Harvest - A Suburban Auckland Bounty

Scenes from the dill forest

2012-01-11T08:30:00.001+13:00

Summer update - what summer?

2012-01-02T17:11:00.000+13:00

It's been a somewhat challenging season so far. While I did really well getting the seeds off and running early and then transplanted out relatively promptly, it's all fallen apart since then. Most of this has been due to factors outside my control. First I was away for 3 weeks from mid-November - just when I need to be vigilant as far as removing tomato laterals, weeding, playing my favourite game of eradicate-the-whitefly, and making sure everything is establishing itself properly. Then, since I returned in mid-December, the weather has been pretty wet.

Strawberries - too wet to get many of any decent quality. I did collect around 500 grams of unnibbled berries when I first arrived back, enough to make a batch of strawberry ice-cream, but since then I'm only getting the two or three I pop on my cereal each morning.

Tomatoes - I'm still waiting for any tomatoes to ripen up. I had to do some major pruning on the plants as they had become quite overgrown, and I don't think the bees had been able to get in to pollinate! The tomatoes on the plants seem much smaller, and fewer in number than in the past. I've now also done some serious removal of the lower leaves in an attempt to make sure any sun that does make an appearance can get in to the actual tomatoes.

The various chillies and capsicums are coming along - no sign of any fruit as yet though.

And a trip down the end of the garden in between the showers today revealed the scent of garlic in the air. I suspect these are ready to harvest, but in order to do that we need a good week of dry weather, and there's no sign of that any time soon. Hopefully they are not starting to rot underground.

Herb garden

2011-11-12T07:16:00.000+13:00

(Have just found this October post lurking in my drafts and not posted- oops!)

After much hard working digging in bricks ~~yesterday~~ 23 October I now have an official herb garden. So far there's sage and rosemary in one panel, and chives and german chamomile in another...and subsequently basil, oregano, hyssop and mexican mint seedlings have been planted out and are all growing (well, except for one basil casualty). And now I have the brickwork done I can sow the seeds for the few herbs that are direct-sown.

23 October:

12 November: (watch that chamomile patch grow! The transplanted chives are also flowering)

I've also transplanted four Russian Red tomatoes, three Green Zebras and two Gardeners Delight, and subsequently three tomatillos, three ancho chillis and four capsicums.

Down the bottom of the garden I've also transplanted a Cape Gooseberry. I have a couple more of these to go in a neighbouring bed but that bed needs reweeding first. My wrists and knees weren't up to that after establishing the herb garden!

Last year I had grown some forget-me-nots in a pot sitting by the front door. These are now flowering again and I even have one plant that has crossed the concrete path and popped up in the main garden in the perfect spot by the edge of the path. Thanks Nana!

Sage in flower

2011-10-15T18:28:00.002+13:00

A good proportion of the first two batches of seedlings have been transplanted from the seed trays into individual pots now, ready for planting out starting from next weekend when the tomatoes will be going in the ground. It's just the capsicums and chillies still in the seed trays now, germinated but not quite ready for the next step.

I've also marked out the herb garden with string. Next weekend I'll be bricking out the segments then planting out some of the seedlings. I'll also be transplanting the chives - yes, the chive seed that I sowed last summer that didn't do anything at the time has now popped up and I have four healthy plants to move.

Still on herbs, one of the sage plants has been busy over the last couple of weeks, progressing from this:

(that's my soon-to-be herb garden behind the sage)

to this:

The sea of waving purple is so pretty!

Seeds - batch 2

2011-09-17T16:41:00.000+12:00

But first, a report on batch 1:Tomato (Russian Red) - wonderful peasant stock! All germinated, all hardy-looking, all coming along nicelyTomato (Green Zebra) - the number that I actually wanted have germinated and have their first true leaves now which is good newsTomato (Gardeners Delight) - as always, the cherry tomatoes are the weaklings of the bunch. They did mostly germinate, but were a bit spindly - still got a couple of more sturdy-looking ones so hopefully they will continue to thrive.Cape Gooseberry - today the first couple of seedlings have poked their heads through, hurrah!Parsley - the problem child of this a particular batch. Still plenty of time to resow though.Chamomile German - fertile wee bunch, and oh so tinyPeppermint - like the Cape Gooseberry, the first couple have just poked their heads throughOregano - we have germination, I am shocked! Now to keep them alive.Marigold (Mexican Mint) - three or four germinated here, will probably need to sow some more as I wanted a big group of these this year.Now on to batch 2:Sown today for the Mexican garden wereChilli (Carribean Blend, hoping for some Scotch Bonnets in here) Chilli (Ancho - as per last year)Tomatillo (as per last year)Epazote (hopefully they will germinate this year).And for the ordinary garden werePepper (Topepo Rosso)BasilBergamotHyssopI have a space and a plan for a proper herb garden this year, just need to get some bricks or something to outline the segments.

Seeds - batch 1

2011-08-27T12:00:00.003+12:00

Garlic report - the organic shop didn't have garlic that looked any sturdier than mine, so all eight cloves I planted out were from last year's harvest. All eight have germinated and are coming along nicely.

Seed report - today I sowed the following into seed trays:
Tomato (Russian Red)
Tomato (Green Zebra)
Tomato (Gardeners Delight)
Cape Gooseberry
Parsley
Chamomile German
Peppermint
Oregano
Marigold (Mexican Mint)

This year I've resisted the temptation to plant the more unusual varieties (the Purple Calabash from last year cured me of that, at least for this year!) so I've gone back to some faithful varieties, a red, a green, and a cherry. I'm planning on planting out five of each.

The beginning of another gardening year

2011-07-03T07:37:00.000+12:00

The winter solstice snuck up on me a couple of weeks ago, which means another gardening year is here! Time to plant out some garlic. Last year I didn't plant very many so we ended up with the right amount for consumption - however this year that means I only have a few spare cloves to plant out, so I need to visit the organic shop down the road to pick up some more. I also have to decide where I should plant them this year - and, of course, in order to do that, I need to have some idea of what else I'll be planting and where it will all need to go - aaarrgggh!

Summer of 2010 update

2011-02-26T18:26:00.001+13:00

Busy with harvest time at the moment.

Tomatoes - loving the cherry tomatoes, and the green zebras (as always). Not so much in love with the Purple Calabash (these don't make good 'eating' tomatoes, and seemed extra attractive to snails and the like so suffered a fair bit of damage) or the yellow plum (which turned out to be cherry-sized, and are good cooked or in sauces but not so tasty to eat fresh), so I probably won't bother with those ones again. I must confess that although I started the season dutifully removing the laterals my routine slipped at some point in December and the tomato patch quickly became an overgrown forest that collapsed in upon itself in places. This was obviously Not A Good Thing, and I had powdery mildew on the branches for the first time. On the plus side, we did grab a couple of triple-stake triangular frames and these gave those couple of plants much more support, so I'll definitely be picking up more and doing all my tomatoes like that next year.

Tomatillos - went in a bit late but are now doing beautifully. A very photogenic plant! Looking forward to them ripening, so we can see what they taste like.

Also in the Mexican garden went some chilli seedlings, but they haven't really grown that much. Now that I have a decent mini-greenhouse I'll be sure to get these started earlier next year. I also planted jamaica flowers - these are used to make a drink. I think these went in a little late as they are only just starting to show the first signs of buds, and again I'll try harder next year to sow these earlier.

Cape Gooseberry - similar lanterns to the tomatillos but much smaller. The first few of these are ripening up now, and we love them - so tasty! A definite to keep in the garden.

Courgettes - the year of the marrowing. This year's variety seemed particularly sneaky and quick!

Herbs - coriander went to seed quite quickly so I've managed to save a lot of seed for next year. Dill and chives were direct-sown in late December, took a long time to germinate and are only now starting to be recognisable. The parsley is doing well (not as over-the-top as last year, thank goodness). The existing plot of sage is continuing to be thick and lush, and one branch of my rosemary has been successfully bent over to grow its own roots so we can now get rid of the giant woody mass that is the old bush. This frees up the corner that I want to be my entire herb garden, not just my rosemary garden.

Carrots - fresh from the soil this morning was this funky fellow. He was a decent size, almost 200grams. Now he's carrot cake :)

I'll also share with you one of my neighbour's sunflowers, which we could see back in December waving at us across the fences.

Roundup

2010-11-28T11:25:00.003+13:00

Finally got around to the final sowings today.

Direct-sown into the salad garden was three varieties of lettuce, along with corn salad and spinach. Into the herb garden went chives and dill (I also transplanted in a parley yesterday). And into the Mexican garden went jamaica, a variety of hibiscus that makes a tasty drink. I also sowed another row of peas, and transplanted the watermelon.

