This is Frida. She has a half-brother, Felix, and a half-sister, Flora. We eagerly await her fourth half sibling. But not half as eagerly as her rather large mother.
Beware coming to visit at the moment as you are likely to go away carrying beans or zucchinis (or both). The potatoes have never been better and even the strawberries have turned on the charm again. I’ve started watering for the first time this year. We started sowing a winter salad garden on the fresh food garden course on Saturday and I’ve finished that off this week. We had the best day for weather for the course of the whole season. And another wonderful group of vegetable gardening enthusiasts. The number of winning recipients of a box of produce continues to grow. Invite your friends to subscribe to this email if you think they’d like the chance to sample some fresh vegetables for free.
If you buy a few packets of seed for some winter crops and sow them in the next few weeks, you’ll have winter greens to pick every day. The cabbage white butterflies are still about so keep up with the bT (Dipel) sprays if it rains. Pick zucchinis, beans and strawberries daily. I made some delicious beetroot fritters to make a change from the very successful zucchini fritters.
The fabulous ‘writers’ and readers’ week‘ currently offers lots of opportunities for book-lovers to indulge in Wellington as part of the larger International Arts Festival.
Zucchini fritters are getting so many outings that I decided to try a variation. I had some grated beetroot and carrot left over from a beetroot salad so this made an excellent breakfast for one with some spinach leaves and baby tomatoes. I could have very easily packed it for my lunchbox if I had to take a lunch out. If you haven’t got capers, chop in a few olives or a couple of sundried tomatoes. If you don’t want to use those, add a teaspoon of salt.
half a cup of grated beetroot
half a cup of grated carrot
ten capers, drained from the brine
one tablespoon grated parmesan
one tablespoon cornflour
one large egg
a little olive oil to fry
Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon it into the pan to make four fritters. Fry until golden on one side (2-3 minutes on a medium heat). Flip over and fry until golden on the other side. Turn off the heat and allow to rest in the pan for a few minutes before serving.
… Give the gift of pumpkin. I’ve been delighted to receive a pumpkin from each of two friends who’ve been to visit recently. One had a rich orange, dry flesh that made superb pumpkin soup. The other was an green ‘eight ball’ summer squash that I stuffed and slow cooked. Also delicious. Now I’ve got my own mini pumpkins coming on - the flattened ‘Jack-be-Little’ and the rounder ‘Wee-be-Little’. They are growing vertically to save space. I’m never quite sure how long to leave them before picking them, but as I don’t want to store them I don’t worry about leaving it too long. Both varieties are ideal for individual mini pumpkin soups or you could fill them with the stuffing I used for stuffed zucchini. Another batch of zucchini fritters went down well at the weekend and I made zucchini lasagne with a couple of larger specimens.
Don’t despair if your tomatoes, corn and beans are dismal this year in Wellington. Just blame it on the lack of sun and warmth. In contrast, potatoes, onions, garlic and brassicas have all enjoyed the moisture and cooler temperatures. If you came on the fresh food garden course in October you’ll have seen me plant some pink fir apple potatoes. I dug them this week (only a little late) and they were the best I’d ever grown.
The weekly draws for a box of vegetables continue and there are a couple of places left on the last fresh food garden course of the season if you want to get some help with your winter garden.
Don’t bother with green zucchinis next year. Yellow ones fruit earlier and are much easier to spot amongst the leaves so you won’t end up with unexpected marrows. Scallopinis are a more interesting flying-saucer shape and can be yellow or green.
If you’re being buried under a mountain of zucchinis then try some zucchini recipes. Chocolate zucchini cake was particularly good. I’ve successfully trialled growing zucchini plants in tyres. If you want to see the results or want to be buried in a mountain of zucchinis next year, come on the last fresh food garden course of the season on Saturday 6 March 2010.
The weekly draw for a box of vegetables continues for everyone signed up to receive this email.
