This year I have doubled the size of my vegetable garden. I not only want to feed my family from it for the entire summer, but also to be able to give some of it away and to sell some of the surplus at a local farmers market, so I'm planting so much more than I did last year, and I'm trying out new varieties too.
My garden is on a 5 year rotating system and goes in the order of Legumes, Potatoes, Roots, Alliums and Brassicas. Some of the crops, such as zucchini can be planted in any of these beds. I am doing the usual vegetables such as potatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, pumpkin, zucchini, beetroot, carrots and spinach and tomatoes, but this year I'm also trying a larger crop of corn. I was told that it was difficult to grow corn in Canterbury, but my small crop did quite well last summer, even though I got them in late, and my neighbour's corn did very well also, so I'm doing a whole lot more - we love corn on the cob!
I'm also trying garlic and onions this year, a few different varieties of beans and peas, lettuce and lots heritage tomatoes. And I'm going to try growing jalapenos (have loved jalapenos ever since I lived in the USA and they are not common here), and aubergines. Have you ever tried sliced aubergine cooked in oil and salt? MMMMMMMMmmmmmmm - it's divine!
I'm also growing luffas for the farmer's market and I'm trying nasturtiums to impress my dinner guests with when they eat my freshly prepared salads.
After having great success with my American variety pumpkin, but not really enjoying the flavour of those pumpkins, I'm growing a great big crop of the popular New Zealand Crown Pumpkin. Very yummy in soups and for roasting. So I'm optimistic of a good crop this year. I love watching pumpkins grow - it's fun.
I also allowed my children to choose two varieties of vegetables for themselves to grow. Both the older ones picked the giant pumpkin seed, and I'm thinking of doing a little competition for the neighbourhood children as well. Not sure what the prizes would be though.
Meredith also chose watermelon - I don't know if they grow here, but we're going to give it a try. Hugh chose an ornamental gourd that you can make into bird feeders.
We can't wait for Spring - I can't wait to get back into my garden again. It's so satisfactory!
Yesterday I managed to get two rows of my garlic planted before I ran out of steam.
I was having a good day yesterday morning-sickness-wise, and as it was the day after the shortest day we thought it prudent to try and get the garlic planted in the plot we had set aside. My little helper, Meredith, badly wanted to help, so I pretty much let her do the whole thing. I had to dig over the ground a bit as it had compacted quite hard, and then she came along and planted. She had to measure the distance between each planting, dig the holes, place the garlic and then cover it over. She did really well for a 6 year old. I think I've managed to pass on to her the gardening bug.
Here are some pictures:
I don't know why but I always plant things with a pessimistic view - like it will be a miracle if it grows, though I have not lost anything yet except parsnip seed (does anyone know the secret to getting parsnip seed to germinate), and some carrot seed which I planted too late.
We haven't even hit the middle of winter yet and look what I've been doing..... ordering my seeds for Spring. They arrived in a little brown envelope yesterday and it's so exciting looking at those little green and white packages and realizing that it's going to feed my family for next year. I have some more heritage seeds coming from another seed store in a few days.
The children wanted to choose 2 varieties each that they can plant. Both Hugh and Meredith picked the giant pumpkin, and Hugh chose a small onion, and Meredith a Watermelon - never tried growing one of those before, so it will be interesting to see what we get.
I just have to find some garlic bulbs now - they're about ready to go in - at Winter Solstice (so I've heard).
I already have plenty of bean, pea, zucchini and pumpkin seeds I saved from last summer, so I didn't have to re-order those. I'm thinking I might have to get me a glass house or a little shed for somewhere to store all my seedlings once we get closer to Spring.
I picked two of my pumpkins today. They're so pretty and I'm so proud of them! We cut one up for lunch and made pumpkin soup. The flesh is not as orange as the usual type of pumpkin we eat here in New Zealand. I don't know whether these American variety are supposed to be darker orange or not - maybe my soil was lacking something. They have a pale orange flesh. But they tasted good and we enjoyed the soup for lunch with grated cheese sprinkled over it.
For those of you who saw the results of my last carrot-growing attempts, I am now proud to present the latest, thinned and well dug over results! Much better!
