We had a gorgeous day for our fresh food garden course. Most people who come on the course don’t have much vegetable gardening experience. Those who do, still leave inspired and motivated. The last course before Christmas is next Sunday (7th December) - still time to get things growing this season. There’s another course on Saturday 17th January 2009. You can book on line here. Let me know if it’s a gift and you’d like a card to give to the recipient. Coming on a course is your only opportunity to visit the kitchen garden.
In Wellington we’ve had warm weather and plenty of rain. The weeds are growing as fast as everything else. Some things need watering even after just a day without rain. Seedlings need to be shaded from the heat of the day. Raised beds tend to dry out fast, particularly when it’s sunny and breezy so that’s the first place crops wilt. I’ve seen some cabbage white butterfly so I’ve sprayed my brassicas with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) spray - an organic spray containing a microorganism that kills the caterpillars. It’s sold as ‘Dipel’ in New Zealand and you need to spray every couple of weeks, plus every time it rains.
My Dad has helped me prune espaliered apples, pears and triple-cordon goosegogs. The apple tree in the picture was planted three years ago. If you hanker after an espalier, talk to Sarah Frater at The Edible Garden in Palmerston North as she’ll have the right root stocks for you. You’ll need to wait until winter to buy and plant them.
Spring crops are growing well with plenty of spinach and lettuce. I pulled some beautiful radishes ‘cherrybelle’ that we sowed on the fresh food garden course six weeks ago. I wouldn’t buy a radish but these make a colouful and spicy addition to a salad. I’ve picked a delicious spring cabbage plus some snow peas, spring onions and my first strawberry this week. It’s still an ideal time to plant most crops but you’ll need to keep them moist.
Mibuna is a Chinese green that’s done well in the winter and hasn’t gone to seed. It’s milder than its cousin Mizuna and smooth leaved. You can get some seed for it from Kings Seeds. They will send you a voucher for two free packets of seeds if you buy their 2008 catalogue for $7.50 and quote “Kings Seeds since 1978″. A packet of seed costs less than $3 and will give you more than a year’s worth of plants.
I’ve been reading Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. Not exactly a gardening book, but universally useful advice for improving relationships at work, home and in your community. Makes for slightly painful reading when they point out all the things you’re doing wrong, but it’s written in an approachable style and I’ve applied the advice with some success already. When I finish that I graduate to Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior. Maybe by that stage Santa will have brought me Chris Fortune’s book Pick, Preserve, Serve: Enjoy Local and Home-Grown Produce Year-Round for some light relief.
The perpetual spinach is prolific so I’ve indulged my filo fetish and made silverbeet, feta and pine-nut triangles.
There are now two dates available for the fresh food garden course - Sunday 7th December 2008 or Saturday 17th January 2009. The Ohariu Valley Garden tour had a glorious sunny day and proved a popular outing. It was lovely to meet so many people enjoying the gardens.
I’ve been sowing more seeds this week - brocolli, cabbage, pak choi, lettuce and spinach in pots. In the garden I’ve sown carrots, beetroot, turnips, spring onions, dwarf beans and radish. Despite the mixture of sunshine and showers, a daily gentle watering is vital to ensure they germinate well and don’t shrivel up on a warm day.
My parents are staying with us and the tunnel house in particular has benefitted from my Dad’s diligent and experienced watering skills. Bush tomato ‘tumbler’ is doing well in a pot, still with a few stakes for support. I’ve put up strings to train up my vining tomatoes and I’m pinching out the side shoots every few days. I feed them with ’seaweed tea’ (the liquid from seaweed soaked in a barrel of rainwater) at the same time.
I had much more success growing corn in pots and transplanting it than I did with the seed I sowed directly at the same time. I’ve planted out my cucumbers and melons this week, again with strings for support. The peas needed propping up too.
We’ve picked some delicious turnips (Tokyo White Cross) and some beautiful not so delicious ones (a pink, heritage variety). When I’m asked about heritage seed I suggest trying both new and old varieties side by side to see which are best for taste, resistance to pests and size of crop.
If you live in Wellington and find building your own raised vegetable beds too daunting, Dave and Rebecca Denham in Upper Hutt can build them to order.
I’m still referring to my books for some good ideas. I always return to Joy Larkcom even though it’s English so the seasons are upside down. Dennis Greville’s Gardening in New Zealand Month by Month is good if you want some help with what to do when in New Zealand. Gardeners in the lower half of the North Island will find the ‘Organic Garden Calendar for Kapiti to Manawatu’ from the NZ soil and health association particularly relevant - you can buy it at Commonsense Organics.
Our guests have enjoyed toasted mouse muesli. Cheaper and greatly superior to boughten muesli.
Herbs are some of the most rewarding plants to grow in your garden. You transform a steaming bowl of tomato soup with a snip or two of chives. You enliven a take-away curry with a scattering of coriander. You don’t need to stuff a chicken if you can roast it with half a lemon and some sprigs of thyme inside. Although many herbs tolerate some neglect, they’ll reward you if you tend them at this time of year. Most people have space for a few herbs and some do very well in pots. If you have them close to your kitchen door, you’re more likely to dash out to pick them fresh to add to your meal. If you want to learn more about growing herbs, register for ‘the fresh food garden‘.
