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How I Grew 378kg of Squash in 50sqm

1/4/2018

8 Comments

 
This past summer, I grew pumpkins/squash in different fashion than I ever have before, and the results were outstanding! 
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Pic taken after I'd already cooked up one crown and a couple of big pink banana jumbo squash
The garden areas around our house are somewhat divided up. Adjacent to the driveway as you enter the yard, there is an area that was once our front lawn. When I got serious about gardening beginning with my decision to grow 1000kg of vegetables in 2013, I dug up three strips in that lawn and planted sweetcorn. The area was, however, low lying and prone to flooding, so not much good for growing except in summer. The following season, my kids laid down cardboard all over the area, and spread 18 trailer loads of used sawdust and manure from local horse stables there. I grew some pumpkins in it, and a few other subsequent crops. But over time, the couch, buttercup and other weeds took over again, and I always struggled to keep it under control, especially as most of my attention and energy went into my "main garden area," a 300sqm area fenced off behind the house and developed into various beds etc. 

The last couple of years have included a number of life events that have made any gardening at all a challenge, and I was getting very sick of the front garden patch always being waist high in weeds and grass. I cut it down with a weed eater every now and then, and kept meaning to just start mowing it regularly and letting it become lawn again, but didn't actually do it. Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with my current inability to keep on top of everything, I decided I would simply cover the whole area (about 50 square meters) in black plastic over winter, and let it kill off all the grass and weeds, and then lift the plastic and plant for summer. But I was behind in doing that too.

On 27th October 2017, after weedeatering down the weeds once again, I finally laid the plastic. Too late to actually kill everything off before summer planting. So instead, I decided to plant with the plastic in place, and this is what I did:
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I decided I was going to grow 5 types of "winter squash" (ie pumpkins and squash that are picked fully mature and which store well through winter and beyond - I can usually store them for up to a year, until the next crop is ready). I would grow: pink banana jumbo squash, buttercup squash, crown pumpkins, butternut squash and spaghetti squash. I started them all from seed in my greenhouse (also on 27th Oct), but the buttercups were very slow to get going and so were kept in the greenhouse for longer.
When most of the seedlings were ready to plant out, I cut big squares/rectangles out of the black plastic, one for each variety of squash, suitably spaced out. Into each square, I poured 1-2 wheelbarrows of compost, and spread it over the space in a mound. I then laid weedmat over the compost, and pinned it down, making sure that the plastic underlapped the weedmat in such a way that any rain on the surface would run into the compost, hopefully. 
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I then planted out 4 crown pumpkins in one patch, cutting holes in the weedmat, 3 pink banana jumbos in another, 4 butternut squash in another, and 6 spaghetti squash in a long row at the leading edge of the area. A patch was ready for the buttercups too, but they went in two weeks later. Most of the seedlings were planted on December 3rd; the 5 buttercups were planted on the 14th.
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Crown pumpkins, just planted, 3rd December
December was BLAZING hot - the hottest summer weather we've had in years. The plastic heated up to the point that you could not walk on it. I watered the seedlings at the base of each every day for a couple of weeks - twice a day the first few days - and then every other day for another week or so. Then we had a some rain. I went over the patch after that, and any spots were water was pooling on the plastic, I stabbed holes with a pair of scissors, so water could drain through into the soil. I didn't want it to sit on the surface later and cause the squash to rot. After those first few weeks of watering, I did not water the plants again, or do anything else to them, except to take the occasional photo, and to try and dissuade the spaghetti squash from invading the driveway.

They all grew super fast! The heat was obviously a contributor. The grass rotting down under the plastic would have provided plenty of extra food also. Here are some progress pics, with dates captioned below. Further down, I will itemize the harvest totals.
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18th Dec. Spaghetti squash are in the foreground, crown pumpkin to the left. Buttercups are the little ones in the middle right. Pink banana jumbos next ones back on the right, and butternuts at the far rear
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27th December
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31st December
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20th January. I wonder what's hiding under all those leaves? The foliage is too dense for me to get close enough to really see.
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4th February - a pink banana jumbo squash. They start out very yellow, and turn more pink as they mature.
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4th Feb. I took this pic, because we had had quite a bit of rain, and the high humidity with cooler nights suggested powdery mildew may follow. It did......
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26th Feb. The plants are rapidly dying off. This is normal for the time of year, or when the plants are about done, and I don't bother to fight it.
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With the collapsing of the foliage, I'm starting to see what's been hidden! With quite a lot of surface water, I do my best to lift as many squash as possible onto pieces of timber, or slightly higher spots.
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15th March. Plants basically dead, though new growth keeps springing up on some of them. I'm keeping an eye on the stalks of the squash, looking for signs they have dried out (browned) enough to harvest.
Finally, on 24th March I decide it's time to harvest them all. Some of the spaghetti squash are not fully yellowed yet, but I want to clear this space and ready it to plant winter crops (more on that below). Some of the pink banana jumbos are so big, I can only bring in two at a time! 
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I brought all the squash inside, and laid them out in my dining room, letting them sit for a couple of days for any surface moisture to evaporate. Then I weighed and recorded each one, and wiped them down with a weak vinegar solution to kill any surface fungi that might promote rot. This also caused me to examine each one more carefully. Any that need using up soon I marked with an X, and any with some stem rot I want to keep an eye on, I marked with an S. That way, I know which ones to check most often and use up first. Below are the results for each variety. 

Pink Banana Jumbo Squash

Number
Weight (kg)
1
16.6
2
12.6
3
8.9​
4
4.9
5
14.7
6
6.3
7
4.5
8
5.3
9
6.3
10
13.7
11
12.9
12
11.3
13
7.7
14
8.3
15
10.9
16
11.3
17
11
18
0.978*
* This was a small last minute squash I found up in a tree when pulling the vines. Not sure if it's mature enough to eat, so have not counted it's weight in the total or averages
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Pink banana jumbo squash start out very yellow, and turn pink as they mature. The flesh is bright orange. It is well flavoured and excellent roasted or for soups. The puree of this squash was commonly used in baking instead of butter during WWII.
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Planted: 3 plants
​Average number of squash per plant: 6
​Total weight: 167.20kg
Average per fruit: 9.84kg
Average yield per plant: 56 kg of squash