Here are the other vegetables from my garden that I picked today. The cucumber is a heritage cucumber and my husband says they used to call them 'apple cucumbers' when he was a kid. They're really delcious - very sweet.
And here are some of my bell peppers. I do not like these peppers, and neither do the children. I don't actually know why I planted them - but my husband loves them. We have had a bumper crop too, and I've been giving them away and most everyone says they have such a hard time growing them.
And finally, the crop I'm most proud of, and it's ready for harvesting now - my Pumpkins! It is an American variety. I just love the shapes and colours. I grew these from seed. I'll actually be quite sad to cut them and eat them. They look so pretty in the browning and dying garden. Hope they taste as good as they look. We'll probably be sick and tired of roast pumpkin and pumpkin soup by the time Spring comes around. Can you get sick of Pumpkin Pie.... I hope not!
I have never grown buckwheat before. I don't even know if anyone else in NZ grows it - although they sell the seed here so there must be someone who grows it, but I'm not sure what it's even supposed to look like once it has been harvested.
Is there anyone here who knows if my buckwheat is ready to harvest? Here's the picture.
There is a definite nip in the air today. It has rained constantly for the last 3 days. I'm not complaining though - I love the rain, and the farmers sure need it. I went out to the vege patch this morning to get some zucchini to make my chocolate zucchini cake in the crock pot, and I my fingers just about froze!
But look at my splendid pumpkins!!! Aren't they looking beautiful. I don't know what I did right to get them this big - maybe it was the chicken manure. I don't know when to pick them - will have to look it up to see when is the best time. I really rely on the internet to tell me about these things!
I just had to share this hillarious photo of my carrots. I've never 'done' vegetable gardening before - this is my first attempt. My dh says they look like something out of a science-fiction movie!!
I've planted my second and third rows of carrots, and made sure that this time I really worked our clay/sand soil over well before I planted the seed. Hopefully, the second lot will look better. They still smell good though!
Yesterday the farmer came to harvest the barley, so now we have piles of barley straw all over our land. He said the barley straw is not much good for anything - only feed for stock - not even good enough for the garden as it doesn't break down as well as hay or peastraw. Soooo, I thought it would be fun (I'd had this in mind all summer and I was just waiting for the barley to be harvested), to make a scarecrow for my vegetable garden.
I had the children go and fill buckets with the straw, and I found a really great website:
It has clear directions on how to make a scarecrow. Hugh did the face, Meredith was the best straw collector and Theodore (3yrs) helped everyone to stuff, but watch out when he's got the hammer in hand!!! DH put the stakes together and dug the hole in the garden. It was really a lot of fun, and he looks sooo good - even if he is rather a giant. I'm sure I'm going to get lots of comments from the neighbours (he's very visible from the road) - but at least no one should have trouble finding us! We've called him Roger.
It is a lovely summer evening here tonight. Hardly any wind which is nice. I'm sitting in my family room looking out the window at golden barley , big old green pines, and the hazy mountains beyond. The sun is still up at 8pm. I love the light at this time of the day in the summer.
I was out in my garden today getting a good picking of beans. They are a heritage variety called Purple Pod. I love the thought that they've been around for years and years. I don't know the history of them - maybe they came out with the settlers in the 1850's. I have an apple tree variety (Peasgood's Nonsuch) that came out here from England with the early settlers. Here is a picture of my purple pod beans. When you cook them up the colour disappears and they come out green, but they are so pretty before cooking. This picture does not do them justice.
I also have zucchini coming out our ears! I'm giving it away there is so much, and I was really excited last night when out watering the pumpkin patch to find this hiding away under the huge pumpkin plant leaves. I have lots of teeny weeny pumpkins coming on, but this is the biggest one so far.
And all you northern hemisphere dwellers might be encouraged to hear that I saw the first sign of autumn today. Just down the road in a shady spot are some Poplar trees, and they have turned yellow and dropped their leaves.
I have loved our summer this year, and we still have our summer holiday at the beach to come in a couple of weeks, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to winter. I love winter and I love stormy days as long as I can stay home and enjoy them.
