McDs mental health ... And I can only image her reaction should I bring the the idea up over lunch tomorrow say .........

So - maybe not so many sprouts to be planted .... But definately will have to be stuff that can tolerate a little less than optimun sunshine on them ......

Jule Also asked about the lack of salad plants - well I'm thinking of putting the lettuces and radishes and some tomatoes etc in containers beside the back door for easy access as it's right beside the kitchen... There will also be tomatoes everywhere as well as I'm trialing a good few varieties this kiwi springtime ..... 

Jule was also mentioned that  that Squash (pumkin) and cucumber can cross polinate .. I'd heared this years ago probably from my father (A gardener by trade for 40 + years)  but in reality it is highly unlikely as they are quite distantly related (My books assure me).  Modern cucumbers are now bred to produce female flowers only !!!! Producing fruit without the need for male flowers ...Though they do produce some male flowers along the way..It's not been totally bred out of them yet ....      

After that It's down to what can we fit in ... This season will be about variety...Trying as many different plants as possible .... This may differ in future years as we decide on prefererred foods or decide to focus on crops we can store longer (such as potatoes, carrots etc ) .... We were to grow corn but it grows very close to us in the fields and it's usually pretty fresh and tasty  when we buy it in.. Though perhaps not as fresh as when you can eat it raw and sweet from the plant... 

Also mentioned were Okra - Not even sure if it would grow in NZ ...I actually like Okra so must read up on it .... and black eyed peas - Something else I'm not sure about ever having grown ... and certainly not cooked with ...Something else to look up ..... 

 

We have very large native worms in NZ ..This type live in the undisturbed clay and reach a up to a foot in length. Other species can be up to 6 feet in length !! But not in my garden :O)   

One thing we are to grow - but probably in the flower garden for digging up later in the year .... Is Jerusalem Artichokes .... Yum .... I love them raw and can remember my father growing some when I was around 9 or 10 .... He couldn't have liked them though as he didn't grow them again after that ..... So - this year almost 40 years later I have a small box of roots to plant... We ate one of them as a reminder to me and something completely new to McD ... They have a yellow flower like a sunflower on them in the summer so will look nice too in the main gardens ...... 

But as I said this weekend it's gales, sleet, hailstones, rain, ........ All slamming into the house un obstructed from the deep south antartic waters ..... 

 

Brrrrrrrrrrrr  

Kitchen Garden, Potager Garden, Raised Beds, vegetable garden.