What we laughingly call a (Veggie) garden (4)

We’ve planted a few Fruit Trees around the garden … I’m ashamed to say two are still in their pots but will plant out this weekend. So we now have Cherry, Apple (Monty’s surprise – said to be the most health beneficial in the world…a kiwi ‘roadside’ discovery), Quince, and Plum… No fruit this year obviously but it’s good to have them. Of course we also have a few other things such as two Fejoa trees in wine barrels. They actually have 2 or 3 flowers on them after 2 years of nothing…. A Pomegranate bush – that flowers occasionally but doesn’t fruit …but is an attractive, viscously thorny bush all the same … A Fig tree also in a wine barrel .. .but doesn’t fruit or grow much really and whose days are indeed numbered…I want fresh figs…         

 

We also have fruit bushes that won’t provide a harvest till next year ….Goose Berry and Black Current bushes line the wall under the kitchen window. Unfortunately the winds knocked them about a bit and a lot of new growth was damaged … but they seem happy enough ….Cape Gooseberry bushes continue to sulk where planted …. And Chilean Guava have just flowered …   

 

But the most vigorous growing and most fruit laden is the BlackBerry bushes that line the fence of the yard all self sown and twice my height … It will be a bumper crop this year if the sun come out and the birds and wasps leave them alone …………. The bees were happy as working the flowers for weeks … What would we do without them ……..    

 

However the blackberry really has to go …. Just not until we’ve picked enough for the pies and jams and booze we want to make from them ……

I picked two large, deep red strawberries this morning … They’ve suffered in general this season and while we get a handful now and then, they’ve not been the bounty we enjoyed last year ….. I might look out for another variety to replace some of them with in later months ……Something more suited to our climates maybe if there is such a thing  ……



Last years picture .......







I bought some wild ‘woodland’ strawberries and planted them in the tub under the fig tree that never fruits … in contrast they have never stopped producing . As kids we raided the wild strawberries where Dad worked. I would be told off from time to time by Dad as the owner liked them as well. I’ve always remembered the flavour of them. Now I have my own strawberry patch and visit it regularly, munching a handful at a time. This time legally ……       

A Year in My Garden - September (2)

Pictures today are from our garden. Spring has definitely arrived in New Zealand..

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

On the 15th of every month a group of bloggers, headed by Carol from Indiana, celebrate Bloom Day.

http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/2009/09/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-september.html

Today is the day that they all display photos of what is currently in bloom in their gardens. I Have opportunistically add this entry to the list as it contains a large number of Spring flowers (being in the Southern hemisphere....

Me and McD

Woke up yesterday morning to hear Paul Henry our breakfast TV presenter announce the time and date - 14th September ... Blearily I started to wonder why it seemed a significant date....Family birthdays - nope.... A song - Nope ... And then I remembered. My head shot up and I looked at an even blearier eyed Jill !!



"Happy Anniversary Sweetie !!!! "



It was indeed our 9th anniversary!! 9 year ago We moved in together.... And nothing has been the same since ..:O)



Anyway, By the look of Jill's eyes I could tell that it was an 'Oh Fudge" moment and that she hadn't remembered either :O)



Have to say it's not the first time this has happened over the 9 years .... But at least it's just not me :O)



Later on I got a prezzie - A vegetable peeler and a measuring device for the kitchen....I've warned her I'll get too used to this domestication lark...I'll not be able to get back into work mode soon!!!







And the Name of That Moth Is



The black and white moth, mentioned a few entries back with picture, is a Lichen Moth !!!! A native to NZ ...First I'd seen ..Common to the north Island I read .. .Maybe Welly is a bit too south of the north ....



The Garden



And so it all starts here at this point, this week..... I've planted the giant pumpkin seeds ....Plans are to have them outside around the 3rd week in October after the frosts have gone for sure ..... So more stress now to get the pumpkin patches built and filled ......











work work work work work.......



I spent a few hours planting seeds ... I won't list them but in the main they are the standard vegetable fare .... I'll write up about the 'non standard ones a little later but even there, those in other countries will see them as fairly common as well ...







I've planted a number of heirloom varieties of tomatoes again ... Hoping for another good crop and for us to make some good sauces & chutney's later on ... And of course to find what are the tastiest for us when eating them fresh ....







