I’ve finally stopped staring at her just long enough to stare at pictures to put up announcing to the world the bestest thing I’ve ever grown. Eva arrived at the beginning of April and has had her adoring parents transfixed ever since.
I have wonderful planty things to tell you about like saffron and garlic and seeds and Jerusalem artichokes. I’ve just got to reduce the amount of time I spend fixated. Maybe some sleep would help too.
Despite ridiculous winds, our scarlet runner beans and the sunflowers planted within the cage the beans are climbing, have almost reached the roof. The beautiful orange flowers look sensational against the slate colour of the house. Oh how it fills my heart with joy!
Poppying up among the natives
I’ve been growing poppies for years. Beautiful big reddish-pink single poppies. I never plant them they just freely seed everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. With each flower capable of producing a thousand seeds you can see why.It’s never been a big problem though. The silvery-grey foliage looks very attractive next to my vegetables or ornamentals.
Last year, a new poppy suddenly arrived on the scene. A big pink and ruffley number. But there was only one.
This year there seems to be a war going on. The pinks and reds are battling it out for supremacy and they seem to have called in other mercenaries to prop up their numbers.
I can’t find any houses near me growing poppies, we’re just not a floral garden kind of ‘hood. But I’m assuming they’re crossing somehow. Another sign may be that all the darker ones are sterile – no seeds have developed from the pods. Curioser and curioser…
If you’ve got poppies, just leave them be as they really don’t like being moved. If you don’t want them, then be vigilant and chop them down. Don’t let them go to flower. After the pod has developed the seeds will continue through to maturity even if you’ve beheaded them..
Here are some pictures of our current crop.
The original LPL HQ poppy, going strong
Poppy #2 - the pink ruffled number
The quite princely poppy #3
Poppy 4 has low numbers so far
Discovered, by chance and bad navigation, the historic oak road near Napier.
Replanted Mum’s herb garden.
Bought the beautiful Coprosma Golden glow. Played with calves. Hung out with Horace the Bull.
Picked organic avocados.
Went to the Gisborne Wine and Food Festival.
Got annoyed at the poor organisation and ridiculous queues; but still had a nice day.
Fell in love with Gray’s Bush.
You know how some things just take time…. or some spare cash… well we’ve been talking about doing it for ages but finally went and spent a coupla hundred on some NZ natives to plant around our fenceline. Not only will these little beauties make the whole area look amazing, but improve our soil quality around the rim, attract predator insects and provide a heap of shelter.
If you live on the Kapiti Coast do check out Gus Evans Nursery at 12 Utauta St, Waikanae. The plants are a very reasonable price, are really well cared for and he only grows things that will survive local conditions. Oh and also he’s a nice guy.
* Blog title comes from an episode of Deadwood – one of the best TV series ever but possibly an unfortunate pun when talking about planting trees.
It has been a winter of discontent. Or more not of a lot of content appearing on this blog. Good lard, it’s not a case of lack of material to work with… when you open yourself up to the wonders of writing a blog about plants it’s more a case of far too much to write about. Sometimes it’s just all a bit overwhelming. And I’m not the most organised tool in the shed.
Surrounded as I am with half finished posts, witicisms, facts and stories like scattered leaves, I realise I’ve got to start pulling it all back together for Spring approaches and it shall be spectacular. So in order to get myself all correct, I thought it be best to come clean, lay out what’s been on my plate, what I’ve been working on, gnawing on and generally having a good chew over.
Working on the concept of a Wellington regional seed bank. I’ve been meeting people, discussing, planning I’m about ready to call a meeting for those enthused about the idea.I’ve also been increasing my knowledge on the whole subject of seed-saving and helping others to do the same, including finishing up a course. There’s also been work on some written resources to help make these plans a reality. And looking to put a new seed range together.
This has changed course a little, Kapiti is no longer having monthly Seedy Sundays. But a Spring edition is planned for September 19. Keep up-to-date at the Seedy Sunday NZ blog.
If you’re a gardener you need to think local. You need to know about the factors that affect your garden. You need to know about the climate, soil, plants, pests, treatments, techniques that are available to you and how they may work where you are. You can’t get that information from books published in the UK or the US or even Australia. My quest has always been to get the information about NZ to NZ gardeners. It’s really hard finding the truth, dispelling myths and trying to get decent info out there, but I’m working hard to facilitate this.
Main focii: Soil, Worms, Food plant varieties in NZ, Seeds, Garlic, Herbs, Food distribution channels in NZ, Native support species.
Still keeping the candle burning on this. Gathering resources, researching, growing things, talking, reading… Always looking for examples of what others have done, so let me know what you’ve been up to.
Yeah, I’ve been a bit slack but I’m hoping to bring a lot of stuff together on all these topics in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.
The Kapiti community has a lot of problems. I’m putting most of the blame on plans to put a four-lane highway through the middle of it. But there are other things – bad behaviour by elected councillors (Dale Evans is thankfully long gone but there are 3 others I can’t wait to see the back of), infighting within local groups, resource concerns and a lack of community engagement. All typical of most communities, but given the current climate and the fact I live here – of major concern to me. So I’ve been trying to call on my activist and info-junkie background and help with the local causes I believe in. Only in a support role, mind. But I’m damn sure the Kapiti district isn’t going to be improved by running supertrucks through it.