Into seed trays went: ancho chilli, Marconi red pepper, tomatillo and epazote (all for the Mexican garden), plus basil, bergamot and passionfruit. I'm hoping it's not too late for these Mexican additions, I should really have had these underway a month ago.

A quick trim of the citrus trees to remove some of those lower small branches attracting the whitefly, and done for the day!

Courgette

2010-11-20T17:42:00.004+13:00

The two courgette plants have been in the ground for a couple of weeks now. Although they are both Cocozelle, one has variegated leaves while one doesn't!

Into the garden this week

2010-11-17T18:07:00.006+13:00

Over the weekend most of the seedlings were planted out in the garden - the cape gooseberry, 11 tomato seedlings, and four Mexican marigolds. I really need to get a wriggle on sowing the remaining late spring/early summer seeds though....Also up from the direct-sown seeds are the peas, beetroot and carrot.

While I wasn't looking whitefly has arrived on the citrus, so the round of spraying with Neem Oil has commenced today. Begone!

First strawberry of the season - already!

2010-11-09T18:16:00.000+13:00

You know you want one.

Parsnip

2010-11-08T18:44:00.002+13:00

(It doesn't look quite as big in the photo as it does in my head - but still, a triumph compared to the carrots!)

Parsnip!

2010-11-07T20:16:00.005+13:00

Thumbs up - the two courgette plants were planted out today, and the direct-sown coriander has emerged.

Thumbs down - No sign of the cumin as yet - at least, I'm pretty sure the things that are popping up are more likely to be weeds than cumin......The tomatoes still aren't quite big enough to be planted out but are coming along nicely in the new "greenhouse" and will probably go in next weekend. No sign of the watermelons - I planted three, two pots are inside and one is outside in the greenhouse as a bit of an experiment to see if the additional heat would help things along, but there's nothing to report as yet (at least a week in).

Harvested today - one big beautiful perfectly formed parsnip. Also three carrots that the perfectly formed parsnip is probably pointing at and laughing. I'll try and grab a photo of the parsnip tomorrow evening.

And I have a guilty conscience over everything else that still hasn't been sown. Must remember to get a tray sorted out tomorrow!

Weekend sowings

2010-10-11T18:18:00.003+13:00

On Saturday I finally got around to resowing the seedlings I managed to destroy.

It had been mostly dry all week so on Sunday I was able to do some digging (well, supervise some digging), and some direct sowing. Into the Mexican garden went cumin and coriander, along the fence went peas, and into the root vege garden went carrot, parsnip and beetroot. I also weeded out the strawberry patch - it's looking good in there! The plants have been flowering without me noticing, and there's baby strawberries!

The sad news is that two of the bigger beds have gone from being far too wet to go near, to rock hard dry, within a week. Hopefully today's rain will have evened things out a bit - those are my salad beds in theory!

A rocky start

2010-10-09T06:29:00.004+13:00

The potatoes FINALLY made it into the ground last Sunday. They were EXTREMELY well-chitted!

Several seedlings had popped up their heads in my seedling tray. I promptly got overexcited and put the trays outside in the new greenhouse (three-tier, plastic-covered) for the day and cooked them. So I'll be starting again today. There was only one survivor, a Purple Calabash tomato that has subsequently popped up its head in the tray which I hadn't emptied!

A bigger, better garden

2010-09-18T18:37:00.005+12:00

At the end of summer we cleared away a big camellia bush in the garden which has freed up a rectangular space (2.5m x 3.8m) - looks enormous compared to the rest of the garden. Hola, my Mexican garden!

It's now early spring, and sown indoors today were:
* five varieties of tomatoes (Yellow Plum, Green Zebra, Purple Calabash, a beefsteak and a cherry tomato)
* Parsley
* Cape Gooseberry
* Mexican marigold

If it stops raining long enough to let the soil dry out a bit I'll be able to get out and do the direct sowing that needs to be done. Right now it's looking a little too boggy.

Heads are forming

2010-08-09T17:47:00.004+12:00

The broccoli are progressing!

That one looks like I'd expect. Unfortunately, two out of the three are instead trying to grow as tall as they possibly can. In the last day or two small yellow flowers are forming around the base of the "head". This can't be good - are the top bits still edible and should I just eat them now?

And I have one tiny cauliflower forming a head as well.

New year, new plantings

2010-07-04T17:57:00.005+12:00

I have been very neglectful of the garden lately - but in my defence it is winter! There's some broccoli and cauliflower slowly coming along (no sign of any heads forming as yet), four leeks down the end of the garden that appear to be thriving (comparatively speaking of course, my previous efforts being very dismal) a single lettuce to eat, and lemons ripening up. We're eating carrots and parsnips from time to time but it's fair to say they are definitely on the petite side! And the rhubarb has sadly passed away.

Looking forward to the new season, last week the garlic went in. This year I started fresh with new NZ-grown organic garlic from Ceres - one of these looked like it might be elephant garlic rather than ordinary (either that or I've just planted a very strange mutant), and I planted a total of 8 ordinary-looking cloves and 2 mutant ones. Time will tell!

I also visited the garden centre to check out seed potatoes. They had several different varieties, all first earlies, but no Jersey Bennes which I was hoping for. Instead I purchased a bag of Rocket variety and they are now chitting away. These seed potatoes are enormous compared to the Heather variety I had last year....

It's not rocket science.....

2010-04-01T06:04:00.003+13:00

In the past I have sown seeds into compartmentalised trays and let them germinate inside, then transferred the baby seedlings to larger individual pots, then finally popped them outside only the day or so before planting out. I didn't want the delicate things to die! But I sowed some broccoli and cauliflower seeds last week - the tray was taking up space inside so I moved it outside as soon as they germinated. Turns out they grow MUCH faster if you do that. Obviously they are tougher than I thought!

First carrots

2010-03-13T10:05:00.003+13:00

*I* think they're beautiful. If we were to survive off what we grow, I don't think the garden is big enough for the quantities we'd need though!

The longest one is 11 cm, the fattest one is 2.5cm diameter.

Parsnip

2010-02-23T18:00:00.000+13:00

Pastinaca sativa - Guernsey, a early 19th century French heirloom variety from Kings Seeds

Direct sow early spring (the cold helps revive the seed), through to late spring and early summer. Parsnip seed is apparently a bit finicky and must be fresh or it won't germinate - it also needs lots of moisture to germinate which takes around 14 to 20 days. The notes for this particular variety said 30 cm apart but most books seem to say 15 to 25 cm apart, and the closer they are the larger they are which seems a little odd! The parsnips just sit there, growing, growing, through summer and autumn and can be left in the ground all winter until required. A good frost will make them sweeter and more tender, however there's basically no chance of that in my garden. I did see that you can make parsnip wine and parsnip beer which sounds interesting!

I didn't sow any of these until summer so I imagine they definitely won't be ready until we hit winter - patience will be required. At least I'll know for next year. In a recent NZ Gardener email newsletter someone in the South Island had the same variety planted early and they are already ready.

If they have to sit in the ground that long, they might make interesting dividers for the garden?

Carrots

2010-02-22T17:30:00.002+13:00

Scarlet Nantes, daucus carota var sativa

Carrots like well-worked, fine, crumbly, well-drained soil that has been composted six months or so earlier. Rocky soil is a no-no, as is heavy clay, as the roots will get distorted. Direct sow, germination takes around 12 to 14 days, thin initially to 5 to 7 cm apart then later to 10 to 15 cm apart (the tops can go into salad). Generally the younger and smaller the carrot the sweeter. A good companion crop is onions (prevents carrot fly). This particular variety apparently likes warmer temperatures, grows to 25 cm long, and takes around 70 days.

My first sowing was before Christmas so in theory they should be ready by the beginning of March - and that's next week! Second sowing should come through mid-March, I also did a sowing in a container around the same time (perhaps a little later, I really should have written it down), so seeing the results from my slightly-clay soil vs the container mix will be interesting. There was also a sowing last week that should be ready by the beginning of May.

End of harvest cleanup

2010-02-21T16:43:00.003+13:00

It's nearly the end of February so things are starting to slow down a bit. Today I actually did a fair bit of weeding, pulled up a beetroot, removed half of the tomato plants, raked up all the fallen lemons, removed all the rocket that had started flowering, trimmed one of the sage plants (this looks like the catnip in that you can cut it right down to the ground and let it regrow again, there does appear to be new growth down the bottom of the stems), and started trimming down the strawberries. Phew!