Finally, the TV Living Channel over here have started showing a decent gardening programme !!! Finished are the Ozzie shows (OK really) and gone, thankfully, are the awful American shows ( Sorry guys, I'm sure we just get the cheapest ones and not the good ones ... ) And what we are now able to watch is the BBC Gardening world !! Yeah !!!! :O) Based around a huge project is turning a large field into a show garden including vegetables ... A must watch from now on every Sunday teatime -ish ...







But the biggest BIGGEST annoyance is that they won't allow the video clips from their site to be viewed outside of the UK ....Bad Form BBC ...Shame on you ,............







Actually before that was a repeat on a show competition for Britain's best allotment site... Bit of a surprise as to the winner but again great viewing ...Especially for me who wanted an allotment way back when I lived in the UK .... They just don't do them over here .......







The vegetable garden is coming along .... As per the picture steps have been completed and weed matting and bark has been laid ....Well at least for the borders built last year ... Time now to get soil and more planks of wood and build and fill the borders in readiness for all these new plants in all too few weeks time ......







Funnily enough it's getting harder to get bark chip!! The garden supplies chap tells us that they now have new machines that uproot and take the bark and branches off the trees in the forest ... then it's left there to rot ..... The start of a new business maybe collecting the stuff ....







But it's starting to look good I think :O) Jill and I put 4 hours into doing the steps and bark last Sunday ..





Still a heap to do ... Want to paint the wood on the borders sometime as well ...Maybe :O) ..... As you can see we've brought up some lavender bushes. Also started to grow the herbs in pots ... Hoping the lavender will attract more bees. they are strategically placed around the Broad beans some of which are in flower now (The seedlings I bought by the way) ....







At present the weather is warm .... The air a little cool, still but this is open doors of the house weather and drink mugs of hard earned tea out on the balcony ... Maybe even a cold evening beer as a reward :O) For the equivalent of march in the northern hemisphere this aint bad really ....







If the cats would let me that is ...... George cat is in 7th heaven since the seat suddenly appeared yesterday .... This is now George's daytime sleeping spot .... I wish it was mine .....

The Pumpkin Wars Pt2.....

Oh it started off well enough ...But I should have realised from the start this was not the ‘all out to help the Dinzie” type of day .. .

“Come on – Lets go” she said. “ It’s going to rain tomorrow, lets get that Pumpkin down off the bank..”

Cool, thinks me. I finally get to weigh the biggest pumpkin grown this year in the garden. We grabbed a large green garden rubbish bag and with a sort of an idea in mind we edged ourselves along the barely a foots width of a ledge in the bank to where the hapless, trusting pumpkin had sat on our makeshift platform throughout the summer .......

I cut the lower vine with secateurs and pulled it up .. at the end was another pumpkin but only around a Kilo (2 pounds) in weight. Probably the ugliest pumpkin in the land too ..... .

I then cut the upper vine about a foot from the pumpkin. It immediately fell forward slightly and I had to cradle it in my arms while at the same time getting the large bag under it so I could roll the thing into it.......I then grabbed the bag and slowly let the pumpkin roll...

It was heavier than I had thought ...Rolling straight into the bag it then tried to proceed down the bank. But I had a good hold on it and stopped it, but at full arms length I was now stuck and with my dodgy back unable to pull it back up ... .

“It’s fine” says McDinzie. “It’ll slide just fine from there .”

“Are you sure?” Says me .;

“Yes really...Its fine”

So I let go !!!!!...............

The Pumpkin rolled at a vicious escalation!! The garden bag now wrapped around it completely. It landed on the next ledge in the bank below us, then fell the 3 or so feet onto the Fuchsia garden being re-directed somewhat by part landing onto one of the large stones we have on the border. It then, at full speed, hit the trunk of a fuchsia bush flattening it completely, rolling along the entire length of the 4 foot + high plant, then crossing the pathway hit the wall of the house with a sickening cracking noise ....

“Slide you said!” Says I as I turn to McDinzie who was already turning to backtrack along the ledge we were on..... (I'm sure I saw I grin as she turned)....

Miraculously, when we reached the pumpkin it was all intact with barely a scratch to it .... How, is nothing but one of those gardening mysteries .... But I should have known then that it was only a matter of time ........

Then it was the pictures session outside first and then after a cleanup we brought it inside, weighed it – A reasonable 34Kg – 74.8Lbs !!! and then took more pictures

But what happened next was to shock the dinzie household . I caught McDinzie with a butcher axe and in mid swing at the pumpkin !!!...