Crown Pumpkin

Number
Weight (kg)
Number
Weight (kg)
1
3.74
13
2.53
​2
2.36
14
3.22
3
3.55
15
3.21
4
2.63
16
3.58
5
2.49
17
3.16
6
4.05
18
4.30
7
2.23
19
4.16
8
3.86
20
2.91
9
2.33
21
2.96
10
4.38
22
2.15
11
2.53
23
2.22
12
2.61
24
2.84
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Number of plants: 4
Average fruit per plant: 6
Total yield (kg): 74
Average per fruit: 2.85kg
Average yield per plant: 17.1 kg
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Butternut Squash

Number
Weight (kg)
Number
Weight (kg)
1
2.02
13
1.78
2
1.74
14
0.76
3
1.37
15
0.89
4
1.83
16
1.21
5
1.66
17
1.23
6
1.11
18
1.32
7
0.97
19
1.24
8
1.06
20
1.18
9
0.95
21
1.34
10
0.88
22
1.59
11
1.08
23
1.85
12
1.43
-
-
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Total plants: 4
Average fruit per plant: 5.75
Total weight: 30.49 kg
Average per fruit: 1.33 kg
Average yield per plant: 7.65 kg

​Butternut are a lovely sweet squash - the flavour is best after they have been stored for at least a month, as this allows time for the starches to convert to sugars. 

Buttercup Squash

Number
Weight (kg)
1
1.85
2
2.03
3
1.48
4
1.07
5
1.03
6
1.07
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The buttercup squash seedlings were slow to grow, and the plants were very quickly overrun by the other much more vigorous squash. So I wasn't suprised by the small yield. These are Burgess Buttercup, which have quite a blocky shape. It's the first time I've grown from this particular pack of seeds - it's not looking good for a re-run! 

​Total plants: 5
Average fruit per plant: less than one
Total weight: 8.53kg
Average weight per fruit: 1.42kg
​Average yield per plant: 1.71kg

Spaghetti Squash

Number
Weight (kg)
Number
Weight (kg)
Number
Weight (kg)
Number
Weight (kg)
1
2.0
15
1.03
29
1.30
43
1.62
2
3.86
16
1.60
30
1.89
44
1.54
3
2.61
17
1.32
31
1.66
45
1.08
4
3.23
18
1.45
32
1.94
46
2.84
5
3.60
19
1.32
33
1.12
47
1.42
6
1.99
20
1.09
34
1.39
48
2.14
7
1.79
21
1.08
35
1.52
49
1.58
8
1.80
22
2.49
36
0.74
50
1.71
9
2.76
23
1.83
37
2.24
51
1.86
10
2.77
24
1.02
38
1.89
52
1.60
11
3.71
25
0.73
39
0.79
53
3.20
​12
0.97
26
0.99
40
1.04
54
3.82
13
1.72
27
1.30
41
0.94
-
-
14
1.18
28
1.24
42
1.53
-
-
Number of plants: 6
Average fruit per plant: 9.17
Total weight: 96.88kg
Average per fruit: 1.79kg
Average yield per plant: 16.15kg
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Spaghetti squash are used instead of pasta - cut the squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Place squash cut sides down on a baking paper lined tray. Prick all over. Bake 180C for approx 40 mins or until tender. Then pick up one half at a time with a teatowel, and scrape out the flesh with a fork into a bowl. The flesh comes out in spaghetti-like strands. 
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Grand Total: 124 squash = 378.10kg

The plastic mulch controversy: There are those who will say that laying down plastic over the soil is a bad idea, because it can sour (kill) the soil so no subsequent crops will grow. This will only happen in certain conditions, and only after more than about 6-7 months on the ground. As a short term solution to killing persistent grasses and weeds (solarising), especially for gardeners who are less able to dig for one reason or another, it has it's place. Furthermore, studies have shown that the use of plastic mulch can increase the bioavailability of a number of nutrients, as well as water retention etc. It's still not my preferred way to garden, but as I said, it has it's place. 
Just how good a yield was it? Just out of interest, I decided to work out what the yield per acre would have been if I'd been growing the same way on a larger scale, with the same results. Answer: 30.6 tons per acre. I looked for commercial crop yield figures, and it would appear that this rate of yield is 2-3 times higher than most commercial crops! 

Dollar value if I were buying the squash? Again, just for fun, I decided to put an approximate dollar value on the squash if I were purchasing them from the supermarket. I used prices seen locally (where some of them are on special), or in the case of the spaghetti squash, what others have told me they are paying: 
Spaghetti squash $4.99 each x 54 = $269.46
Buttercup squash $2 each x 6 = $12
Crown pumpkin $4.99 each x 24 = $119.76
Butternut squash $4.99 each x 23 = $114.77
Pink banana jumbos it's harder to put a price on, but using the crown at $4.99 each with an average weight of, lets say 3kg, then the price per kg would be $1.66. Mutiplying that out to the total jumbo squash (167.2 kg) then total value = $278.12
Total squash price to buy: $794.11
Of course, there are huge variables - what is available locally, what they are charging etc. 
But still, a fun exercise. 

What's next for that patch of ground?

Well, I got to thinking....if I can grow 378kg of pumpkins in 50 square metres, how much total food can I grow there in a year? So, I'm turning over the ground bit by bit, adding compost etc, and planting winter crops, with the aim to see how much food this one patch can yield in 12 months, starting from when I planted the squash back on Dec 3rd. Updates to come!
8 Comments

My Biggest Ever Sunflower

25/1/2018

2 Comments

 
This year I planted a row of sunflower seeds along the base of a trellis where I grow climbing beans. I figured the beans could also climb the sunflowers. So I sowed the seed on the southern side of the trellis, set back about 15-20cm. I planted a mixture - some old saved seed that originated from some a neighbour gave me years ago, a few Skyscraper seeds a friend gave me, and some bought Moulin Rouge. 

Sunflowers are best sown direct where they will grow, but need protection from snails and slugs until they get going. So I used some Quash. I had mixed results with the seeds - none of the Moulin Rouge came up at all. The others did, though not all of them. As the sunflowers started to get tall, I tied them to the trellis. Figuring they'd get to about 2m, which is just above the height of the trellis, as my sunflowers usually do, I figured that would work just fine. But this year it's different!

One of the sunflowers just kept going and going and going! When storms swept NZ, I was worried I would lose it before I ever got to see how bit it would go, so I attached bamboo poles to the upper part of the trellis with cable ties, and put a set of steps next to the trellis so I could climb up and secure the sunflower. I did the same for some of the others who were now above the trellis too. The pole would take it to almost 3.5m. Wouldn't likely need that much of course....or would I?