I was also going to sow some of the new lettuce varieties that I bought this week but first I need to decide where I'm going to put the broccoli and cauliflower - once they germinate of course and for that to happen I have to sow them! I was also supposed to be making another bottle of tomato sauce, but don't think I have quite enough tomatoes, and make some lemon curd, except it was easier to sit around on the couch and watch tv all day. So after an energetic start to the day the harvest-related activities have petered out.

Microgreens

2010-02-20T20:41:00.004+13:00

Earlier this week I put in another seed order to Kings. I did forgot to order more phacelia to use as a cover crop over winter in the new bed we've created by removing a large camellia bush, but now I have some new seeds of edible crops.

I've sown an indoor tray of mustard streaks and cress and these are already up and tall enough to be bending towards the light so I guess nibbling later on next week might not be out of the question? But tomorrow I have a big cleanup and seed sowing day planned - not to mention blogging about carrots and parsnips which I sowed some time ago but didn't research so have no idea how long they take!

Danyelle, Paris, Detroit and Guernsey

2010-02-13T19:18:00.004+13:00

I'm hoping it will be third time lucky for the Danyelle lettuce (or maybe fourth time lucky?). Today I've sown a good sprinkling of seeds in a large container rather than in the garden bed in the hope that the seeds prefer the container mix to the soil!

I also sowed some more of the Paris cos lettuce and the peas. On the pea front I might be getting closer to having something to eat, the current plant is actually growing upward and attaching itself to the ladder of string supports I rigged up.

When going through my seeds to see what else I have that might warrant another sowing now (another round of beetroot, carrot, and parsnip for starters - I'm determined to have a steady supply of my winter crops), I see that half the seed collection has now reached its best-before date. I imagine these would probably still germinate just fine but I'm tempted to have a cleanout in advance of next spring.

And tomorrow I MUST mulch the rhubarb with compost! It's still growing, but the small round bed it's in seems to suddenly be low on soil, and turns to mud every time I water it.

Harvest time

2010-02-13T19:05:00.004+13:00

Wow, doesn't time fly, it's been almost a month since my last post! Notes on this year's harvest:

Tomatoes - have ripened, been picked for the most part, and I even took out the first plant today. This year I didn't water enough and completely forgot to give them any fertiliser (hangs head in shame), so the harvest was pretty small. However I understand it hasn't been the best year for tomatoes Auckland-wide for whatever reason. The Tigerellas and Green Zebras were both delicious, and I've made one jar of tomato sauce from each variety. The Watermouths were smaller than last year but still tasty. I wasn't that keen on the Dali tomatoes, these didn't seem as interesting or as tasty as the others - possibly the colour put me off, they are a pinky shade rather than a rich red. Interestingly the birds didn't really go for the tomatoes this year. I think they were too full of strawberries!

Courgettes - one plant does seem like the right number if you don't want to get sick of them! They are still going strong, and got quite a long way into summer before the powdery mildew showed up.

Lettuce/mesclun - should have sown more. I think I should set up the Google calender now with sowing reminders for next spring and summer, better to have too much than too little!

Spring onion - still growing slowly, I definitely planted these too late, mustn't forget them next year.

Garlic - I have harvested these today, a good six weeks after the summer solstice. One was a good size, another three weren't too bad, and the remaining five were runts of the litter. Like the tomatoes, I don't think I treated these right this year - I didn't water much through December and January and never got around to mulching them.

Oooh, and I had these weeds popping up near the front door. Never got around to pulling them out, and just as well because the first one has flowered and it turns out they are self-seeded borage! I didn't recognise them from last year.

What's up, Doc?

2010-01-18T18:00:00.001+13:00

Mildly worried about these. Any thoughts - both just watering problems?

The first is one of my tomatoes - I think it's a Green Zebra (if not, it's a Tigerella). This particular plant is at the front of the tomato patch, and the leaves mostly have this dried-out, inside-out appearance. They feel pretty dry too. I don't remember this from last year's Green Zebra crop. I would guess this indicates it's not retaining enough water? The fruit itself appears to be growing fine though. The neighbouring plant (which is a different variety) also has a slight tendency towards this, while the third plant at the front is the one with blossom rot. I've been trying hard to keep water levels consistent but perhaps I'm not trying hard enough - I think I'll mulch the tomatoes next year.

The second is the pea in the foreground below. This is the one that died, then decided to send out new shoots again. It now has other plants behind it for comparison - as you can see the first one (which has had a couple of pods on it) has now developed a whitish colour while the others are still lush and green. Is it on its way out? Is this something that should be fixed?

What's growing on

2010-01-17T10:09:00.004+13:00

I have two Dali tomato plants. This is a generic name and indicates it's one of the varieties that the Yugoslavian community (who settled predominantly in Northland back in gumdigger days) brought with them or commonly grow here. There was no photo with these seeds so I wasn't sure what they were going to look like - now I know. This particular plant (which is at the back of the tomato patch and is therefore more sheltered) is doing well, the other plant is the one with the blossom rot.

Technically the Dali with blossom rot won the ripening race this year, but I ruled it ineligible due to its inedibility. We now have a new winner - it's Tigerella! Another new one this year.

Over in the winter root crops bed, things are looking good. The carrots still need thinning, and the beetroot is at the pretty stage.

Second sowing

2010-01-13T11:05:00.004+13:00

Just did a second sowing of my winter root crops - beetroot, carrot and parsnip. I also thinned out the first sowing of beetroot a bit (and even popped those leaves in the salad leaf bowl in the fridge rather than tossing them), and will need to do the same with the carrots but want to wait until they get a bit bigger first, they still look fairly insubstantial. Three of the first parsnip sowing have now germinated, they were quite a bit slower than the others.

Interestingly enough, I've now become quite a fan of direct sowing. The first year of gardening I needed the reassurance that seeds will actually germinate and grow, now I can't be bothered with all that transplanting - just sprinkle some seeds on the ground and see what happens!

Oooh - and one of the Dali tomatoes now has a yellow tinge instead of green :)

Blossom rot

2010-01-07T18:21:00.003+13:00

Spent yesterday morning tying up the tomatoes and removing the lower branches and stray laterals. One of the Dali plants had lots of fruit but most of them had blossom rot so I have removed them. The other Dali is fine.

Apparently this is a sign of inconsistent watering. Seems a bit harsh, I was watering them every other day if it hadn't rained, and stepped this up to daily about a week ago, so I've been trying hard to make sure they are hydrated.

Carrots!

2009-12-30T13:10:00.005+13:00

Well, not just yet. Can't quite remember when (the Monday before Christmas I think? so 21st December), but I did some direct sowing of beetroot, carrots (new!), parsnips (new!), peas, spring onions and red spring onions (new!), rocket, lettuce and mesclun. I've been having to hose the garden every other morning as it's been relatively dry, but there's germination now from everything with the stubborn exception of the Danyelle lettuce - this is the second sowing of this and absolutely nothing. The success of the Cos lettuce makes up for it though, these are lovely and crisp and look great in the ground as well on the plate.

I think next year I will ditch the mixed mesclun and just sow the few things we like within that mix - if only I can figure out what they are! Baby spinach is definitely one, and a buttercrunch-type. That, along with the cos and the rocket, should cover our lettuce needs.

I never got around to removing that first pea plant that died - and oddly enough, several days after my last post it suddenly decided to send up fresh new shoots from its base! I'm waiting until these new shoots are tall enough to reach my first "rung" of string before trimming off the old dead growth, and there's already a tiny pod in the new growth. There's also three new pea plants from the pre-Christmas sowing, so things are looking up on the pea front.

The potatoes taste awesome, by the way.

Delight or disappointment?

2009-12-13T15:31:00.017+13:00

Feeling slightly neglectful of both the garden and the blog at the moment. In my defence, there's been a few disappoinments on the gardening front, so here's a roundup of delights vs disappointments for everything that's currently in the ground, in an entirely random order.

Strawberries - delight! The odd single strawberry last year has given way to a veritable bounty this year, I'm having a couple of strawberries each day on my cereal and there's plenty left for snacks and desserts. The garden bed where the one plant became dozens via the miracle of runners seems to be the right spot, and I'm getting better quantities and better sizes from the ones in the ground versus the ones in containers.

Leeks - delight! Well, sort of. The one in the ground has sprouted up and developed what must be a flower or seed head - the whole thing looks very elegant and swan-like but the leek itself has stopped fattening up. I think I'm just going to eat it. I also have four germinated leek seedlings.

Rosemary - disappointment. I think my enormous rosemary bush is on its last legs, it has dying spots all over the place

Tomatoes - delight! These seem to have gone from small seedlings to fully grown plants in no time and there's baby tomatoes on there now.

