Here’s one of my honey bees busy on the red kale that’s gone to seed. It’s been the coldest and wettest October for years so there’s no honey in the hive and the girls are making the most of every fine day to gather provisions. Bees and native birds both benefit from plants that provide pollen and nectar. They also need a constant source of easily accessible water. On a sunny day the bees will be resting on the rocks by the edge of the pond for a drink.
It’s time to sow more seeds, plant out seedlings and keep weeding. Mulch potatoes and garlic if you can. You’ll probably have some ingredients to make compost. If this is one of the things you struggle with, the fresh food garden course will help you. We had another enjoyable course on Saturday and there’s a couple of spaces left on this Sunday’s course if you’d like to come along. Thank you to everyone who came to the Ohariu Valley Garden Ramble and entered the draw for a place on the course and came to my talk.
Martin Bosley on Radio NZ lamented the lack of broad beans so far this year but gave a delicious sounding recipe for asparagus salad with broad beans and salmi. My broad beans are nearly ready and I’ve pinched out the tops to stop them getting too tall. Even if you don’t like broad beans they’re a good green manure crop, fixing nitrogen from the air into the soil.
I may be the last person in New Zealand to discover the joys of popping corn. That all changed when I visited the wonderful Somerset Cottage near Tauranga. I’m now determined to grow some of my own popping corn. I’m probably also the last person to read a Dan Brown book so I’m starting with ‘The Lost Symbol‘.