I Shouted "No !! Mcdinzie NO, NO !!!"

But she carried on anyway !! burying the axe deep into the pumpkins flesh ......

Surprisingly the pumpkin flesh was as crisp as could be! Not the woody, fibrous flesh we had been warned it would be with these larger pumpkins...This variety isn’t the Atlantic Giant, but a variety called First Prize.....

So we are now looking at pumpkin soup recipes and McD is trying to pass pumpkin quarters onto whoever will take them !!!

Meanwhile I’ve confiscated the butchers axe !! Which the M-in-L gave her by the way !!! In the Dinzie household you sleep with One eye Open ! Especially if you are a pumpkin .......

Fun With Pumpkins

 

Humphhhh..........:O(

 

 

McD won’t let me build a large pumpkin bed in the front yard.............:O|

 

I’m in a sulk :O( A Kid – Yes a 16 year old kid has grown a monster pumpkin in Christchurch....Close if not breaking the New Zealand Record ....

 

:O(

 

I just want a decent sized Pumpkin Patch .....  :O\

 

No where else to plonk the thing but the front yard as its the sunniest spot in our garden ....

 

  You can tell McD what a meanie she is here ...........Or of course you may agree with McD that the front yard is no place for giant pumpkin growing......

 

Sod it – We’ll have to move house .....

 

Meanwhile we harvested the smallest of the two pumpkins we grew .. The variety is not the world breaking variety called “Atlantic Giant” but a variety called “First Prize”...Supposed to be big enough though .... Bigger than our  “marbles” anyway .

 

But will it make pumpkin soup for us ?? Or will it be too fibrous .... Might just give it a go anyway ...It’s destined for the compost pile soon ..

 

After we’ve stopped playing with it of course :O)

 

  

The reason why McD isn't a fan of large pumpkins !!!

The ecentric Pom and his Pumpkins - And tickling Tomato Flowers

The garden seems happy enough .. .Getting “weedy” again as our 4hr a fortnight so called gardener has been put on hold indefinitely ....Though I think we may get him back if only to keep the weeds down where I’ve worked ...

Pumpkin Hiding...Shot from Kitchen Window

Not that I’m doing anything like manual work at the moment ... Two weeks now I’ve been in trouble with a very painful and stiff Lower back. As per previous entries I slipped while carting a large bag of compost to the top of the vegetable patch ... Anyway – thought it was getting better but last night I woke up in agony and even more pain when I tried to get out of bed to go the loo.... Spasms had me crying out and hobbling like a cripple to the toilet .. And that was the end of the nights sleep of about an hour and a half. I gave up and went to the living room and watched TV and dozed a little ... McD was up around 6am worried about me and then off she went to the chemist to get me some stronger pain killers ...which worked ok really .....

So didn’t do much today ... read my gardening book McD bought me (as noted in her blog) and the newspaper and so on ........But we did visit the vegie garden !! Of course !! and McD duly measured the Pumpkin 131cm circumference – about 52 inches ......But the weather has gone mad and we are jumping around temperature wise ..really cold some days really warm others ...and now rain and humidity .... And it goes without saying – the start of the mildew on the pumpkin leaves and the cucumber leaves ..... Autumn is coming early to New Zealand..Well Wellington anyway

I’ve never seen so many cabbage white flutterbyes in the garden !! Talk about homing in on the cabbages etc .... Damn them and their greedy offspring ...

Tomatoes – now ripening .... We’re loving it eating them in sandwiches straight off the vine....But am disappointed with a number of the heirloom plants not setting fruit ...Just not a good season for them perhaps ....

McD thinks I'm a nutcase...No It's true !! Writing in her blog about the Eccentric Pom and his perversion for tickling tomato flowers etc !!!(McDinzie)

However, I’ve been proven right in some of my antics at least due to a certain book McD bought me ...... Conversations have often turned to the vegie garden between McD and Me as we travel too and from work each day... Generally all is fine and MCD often quietly listens as I plod on about having to do this or do that , or reminisce about my early days working with my father (who was a gardener himself) ... McD takes it in and then after a while you get the comments about how i’m so eccentric and “I can’t believe you want to do that !!” My recent talk on pumpkins and now almost daily measuring and feeding of said plants has shown McD another side of me perhaps .... A recent intellectual debate we had on the need for me to build shade frames over the tomatoes went something like

“Must build Some shade frames this winter for the tomatoes next spring season “

“Never!”