Cherry tomatoes - disappointment. I only have one successful seedling of the Mexican Midget cherry tomatoes, and one might-make-it-or-might-not seedling of the Henry's Dwarf tomatoes, and both have only been planted out today which is pretty late. Fingers crossed they'll perk up and give me a good late season crop though.

Potatoes - delight! The plant tops are horridly raggedy, with the plants in containers practically dying off. I thought this was a bad sign and there was something wrong with them, but perhaps not because there are actually potatoes under there! I've dug up half a dozen small and medium sized potatoes from under the mostly-all-dead plant and will be having them for dinner.

Catnip - delight! Assuming I needed commercial quantities of catnip, of course, which I don't. However I have successfully made a catnip toy for the cat which went down very well, and there's plenty more where that came from. It's trying to smother the lemon tree!

Capsicum - disappointment and delight. My Jingle Belles plant I'd had inside over winter didn't like the conditions outside and has died, I didn't have much luck germinating either more of these or any of the wonderful Burpees from two years ago, but I do have one Alma Paprika that's doing well and was planted out today.

Basil - disappointment. I only had three seedlings to plant out today, far from the border of nine around the tomatoes I had envisaged (although the tomatoes have grown so well there's no room for nine basil). There won't be much pesto for Tiny Tim next Christmas.

Garlic - disappointment. I think the overall quantity (8) is right but I'm afraid that it's not going to be good news under the ground when time comes to dig these up. One's died off (the black aphids swarmed the runt, even though it had been a wet couple of weeks and I though the aphids only showed up when the plant was stressed for water), and several of the others have two or three shoots rather than the one strong sturdy one they should have. I think next year I will buy fresh garlic to plant from, rather than using my own (this year's was 2nd generation).

Watermelon - disappointment, couldn't get any germination. I'll get some fresh seeds next year. I do have a seedling of rockmelon though, which I planted out today.

Pea - disappointment. It was growing, even had a few pods on it, but has suddenly died.

Lettuce - disappointment (Danyelle - no germination at all) and delight (Cos - looking really good although not quite ready to sample yet)

Rhubarb - delight - growing strongly. I also have a second seedling in a pot that looks really good but I can't justify more than one plant with the space we have available.

Eggplant - disappointment. All my egpplant luck was obviously used up on the germination front this year, I had the seedlings ready and planted out much earlier than last year but one's died, another's on its way and the last one is still hanging in there but has a definite failure to thrive.

Germination woes

2009-11-10T19:52:00.003+13:00

I have given up on the last batch of seeds. Able to be transplanted into individual pots were 2 x basil (only two, sob!), a Mexican Midget tomato, a Henry's Bush dwarf tomato which frankly doesn't look likely to take off, and two Alma Paprika peppers, one of which is an extremely long shot.

Last night's new sowings were:
1 x Souters watermelon
1 x Collective Farm Women rockmelon
and 4 each of Henry's Bush tomato, basil, coriander, leek (hmmmm), oregano, parsley, marsh mallow and forget-me-not.

Fingers crossed! It's really pretty late to be sowing anything but my harvest is going to look pretty small at this rate if I don't.

This weekend in the garden

2009-11-01T14:08:00.004+13:00

Yesterday - transplanted tomatoes - 2 x Tigerella, 2 x Green Zebra, 2 x Watermouth, 2 x Dali. Also transplanted a rhubarb.

Today - transplanted 3 x eggplant, sowed a row of mesclun, row of cos lettuce, row of Danyelle lettuce. Also sowed the poppy seeds.

The germination isn't going that well. It doesn't look like we'll end up with any cherry tomatoes this year, none of the two sowings of Mexican Midgets have taken although a single Dwarf Cherry has emerged this week - a bit late, but hopefully I can keep it going and get it in the ground. There's also two basil, well down on the dozen or so I planted out last year! I've even left space around the tomatoes for a full border of basil.......

Also germinated this week is an Alma paprika pepper that I really hope survives, although it doesn't look like any of the other peppers are interested - might try germinating them directly outside where it's warmer than indoors.

Still to do today - melon and watermelon.

Nibblers

2009-10-23T18:00:00.005+13:00

The snails are still going at full strength, seems like I spend all my gardening time removing them from the strawberry planters. In more exciting news, yesterday we ate our first strawberry (mmmmm) and had to cover up several more ripening ones before the birds spot them. Only the berries in the planters are ripening up so far, but there's definitely plenty of berries on the numerous plants in the main bed.

My two courgettes have been outside the greenhouse hardening up for a couple of weeks. Note to self - completely unnecessary, next year just stick them in the ground straight off! One was completely nibbled by snails a few days ago though, so the other one has been declared the winner and is now planted out in the garden. The tomatoes will follow over the next couple of days.

Did a load of weeding today too in preparation for direct sowing carrot, mesclun and other things including a stretch of red poppies.

Potato go nuts

2009-10-09T05:54:00.003+13:00

The potatoes are growing fast! The ones planted in the ground have been earthed up a couple of times and I've now filled in the trench they were planted in. The ones in tubs also need covering up and I'll get around to doing that tomorrow.

The seedlings have been outside in the mini greenhouse for a week and are doing well. The courgettes need planting out already, but we haven't had much good weather on weekends lately to be able to do that. Regardless of the weather, this weekend I'll be able to do the second spring sowing - this will be of capsicums and herbs since I didn't have any much germination luck on the first round of sowing, plus whatever else I had put aside till it was slightly warmer.

The great race

2009-09-20T14:59:00.003+12:00

And the winner is....... indoor courgette! It hasn't quite poked its head above the soil yet but a big mound of disturbed soil has appeared on the surface. Outdoor courgette - in the greenhouse - had dried out (mental note, must remember to check daily), so I imagine the soaking of water it just got will help it germinate.

Also on stage accepting their germination medals are: dali tomato, watermouth tomato, green zebra tomato, tigerella tomato, rhubarb and basil.

I'm hoping the others haven't withdrawn from competition altogether. It has only been a week though....

In other news, I have planted the remaining few seed potatoes in tubs - the old recycle bins now have a new use!

Seed + seed raising mix + water

2009-09-13T12:47:00.004+12:00

Today was a big day! Sown into individual cell compartments of seed raising trays are:

4 x tomato - Tigerella
4 x tomato - Green Zebra
4 x tomato - Mexican Midget
4 x tomato - Henry's Dwarf Bush
4 x tomato - Dali
4 x tomato - Watermouth
4 x rhubarb - Glaskins Perpetual
6 x eggplant - Long Purple
3 x capsicum - Burpee
3 x capsicum - Alma Paprika
3 x borage
3 x marsh mallow
3 x chives
3 x oregano
3 x basil
3 x coriander
and 2 x courgette (Black Beauty) direct into pots

Now to collate my information on each vegetable/herb so I know where I am!

Potato

2009-09-09T21:09:00.000+12:00

Solanum tuberosum, variety "Heather" from Burnets, purchased at Kings Plant Barn.

Store the seed potatoes in the dark until you need them, then place in the light to chit. Varieties can be categorised as early (plant in early spring, ready for eating by Christmas!), second-early, and main (plant by early summer) - apparently in Auckland they will grow year-round though unless you happen to get frost at your house. Once the seed potatoes are well sprouted - ie have taken on an alien-like appearance, which takes up to a month - plant 5-10cm deep, 30-40 cm apart with 60cm between the rows. Recently composted or manured soil will give the best results.

Every couple of weeks as they grow you need to keep covering up the lower leaves and shoots with soil - it's these shoots that produce potatoes and the potatoes themselves can't be exposed to the light. Water regularly, particularly as the plants flower. After flowering the plants will die back, and the potatoes are then ready to be dug up. If dug up while still flowering the potatoes should be eaten immediately, but for optimal storage you should wait until the plant has completely died down. The early varieties will take around 12 weeks, and the main varieties 16 to 20 weeks. Let freshly-dug potatoes dry on the ground for a few hours before storing in the dark.

Today I planted a row along the back fence, tucked behind the orange tree where only the cat goes. Turns out there wasn't much space there at all - only 7 seed potatoes. Others will be going in our now-superceded recycling bins - recycling the recycling bins! These might be easier as I can half-fill the containers, plant the potatoes, then add more garden mix to earth them up as they grow - hopefully they'll be flowering before I run out of height! I need to trot down to the garden centre to get some garden mix though.

Progess

2009-09-05T15:02:00.006+12:00

A photographic update - first is the sage. I discovered today while weeding that my three sage plants, previously looking very bedraggled and sorry for themselves, have sprung to life, all lush and bushy.

