HI all....just trying to embed this video so you can all see it :)
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/124471756" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
Friday, April 17, 2015
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Riverton Heritage Harvest Festival March 2013
Riverton Heritage Harvest Festival March 2013
I missed this last year so was determined to go this time and had a great weekend :)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
February 2012
GREENS~LEAVES
The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 5.2 February 2012
Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck ,especially now that subs are due)
Our next meeting is February 13th with Invited Speaker Mary Browne on “Growing herbs for the vegetable garden and kitchen”
President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)
Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz
Season of Plenty
It has been lovely to see the vegetables responding so well to the warmer season and producing more food for us to eat. I know of one member who has grown giant cabbages so I suggested bringing some to the meetings to put on the sales table.or I suppose he could make sauerkraut !
Then again it may be an idea to enter such giants in the upcoming Summer Show held by the Horticultural Society. Margaret has put together some information on this event , held on the 25th and 26th of this month, and many of you will have already seen it via e-mail.
Having visited the recent Mosgiel A&P show where there were very few vegetable entries I must admit that it would be heartening to see some entries from the Dunedin Vegetable Growers Club. Dave Young only spoke briefly on this topic at the January meeting but he has been entering shows for quite a while now and it must seem like second nature to him.!
February 13th Meeting;
Please come earlier than usual to avoid congestion as we are expecting more people. Subs can be paid during supper.
Mary will also have copies of her books available for sale ($25) at the end of meeting.
Welcome and Rule Change Discussion
Club talk – Glasshouse Tips by Wayne Tuck
BrainsTrust/Open Forum – hosted by Dennis and Andrew
Invited speaker – Mary Browne on “Growing herbs for the vegetable garden and kitchen”
Competition – Personal Best vegetable from newer gardeners/previous non-winners
Announcements, sales table and Supper
February Open Garden
Club member Lindsay Miller has kindly offered to show us his garden on Saturday 18th at 2.00pm.
The address is 86 Green Island Bush Rd and is very easy to get to! If you drive to Tunnel Beach but instead of turning left , you turn right onto Green Island Bush Rd , carry on until the road turns sharply to the left. Lindsay is on the right :)
Subscriptions (still $10 ) are now due
Bank Account details…
For those who would like to pay their subs via internet banking the Club bank account number is;
Westpac 030905 0515906 00
Rule changes and Nominations
Please remember to have a look at the rule changes included in last months newsletter as there will be time at the February meeting to discuss them. They will then be ratified at the AGM in March.
Nomination forms for the committee will be available at the next meeting as well as at Lindsay's open garden for any last minute decisions!
Please ask committee members if you have any questions about being on the committee or the roles of “officers”. Being secretary seems to be the second least popular ( after the President!) but I have been enjoying it even though I had never been on a committee before. It really helps if you are on e-mail !
Please also remember that you have to be a paid up member to vote at the AGM
Moon Planting times…etc.
There are two periods of two days this month when it is best to sow root crops. These are the 11th and 12th ,then the 18th and 19th. The following weekend is when we can sow and plant from the 25th until the 29th.
According to the planting guide produced by Jason Ross, of Sutherland Nurseries, we can still sow Chicory, Chinese cabbage, Coriander, Kale, Lettuce, Parsley, Rocket, Silverbeet, Spinach, Broccoli, Peas, Carrots, Radish and Spring Onion.
Library
Please bring back your library books so that others can have a turn. It seems to be sensible to limit the lending time to one month, or two if you forget! A reminder will be sent after two months to jog your memory as it is very easy to forget a library book and assimilate it into your collection. Most of the books are second hand but a few are new and it would be a pity for the Club to lose them. We did have a composting DVD by Ray Dwyer but this has not been returned despite numerous reminders.
