Delight or disappointment?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.