Next up is a chitting potato - I wish I had a macro lens!

And lastly, my single solitary leek is now as thick as my finger - a little too soon to hope that one day I'll be able to eat my nemesis, but noticeable progress over the last couple of weeks.

Snails

2009-09-05T08:49:00.003+12:00

It's a full moon tonight which means I shouldn't sow the seed trays this weekend. Next Wednesday is an excellent time to sow root crops though, so I will wait until Wednesday evening to plant out the potatoes, and get the seeds underway then as well.

That leaves this weekend free to do some more weeding and tidying up in preparation. My gardening by the moon calendar tells me that the spring full moon is the prime time for snails - this explains why I keep finding so many in the strawberry planters! Daily checks, and possibly some beer baits, are called for to keep them under control. I wonder if that's what's been nibbling on the two pea seedlings? (now down to one, thanks to the nibbling)

Sneaky Spring

2009-09-02T17:41:00.000+12:00

It's definitely an early spring here. This weekend I hope to start the first batch of seed trays for the season - around three weeks earlier than originally planned but given how warm it is there's no time like the present.

Another thing I'll need to do this weekend is plant out the potatoes. They've been chitting for a month, and aren't as impressive as I'd hoped but I'm sure they'll do fine. On Saturday I'll need to weed the patch of garden that half of them are going into, and go and buy some garden mix for the pots for the other half. Apparently potting mix is too "loose" for potatoes and a stodgy mix is required for the best results.

HOUS - Herbs Of Unusual Size

2009-08-22T09:13:00.003+12:00

Parsley - around three foot tall and just starting to go to seed. The Auckland winters evidently suit it.

Ever wanted to know what a four-and-a-half foot tall out-of-control rosemary bush in full flower looked like? Now you do.

Spring strawberries

2009-08-17T13:12:00.003+12:00

It's spring (well, pretty much, winter and spring came early this year). The strawberry plants from last year are already flowering, a month earlier - probably a mix of the warmer temperatures and already being well-established.

There are four Camarosa in the square planter - two are the originals and two are runner babies. There are four surviving Pajaro in the long planter, all originals so very thick and sturdy. Over in the main garden, there's one original plant (don't ask me which type) and at least a dozen of her runner babies that are all established and thriving well.

Today I removed a snail colony from the Pajaros, along with the odd snail from the Camarosas, and gave the two planter boxes a feed using liquid tomato fertiliser. The only strawberry food I've seen for sale clearly isn't organic so I didn't want to feed them that. Apparently tomato fertilizer is a good substitute, and I already have an organic one!

Pea free

2009-08-15T17:18:00.003+12:00

No sign of any germination as yet on the pea front. Given the size of the peas planted, I imagine any sprouting should be fairly sturdy and easy to spot! I did note that the beatifully even soil now looks suspiciously cat-raked though.

Pea

2009-08-01T16:36:00.012+12:00

Pisum sativum, Wando Select from Kings Seeds (an English heirloom pea suitable for fresh use or freezing)

Peas are a cool season crop, so in Auckland should be sown from autumn to spring (late spring is probably too late). Direct sow generously at around 4cm deep, and thin out later to around 12 cm apart. You can presoak the seeds for 4 hours before sowing. Peas take 7 to 10 days to germinate (but sometimes as long as 4 weeks), and need watering at sowing, flowering and as the pods swell. Sow successively and pick pods regularly to encourage more growth.

Peas are a climbing crop and can grow up to 2m high (although mine apparently only get to 45cm or so) so they need support - a frame out of bamboo stakes is a good idea. I'm sowing mine in a small bed (prob 50 cm by 30cm) in the back corner of our garden. It's too small for stakes as it's fenced on two sides so I'm planning to tie several layers of string across the diagonal to give the plants something extra to cling to.

I've sown some this morning, and if they don't germinate another batch can be sown in a month's time when it'll be a bit warmer.

Potato chitting

2009-07-29T17:12:00.005+12:00

Rumour has it that you can just chuck a potato in the ground, forget about it, then accidentally discover lots more potatoes several months later when you're digging around for some other reason. I've never grown potatoes, and while it seems that it's not quite that easy, it also can't be too hard.....

Yesterday I purchased some seed potatoes from the garden centre (Heather, a second-early good allrounder apparently - not much choice as I left it too late, next year I will get organised and order some interesting varieties from Koanga instead). The ever-reliable Royal Horticultural Society's Vegetables in a Small Garden tells me I should be storing them indoors, exposed to light, with the eyes face up, so that they can sprout, or "chit", before planting them out.

In Auckland you can apparently grow potatoes all year round so I'm not that fussed about when they make it into the ground or when they come out! I've added a reminder to my new Google Calendar widget (you can see that in the right-hand bar of the blog) to check on them for planting out in a month's time.

Rosemary cuttings

2009-07-26T15:42:00.002+12:00

Today I took some cuttings in the hope I can grow some fresh rosemary plants to replace the current bush. I'm not sure exactly how big the cuttings should be, and if you do anything other than cut a bit off, stick it in water and wait, but time will tell if this approach works.

The current rosemary bush is approx 3 feet high and 6 feet across so takes up just a bit more of the garden than is strictly necessary. It's quite woody if you try and trim it back and seems to be dying off in a few sections, hence the need to grow some replacements.

Signs of life

2009-07-25T16:38:00.008+12:00

The garlic emerged in the last couple of days - so far I can see seven of the eight bulbs have sprouted (a small furry someone has been a-digging near the row and buried the last bulb under a small mound so that one's taking its time). These took a month to pop up, so a bit longer than last year.

Since there's not much happening on the edible front, here's a photo from the non-edible - a bud from the star magnolia's first flowers of the winter season.

Koanga Institute catalogue

2009-07-23T18:15:00.004+12:00

Phase two of the planning for spring is now underway - the new seed catalogue from Koanga Institute came out today. After phase two comes phase three - solving the "garden/wishlist=not enough space" equation.

Kings Seeds catalogue

2009-07-13T17:19:00.001+12:00

The 2009 catalogue from Kings Seeds is out, and arrived in my mailbox today. Let the planning for spring commence!

Winter Solstice and the garlic's in

2009-06-21T16:04:00.006+12:00

It's the winter solstice today and I have planted the garlic. This year I was able to use the best bulbs from last year's harvest, so this is third-generation organic garlic.

Quantity-wise it seemed like the twenty I planted last year was in fact way too many. Will the eight I am planting this year be too few?

I have planted 3 in a row in the long patch leading up to the lemon tree outside the kitchen window, and the other 5 in a row where the two courgettes were last year. I learned last year that apparently I don't go out our front door enough to plant anything out there that needs daily inspection, so garlic should do nicely. The bulbs went in around 5cm deep, pointy-end up, and last year they took 2 to 3 weeks to sprout.

I did get black aphids on the garlic about three months in to the growing cycle last year, so I need to watch out for this and spray with Neem Oil - hopefully I'll do better at stopping the bugs establishing themselves.

Lemon meringue pie season

2009-06-21T09:03:00.007+12:00

Lemons at the beginning of this month:

View out my kitchen window this morning:

Mmmmmm....you know what I'm thinking!

Pasta sauce

2009-06-12T17:17:00.003+12:00

Note to self for next year - it is worth taking the time to remove the skins from the tomatoes before making pasta sauce :(

I'm also thinking there should only be one courgette plant next summer. It ended up in everything I made, and I'm quite over courgettes now. Next summer I'll restrict it to one plant, and eat them all fresh.

The definition of optimism

2009-06-02T17:21:00.005+12:00

It's June in the Southern Hemisphere - that's winter, my optimistic capsicum friend. Why are you trying to ripen your itty bitty teeny weeny harvest?

Cover crop

2009-05-30T12:59:00.004+12:00

Last Sunday I sowed phacelia in the two main patches where the veges grow come spring. No germination as yet, so it will be a while before we see this sight again.

I see from reviewing my earlier posts (loving blog labels, very easy to locate notes to self!) that I had thought about sowing phacelia in the shaded strip leading up the front door. I had borage in there over summer, which was lovely but a bit big, so I must remember to order some more phacelia seed to sow along there in spring.

The discouraging leek

2009-05-23T06:58:00.004+12:00

"If your leeks are ready..." says the the latest email newsletter from Lynda at NZ Gardener. Really? Out there, someone's leeks are ready? My single leek is still pencil-like. A sturdy pencil, but still......

In other news, the lemons are half green half yellow now. There appears to be one less-than-healthy branch on one of the trees where the lemons are all small and oddly shaped, rather like they've already been shrunken and preserved, but the rest are coming along nicely.