The storms blew, all the sunflower survived. And my triffid kept growing. And growing.. 

Finally, one day the flower began to open and the stem stopped growing....I'd climbed up on a ladder a few times to add more ties, but it was now beyond my safe reach even with that. And how was I going to measure it?

Evenutally I figured out I could tie a tapemeasure to another bamboo pole, lift it up and measure from the top of the sunflower to the top of the trellis, then add on the height of the trellis. Total - 3.85m!! 

​This pic was snapped by my husband using me for "scale" - intended only to show a friend, but she insisted everyone else would like to see it too. :-) 
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I do love sunflowers - and so do the bees. This one stands like a beacon above everything else in the garden, yelling "Beees! Over heeeere!" They're flocking to it. Sadly, after all that hard work growing, a sunflower only lasts a few days before it's pollinated and the petals droop. But then there are the seeds. 

In the future, I'd like to grow some more giant sunflowers in front of the tallest part of the house, secured to a purpose-yet-to-be-built trellis (waiting for my husband to finish renovating and painting the outside of the house before I tell him about that little project. ;-)). But in the main garden, I'd love to grow lots of sunflowers with large, multiple heads about 2m tall (so I can easily tie them, and cover the seed heads from the birds). Now to find that perfect variety......
Reasons why I grow sunflowers:
  • They are highly attractive to bees, ladybugs and butterflies
  • They serve as handy living stakes to grow beans up
  • They produce a large amount of biomass for composting
  • They have almost no pest issues (once they get a bit of size - baby seedlings are prey to slugs/snails)
  • The seeds can be used as food for humans, chickens, and birds
  • They look really cool 
  • They are cheerful
  • Children love them
  • There are lots of varieties and colours to try
  • They are easy to save seed from (you just have to protect the maturing heads from the birds)
  • They're a great talking point
2 Comments

New Year Garden Tour

4/1/2018

1 Comment

 
Today is super hot and muggy, and a massive storm system is moving down the country. So, so hope we get some decent rain - have had very little since October and everything is dry as a bone. Ironically my Facebook feed reminded me this morning of a post from 5 years ago today, when the ground was so wet I couldn't dig it, and I was baking goodies instead. However, destructive winds at this time of the year could be a real blow, with many plants tall and in their prime. 

I decided to take pics of currently my far-from-perfect bit quite productive garden - as a record of where I'm at right now, and also "before the storm pics" - hopefully tomorrow's won't look too much diff!
The entrance to my main gardens. The self-sown nasturtium is far less lush than normal, with much higher production of flowers than leaves, thanks to the "big dry." They are running over the top of parsley and pansies, so I'm actually kind of glad about that - they haven't out-competed them. My husband replaced the fabric in our free swing seat with wooden planks - much better as water now drains. The Banskia Rose I didn't get around to topping like I meant to is providing welcome shade over the seat at the mo. My husband set up a led light that comes on at night and shines lots of little green (and a few red) spots of light up into the rose leaves - which look magical as they gently move about,  causing the otherwise static lights to appear to shimmer and twinkle.
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Next to the house is my bathtub on a stand, planted with strawberries and chives on top, and mint and impatiens underneath. The strawberries haven't been very good so far this year - partly because it's been so dry, and partly because I didn't get around to refreshing the soil and feeding them as I ought - though the chives were MASSIVE (I've now thinned them out and cut back a lot, before the pic). However, since I added a good layer of compost and some food a week or so ago, they are improving. I also had to thin out the mint by taking large chunks out, and filling the spots with new compost, as it was getting root bound and looking pretty sad. It quickly bounced back to lushness.
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The potted Tumbling Tom tomatoes hanging on the deck are doing well - lots of flowers, soon to be tomatoes. Will have to put them somewhere sheltered tonight.
Inside the garden gate (below) - this area is weedy and messy. Chives are flowering, oregano is spreading all around behind the rosemary, but there is a lot of couch coming through. Thinking about digging the lot up and redoing it. This patch of rainbow chard and perpetual spinach bolted pretty quickly - have been cutting for the chickens, who don't mind. They were purchased seedlings, and I wouldn't have expected them to bolt, though the dry weather may be the issue.
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Parsley doing fine. Mix of nasturtiums and calendula behind. 

Below: My productive little lemon tree, which was smothered in bindweed - I set it free yesterday. Sill a bit of work to do behind it. 

Finally, a few of the 1000 poppy seeds I sowed in the corner have come to something! 
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The globe artichoke planted early last season flowered massively this year - it had over 35 globes on it. It's now mostly collapsed, all over the pathetic patch of garlic that came to nothing much, which I intend to clear out soon and plant something else - dwarf beans?? Really should pull the garlic, such as it is, while it's still dry. I've pulled out some of the "biggest" (tiny!) over the last few days and used in cooking. Need to take a very different approach next year!

Behind them are some newly planted corn seedlings, and 50 corn seeds, covered in net to keep the birds off.
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Above: Yacon patch, with a dahlia in the front corner, and a row of polyanthus which need to be dug up and divided. I've planted cornflowers along the edge of the yacon a short time ago, after digging out the old edging on that side and adding a shallower version of the root barrier and wooden edging to it, like I'm using around the main garden beds. 
I've also planted a couple of rows of cosmos seedlings along the back of the yacon, in front of the marshmellow plants which are now supertall and flowering. These were first planted last year. One is supposed to wait 3 years before harvesting the roots. To the right of the yacon are the carrots, planted nearly a year ago, which I have left to flower for seed. 

Below - a view of this part of the garden back towards the house. Out of shot to the right are a damson plum, a pile of woodchip waiting to be used, and a couple of massive peppermint and lemon geranium plants.
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My wondermesh covered brassica (and tomatoes and beetroot) bed - the plants in here are doing fantastically! Strong and healthy, no caterpillars, but possibly the most impressive thing is the effect of the mesh microclimate on growth. Of course, that's not the sole factor - there's also the warmth, reasonable water, and good soil prep, and I don't have any "control" veges growing uncovered next to them, but just look at this produce below, planted 20/11, so 6.5 weeks ago as little seedlings! Most of the cabbages are a good size, the kohl rabi is close to ready, and the brocc are just starting to form heads (which is great - my greenhouse ones are still producing well, but I'll be ready to pull those out soon). The cauli are looking great too. Even  the ever-finickity Silvery Fir Russian heirloom tomatoes, who normally drop dead at the drop of a hat, are looking extremely healthy! So big pics from under the nets....
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A bed full of rainbow chard and perpetual spinach - I just sowed all my left over saved seed from a couple of years ago, intending the plants to be mostly for the chickens. Row of Coreopsis Amulet flowers along the front. Far side, some chives, a cucumber, and a cocktail tomato. Also some rosemarry and a couple of dahlias. The tree in the middle is a young dwarf pear.
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Various herbs planted under an Cox's Orange apple tree. The birds have been a real pain here, so have laid some rough prunings to deter them, but really need to be thicker. There are basil (green and cinnamon), two globe artichokes, one rhubarb, German chamomile, echinacea, and there were some sage before the birds killed them. Have more in pots waiting to plant. A small choko is starting against the trellis, directly behind the apple tree in the shot. 

