I love simple, cheap and appropriate ideas that make gardening easier and fun. At the first Seedy Sunday we showed three videos with this philosophy in mind.
My two previous attempts at worm farming had ended badly with the bins being overrun with nasties that killed off the worms. But I so love the simplicity and ease of this idea I’m going to give it another shot. This is a great way to get nutrients straight into your garden.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scUTrypzyY0&hl=en&fs=1]
Sometimes you just have to get a bit imaginative with it, like this Alaskan resident.
Using old guttering provides the perfect depth for lettuce, spring onions, radishes, some cute little Parisian market carrots and most of your herbs. It’s easy maintenance and a great way to recycle.
How does your garden grow? (Juneau Empire via Make)
(via Lifehacker)
I may be a little obsessive but tomatoes are on my mind again…
Upside-down tomato plant hanging contraptions have been hanging around for years and I’m a bit skeptical. bit skeptical. I’ve heard lots of people marvel over them but I’ve not seen a pic of the plants actually growing in them. The only pics I’ve seen have clearly been taken for advertising purposes when the plants are in full fruit. Do upside down tomato plants work?
My heart always goes “Oooo, that looks nice”. But my head goes, “but what about the auxins?” Auxins are hormones that control aspects of plant growth – things like the flowering, fruiting, bulb formation, dormancy etc.
More on auxins after the jump, along with links to how to test these mad ramblings…
Not a flower we think of often in New Zealand. But it is actually big business here. In 2006 exports of bulbs alone were worth NZ$6.6 million. Strangely enough, NZ exports tulip bulbs back to the Netherlands.
This is mainly driven by large Dutch companies such as Haakman, aiming to supply international customers year-round. New Zealand-produced bulbs are used to fill the gap in northern hemisphere production for early and late supply. Tulip production is based in Tapanui, Southland.
So if you receive tulips between October and January, there’s a pretty good bet they come from New Zealand. Image of NZ tulip fields by Southland Times via Te Ara.
More beautiful tulip images at Istanbul Tulip Festival
I’m just a little perplexed by this article in the Daily Mail. I can’t figure out if it’s another case of bad journalism, some kids taking the mickey or a tragic indictment of the state of our food supply.
I can maybe see what they’re saying about hayfever. I can also see that in diversifying our diet, we eat new compounds that could cause allergic reaction.
I believe though, it’s more likely that kids are actually allergic to the high levels of pesticides in the fruit and veg. The cited celery and bananas being amongst the most pesticide-laden of products.
But such horrible headlines! ‘The tiniest piece of celery can leave me gasping for breath’: Rising number of children allergic to fruit and veg.
Ridiculous scaremongering for those that only read the sensationalist headlines. All the good work that’s been done on promoting healthy eating in England will have just taken a giant step backward.
I reckon that every garden should have Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus). It’s like an insurance policy – you’ll always have food growing in your yard. Because once you plant them, it’s almost certain you’ll always have them. And you won’t have to lift a finger to help them grow.
Don’t get your Jerusalems confused with your globes. The Jerusalem artichoke is a brown-coloured, knobbly, white-fleshed tuber root vegetable, much like a yam. It has quite a nutty flavour. Cook them like you would any other root vegetable.
Jerusalem artichokes grow in almost any soil type or shade condition, but do best in a light but rich soil. Pick your patch with these things in mind – 1 – the tops grow to about 2 metres and can easily shade out other plants – 2 – any small amount of the root left in the ground will produce another plan. Best time to harvest is in autumn when the sunflower-like heads die off.
Nutritionally, these tubers rock with plenty of potassium, iron, vitamin C, protein, niacin, thiamine and fibre. They contain about 57 calories per half cup. Margaret Lynch provides really good information on preparing Jerusalem artichokes for eating.
The tubers are also a wonderful source of biomass for ethanol production, good source of fructose and a great forage crop for livestock, especially pigs.
Jerusalem artichoke links and recipes after the jump. Read more
Alright, I’m prep’ed and ready go. The very first Seedy Sunday happens this very weekend. Apart from the horror of having to get up and talk in front of a group of people and the few technical difficulties we are having with the videos, I’m surprisingly calm.
So a quick list of what I’m taking for the swap table: Shoofly seeds (said to scare off white moth), Marigold seeds (the ones best for nematode control), Pumpkin Jack-be-little (they’re so cute!), Jerusalem artichokes for planting, and some organic produce – lettuce, oregano etc.
Nervous but incredibly excited about the possibilities! I’m really hoping this will be a positive step in building a community of people who share, care and promote gardening and healthy eating. If you are near Kapiti drop on by.
I’ve just tasted some beautiful olives a friend’s mum grew in her back yard and then pickled. Most generously, I was given a recipe to post here. I’ll have to wait to find a tree I can raid. I’ve spotted a few olive trees growing on properties around Kapiti. We’ve certainly have that salt-laden wind of the Mediterranean. Olive trees have incredibly long tap roots so they can survive in very dry coastal situations. There are some commercial growers a bit further north.
Jill, the aforementioned pickler, has two Mission olive trees. Mission is a cultivar that’s been popular in NZ for quite some time, with a reputation as a reliable cropper. Her husband crops the trees every year keeping the fruit within reach. Harvest time is carefully chosen – just before the olives turn black, the birds will swoop in pretty quickly then.
Facts for the homesteaders, a tree producing 30-40 kilos of olives at year nine, with an oil content of 20% yields 8 litres of oil. Recipe after the jump Read more
I think that’s the last of my cherry tomatoes. Just as well really, I was getting totally sick of them. We had sooooo many. It was a bad year for tomatoes in the Wellington region and nearly all mine ended up being cherry-sized.
I even had to buy a couple of kilos to produce the year’s supply of tomato chutney. Neither us nor our friends, can live without the all-time famed Anna & Richard’s Tomato Chutney. (Recipe not forth-coming – you can have anything else, just not my tomato chutney recipe. It’s the sauce of my popularity. I shall not share!)
We’ve made a gallant effort with our bite-sized crop but I’m fed up with the rest and I’ve been jarring them. Here’s how. Bottled cherry tomato recipe after the jump…
I’m exhausted, having spent the day at the Kapiti Sustainable Home and Garden (SHAG) show promoting the heck out of Transition Towns and Seedy Sunday. It’s been a beautiful day. But now I’m a little sunburnt, a little weary, with feet a little sore. Just enough energy left to pour a well-earned wine.
Thrilled to bits about response to Seedy Sunday! Lots of very keen gardeners, a supportive mayor and great reception from other local ‘eco’ groups. Everyone I talked with really liked the idea of getting together and sharing questions and experience about local conditions, pests and practicalities. Yay – getting excited! April 19 – here we come!