Now, if it would just stop raining for a day so I could hoe away the weeds and sow the cover crop for winter before it's too late!

Catnip

2009-05-08T17:17:00.004+12:00

The catnip is now officially enormous. I must find some human uses for it! It does get plenty of use as a place for Bugsy to sleep, judging from the giant cat-shaped indentation in the middle of it, and I will definitely start harvesting and drying it to do some custom-made cat toys.

Leek

2009-05-03T14:48:00.003+12:00

After two years of trying to get leeks to germinate, and then thrive, I finally have one single solitary leek that was today transplanted into the garden. Hurrah! Hopefully it will continue to thrive.

In other surprising developments, my Jingle Belles capsicum seedling (that germinated late and was therefore going to winter indoors before being planted out in late spring), has decided to attempt to grow some capsicums. They're about 5mm across.

No sign yet of any lettuce and mesclun seedlings - I'm pretty sure everything green in that patch of the garden is a weed but I'm leaving them there just to be on the safe side.

Last batch of pesto

2009-04-26T19:37:00.002+12:00

Finally got around to making the last two batches of pesto today.

Total pesto for the year was 7 x small (150ml-ish) jars, at a rate of 1 full-grown basil plant per jar.

Lettuce

2009-04-07T18:16:00.004+12:00

After a special request from the management I've sprinkled more mesclun seed this evening, along with Paris White Cos Lettuce and Danyelle Lettuce (both organic seeds from Kings Seeds).

I'm sure the urge for lettuce will have passed long before they're ready, and that's assuming they don't end up drowned in a wet autumn!

Beetroot

2009-04-05T07:26:00.004+12:00

Yesterday I harvested half a dozen beetroot. These had been sitting there for quite a while because I forget about them, but everything worked out fine - they were a good size but not too big for my stock pot, and they were tasty once cooked up.

I've only done two batches of pesto so far, but hope to do another two today.

Whitefly - autumn round

2009-03-30T17:12:00.003+13:00

The whitefly is back. The sweet new leaves attracting them this time are my purple broccoli seedlings and the new growth on the citrus. I sprayed on Wednesday, again on Sunday, and will keep that up for a few more rounds.

All my capsicum are red-ripe now. Shame the largest one is only 4cm across!

Trimming the strawberries

2009-03-14T19:03:00.007+13:00

There's been plenty of rain around this week keeping the garden well moistened, so I can only assume from the droopiness that the strawberry plants feel that it's time for a well-earned rest. That said, it's just the ones in the planters that are drooping:

I've started trimming off all the old leaves and just leaving the new growth. Here's the square planter, the two plants in the foreground are the old trimmed ones, the two in the back are untrimmed runners.

However I can't quite bring myself to sort out the strawberry plant and her runner babies in the garden - I don't really know where to start! The single original plant is the small darker patch, the rest are runners.

I also spotted the first flower on one of the eggplants today - too late in the season to produce any actual eggplants, but pretty nonetheless.

Garden roundup

2009-03-04T18:10:00.004+13:00

Courgette & scallopini - now removed

Broccoli - now removed

Tomatoes - now removed apart from the last Green Zebra plant which is still going

Onions - appear to have removed themselves :)

Strawberries - still fruiting!

Spring onions - still going strong (shouldn't have planted so many)

Eggplant - the plants are growing on upwards now, but it's far too late in the season so no eggplants again this year :(

Done their dash

2009-02-22T08:24:00.005+13:00

The tomato plants have done their duty this summer, and are now progressively being removed. However one of the Green Zebras is still going strong, it's draped itself over the lemon tree and is still getting new growth on it, so I'll leave that one in to see how long it lasts.

I'm also planning to take out one of the courgette plants (the runt), and the purple sprouting broccoli today - I don't think I'm going to get any more shoots off the latter and it's getting a bit stinky! The watermelon vine is another one that can come out now.

Sauce

2009-02-18T18:14:00.003+13:00

1kg of tomatoes equals 250ml of tomato sauce (give or take). Now we have Roma sauce, San Marzano sauce, Green Zebra sauce, and a mixed sauce (the last two are in the photo).

100% humidity

2009-02-11T18:28:00.004+13:00

The battle against powdery mildew has been lost - in my defence, Auckland hit 100% humidity overnight so there's not a lot I can do. Oh well, I had a pretty good run this year!

The tomatoes are also struggling in the hot, showery and excessively humid conditions. This evening I have pulled out one of the Watermouth plants after harvesting all the tomatoes on it. Once I had cleared away a lot of the dead branches and damp droopy leaves in the tomato patch it was clear that the remaining Watermouth plant was much much bigger, healthier, and producing bigger fruit than the now-deceased one.

Watermelon

2009-02-08T18:37:00.002+13:00

Ta-da! 6.6kgs and very juicy. This one will be the total of the harvest this season, I didn't get any more flowers once this one had gotten going, and both vines I planted have now faded away in the heat.

World famous in NZ

2009-02-08T09:29:00.001+13:00

A photo of my hand holding a freshly harvested beetroot (from the second batch of beetroot if I remember correctly) has sold through a stock photography website. No idea who to, or what for......

Weekend roundup

2009-02-07T08:33:00.007+13:00

The heat is getting just a tad monotonous, is it not? I hosed the garden down again this morning (quite a mission as the hose is at the other end of the house), and noticed the following:

* The spring onions and the onions (which are particularly weak looking) are still suffering from the purple aphids, it doesn't seem to matter how much I water them

* Whitefly is back, this time on the underside of the tender new purple broccoli seedlings and on some of the citrus. I will try to remember to spray with Neem tonight.

* I seem to have planted the basil a bit late (although it will still get there - mmm pesto) and the eggplant very late - must try harder next year!

Here's my poor exhausted tomato plants mid way through the harvest:

Red Russian in the foreground, Green Zebra in the middle and Watermouth at the back. The San Marzanos are below:

And lastly, my courgette. I've been trying to get a photo of this for a while, but had to wait until all the leaves in the immediate vicinity were gone. You can see the vine coming out of the ground (it always surprises me just how dead it looks once it's dried and split, but evidently it still does the job), then it splits into two! Is this common? Both ends are equally sturdy and as productive as the average plant so I have two for the price of one.

Dozens of tomatoes

2009-02-04T18:48:00.002+13:00

Definitely time to sauce, but it's far too hot to be in the kitchen this evening! I have around 4 dozen tomatoes picked and ready to be turned into pasta sauce or tomato sauce, and did a big batch of ratatouille last weekend weekend. It might have to wait until Friday - since it's a public holiday I'll be home in the morning and might be able to summon the energy to be in the kitchen.

My San Marzano aren't quite as pretty now they're ripening - they're mottled. I don't think it's in a something-wrong-with-them way......

Harvesting this week

2009-01-31T08:06:00.003+13:00

Let the eating stage commence!

Half the garlic is now harvested, and the rest I'm going to pull up today.

Tomatoes are coming through thick and fast. I've made one small bottle of Roma tomato sauce, and will be doing one of Red Russian and another of San Marzano today, while we're busy eating the Watermouth and the Green Zebra.

I don't think the capsicums are going to be a raving success this year. We've had a couple of ripe red ones from the plant that survived from last year, but they are TINY, as are the unripe ones on the plant. I never managed to get another seedling to germinate and survive - I have a sturdy looking seedling ready to transplant now but I think it'll be too late to get anything off it.

By yesterday I had four large scallopini, so I stuffed and baked them for dinner. They were okay, problem was that the outside skin once baked is very squeaky on your teeth, so I don't think I'll try that again.

The watermelon is still growing - 3cm since last week, but it does seem to be darkening slightly and the tendrils near it are definitely darkening. If it gets too hot this weekend I think I'll have a nice watermelon snack!

Lastly, the purple sprouting broccoli was very nice, even if it is disappointing to see it turn green when you cook it.

This weekend I didn't.....

2009-01-27T17:22:00.004+13:00

1. find out what to do with the strawberry runners (in my defence, I did go through my gardening books but none of them mentioned it, and I haven't gotten around to Googling it yet). I must say the plant that's in the ground (rather than in the planters) seems to know what to do all by itself, it's busily sending out runners that are sending up shoots at presumably the right distances apart from each other, and several of them have now rooted. I'm guessing all I need to do at some point in the not-too-distant future is to cut their umbilical cords, so to speak.

2. eat any purple sprouting broccoli. I have just now cut the sprouts around half of it, plus the centre head which was started to go brown and gooey, and will be cooking the sprouts for dinner.

