Little Leeks

I love small crops that dont need much room that I can squeeze in where I find a little bit of spare earth.  Leeks are one of my favourite vegetables and loving cooking as I do am partial to a baby vegetable of any kind.  I’m growing these little beauties in a space between some zucchini, snowpeas and beans and by the space has been filled in, they will have been eaten.

I have a patch elsewhere in the garden that has been planted with Musselbrough leeks and Pukekohe long keeper onions, more of a long term investment in space but hopefully that will yield most of my basic winter alliums.  As the weather warms up the weeds are threatening to take over so I must commit an hour or so to tidy them up.  I love to plant my little seedlings but weeding is not my favourite task though worse than weeding is watching your new seedlings die because the weeds have got the better of them.  Happy weeding.

Dinner tonight

A friend I’ve known since school stayed with us tonight.  I’ve been trying to get her to start growing her own veggies in the garden of her first house but she’s yet to be convinced so I thought what would be a better way than to feed her some of my own.  We had broad beans, snow peas, baby carrots and a small head of romanesco broccoli.

They were so so lovely.  It put such a smile on my face just to pick them and assemble them for this picture.  What an amazing feeling to be able to walk around the patch and find things ready to eat.  I served them simply steamed with a little lemon juice, also from the garden alongside a lovely free range chicken.  The good news, my friend commented on how flavourful the vege was and was so impressed when I said that it was mine.  I think that I might be helping her to put up some teepees for beans in the next few days.  Backyard supermarket 1 – Supermarket 0 yay!

Natures aphid control

Trying to maintain the organic gardening principal I’ve been reading up on plants that attract beneficial insects to the garden. 

This is Phacelia or Tansy Leaf, said to attract hoverflise who feed on aphids.  I have grown a few plants from seed I found left in the house when we moved in and this is the first of the lost to start to flower.  I didnt realise quite how big the plant was, this is just over a meter tall so I may have to move some so that they dont crowd out the edibles.  Apparantly they grow almost all year round so I have been planting a few now and then to ensure I have the attractive flowers and therefore hoverflies for as long as possible.

I’ve also left some parsley and parsnip to go to seed which are said to attract other beneficial insects and so far so good.  I’d noticed some black aphids on my brassicas and the numbers have significantly reduced since this started to flower.  Although not a scientific trial I’d like to think it was working.  Will be planting some more this weekend anyway!  Happy Gardening.

Heads up

I planted a different variety of broccoli to the normal supermarket variety, I like the idea of the lighter green heads and the possibility of harvesting planty of side shoots once the main head was eaten.  I chose Romanesco Broccoli and after almost giving up hope I have two lovely heads starting and upon closer inspection three others are also on their way.  I hadnt protected this from the sun so it has turned a slight purple colour, I’ve cut off some outer leaves and cover the heads to prevent any further discolouration as you would with a cauliflower and am pleased with it so far.  They have been in the ground a long time with me having started them in winter (I just wanted something in the ground) but have really taken off with this bit of warm weather so hopefully no more store bought broccoli for us again. 

I have planted three other patches of this broccoli mixed with All year round Cauliflower at about 2 week intervals in the hope that we’ll have a pretty constant supply with any excess being blanched and frozen for use later in the year.  The white cabbage butterfly has just started doing the rounds so I have been trying to keep them at bay the organic way with derris dust.  So far so good, fingers crossed etc but I do have some rolls of netting if they are persistent I’ll just cover the plants.  I’ll be pleased to harvest these plants as I intend to plants a second sowing of sweetcorn in their place. 

Planning my crop plantings and rotations was something that had never really crossed my mind when I began with this garden.  I cant stress the importance of my garden diary already and I’m sure that next year it will be an invaluable tool in helping to ensure that my veggie plot really is our backyard supermarket.  Just planting enough and at the right times to ensure that I always have something to eat from the garden is easier said than done.  For example at the moment my first broad bean patch is producing lovely pods, enough for a meal every third or fourth day, perfect but nothing for the freezer and my salad bed has taken off, so much so that I have more salad greens than I know what to do with and unfortunately they dont freeze well.  Although at times this veggie growing is slightly frustrating, eating what you have grown is so rewarding and I’m learning so much that I’m sure my garden will be more and more productive as the years go by.