This does not happen very often to me, but tonight I got an email from www.nzgardener.co.nz to tell me that I'd won some organic Tom-a-rite fertiliser for my tomatoes! It doesn't sound like much, but I'm really thrilled with it. I had to send in my favourite tomato recipe and they picked me and about 5 others to win some of this. I've got lots of tomatoes in this year, and I'm hoping they do well - I haven't had much sucess with tomatoes before, so maybe this will help.
I'm still struggling over the html language, but on the brighter side, the doctor said my backpain is a lumbar sprain. He's given me a referal to a physio if it doesn't get better. I've never been to a physiotherapist before, so I guess this means it's the first official sign that I'm getting older!! :o(
I am now going to go and soak in a hot bath (for my back) and then go to bed. I have to get up early to make some of The Urban Homemaker's beautiful cinnamon rolls for a friend who is overdue to have her baby and not enjoying the heat. If you haven't tried those rolls yet, you must - my husband ate 4 of them in one sitting for dessert one night ! This is the link:
Today I picked my very first vegetables that had ripened. I grew the courgette plants from seed, and the peas as well. Here is the first courgette - we're going to have them coming out our ears soon. I have about 8 plants and all are doing really well.
And I went out and just picked a big handful of peas. We'll have them with our dinner tonight. It looks pretty pathetic, and I am hoping for more, but it's so satisfying to know I grew them from seed and they're organic. I know exactly what I'm putting into my children's mouths tonight.
I love looking at the full pod just before I scoop out the peas. They're so pretty!
Today (another public holiday), I took the two oldest children down to the local berry farm, and we spent about 1/2 an hour picking raspberries. I think today must be about the hottest day we've had all summer - and we roasted out there among the raspberry canes, but the children were very proud of themselves, and they worked really hard. I kept 2 kg out, and tomorrow we make jam, and I've frozen 2 kg's of raspberries as well, so we can make more in the wintertime. There's a few left over to have with icecream for desert tonight.
Hopefully next year, we'll have our own raspberries to pick.
They were so hot and exhausted afterwards (me too), that I treated them to a drink of Coke (I've heard that's good if you get dehydrated), and a big creamy icecream of their choosing.
On the way home, I called into a garden nursery I've never been to before, and I found the climbing rose, "Birthday Present". It was one of my Grandmother's favourite, and my mother had it growing up a fence in my childhood home. It has the most beautiful fragrant, velvety flowers you've ever seen, and it's a really hard rose to find. I'm so thrilled with it.
It looks as though something has been eating my hedge plants. I can't be sure though - it could be a disease, but it has got me thinking about how I'm going to protect my vegetables once I get them planted out. There are lots of rabbits out there. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep them out other than putting a 12 foot brick wall all around the garden or having to fence the entire plot?
My husband Robin found a mouse in our ensuite! And we haven't even painted the walls yet. He's now thinking that we'll need to get a couple of barn cats. We can't have them in the house because one of our sons is allergic to them and gets bad asthma from cat hair. And our builder's dog - a Jack Russell - is having puppies. In spite of the fact that we have our own dog "Cricket" (a labrador), our children adore this little Jack Russell - she's got a lovely nature and is not at all yappy or jumpy. I have wanted to get another dog for ages, so I'd be thrilled to get one of her pups. She's due at Christmas time.
I made scones for lunch the other day. They're the real traditional English scones, and you can add raisins or dates to the mixture before baking. They're very quick to make and simple and they come out really fluffy. They're absolutely fool proof! They're gorgeous with jam and cream! Here's the recipe. This comes from my Aunt who lives in the Marlborough Sounds. My Grandfather who lived until he was 90 loved them and was always requesting them.
SCONES
2 cups plain flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon sugar
Melt 3 tablespoons butter. Add 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir, but not to much.
Pat down onto floured surface until about an inch thick. Slice into squares and place on a tray close together. Brush with melted butter. Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 15-20 minutes.
Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you dropped in. I'm a wife and mum to 3 children. We are blessed to live in the beautiful South Sea islands of New Zealand, and I love to write about our life and the things we do on our homestead of 10 acres, our adventures with animals and homeschooling, and the little things that touch my life and those around me. I hope you'll enjoy visiting.