I did look into the scallopini issue, and it seems it depends on exactly what variety it is as to how big you should let it get - anywhere between 2 to 4 inches. The first one is now off the vine. I'm still a little bit puzzled as to the best way to (cut and) cook it, I did find a nice sounding recipe where you slice it horizontally through the middle and fill the centre with a stuffing of carrot/onion/garlic/tomato/whatever you have, then bake it. If I can get a pair of the same size I will probably give that a go.

The tomatoes are ripening up well. We've had a couple of the Watermouth (delicious) and a couple of Russian Red (as good as last year), and today I've gathered 10 Romas (enough to make a small bottle of sauce!).

This weekend I must......

2009-01-23T18:31:00.005+13:00

1. ...find out exactly what to do with strawberry runners (although I'm confident this is Not It)

2. ...find a delicious way to serve the purple sprouting broccoli and actually cut the main head (which now looks like it's going to seed) and some of the shoots

3. ...find out how I'm supposed to know when scallopini are ready for eating

Watermelon may be ready to pop

2009-01-23T17:11:00.003+13:00

Visitors to the garden have been most amused by my one watermelon, but I'll be the one laughing soon as I think it's almost ready for eating. I've just measured it and it's 32.5cm from the stem over the top down to the point where the flower was, the half-circumference-lengthwise if you will (that doesn't sound like a standard measurement but it's the easiest bit to measure!), and I may declare it ready if it doesn't grow by Monday (public holiday, hurrah!). I also think that the tendrils are browning and the underside is more yellow than it was, but this may be my brain playing tricks on me...

A kind reader has suggested that the vine may be in need of some assisted reproductive technology. Once the current buds are flowering I shall manually introduce them to each other and see if they take each other's fancy :)

Tops and bottoms

2009-01-18T19:07:00.005+13:00

Apparently the bigger things are above the ground, the bigger they are below the ground. Sadly this means that most of the remaining bulbs in the BBQ row will therefore be tiddly. On a brighter note, it bodes well for the garlic from the organic bulbs!

On the courgette front, my two plants can't seem to find a middle ground between underdeveloped-with-blossom-rot (I didn't see this at all last year), and marrows. No powdery mildew though, although the chances of getting through an Auckland February without it are pretty small. I made a Zucchini loaf today - this uses 1 cup of grated courgette which didn't make much of a dent in the marrow.

I think I can see my first scallopini too!

I've had to remove a few tomatoes with blossom rot, but luckily only a few, and there's an orange tomato on nearly every plant now. This morning the nets went on the plants.

Harvest indecision

2009-01-14T18:06:00.011+13:00

Garlic - this is really confusing. Some references say to harvest once the tops fall over, but others say that's too late and you should harvest when the tops start turning brown. Not much help, especially as I have some that have now fallen over but are still green! I also hope I haven't got the watering regime all wrong, I found one reference that said they need lots of water in the last month, and another that says you shouldn't water at all in the last fortnight before harvest - I've been watering every other day for the last month. The organic bulbs have only just started to fall over the last day or so, while the bulbs from the garden centre have all been lounging around on the soil pretty much all month now:

I think tomorrow I will pull up a few from the other row (which are all pretty much brown tops now) plus a comparison bulb from the green-top row in the picture above, and see what they look like.

Watermelon - still getting bigger every day. I think these should take around 75 days, and the vine was transplanted 2 November, which brings us to 16 January, ie around now. I found these extra indicators of ripeness online - the tendrils on the stem near the melon turn brown, the surface becomes dull, rough and hard, and the surface sitting on the ground turns from green to yellow. Not sure that last one applies as mine is very pale green but lighter on the underside, and has been all along. However the surface is definitely firmer now, so I guess it's getting there. As it looks like this might be the only one I get, I don't want to harvest it too early or too late!

Purple Sprouting Broccoli - I believe the theory here is to harvest the head then leave the rest of the plant - harvesting the head encourages the individual shoots up the side, hence the "sprouting" in the name. No idea when you harvest the head though - at the moment the stalk isn't as tall as what you would see when buying a cut one, but perhaps that's leaving it too late if you want the sprouting to happen. Aaargggh!

Yes, the caterpillars do appear to be well fed, don't they? At least they appear to prefer the leaves to the pretty purple bits.

And lastly, my most exciting discovery of the day:

Roma for the win! You may notice that this is on the plant that has collapsed the most, which is why all the bunches are very close to the ground. I'll be putting some netting around that one tomorrow to keep the birds away from My Precious.

Update on the tomatoes

2009-01-08T13:45:00.002+13:00

I spent a bit of time tidying up the tomatoes this morning - I have planted them a smidge too close together, they all seem to have quite vigorous foliage, and they're starting to fall backwards onto the lemon tree despite the sturdy 1.5m metal-core stakes, so the end result is one big tangled mess!

This is of course Not Good - airflow being particularly important given Auckland's humidity - so I have retied each plant to its more-firmly-bashed-in stake and cut off a lot of leaves close to the ground (and accidentally lopped off the main stem of one of the Russian Reds - still, it looked like something had been a-nibbling on the tomatoes of that stem, probably the caterpillars I found scooting their way across the soil beneath).

Variety by variety:

Green Zebra - would be around 1.5m if they would just grow straight up! One of them is growing in a complete Y shape with the fork not far from the gound, so hopefully it can support itself throughout the upcoming ripening weeks. These are very pretty so far.

Next to the pair of Green Zebras are my Russian Reds, a repeat sowing from last year. These seem to be much sturdier than last year but I think this is because I have the laterals under control. They're barely a metre tall though, so quite squat compared to the others. You can see in the photo that something's been nibbling on the leaves.

Next in line is the Watermouth. Now that I have pruned a bit I can actually see these two plants. They are very nice, 1.5m tall, and seem to behave themselves compared to the others.

Rounding the corner are my problem children, the three Romas. These disregard every suggestion I give them as to how they should grow, preferring instead to sag to the ground and get themselves tangled up with each other and their neighbours. They had better pass the taste test when saucing time rolls around or I'll be giving them a miss next year...

Lastly are my two San Marzano. These are tall ones as well, almost 1.5m, and are fruiting in attractive bunches. I can't wait to see if they taste good!

I don't think any of them will make the mid-January harvest time. They're getting to the right size, but no sign of any of them starting to ripen up as yet. I do need to get organised with netting of some kind now though - I'm on to you this year, birds!!

Watermelon progress

2009-01-08T09:22:00.006+13:00

The watermelon seems to be doubling in size every couple of days. Pity there's only one watermelon on the vine doing anything! Several of the flowers have a baby watermelon at their base but they don't seem to be developing at all.

Five days ago:

Today:

The vine seems to attract the mosquitoes for some reason - there's always a cloud of midges that fly up if you disturb it, and there's always several sitting on the melon itself.

Thar she bolts

2009-01-03T13:16:00.004+13:00

These both came from the organic mesclun seed - they've gotten away on me a bit.

Strawberry runners

2009-01-02T08:17:00.005+13:00

The Camarosa strawberry plants are now starting to send out runners, so I will have to research as to exactly how to make these into new plants for the coming year. The parent plants are still producing lovely berries but I will try to have more plants next year so we can have quantity as well as quality!

So far I've had two courgettes but another three have rotted on the vine. Not sure why, will have to investigate. It's actually the second plant that wasn't transplanted until mid-October that is doing better than the first, but I think this is because it's more exposed so is getting more sun and bumblebee action than the first.

The garlic is starting to keel over. Interestingly it's just the Printador garlic from the garden centre, not the organic garlic which is still standing proudly. Last week I dug up one of the garlic (where there were two stems wedged next to each other, I figured they wouldn't reach their full potential like that anyway), and there was a definite bulb but it wasn't an impressive size yet.

I've been very slow off the mark with the basil this year. So far only two seedlings have made it into the ground, but there's another two hardened off ready for transplanting today once it stops raining.

Mental note - plant less albino beetroot! It's just not as much fun once it's been bottled. I do have a recipe for beetroot dip which I'm planning to try with the albino beetroot over the next couple of days.

The rocket has shot up and been flowering vigorously for the last 10 days or so. I tried trimming it back, and have removed one plant altogether, but I think it's time for the other two plants to come out.

Broccoli is indeed purple

2008-12-28T15:55:00.001+13:00

Well, sort of....you can now see little purple shoots coming out of the cauliflower-like centre.

Sprouting

2008-12-27T11:31:00.003+13:00

The purple sprouting broccoli is finally doing something other than provide food for hungry caterpillars. It looks like it's growing a cauliflower as it's white at the moment, but hopefully in time it will in fact turn out to be purple broccoli....

