So much for the winter garden,my garden gets no sun over winter,so it was a dead loss.Next year I'll grow a fallow crop to dig in.So I've pulled up everything,forked it over and will put the fallow crop through my shredder as mulch.Last year I made my garden with some chipped trees - I filled my 200mm sleepers to 150 with it,then spread my thin 50mm layer of topsoil over.I don't know what the trees were,but saw some natives,macrocapa and eucalyptus...so was a bit worried at how it was going to do.But the plants had no problem and everything went along as normal.Forking it over this weekend and the soil is just fantastic...there are a few sticks left,but the rest is just oozing with good stuff,looks like compost.Time to start planting.
It is very mild up here, almost did not get a winter. My bags are still growing winter veg though the snails are feasting in a big way. I dont think I am going to get any brussel sprouts, but I have my fingers crossed. Even just a handful of tiny ones will give me a big smile. Silverbeet is going strong.
Last weekend was spent getting the bed ready. Dug out the compost bins and added that to the garden, then went to town digging it all in. Ash from the fire has been added several times throughout the winter. The garlic has been sitting in an area that gets absolutely zero direct sunlight, yet has been doing very well indeed. Seedling trays to be attended to this weekend since a young lass has an interest in everything gardening.
My Garlic is going great guns this year, but in the last 2 weeks the snails have homed in on my artichoke and nailed it pretty bad before I noticed and dealt to them. Planted out my Tom's this week and chucked a capsicum in for the hell of it. Trying a new tomato this year a black cherry tomato, I had these when I was up in southern Germany and the taste of the ones from the local organic farm was insanely good! I suppose the big storm that's heading in will nail the new plants, bloody awful timing I must say!
my garlic is hooning along nicely. although I did catch my somewhat retarded cat chewing on the leaves of it today. letuces and other 'top' greens doing well. purple carrots poking through. I have lots of seeds of these if anyone wants some. Fennel doing suprisingly well. I LOVE fennel. Toms sitting on the kitchen sill waiting to get warm enough to go in. Still a bit chilly down here. Purple plum and red sweethearts. purple spuds waiting on inspiration to plant. well that and for the body to heal after my teeny off last weekend. Cranberry seeds sprouting nicely Im hoping they will get their act together and grow. Same with Tentation apples. Probably ought to plant capsicum seeds and get them started too. My Nashi that the rabbit munched is sending up a new pair of leaves so fingers crossed for that. Broad beans recovering from the frosts. and parsley LOTS of parsley O shit. i just re-read the bit about the tomatoes...rude rude rude..but its funny so I'll leave it for you to giggle at.
spacemonkey I just thought as I read this, would it help the wee plants to lay newspaper over them and wet it. I have never done this but wonder if it would help the plants from being cut up by the rain drops.
The newspaper thing is what I usually do as a cheap yet equally effective way to do week matting?? Where the Tomato's are is a spot that the rain rarely gets into (so I have to water it manually) so I don't think the rain will be a problem it's more what the wind will do to them. Been thinking of getting some opaque plastic and building a temporary cover over them. And I see today that my hop's vine has started to pop up and say hello. :-D
Hops ? Where did you get seed for them from? I'm tempted to moan about too much rain but it won't be long when I'll be temted to moan about not enough. Must be turning into a farmer or summat. Perpetual spinach and even lettuce most of the winter. Garlic and broad beans looking good. Tons of lemons and for te first time some tahitian limes and "tropical" guavas. A couple of trays of seedling popping out of the dirt. Better go and kill some slugs.
Got the Hops vines from a fella in the Hut Valley Nevil Chun, used to own a nursery but shut it down a few years back, he's the man if ya want advise on growing anything in wellington conditions. He sells a bit on trade me I see he's selling another hops vine now.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living...-318261101.htm
Well, a busy weekend. After waiting for a couple of weeks so that a young'n could assist in planting the vege garden, the seedlings could wait no longer. A weekend away with school friends on a 50' launch catching fish and swimming is better than sweating in the garden? The seeds have emerged from planter boxes over the last 5-6 weeks and have done better than expected. The beans are 20cm high already and tomatoes (4 types) even taller. The beetroot and carrots are still a little small to easily plant out, so will wait for a few more days. A few basil plants have been put with the tomatoes in a companion planting environment. That should keep the bugs at bay! The pumpkins have emerged from where a few seeds snuck into the compost and thence into the garden. Evicted them all apart from a couple which were relocated to a more appropriate area which they can dominate. Luckily the water tanks are full at the moment.
Went to a Show 'N Shine at the high school a few weeks ago,looked at some cars and came away with some unusual tomato plants.Names like Black Prince,Black Cherry,Snowball and Brown Brandywine.I will be watching these,if they are any good I'll be saving seeds.
Does anyone have a name of a tomato which is yellow, about 3cm long and pear-shaped? We grew some last year (arrived in a mixed punnet) and they are slightly sweet. The kids loved them! The tomato plants seemed to be very slow growing this year, but have shot up in the last week.
My tomatoes have been in about 5 weeks, already have flowers and need to be staked. The smell is just divine.....
The Yellow tomatoes used to be sold by Kings Seeds (kingsseeds.co.nz) but they only sell them in a pack called Tomato Pear Blend now which has both red and yellow. I grew the Yellow ones a couple of years a go and they add a bit of colour in salads etc. They are also good for making soup!!
Many thanks gw555!!