“This winter”

“Never!”

“This winter”

“Never!”

“This winter”

“Never!”

“This winter”

And so on – Stimulating discussions of that sort just enliven us after a hard days work being responsible managers in Highly demanding jobs ....

Such a conversation would possibly last the 40 minutes drive home, however we were already half way there so some faster thinking was called for

“Never!”

“This winter”

“Never!”

“I’m bigger than you, you know, and I’ve fought world champion Martial Artists”

“Flower Tickler !!!!! “

Well...Really, there is no right response to such an accusation driven home at you with the sharpness of a javelin piercing the sternum .......

The next morning or so, the conversation turned to the fact I had spent hours reading my google searches on blogs and news articles of vegetable growing and allotments and noting that I had really picked up nothing new from them. Then also noting that the sets of books I’ve bought held little as well...Mostly too basic and too geared up for the newer vegie gardener or written by wanna-bee so called master gardeners whose knowledge didn’t extend past what was learned at the local night class ......

Anyway McD again duly noted this and went off in search for a suitable book for me. And found one. Written by an old bald Kiwi with a lifetime of experience, Wally Richards, “Wally’s down to earth Gardening Guide”. The man is in the know, up to date and while the book is not specifically a vegie gardening book as it is a general gardening book he covers a heap of topics in a truly down to earth way.. And a local radio gardening expert as well .... Suddenly “tickling” tomato flowers was proven as being acceptable to McD and the need for a wider range of elements in the soils such as calcium was suddenly not only accepted but essential for our own plants ....

McD retracted just a little of her thoughts on me in her next blog entry (Mcdinzie) ........Though I have to admit that living with a Pom ..Well this pom in particular, must be one of the strangest things MCD has to endure :O) But at least she gets to have a laugh with it as well :O)

And of course we are eating the fruits of our labours daily as more and more tomatoes and cucumbers and the rest become ready for harvesting.

A Very Ugly Heirloom Tomato

Of course I have to admit that the desire to grow giant pumpkins is an eccentric activity.... At 134cm circumference they are yet to satisfy me in that the record breakers are huge monsters 666KG !! They look like huge orange alien pods ...... And of course MCD still wonders how we are to weigh them ....But she now feeds them and measures them and helps me build a platform for the one hanging by a vine on the side of the bank.....

Perhaps such eccentricities are catching :o)

I’m fed up with work ... Too much on....Too much politics.... But not likely I’ll get another job in this economic climate ..... Won’t be stopping me trying though and I’ve sent my CV to one agency and will do the same to another next week ......

Meanwhile the drugs are wearing off and this sitting at the keyboard is hurting like hell .... Time for a mug of tea, painkillers and bed perchance to dream ..............

A Year in My Garden - Gardening Despite Dumb Practices

I'm not well ... Last  weekend was the Wellington Anniversary weekend and monday a public holiday and i was ill right through it  .....

Felt a lot worse again  yesterday ...a Sore throat, aches, stingy eyes, tired ..... Better today .. Today I just have a Sore throat, aches, stingy eyes, and I'm tired 

It was raining at the weekend anyway ....So thats alright then .... I'd not been outside of the house. McD did ..She did a small shopping run and then paid a little visit to the vegie garden for a cabbage ....

 

 

McD slices it up and stir fries it with a little butter and a lot of ground pepper..... Then she adds roast chicken, roast potatoes and Kumera, Cauliflower from the garden and lashings of gravy and Bobs your uncle (that you never like to talk about ), you have a meal that rivals any meal in the swanky Wellington city restaurants and at a fraction of the price .... 

 

Won't reduce the waist line much though ......

 

I could eat it again now ... except it's 11:30pm and almost time for bed (as Zebadee once said) ....

 

 

But this weekend is fine and sunny...and the waikanae gardens are open for viewing....And in the week McD put her back out ...So she's walking around like there's an ironing board up the back of her blouse....And neither of us have slept for 3 or more nights now ....  

Anyway ......

The vegie garden has kept us stocked of food for weeks .. If the tomatoes were ripe and the bell peppers had actually grown more than a millimeter or two this past few weeks we would be amost self sustaining as far as vegetables go ... (Dunno know why ...They didn't move at all in the raised beds ... I've some in pots around the place that are the size you would expect and are in flower ...The raised bed ones are pale and still look like seedling ... Time to throw them out me thinks ....)