Always looking for on-to-it, active people who are similarly-inclined to help collaborate on projects of mutual interest and help shape the world into a place that we really want to live in. So feel free to email and say hi – maybe we can help each other.
To be announced at a later date but where I’m putting a lot of attention at the moment.
Keeping the loved ones in green veges, dispensing seeds and gardening advice with wild abandon and continuing the chase for exemplary culinary experiences.
Installing more shelter trees, two more fruit trees and lots of raspberries. Keeping the worms wriggling, enjoying lots of lovely growth and dreaming of a beautiful summer ahead.
Oh, and I work fulltime in Wellington as a content wrangler for a government department.
So that’s me. There’s a lot of me. This is where I’m at. Oh and I need to get my driver’s licence – my husband insists. So sometimes I may be a bit slow to reply to an email, my posting might be a bit late, I may disappear for days at a time planning, scheming and mumbling. That’s just how things are. But don’t be afraid to get in touch. I have a gmail account and the user name is loveplantlife or you can leave a comment below.
~ Anna
Sunlight on a weekend? Yayyyyy! And about bloody time. Didn’t think it would happen after the atrocious weather on Friday in Wellington, but Kapiti really has shone this weekend in it’s white and crisp winter sunlight.
I’m thrilled to report that my garden, despite excessive moisture and neglect is doing really well. Daily, we’re pulling out a wide variety of greens – collard leaves, kale, parsley, spinach, chard, herbs, celery, rocket, beetroot leaves, lettuce, mustard – for fresh and delicious meals. I’m supplementing with the odd head of broccoli, fresh fruit, organic potatoes and carrots from the supermarket. We’re still working our way through stored Jerusalem artichokes, shallots, onions and pumpkins. Quinoa, preserves and bottled cherry tomatoes are going strong.
Last year saw some great broccoli precoce romanesco success but this year we’ve got stunners. Big solid heads with tightly formed fractal patterns that just look beautiful.
So given the gift of sunshine, I’ve weeded the vege beds around the house, which didn’t take long at all. The chickweed may be abundant but it’s easy to get out. Some of it goes into salads. It does cause issues if there’s too much growing around the veges and getting too wet – it holds the moisture and causes rot. But it does provide a nice mulch for bare soil and I felt a little guilty after pulling it all out.
To absolve myself, I invested in some peastraw pellets (pricey at $20) to put around my garlic on the north facing wall. I choose this over any other mulch because as they expand they mat together and don’t blow around. With careful placement, they aren’t in risk of rubbing up against and damaging my precious heirloom garlics.
In the last year I’ve tried to cut down on mulch use – I’m a bit iffy about it. It’s killed far more plants than it’s saved by rubbing against stems, causing rot and harbouring pests and disease. I can see how mulch works really well in tropical climates where it breaks down more readily but I’m cautious about it’s use on NZ gardens. I realise this is going against the zeitgeist, but hey, sometimes I’m a rebel. I prefer to plant things closer together. Overplanting doesn’t work with garlic so I’m making an exception for my 3 special heirloom varieties.
Painting the house a much darker shade has done wonders for the side gardens. It’s trapping so much heat that’s being radiated back into the gardens. How can I tell? I have strawberries in July! Admittedly, not many but they are red, zangy and yum. They’re tiny but that’s because they’re wild strawberry plants – never big but full of flavour.
Borage, pineapple sage, helleborus, feverfew, calendula, marigolds, alyssum, violets, heartsease, penstemons and one single nasturtium.
It’s three days before full moon – perfect for seed-sowing. But I’m taking a break this month – instead I’m looking through my collections, checking seed catalogues and planning for sowing next month.
More leeks and cavolo nero.
It’s rained every day since the 18th of May… And it’s pouring again now… Husband’s gone stir-crazy. He can’t deal with all this inside-ness. Just gone out and bought a heavy duty pole pruner with telescopic handle and the shark-toothed equivalent of a pruning flick knife. He’s cut himself already unboxing them. Now using them to clear cobwebs off the ceiling. And now it’s hailing… I don’t know if I’ll ever see my garden again. I wish I’d planted water chestnuts and rice.
Ya’know how they say plant garlic on the shortest day, harvest on the longest? Well, that’s never really worked for me. I always got such tiny, squiddly little bulbs that I simply couldn’t be bothered using them for cooking. Last year, when I left my bulbs in the ground longer, I got better results. And this year I’m planning for some decent-sized bulbs by getting them in early – one whole month early.
This isn’t a very radical idea – I’ve heard lots of other gardeners I respect say the same thing lately. And all though today was drizzly and yuck, I got out there and planted my garlic.
I’m trialling three different types of heirloom garlic this year, which I’ve kindly been gifted by a friend. Two types of rocombole and kakanui – very exciting. I’m prepping an article now on the heirloom garlic in NZ – should be together by end of the week… please hold.
This is how I’ve planted my garlic
A couple of weeks ago I dug over the beds for my garlic, added some well-composted material and sprinkled in lime. I’ve made sure the spots were well-draining. I’ve planted the cloves about 12cm apart, pointy end up and covered them with about 4cm of soil.
I keep my garlic well-weeded, and well-fertilised right up into spring while the green tops are growing.
For a really good article on garlic planting, I thoroughly recommend Kath Irvine’s Edible Backyard piece.