Tomatoes

I’ve been putting off posting about my tomatoes because everything I’ve read and all that anyone says is that you shouldnt get them in the ground before labour weekend.  Well, this being my first veggie plot and with the mounting excitement that comes from reading and planning all winter I got them in the ground about 6 weeks ago now.

Needless to say I’ve been pretty nervous about their survival and with each clear night I’ve tossed and turned expecting to go out the next morning to find limp and lifeless plants but all I can say is that I’ve been lucky and my plants are coming along well.  I’d like to say how strong they look and that maybe I was right after all but that would be tempting fate now wouldnt it and the proof will be in the eating so I’ll bite my toungue once again.

I have 4 types of tomatoe, Golden Nugget, a yellow cherry, Principe Borghese, a red oval shaped cherry good for drying, Ace a normal kinda tom and Beefsteak select, a beefsteak variety.  With the huge variety of tomatoes available it was pretty much close my eyes and point on the seed catalouge to choose these, all are from Kings seeds and have been great with germination etc.  The worst performer so far is Gold nugget but after re-reading the instructions this one should have been started later than the rest.  You live and learn.

I have planted marigolds in the corners of this bed with parsley and basil down each side.  The front edge has some self seeded parsnips that I had planted in the bed next to this but nature obviously thought that this was a better placce as more germinated here than where i wanted them.  I cant bear to pull out healthy plants so have left them for now and we’ll see what we get. 

The toms are just getting big enough now to tie to their stakes so thats the next garden task for me.  I’m looking forward to tomatoes from my own garden and to making sauces and chutneys with the suplus to get us through winter without ever having to buy an out of season tomato.  Happy Gardening

Potatoes and friends

Now is the time to get them in the ground and much to my husbands disgust I’ve got them in the ground everywhere that I possibly can!

I really want to serve my own new potatoes at christmas this year so have tried to cover all eventualities by planting different types at different times and in different areas of my garden.   I even have a couple of volunteers coming up here and there and so as not to tempt fate have decided to leave those to do their thing alongside my very slow romanesco broccolli.  The varieties I have planted are Nadine, Jersey Benne, Agria and Kowiniwini (the purple maori potato).  This is a pic of my Jersey Benne and some of the Agria growing in the front garden, it was supposed to be lawn until I dug in the potatoes, maybe next year?  They are coming along nicely in the firm soil and it looks as though I’ll need to mound them up shortly too.

Alongside these potatoes I’ve planted some red yams that I’d sprouted from the supermarket.  They look alot like the vigorous weed Oxalis so I have to be careful to let them keep growing and not inadvertently weed them out.  The information I’ve read is that for every tuber planted you should get 1kg of yams back which in my book is a pretty good return.  They are planted with a bit of an experiment, Earth Gems.  They are a type of potato grown in south america and are so brightly coloured that you’d think that they were playdo!  Taste wise, the chef at work described them as ’kind of hay like’.  I’m not so sure.  They are quite waxy, ie: not floury in any way when cooked, I think they’re really nice with a few herbs so am growing them for the novelty factor on the christmas plate.  Not all of the supermarket tubers I’d planted have sprouted yet though I’m hoping that this bit of warm weather will get them growing.  You can read about earth gems here http://www.halfords.co.nz/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=11138&PHPSESSID=ns8ud1qm2rge0cavnpvrn2f9v4

Happy gardening.

Celery Harvest

I planted 6 celery starts about 4 months ago now and although 1 mysteriously dissapeared one night the remaining 5 have been growing well.  I have fed them irregularly with a liquid feed and the tops were huge, though I’d noticed that they were starting to get to the end of their life in the garden and that, along with needing the space for some more sweetcorn, meant they were pulled today and prepared for the freezer.

I have chopped and bagged celery, some with onion, sadly not my own this year, and some with fennel.  The celery and onion bags are brilliant for anything from rissotto to stews, spag bol etc. and the celery and fennel are great for fish dishes or my favourite Jaimie Oliver recipe, spring minestrone.  I’ve also kept plenty of leaves for making stock throughout the next few months and made a chicken stock with some today.  I always feel so much better when the freezer is full and this year all the better for knowing that I grew what is in there and that I have fed our family with my own hard work.  It is so satisfying.

I have planted 6 more celery starts in a shady spot and will hopefully get another harvest before winter hits.  I’ve read a little about red celery and am quite intrigued to have a go with that but am unable to find it so far.  Any help with that would be much appreciated.  Happy gardening.