The bright green bed is self-sown calendula I want to transplant before I remove that bed and dig the area over.
This bed was an experiment: If one cuts down a patch of grass and weeds, and lays down 2 inches comost, sets out seed spuds, and then covers with 10 inches woodchip, is it true that all the weeds will die, including couch, bindweed and buttercup, with a bonus spud crop to boot?

Result so far: weeds all came through, though not terribly thickly yet - I keep pulling them out. The lovage which I cut down to the ground was back in a matter of days lol. Not all spuds made it through. 
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A collection of pots - spuds of various varieties in buckets, three citrus, a fig and a lemongrass which urgently needs dividing. The fig is unhappy because I moved these tubs from their original position to make way for the garden redevelopment, cutting off some of it's escaping roots. I really want to find a suitable spot in the garden and plant it out and espalier it. Will have to be in the front yard, not in this garden area, as it can spread surface roots some 20-50 metres eventually. 
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Adjacent to the yacon patch, and right in front of anyone entering the garden through the gate, is my sunflowers - the tallest now 2.6m and gaining about 15cm/day! I've added bamboo to the top of the trellis to tie them up - hopefully they will survive the storm. Some boysenberries underneath, climbing beans going up the trellis (and sunflowers) and various flowers around the edge. 
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Behind the sunflowers is what was my raspberry bed, but is currently a rough combo of sweet-leafed fennel - I've saved enough seed the last couple of years, so will cut most of this for compost materials, a nice patch of wild flowers (can't see in these pics), and a lot of weeds with a lemon verbena at the other end. I plan to rip most of this out soon and plant with...dwarf beans I think - want lots of beans for eating green and as dried beans for winter. The (empty) bee boxes are holding up a birdbath for birds and bugs to drink, under a dwarf double pear.
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Second redeveloped bed row - lemon bergamot at the front, then 8 plants in two varieties of watermelon, then a zucchini. Behind the zucchini are two, recently planted, and three banana melon plants, also new seedlings.Sick of the birds digging in the mulch, I have laid fleece from our sheep over the bed, and bamboo along the side. That keeps them out.
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This area (right) is old garden beds simply weedeatered flat (after sides removed) - still to be redeveloped as I have time. 
Below: strawberry beds under nets, a bed of spuds behind that are just about done, and now have some psyllid, and to the left what is my blueberry and raspberry bed, but massively overgrown. Mostly by borage and red clover. Also full of rashish gone to seed - the rat tailed radish because I want the seed, the others I will pick and eat the pods while still young. Plus marigolds, calendula etc in there. Need to get in there are weed, harest, and drop the nets so I get the blueberries!
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(Right) A row of Feijoas to the right, with lots of NZ spinach underneath. Grapevine to the left. As soon as the storm is passed and it's dry again, I need to give it a MASSIVE summer hair cut, then net the grapes. I cut the framework of canes back to far fewer than usual this year, so I could keep ahead of it's growth. Clearly I failed, once again. 
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My poor Chilean guavas - ready to bear heavily as usual, but a constant battle to keep the weeds down. Need to go over it again, and also mulch. Tempted to dig them all up at the end of this season, and re-do this area. There is another grapevine over a trellis out of pic to left. 
Below: A sea of squash in my front yard. I laid down black plastic a while back, to kill the couch grass and other weeds I can never keep on top of, but didn't do it earlier enough for my original intention of killing grass, then removing and doing no-dig beds. Having nowhere else ready to plant squash, I decided to just this once leave the plastic, and cut big patches in it, pile on compost, and cover with weed mat, then cut holes in that and plant squash. One big patch for each variety. They have exploded! They were planted only one month ago. The biggest ones are spaghetti squash (foreground), crown pumpkins (back left) and pink banana jumbo squash (right). There are also buttercup squash (planted later) and butternut squash (at the back behind the jumbos). I poked holes in the plastic to allow water to penetrate rather than pool.
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My greenhouse - kumara in bathtubs outside. One half inside is mostly seedlings and pots - currently mostly swan plant and a few other things. I have pepinos in pots, as well as kiwifruit. Three tomatoes in the ground on trellises, some basil, 2 cucumbers, and the back half is planted in kale, broccoli and red cabbage, which produced all through winter and are still going strong. Some caterpillars, but the beneficials are keeping on top of them enough that they're not a major problem. 
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Heavy rain has just begun as I finish typing this. Hope you enjoyed this look at my garden - always more work to be done!! 
1 Comment

Killing a Wasp Nest Under My Yacon

11/12/2017

3 Comments

 
Yesterday I decided to tackle weeding my yacon patch, which was very overgrown with tall grasses etc. As I was pulling clumps out, I noticed a wasp darting among the plants, low to the ground. Figured I'd dispatch it, so stomped on it in my boots, pressing it into the ground near the base of one clump of yacon. Instantly there were several wasps circling my boot! I'm allergic! <Rapid exit, stage right......>
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Once they'd calmed down, I continued weeding, avoiding getting close to that particular clump (fortunately at one end of the patch), meanwhile keeping an eye on it to see what I could observe. Every now and then a wasp would come or go, seemingly crawling into the dirt under a particular yacon tuber, or behind it in the middle of the clump. I figured there must be a small nest being developed there under the plant - small based upon the limited number of wasps in evidence.