 Well that and the need for more room to grow more root crops such as the potatoes, kumera etc ... and perhaps carrots we could leave to grow to full size... But boy are they tasty carrots picked at 'gourmet' 'finger' size ... The Paris MArket are ideal for the raised beds as they grow round rather than long. Nutri Reds are my favourite but the white Belgian carrot, Purple Dragon and the karoda orange ones are sweet and tasty as ....  Well tasty as carrots of course...

 

Pumpkins .. I built a box against the side of the bank in the sunniest position and filled it with compost and horse manure and straw... and when it settled I planted two Pumpkin plants - oh and without thinking also planted a scallopini ...or maybe a butternut pumpkin .( So much for me labelling everything.. Dumb eh,  kind of, as you don;'t want that pollinating your oversized pumpkin ... So until I have the required numer of set fruit on the main pumpkins the male flowers of the unknown pumkin thingy are being sacrificed ...

 

*****  The update on this is that I've just found a very healthy small cucumber on the supoposedly scallopini plant .... We are very dumb gardeners ...Cant even label plants properly ...

 

Anyway

The idea was to grow the largest pumpkin I can, just for the hellovit... Pumpkin seeds bought from our trademe (kiwi E-bay equivalent) site ..Called "first prize" and came with claims of fruit up to and over 140 kg .. We'll see..Not that that comes anywhere near the 1,000 LB plus world record sizes .....

 

 

Anyway

The fruit I do have set is bright yellow rather than the orange I'm used to. I guess it changes as it ages that or I've been done ....McD is still asking the question "how do you get a 100kg+ pumkin down the hill to weigh it ??" Thats a problem to worry about in april/may says me :O)  We can always push them off the edge I guess and roll them down ....

 

And weigh the pieces :O)

 

 

 

But at this point the biggest is at basket ball size and will have to be removed because of its location far too close to the centre of the plant... The vines have taken off. One, as wanted, went up the side bank and is now making its way along the fence line ... if I can just get a fruit to set there that will be great ....

 

 

The other vine is heading down the hill, snaking it's way through grass and regenerating gorse to the house ...Which would sort out the transportation issue in april/may .. except it has decided to set fruit half way down hanging from the side of the hill ...Will have to bring the vine back up I think to a flat bit ....

 

 

 

 

 

I planted and tended for a number of climbing bean varieties.. ANd none of them have done well ... Don;t know what it is ..I even had one or two die back at around 5 feet high on the canes ... Some are finally looking more like a happy climbing bean plant, but the harvest will be small from them this season.

 

 

 

 

 

Courgettes/Zuccinis ... Well what ever it was that McD bought they are growing large, weighty, marrows a plenty ... By the time the female flower opens the friut is the size of a average courgette...by its flowered and you look again its now looking like a small marrow ...blink again and you have dark green, fat torpedos hanging over the raised bed.... 

 

McD and I made some marrow chutney as we have a glut of marrows .... First chop about 3 1/2 pounds of marrow the recipe says .... "Shall I go up and see if we have any smaller ones up there? " I ask .......   

Anyway

 The chutney turned out ok... A little too sweet for my liking ...One recipe was to have dates added to the ingredients ...Well thats just jam at that point people !! so we missed the dates out .... Although the end result, with the sugar caramelising as it cooked, does have a slight "date" after-taste to it .... 

The next recipe is with tomatoes which I think is a good idea .....

 

TAlking of which I must write about my tomato rearing escapades next time ......

 Meanwhile, we now have a few squares empty as we harvested the last of the broad (fava) beans and pulled out the plants ...along with harvesting garlic (Type unknown. Again from trade me. Found growing at the top of the south island and now propogated for sale. It's a wonderful garlic .. .not too heavy and overpowering in flavour just right and great for cooking with ). We;ve also havested the egyptian onions  and are ripping into the various coloured beetroot...... . 

So tomorrow is plant up the vegie garden day ... Some for eating in a few weeks and some for the longer term autumn/winter harvesting .....

 

 

 

 

 

Spose I should hit the hay then and get better .......As you can see in the pictures there is a major tidyup needed as well. The grass is growing high and I want to get the paths done with weed mat and bark ....   

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

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