I also planted out a broccoli seedling this morning, and as soon as I work out where I can put the other four seedlings they can go in the ground as well. In theory I should have been able to fit four broccoli in the patch where the existing plant is but that first one is so big that there's only room for one more that size.

Courgette!

2008-12-24T12:35:00.001+13:00

Today I was able to harvest the first courgette of the season! How very festive......

With all the rain over the last couple of days I suspect the garden will get a bit of growth spurt shortly. The tomatoes are doing well, plenty of baby tomatoes on each plant and plenty of bumblebees fertilising the flowers. The coriander has definitely succumbed to the windy patch last week though.

Sage and rosemary

2008-12-20T09:30:00.003+13:00

This morning I planted out two of the sage seedlings next to the exceptionally-well-established mature rosemary bush.

Mental note to self: don't leave delicate seedlings out in the sun too long! The just-germinated eggplant and capsicum didn't survive the rough treatment, so on Thursday night I had to sow some new seeds (hopefully it isn't already too late to get these germinated and in the ground), along with some extra herbs and my holy grail of germination, leeks - I just don't seem to have the touch for these.

Baby watermelon

2008-12-20T09:27:00.001+13:00

Five baby watermelon

2008-12-17T06:46:00.000+13:00

On the morning dash round outside to see how everything is faring (it's been raining and quite windy overnight, the coriander is not happy with the wind), I spotted five baby watermelon! Then it started raining again before I could get a picture.

Beetroot relish

2008-12-14T18:54:00.006+13:00

I've harvested 7 of the Detroit beetroot now - one I cooked and ate, five made up the 500g I needed to make relish (ended up with around 500ml worth), and the last one was definitely the runt of the litter - only around half an inch across, even though it had been growing as long as the others. I fear the one in the photo below is the runt of the second litter!

Welcome to the jungle

2008-12-13T13:55:00.004+13:00

The two courgette plants have been flowering for a couple of weeks now.

Meanwhile, right next door the scallopini appears to be doing well. I think I actually managed to get the raised mounds right this year for the scallopini and the courgettes so they are proving easy to water.

And most of the tomato plants now have little tomatoes on them. It's interesting to see the different shapes this year, here's pear-shaped baby Roma:

Weekend update

2008-12-07T09:46:00.008+13:00

Yesterday I gave the tomatoes some fertilizer, spotted the first tomato! (Russian Red, beating San Marzano by a day), spotted the first flower on the watermelon vine, sowed another half a dozen each of dark beetroot and albino beetroot, sowed another half a dozen spring onions, ate lots (comparatively - ie more than half a strawberry each) of strawberries, mulched with compost the burpee pepper (plenty of flowers there now) and the spot the eggplant will be going into once they're a bit bigger, transplanted the scallopini and the parsley into the ground, and moved the four pots of sage into the greenhouse.

This morning I transplanted into their interim pots seven basil seedlings, four parsley, three eggplant, two capsicum (jingle belles), and one white sage. I've popped them outside for a little bit to warm up.

Harvesting beetroot

2008-12-06T10:36:00.002+13:00

Beetroot can be harvested once the roots are 1 inch to 3 inches diameter, depending on what you want them for. They will start trying to evict themselves from the ground so you can see quite easily how big they are getting (how convenient!). Loosen the soil round then gently pull them out of the ground, being careful not to damage the skin as the colour will bleed - you also want to keep the skin on while you cook them for the same reason.

They store well in a cool dark place, provided you cut off the leaves a couple of cms above the root. The leaves can then go into salad. Any beetroot juice can be used for dye, preferably deliberately :) so if you're like me you may want to plant albino beetroot.

Today's harvest:

Mesclun

2008-12-05T18:32:00.004+13:00

The mixed mesclun's been going well. We've been eating our way through the outer leaves and it just keeps going. There's also a few plants from the second sowing coming through (although not of the varieties that we like), and I did a third sowing this week - although I've had to water it several times to keep that patch of earth from turning into a dustbowl.

Catnip

2008-12-04T17:56:00.002+13:00

Since the catnip went into the ground a few weeks ago, it had virtually disappeared. I think this was partly kitty-related and partly because I wasn't watering it enough. Anyway, it turns out it's not dead after all as there's several new leaves on it today.

Tomato laterals

2008-11-29T10:57:00.006+13:00

Laterals are the secondary stems on tomato plants that will (if you let them) grow up almost as sturdily as the main stem and go on to produce fruit. However this generally isn't a good idea as the plant has to work too hard to support everything, so the tomatoes end up smaller, not-so-good quality, and the chances of losing everything to disease or damage increases (last year some full-sized fruiting laterals split off altogether so I lost those tomatoes).

"A" on the photo is the leaf stem branching off. Immediately above the leaf stem, growing diagonally upwards, is the lateral, marked "B". There's a second pair of leaf and lateral to the right just above the marked pair. If the lateral is left in there, the leaf stem will be forced downwards to the ground as the lateral grows.

What to do:
* snap the laterals off when they are small like they are in the photo - so the wound is small and heals quickly
* dry windy day - again, so the wound dries out quickly
* have clean hands - so you don't inadvertently transmit a disease from other plants or soil
* I'm sure I've read somewhere that the lateral immediately below the first set of flowers is the strongest and can be left in, so you end up with two stems producing fruit
* check and repeat every two weeks

Last year I never really got a handle on what laterals were as I couldn't find any good photos or illustrations to show me what to remove, and things did get pretty chaotic - the resulting bushes were very difficult to support. I think I've got it mostly sussed now though - so today I did a initial cleanup, removing laterals, removing the leaf stems that were already too low and virtually sitting on the ground, tying the plants to their stakes, removing the odd weed, and watering the root area with Tom-A-Rite organic tomato fertiliser. As the plants are just starting to produce flowers, the fertiliser will need to go on every week from now.

Flowering

2008-11-26T18:22:00.008+13:00

The first flowers have today appeared on the tomatoes (in particular the Russian Red and the Roma above, which means they have flowered just over 3 weeks from transplantation) and one of the courgettes (a month from transplanting), and the watermelon vine has tripled in size over the last couple of days and actually looks more like a vine now. The beetroot patch is coming along nicely too, the leaves may not look so pretty any more (this evening I sprayed liquid copper on the surrounding soil of the beetroot, broccoli and mesclun to keep the nibblers away) but the roots are starting to heave themselves up out of the ground.

Rain damage

2008-11-25T06:39:00.002+13:00

There's been a lot of rain over the last day. I checked on the beetroot this morning, and some of the leaves have actually snapped over in half and split across the leaf from the weight of it. And to make things worse, something's been a-nibbling!

Capsicum

2008-11-22T10:30:00.001+13:00

Capsicum Jingle Belles – capsicum annuum

Last year 90% of the Burpee red peppers ended up in red onion and capsicum relish (mmmm – still one jar left under guard), so I thought it would be fun to plant some more capsicum just for general use. Jingle Belles are mini capsicum in a mix of colours - but I assume this isn't all on the same plant? I can probably fit two plants in the small corner bed I've earmarked for them.

Capsicum need higher soil temperatures to germinate and stay happy. I should see some action shortly as they take 8 to 20 days to germinate (last year they took around 15) and they've already have six (so perhaps I'm too impatient then). They should be planted around 50cm apart in a warm sunny spot, well mulched to keep the soil temperature up, and will grow a metre high. Jingle Belles need staking as they are allegedly very prolific, and should be watered extra well (including with liquid fertilizer) as the fruit forms. Capsicum apparently particularly like seaweed or fish emulsion fertilizers, so the Nitrosol Organic (which I haven't seen on shelves for a while, everyone's got the ordinary Nitrosol but not the organic) should do nicely.

Last year I sowed in September, transplanted into the ground 25 November, had baby peppers by 7 Jan (was away over Christmas so not sure exactly when they appeared) and the first one was fully red by 13 February which is 12 weeks from transplanting. This year I have sown later as I already had one plant from last year, and will transplant any new seedlings much quicker, so it will be interesting to see if they catch up.

Scallopini

2008-11-21T16:39:00.002+13:00

Scallopini Green Bennings – cucurbita pepo

To add a little variety to the courgettes, I'm also planting scallopini or summer squash – the organic Green Bennings from Koanga. These are apparently spaceship shaped and can be eaten whole or stuffed. Sounds like fun!

Summer squash generally take 7 to 14 days to germinate and are ready to eat 50 to 60 days from sowing. Like standard courgettes, I imagine these will be prone to powdery mildew. I'm not sure exactly where I'll put these – I'd like two, so one can go next to the two courgette plants opposite the front door (which will at least make it convenient for watering with the hose in the mornings), and the second can sit next to the watermelon (thereby filling up that bed).