Now, I don't normally rush about killing things in the garden - every creature has it's place in a balanced ecosystem, and the odd wasp helping itself to any caterpillars on my plants is not unwelcome. I do, however, draw the line at paper, German or common wasps building nests in my garden - allowing it would encourage their proliferation (they pose a risk to native species), and also greatly increases the risk of myself or one of the other females of the family (all allergic, though the guys aren't) being stung.  
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This evening I asked my boarder (only other person home) whether he's allergic (no) and how brave he was feeling. After considering a number of options, I had decided to try the boiling, soapy water method - I didn't mind killing that one plant, but did not want to pour any poisons into the soil of my edible garden, and could not source the bait you can put on meat and have the wasps take back to their nest and feed their young, killing them all. He was happy to help, but not quite convinced there was a nest there, he poked around a bit, then pulled up part of the plant, which exposed the top of the, as expected, fairly new nest - about softball sized at the top. Needless to say, the wasps were not happy! <Both exit stage right!>

I put a large pot of water on to boil, then added a generous amount of dish soap. He took the pot and poured it carefully but rapidly over the nest. It completely dissolved the nest instantly, killing everything. No live wasps came out. A half hour or so later I saw one late returner buzzing about looking for the nest, without success. This pic is the hole under the plant where the nest was:
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So, no more wasp nest. Now I can continue tidying up that patch, install a new side as the old one has rotted through it's stakes, given them a dressing of some compost and mulch, and plant a flower border along the side. Hmmmm...what shall it be? Cornflowers? Dahlias? Calendula? Zinnias? Cosmos? Choices, choices!
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War on Weeds - Creating First New Garden Beds - Garden Redevelopment Pt 2

10/12/2017

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After placing the first side of my new barrier garden edge system, I needed to get cracking on preparing some plantable area for all the seedlings coming on in the greenhouse. The aim: clear and dig over the area where my main garden beds were, removing weed roots etc as I go, and re-form the beds into longer east-west oriented beds and paths as I go. 

This round, I'm working over the space that was occupied by one row of four former beds, and the central path that ran between the two sets of four beds. 

I have worked in stages, as time and energy allowed. At the time of posting, I'm not quite finished this section, as a rib injury two weeks ago has prevented me doing any digging or lifting, or even much bending. (Note to the wise: do NOT climb over a fence without anchoring your foot very firmly, so you don't slip and come down ribs-first on the top of a square fence post!) 
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The section you see covered in newspapers was the ONLY part of the garden where I actually did what I meant to do to the whole garden area last autumn - I had piled up lots of decompostable materials under the young apple tree, then covered the areas with black plastic and left everything to rot down. Now, I removed the plastic, lightly worked the surface to remove the couch roots that were still present (most of them directly under the plastic), and then decided to cover it in 5-6 sheets of newpaper, presoaked and overlapped, as I cannot dig this part over fully due to the roots of the apple tree. This is to prevent weeds coming back through. 

Next to that, I dug over the space that formerly had one wooden-sided bed in it, and the adjacent path area etc. This took a lot less time than I expected. I removed every bit of couch, buttercup etc I could as I went. I think scooped out the centre of this area to create a pathway, piling the extra dirt on the adjacent parts, which are the first sections of the new soon-to-be long beds. After a bit of raking and shaping, I spread a couple of inches of compost over both. 
I then spread woodchip over the newspaper, and laid down bird netting on top, to discourage birds from digging in the new mulch and ripping the paper (as they are wont to do).
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I also wanted to clear the former central pathway of grass before finishing and planting these beds, as otherwise the couch etc there would quickly creep back in. Poking around I rediscovered the fact that I had laid old carpet down this path a couple of years back - it was completely overgrown with couch. However, with the application of a bit of muscle, pulling up the carpet also pulled up nearly all the couch and buttercup, roots and all. I pulled and pulled and rolled and rolled until I had it all up. 
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The next former-bed over had had the wooden sides removed last season, as they'd fallen to bits. I had used old bricks to make sides in the meantime, and lined both adjacent paths with black plastic. Now I removed bricks and plastic, and rough-cleared the chickweed, dock, spring onions etc from the bed. 
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The untidyness of the rest of that half of the garden area was annoying me, so I decided to get the weedeater out and just level it. While I was at it, I removed the wooden sides from that last bed on that side, and the first two beds on the other side, and weedeatered that too. 
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Next I went back to the first two small sections I had dug. I spread grass clippings over both, then mulched the first side and pathway in the middle with woodchip. (Read why HERE).

I then planted out some broccoli and purple kohl rabi in urgent need of planting into the now woodchipped patch. 
As it's time for white butterflies and diamondback moths to start being a big problem for brassicas, I added square hoops (reused) made of steel rebar, covered in pool noodles wrapped in weedmat (since I had both in the shed) to protect the mesh, and then covered them in Wondermesh, anchored with bricks for now. I also barked the second small patch.  
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Now I continued digging over the ground along the side of my new garden barrier edge, forming what will be a long bed, just over a metre wide. At the far end you can see the rolled back edge of the weedmat which had been put down on an area off the end of the beds, where I grew lots of container plants one year. Again, now full of couch and buttercup. 
I raked it over, then covered with compost, a sprinkling of dolomite lime, then grass clippings and woodchips. After a good watering, I planted out cabbage and cauliflower seedlings, and added more hoops. The spot at the front is left for some determinate tomato seedlings, which also need to be under the mesh to protect from tomato-potato psyllid.  
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Next section dug over, raked, added compost, dolomite and grass clippings. 

Before woodchipping this, I wanted to lay down paper in the pathway. 
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I've since planted 3x Russian Silvery Fir tomatoes under the mesh, with tomato cages around them, a clump of Miner's Lettuce, and interplanted the brassicas with a tray of beetroot seedlings. And later added four more kohl rabi seedlings which were started later (for staggered harvesting). The covered bed is now full. 

At this point I still needed to remove the wooden frame from and dig over one small garden patch at the far end (where the fork is stuck in the ground), but my ribs have prevented me doing so. Today I'm finally feeling mostly pain-free, so it will be on the agenda soon! 
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War on Weeds - Edges - My Garden Redevelopment Pt1

8/12/2017

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Many weeds are actually useful in their own ways, but my three nemesises in the garden are: couch grass, creeping buttercup and convulvulos (bindweed). One of the things that has been frustrating about the layout of my main garden beds (in particular) has been the way that the couch and buttercup continuously creeps into each bed from the paths and edges. 