It’s time to buy seeds for your winter crops - a sowing before the end of February and another one before the end of March will make your garden more resilient to the variability of weather. Some might be ready before winter, others during and some not harvested until spring. I use a grid of 30×30cm squares made of bamboo stakes tied together with string. When you’re sowing the second grid, you can move the original bamboo grid to a new location. If you spread a layer of potting mix over the soil before you sow it will supress many of the weeds and give your seeds a good start in life. Keep the seeds moist - water gently each day if necessary. You’ll need to protect your seeds and seedlings from birds, cats and other invaders. If you’d like to see a demonstration of this, there are just a few places left on the fresh food garden course on Saturday 6 March 2010.
If you need some help with some heavy work in your Wellington garden, such as double digging, I know of an enthusiastic sports team looking to raise funds for an overseas trip. You’ll need to feed them well of course. Please email me if you would like me to give them you details.
I’m not selling vegetables this year but will be running a ‘weekly’* draw during the summer for a box of seasonal produce. Everyone who gets this email will automatically enter the draw so if you’ve got friends who’d enjoy some fresh produce, forward this to them so they can sign up for updates. If you win the draw and you’re not in Wellington or don’t want the vegetables I’ll send you a small consolation gift.
Time to start watering your garden regularly if you have not had to already. Scratch under the surface of the soil to see if it is dry. Water thoroughly once a week rather than a quick sprinkle every day. Use some seaweed tea to give your plants a boost too. Some things will need watering more often - particularly seeds, seedlings and greenhouses but if you’ve used mulch and planted things close together you may be surprised how rarely they need it. The more organic matter you incorporate into your soil via mulch, compost and green manure the less you’ll need to water too. Early morning and late evening are good times to commune with your plants and unwind with a tour round, picking and weeding as you go. There are a few places left on the fresh food garden course on Saturday 6 March 2010 if you want to find out more.
If you’ve got a zucchini glut you might want to try some zucchini meatloaf, lusaka, zucchini fritters or zucchini and feta pies.
Mabel and her chicks are progressing well.
‘Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives‘ proved a fascinating read and a sad indictment of human nature illuminating the influence of a child’s name on his success, how to write a successful personal ad and what’s the best way to tell if someone is lying.
* ‘weekly’ refers to a pretty flexible schedule in this instance. Sometimes more often, sometimes less.
I picked my first dwarf beans yesterday as at last the warmth has brought them on. Dwarf or bush beans are a good alternative to climbing beans in Wellington as they don’t get blown about quite as much - or at least it’s easier to provide them with shelter. I sowed some more beans in pots early in the new year and have just planted them out to follow on. These yellow ones are ‘roquefort‘ and I like them because they retain their colour when they’re cooked (purple ones disappointingly turn green) and I can find them more readily amongst the foliage. I’ve also got some gorgeous speckled ones called ‘albenga‘. We’ll be planning a winter garden at the fresh food garden course on Saturday 13 February 2010 - there’s one place left.
I discovered why the tomatoes are so slow this year when I identified some naked lower trusses on the plants and spotted an infamous yellow predator sneaking in to the tunnel house when the door was open on a hot day. A wire-mesh barrier has been hastily erected. Keep pinching out the tomato side shoots and feeding them weekly.
Mabel and her six chicks have been out in the sunshine, enjoying a scoop of worms from the wormery. The honey bees are flying madly, filling up the extra honey super I added to my hives last week.
Time to sow some more seeds if you haven’t done so for a fortnight - lettuce, rocket, silverbeet, brocolli, carrots, beetroot, radishes, turnips and spring onions. I’ve sown a few more potatoes as I had great success with the ones I sowed at this time last year. Mulch your potatoes with some more seaweed.
Lots of zucchinis? Zucchini fritters for breakfast are my current favourite.
A cauliflower in the sunshine. I’d convinced myself I couldn’t grow cauliflowers, but it looks as if I was wrong. And sunshine - well if you’re in Wellington you’ll know all about that. I’ve been diligent at re-spraying them each time it rains with a mixture of Bio-gro approved ‘Dipel’ and EM. I’ve used a hand-mister as the spray is finer than a bigger sprayer and I haven’t used anything to make it stick but it has worked well against the cabbage white butterflies. This is the variety ‘All year round’ sown at the beginning of September.