One of the key concepts of permaculture design is to minimise edges. An edge is where a cultivated garden area meets a green path or an uncultivated area. It's from these edges that creeping weeds will, well, creep! These are the battefronts of the weed war. The more edges there are in a garden, the more fronts the gardener has to try and be viligent about. In a large garden like mine, that's a losing war! Besides, who really wants to spend all that energy keeping the creeps out of the garden when one has better things to do? In a garden set up like this, each 3.25m x 1.25m bed represents 12.25m of "edge" - multiply that by 8 beds, and there's 98m of edge battleground in my main garden beds alone - which ignores all the many, many other beds I now have in my garden. 
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This pic was taken in Feb 2014. I really liked the way the beds looked with the nice mown paths between them. BUT, that "nice" grass is mostly couch (and buttercup) and they are persistent devils that never cease to spread their talons everywhere they can. 

Since then, I have tried different things - eg laying old carpet between the beds, laying down cardboard and woodchip mulch and so on. These hold back the weeds temporarily, but don't help in the long term. These three nasty weeds will grow in, through and over carpet, cardboard, weedmat, or just about anything but concrete! I've even had couch send its roots literally THROUGH the wooden sides of the beds, and I don't mean at joins!
I spent quite a lot of time pondering last season as to how I was going to change this. I had also observed that the more or less north-south lay out of these beds made tall things growing in them particularly vulnerable to the gale force westerlies we have here on and off most of the year, and thought it would be better to relay the beds east-west when or if I change them. Added to which, these wooden beds, built in late 2012, were made from untreated timber, and while they have lasted way longer than I expected, are definitely on their last legs (and the cost of replacing them with the same is prohibitive - I paid $1/m for the timber then, and the cheapest I can get now is over $5/m). 

Naturally, I had all sorts of wonderful plans to overhaul this part of the garden over winter, so it would be all ready for spring planting. Suffice it to say, it never happened! In fact, with one thing and another, I basically had no time in the garden over winter. Even my intention to simply mow everything flat and cover it with black plastic to kill off the weeds until I could work on it didn't come to pass, except in one small corner. 

​So, when spring rolled around, these garden beds looked like this (pic taken 9th Oct 2017):
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There are some silverbeet, leeks and chives in there, but otherwise, mostly just weeds. After the usual self-kicking for not having gotten it at least mulched or covered over winter, I did a bit more pondering and finally came up with a plan that just might work!
Key points:
  • All the current wooden frames need to come out as they're falling apart. 
  • Remove all the hoops, stakes and other miscellany still in there from last season. 
  • Re-orientate the direction of beds. 
  • Minimise "edge"
  • Create a barrier around the new edge that will keep out my three nemesis weeds. 
  • Make a "once off" major effort to clear these weeds from within the newly edged area, and thereafter minimise digging. 
After much looking, pondering, walking around, and imagining, I finally came up with, what if I:
  • Dig a 30-40cm trench around the outside edge of the garden area. This is deeper than I find roots of these plants. Yes, I know they can theoretically go deeper if so inclined, but I'm hoping to keep them disinclined. 
  • Line the trench with root barrier, a flexible, UV stablised plastic product that comes in a 60cm tall roll, 5m long. It's designed specifically to keep out roots. 
  • Curve the bottom of the root barrier up, away from the garden - the theory being that if a, say, couch root hits the barrier and then heads down looking for a way through, it will hit the curve and be turned back away from the garden. 
  • Use treated timber to create 30cm high edges above ground, with the upper part of the root barrier being behind the timber, between it and the soil. This allows me to use timber that will last longer, but to effectively line it so that any contaminates aren't leeching directly into the soil of the garden beds. 
  • Use stakes to secure barrier and edging, and screws to hold them all together. 
  • Work on the edging bit by bit - tackle one long side, then turn over the soil adjacent to it to create the first bed or two (so I can get them planted) before working around the next side and so on. Because the season is already under way and I have things needing planting! Make sure to overlap the root barrier at any joins between sections. 
So, this is what I have started to do. Pics below of the first long side being installed. It was a bit of a learning curve figuring how to make the theory actually work. But not overly difficult once one got going. 
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Laying out the rootbarrier - 2x5m rolls, overlapped at the join. 
First 10m long side. I found it easiest to first dig a long shallow trench using a spade - going one spade's depth. And then to get down on my hands and knees with a hand trowel, and scoop out more soil along the length until I had it as deep and level as I wanted. 

Because the ground slopes upwards at one end, I decided to make the bottom of the trench level, which means the wooden sides will be partly buried at one end, with the thought that eventually I'll shift dirt around to make the garden itself more level. This higher end was created by a load of topsoil dumped there years ago, and never spread, except by the kids digging and playing in it, creating tunnels and mines, so that it slowly creeped out but remained a high spot. It no doubt helps that my soil is quite sandy, so not as difficult to dig as it could be. Also, the sand line just happens to be 30cm down, so making it easy to get the trench floor level - I just scraped and scooped until I was going a little down into the sand all along. 
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It's hard to get a pic of the curve at the bottom of the root barrier (above). I used old broken bricks to hold the plastic down in the curved shape. 
At the far end of the trench, I carefully cleared all pieces of weeds/roots from the post beside the gate, and firmly screwed the root barrier flush to the post above and below ground.
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Next I hammered in 75cm stakes at each end of the first 5m section, and propped up 2, 5m lengths of 150mm timber, adjusting the position of the stake until I would be able to screw both these and the next lengths of timber to it. I added 60cm stakes at intervals between the 75cm ones. The root barrier is between timber and stakes, and screws through them all hold it in place. 

Then repeated with the next section, leaving enough root barrier hanging out at the leading edge to overlap with the next section when added later. 
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Then I back-filled the trench on the outside of the edging. 

​Finally, added small screws along the edge to hold the root barrier firming to the timber all along. 
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I'll be repeating this around the other two open sides of this section of the garden, and just placing root barrier along the outside edge of the fence that makes up the fourth side. 

Next post: the digging and prep of the first half of the garden area, to eliminate weeds and create the first beds for planting. 
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Effect of Temperature on Winter Brassicas

17/9/2017

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Brassicas (including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, radishes and much more) are winter favourites in many gardens, especially as their major pests - white butterfly and diamondback moths - are absent during that time. However, to get good winter production from brassicas, the timing of planting is key, especially in colder areas. 

Where I live, in the lower North Island, I have found that the ideal time to plant out most brassicas (except brussel sprouts, which need longer) for winter production is March. If I leave it later, the temperatures become low, and the plants go into a state of semi-dormancy (this happens below 10C), with growth slowed right down, and the size of the productive heads being much smaller, if produced at all - sometimes the plants remain very small and unproductive, and then bolt straight to small flower heads in spring when it warms again. This will depend on timing of planting and just how cold the winter is. 