I’ve dug potatoes and the first few heads of garlic this week. Hmmm - I can feel a pot of ‘aloo gobi’ is in order, based on my recipe for ‘saag aloo‘ (spinach with potatoes).
I’ve thinned carrots and beetroot sown on New Year’s day - great germination and not many weeds. If you want the same, come and get some tips on the fresh food garden course. It’s an ideal time to start preparations for your winter garden. Last two courses of the season are on Saturday 30 January and 13 February 2010.
Anna Quindlen’s ‘Blessings‘ made a welcome holiday read and I’ve been devouring ‘Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives‘, not least to find out the world’s funniest joke. Some of the runners up are great too.
If you haven’t got enough materials to make compost in Wellington at the moment, you never will have. It’s been wet and warm-ish so there are weeds, lawn clippings, chook manure, leaves and green manure crops to make a magnificent pile. Plus the waste from the kitchen and office. I use straw bales to surround the heap - they’re easy to set up in any size configuration, keep everything in one place, and make sure even the edges are warm and moist. Topped off with a piece of carpet, plastic sheet or tarpaulin to keep it warm, moist and keep out the rain. The ideal is to get the heap to at least 55 degrees C for five days. A compost thermometer is helpful. You can still make hot compost in a plastic or wooden compost bin - two are even better as the compost ends up about a third of the size of the original heap after a couple of weeks. This is your soil improvement for Autumn and Winter so if you invest the time and energy now, it will pay dividends later. I turn my heap after a week, water if necessary and then turn it again after a fortnight. It’s ready to use in a couple of months like this. We cover compost making in the fresh food garden course if you’re struggling to make yours work. The last courses for the summer, with special emphasis on the winter garden, will be on Saturday 30 January and 13 February 2010. You can book and pay on line or via direct credit.
Still feeding everything with seaweed or wormery tea once a week. Most crops are about a month behind last year. The side shoots of the tomatoes keep growing and even re-growing. Some of the tomato trusses even have shoots at the end of them - not sure what that’s all about. I sowed more seeds this week - possibly too late but if we have a good patch of sunny weather everything will come on well. I sowed some cabbage, broccoli, kale and cavalo nero ready for autumn and winter. If you use Dipel spray against cabbage white butterflies you need to be diligent about respraying after it rains.
More baking recently with raspberry and coconut friands, home-made chocolates and rhubarb and ginger muffins. Time at last for some zucchini fritters too. I’m hoping for enough zucchini and tomatoes to make some really good chutney from Digby Law’s Pickle and Chutney book.
The climbing beans can’t decide up which stick to climb. Every time they make a decision they get blown back down. A few days of warm sunshine are what they, and the rest of the garden, need. They haven’t made much progress since this photograph in mid-November. The mulching has kept the weeds down well though. I picked the first zucchini and tomato from the tunnel house - about a fortnight behind last year. I’m pinching out the tomato side shoots almost daily it seems.
There will be two fresh food garden courses on Saturday 30 January or 13 February 2010 to help you have a successful autumn and winter garden.
Mabel has gone broody and I’ve safely relocated her, with her eggs, from under a manuka bush to the broody coop. I’m hoping she’ll be a good mum and raise some Mabel/Rhode Island red chicks. I have pure-bred fertile Rhode Island red hen’s eggs for sale for $2.50 each if you have a chook that goes broody and you want to raise some chicks.
There’s plenty of weeding to be done and it’s time to spray the brassicas with Dipel spray to keep off the caterpillars. I’ve cleared one lot of peas but I’ll try another sowing for a later crop. The next sowing of potatoes is ready for a mulching and I’m feeding tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins and strawberries weekly with seaweed or worm tea. I’ve sown some more lettuce, carrots, radish, turnips, beetroot, dwarf beans, silverbeet, coriander, basil and spring onions. It’s almost time to sow autumn greens - kale, broccoli, cabbage and cavalo nero.
Rhubarb crumble and custard dealt to an oversupply of rhubarb and eggs. Venison was delicious wrapped in proscuitto and in pastry for venison wellingtons. Served with broad beans and new potatoes of course.