On the other hand, when planting in March, I still need to protect them from white butterflies. One year I did this using micromesh, which is used to against psyllids and other pests. It also had the effect of producing a micro-climate of warmer are in the completely covered bed, and those broccoli were HUGE and fully ready for picking by early June - sooner than I had counted on. I see a similar result if I plant them earlier than March too - still warm temps cause faster maturation.

This past year, as I have written elsewhere, has not gone as intended. But between family deaths and births, I planted some late brassicas - broccoli, kohl rabi, kale and cabbage - in three different places in my garden, at different times (figuring any production better than the none that comes from not planting at all!). The results illustrate my point above, and the ones in the (unheated, open windowed) greenhouse, though planted much later, were WAY more productive, due to the warmer temperatures. Check it out:
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​Group 1:
Broccoli, cabbage and kohl rabi, planted 28th April in a 6 inch high raised bed. 




​Group 2: 
Broccoli, cabbage, kohl rabi, planted 4th May in 12 inch raised beds. This extra height, and sunny, sheltered position may give them some advantage over group 1.
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Group 3:
Broccoli, red cabbage and kale, planted in greenhouse on 5th June. The greenhouse is made of recycled glass windows. I leave some windows open pretty much year round, though did close them on the coldest nights in the first month of growing these seedlings.

While the greenhouse does get cold at night, it's structure provides protection from all but the severest frosts, and it is very warm in there during the day.
And here's what each group looked like on 4th August:

Group 1: Some moderate growth - some nice but small heads forming on the broccoli. I went ahead and picked them, as some were bolting straight to flowers, and it was obvious the others weren't going to get much bigger. Cabbage very small, kohl rabi look ok-ish, but no sign of any decent bulbing. 
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Group 2: Growth in cabbages and kohl rabi very minimal. Broccoli have gained some size, and are forming very small heads.
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Group 3: excellent growth in broccoli, kale and red cabbages in the greenhouse. No sign of heads forming yet, which is good. I have two varieties of broccoli in here - a larger variety on one side, and a smaller one on the other. Red cabbages are hidden behind the kale in the 2nd  pic. Brocc underplanted with cornsalad/mache.
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And then on the 24th August:

Group 1: These are looking pretty pathetic. I'm picking small shoots and heads of broccoli as they turn up. The other brassicas are pretty much a waste of space.
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Group 2: Picked main heads on most of the broccoli. Reasonable size, especially for size of plants, but not very large. Certainly edible. Not holding out much hope for the cabbages and kohl rabi. Some of the brocc plants are still very, very small.
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Group 3: 
Just starting to see the formation of heads in the midst of the biggest broccoli variety. Have been picking kale every day for smoothies for a while now. Cabbages looking good too.
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On 5th September:

Pretty much given up on Group 1 - taking a few brocc shoots. They're now mostly just sitting there until I get around to clearing the bed and planting something else. 
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Group 2: picking fairly steady amounts of side shoots from these broccoli. The purpling of the leaves is a sign of how the cold has affected these plants, stunting their growth.
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Group 3: Lovely heads forming on the larger plants!
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I waited a few more days, and picked these first heads on the 8th, when they had reached their maximum size (and were beginning to show the barest signs of loosening up)
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14th September: I picked the last small shoots on Group 2 broccoli, and ate them raw in the garden (yum!), then picked the leaves off the kohl rabi, nicer leaves of brocc and cabbage, and used them lightly steamed for dinner, before ripping out all these plants and replacing them with strawberries. 
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Today (17th September), Group 3: There are nice heads on the second variety of broccoli, as well as small side shoots forming on both varieties. The kale and red cabbages both are looking gorgeous! Loving my daily kale addition to my breakfast smoothies (along with various other greens from the garden - NZ spinach, chickweed, puha, cornsalad, miner's lettuce etc). 
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Conclusions: extra warmth makes a clear, huge difference in the growth and productivity of broccoli and other brassicas! 
My intentions for 2018: Get brassicas in the ground outside by March, and also plant some in succession, including covering later ones to provide a warmer microclimate. Use the greenhouse for extra plantings when the weather gets colder. 

To recap on the broccoli:
Group 1: planted 28th April, picked some tiny heads 4th August, few small shoots there after. No decent production. 
Group 2: higher raised beds. Planted 4th May. Picked main heads 24th August, lots of side shoots 5th Sept, pulled plants 14th Sept. 
Group 3: Planted in greenhouse 5th June. Picked first group of main heads (large) on 8th Sept. As of 14th Sept, another group of main heads just about ready to pick within the next few days, and side shoots forming everywhere.
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What I'm Growing This Season

15/9/2017

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​This past week, I was sorting out some seeds to share, when I decided, since I had them all out, it was a good time to make a list of what I want to sow and grow this year, along with the perenials already in my garden....turned out to be a long one! Well, it's motivation to get busy, both sowing, and preparing places to plant everything, or tidy up existing bushes etc. Want to see my list? Here it is - I keep adding things to it as I remember them....
​Root Vegetables
Garlic
Spring onion
Parsnips
Leeks
Carrots
Beetroot – cylindra, Detroit red
Elephant garlic
Shallots
Egyptian walking onions
Brown onions
Red onions
Kumera
Potatoes
Yams
Yacon
Radish
Rat-tailed radishes (pods)

​Miscellaneous
Multi coloured popcorn
Mexican sunflower/freckle lettuce mix
Vetch
Swan plant
Kaka beak
Tree lucerne
​​Other Vegetables
Sweetcorn – honey pearl
Corn – Kaanga maa
Dwarf beans – French, Golden Wax, Purple
Climbing beans – Blue Lake runner, King of the Blues Runner
Peas – Climbing novella, sugar snap, dwarf novella
Globe artichoke
Pumpkin – crown, buttercup
Spaghetti squash
Rainbow chard (silverbeet)
Perpetual spinach
NZ spinach
Broad beans
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kohl rabi
Brussel sprouts
Cucumber – telegraph, Marketmore
Lettuce – various
Miner’s lettuce
Pink banana jumbo squash
Black salsify
Tomato – Moneymaker, Tiny Tim, Silvery Fir
Zucchini
Pean
Choko
Herbs
Parsley
Calendula
Chives
Garlic chives
Clary sage
Common sage
Echinacea
Sweet-leaf fennel
Lavendar – dwarf munstead, English
Bergamot
Basil – green, purple, cinnamon
Coriander
Camomile – German
Dill
Lemongrass
Feverfew
Marshmellow
Soapwort
Wormwood
Comfrey
Bay tree
Peppermint geranium
Lemon geranium
Red clover
Chickweed
Plantain
Rosemary
Thyme – common, pizza
Oregano
Yarrow
Tumeric
​Ginger
Lemon balm
Lemon verbena
Borage
​​Flowers
Sunflower
Cosmos
Marigolds – dwarf French, giant African queen
Sweet pea
Jasmine
Roses – Banksia climbing, carpet, bush
Dahlia
Daffodils
Granny’s bonnet
Polyanthus
Daisy
Alyssum
Geum chiloense – Mrs Bradshaw
Cornflower
Cyclamen
Coreopsis amulet
Corn cockle
Love in a mist
Nasturtium
Geranium
Poppy
Sanvitalia  - mandarin orange
Viola/pansies
Impatiens
Jasmine
Leptospermum "Outrageous" ​
Phacelia
Camelia
​
​​Fruit
Quince
Kiwifruit
Chilean Guava
Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberries
Boysenberries
Watermelon – sugar baby, crimson sweet
Rockmelon – sweet granite
Apples
Pears
Plums
Lemons
Manderin
Fig
Peach
Apricot
Nectarine
Pepino
Rhubarb
Black currants
Red currants
Gooseberry
Grapes
Cherries
And I haven't even opened a seed catalogue in two years - too much temptation! :-) 

Though the list sounds long, it's actually somewhat narrowed down - for instance, not growing things I would normally grow that we use less of these days, or that are too much hassle for me at this time. Or I'm concentrating on favourite varieties rather than growing more diversity.
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A common question is "How do you store your seeds?"
My flatter packets of seeds are upright, sorted alphabetically, in two hard plastic cases designed for CDs (found at the op shop). Bulkier saved seeds are kept in bags or jars, in a drawer and/or stacking plastic containers. I also freeze some. In theory, I'd freeze a supply of most seed that is important to me, as this keeps it viable for much longer, but I'm not that organised yet. 
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Spring Has Sprung!

15/9/2017

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The weather has definitely warmed up! The grass is growing madly, there is already one set of wild ducklings in the back paddock, and the pests are (unfortunately) increasing in numbers. This time of year is usually a bit of a pendulum, weather-wise - wind, thunderstorms and generally unsettled weather is normal as we head into the equinox on Sept 22nd, and for several weeks afterwards. Spring usually brings a warm period, followed by a late cold snap. It's not time to get too excited and plant out tender summer crops just yet! 

I've realised that one of the reasons that I have not been very consistent with updating this blog is that I tend to write long posts with lots of pics (which take time to upload), and so procrastinate because time is short. So, my plan for this season is to write more regular but shorter posts. Hopefully you will find them interesting and inspiring. :-)
This week I've made a start in the garden. I had lots of plans for how I was going to overhaul it over winter...didn't happen! This past year has included a lot of life events which have conspired to keep me out of the garden - within my family: two deaths, being executor of a complex estate, a marraige, and two births, and then my own health issues, and overall busyness in my other life roles. However, every day is a new beginning! So rather than worry about what I haven't done, I'm just jumping in where I am! Yes, the garden is a mess - there is grass and weeds everywhere. Yes, there is a lot of work to do. No, it doesn't look like I intended it to going in to spring. C'est la Vie! 
One day at a time - one step at a time. The good thing is, even when the gardener is unavailable, the garden still produces - the jungle out there contains plenty of silverbeet, miner's lettuce, NZ spinach, lemons, leeks, spring onions, carrots, puha, kale, broccoli, various edible greens, chickweed, calendula, mint, oregano, rosemary, chives, parsley, thyme, potatoes, and so on. 
So, over this week I have:
Weeded the bed bordering my garden area, mulched with woodchip, and planted violas on one side, and calendulas and parsley on the other. Should look good with the bright flowers behind a cascading border of parsley. The parsley should also help the rose in the middle, protecting it from black spot and aphids. 
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Overhauled my blueberry bed, removing all the strawberries (it's more convenient to harvest strawberries from a low, netted bed than the big netted blueberry bed, and besides, it was easier to get all the weeds out if I removed the strawberries), and planting a gooseberry and some raspberries in the open space - they are tall plants who will do well in the netted cage. Nets are currently rolled up but will be let down once fruits are starting to ripen. I spread some sulphate of potash and sulphur-containing plant food, compost, peat moss (blueberries in particular like more acidic soil, and the peat moss and sulphur help lower the pH), watered well, then topped with aged sawdust removed from last year's raised potato beds. 
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Harvested the side shoots from broccoli in two raised beds, which did not get very big over winter (more on this in another post), along with kohl rabi starting to go to seed, and cabbages which were still tiny. We ate the leaves from broccoli, kohl rabi and cabbage, lightly steamed, for dinner last night, and the broccoli shoots over a couple of nights. I then planted those beds with the strawberries I had dug up, along with some extras potted from runners in my strawberry bath. Left over strawberry plants were given away. I also added sulphate of potash to these beds, and watered in. First bed shown below - second one was planted tonight. It also has shallots growing in it, which I left in between the strawberry plants.

I dug over the third bed behind these two, pulling out spuds from last season I never harvested. Was going to plant strawberries there too, but am now thinking I might overhaul it, and plant a bed of mixed spuds, under mesh against psyllid.
I cleared the remnants of sweet peas from this trellis, added a jasmine plant to cover the trellis (and hide the bins etc behind it), at least until the Leptospermum gets big enough to act as a screen on it's own. A few violas for colour at the base. 
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After weeding in front of the caravan (adjacent to the fence border above), I planted a yellow Argyranthemum daisy, sprinkled some buckwheat and white alyssum seeds around it, and lightly raked them in. On the other side of the carpet rose, in the corner, I sprinkled mixed poppy seeds. Extra colour and food for the bees and other beneficials. 
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The one job I got done last week was to dig over this bed, add some compost and a trench of well rotted horse manure (left over from brewing a drum of manure tea), and mulching with pea straw, before planting a punnet each of Rainbow Chard (silverbeet) and perpetual spinach (another kind of silverbeet). 
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Adjacent to it, the wee lemon tree is loaded, the garlic is doing well, though getting a bit shaded by the globe artichoke I planted last season (my first one) which is getting huge! I keep pulling leaves off and mulching with them, if they start to lay over the top of the garlic. I had literally no where else I could plant garlic at the time!
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It's a start! 
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    Yield From 50sqm

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