Internet Interests
There was an error in last month's column as I had the Artemis factory on Tedder St when it is actually on Fingall St. Here is a quirky article from Treehugger;
and an article on seed libraries; http://www.foodfirst.org/en/local+seed+saving
Rhubarb and Red Fruit Sago Sauce
Stefanie Alexander
375 gm rhubarb cut into 1 cm pieces
Grated zest of ½ lemon
3 T water
1 vanilla pod split
½ cup white wine
2 T sago
100 gm sugar
500 gm fresh or frozen raspberries (or any berries)
Place rhubarb, zest, water, vanilla bean and wine in a large non-reactive pot and bring to simmering point. Add sago, then reduce heat and place pot on a simmer mat. Cook gently for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time or sago will stick. Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Carefully add berries and simmer for a few minutes (or just until thawed, if using frozen berries). Stir once or twice. Do not overcook at this point.
Serve warm or cold.
Great with meringues and cream or ice cream.
With chocolate cake
In a crumble This delicious dish was brought to our committee meeting dinner by Heather Wilson and was available for sampling at Mike and Heathers recent open garden! This would be a great way to use rhubarb if you didn't really like it as the berry flavour dominates. Thanks Heather :)
Seed saving
I am in the middle of collecting the Parsnip seed which Bart Acres encouraged me to do by re-planting a dozen parsnips I had already dug up. This has worked really well but I didn't realise that the seed does not all ripen at the same time so I have to collect it nearly every day, otherwise it all falls off into the garden! I am losing patience with this as I would like to use that piece of garden for something else now.....
One of our newer members. Jim Bazsika , was chatting to me about heritage varieties and seed saving/swapping while at Mike at Heathers open
garden and I asked him if he would like to write something for the newsletter. Thanks Jim :)
Heritage Tomato seeds
"Have you got heritage tomato plants growing in your vegetable garden? Now is a great time to save the seeds from the best tomatoes for a club heritage tomato seed swap. Note that heritage tomato seeds can be saved and will grow true, while hybrid tomato seeds will not grow true to the parent and thus can not be saved. It is a simple process to do. All you need to do to save the seeds is to get them out from the fruit with a knife and spoon when processing and then clean them off in a strainer under the tap to get off the surrounding gel. Then dry them out completely on a newspaper/paper towel for a period of time. Be careful not to mix the seed with any other varieties. Store the fully dried seeds in marked envelopes in a cool, dark place. This will ultimately increase the vigour of the heritage tomatoes we all grow. As a club I thought it would be a good idea to keep a listing of the various tomato seeds our members have available so that we could do a tomato seed swap evening later in the year. If you would like to share some of your best heritage seeds with other club members start doing so now and email me with the name of the heritage tomato variety and if possible a description of the tomato variety. I will keep a listing so we know what is available come seed swap time. Cheers, JIM jim.bazsika@otago.ac.nz"
Here is another method of extracting tomato seeds from the NZ Gardener magazine;
"Tomato seeds come encased in slimy mucus. To save the seed, squeeze the pulp of very ripe tomatoes into a bowl and top with water. Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap, pierced with a few holes, and store in a warm room for three days, stirring daily ( I put them on the kitchen windowsill). Natural fermentation will take place and a mouldy, smelly scum will form on the surface. Spoon this off; the viable seeds should have sunk to the bottom, minus their slime, and can be air-dried. Tomato seeds can take up to a week to dry properly."
Month of Sundays
The Friends of Dunedin Botanic Gardens have organised a “Month of Sundays” consisting of four talks from 2.30pm until 3.30pm starting on Feb 26th with “Symbolism in the Northern Cemetery” by Fiona Hyland of Otago Heritage Roses. Meet at Botanic Graden Centre, Upper Lovelock Ave.
The second is on March 4th and is a Tour of the Herb Garden by Bunny Rathbone. Bunny has been to talk to the Club a few times and this should be an interesting tour. Meet at the lower garden information centre.
These talks require a donation to attend :)
For more info ; www.friendsdbg.co.nz
Kindred Day
As part of the Kindred (gardening) group, four of us have been invited to attend a Kindred Day at Waitati on Sat. 3rd March, registration at 9.30am. Lynne will have the programme to peruse and members interested in attending can add their names to a list. If there are more than four we will draw names from a hat.
Carol Henderson
Newsletter Editor
Thursday, January 19, 2012
January 2012
GREENS~LEAVES
The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 5.1 January 2012
Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck )
Our next meeting is January 16th with Invited Speaker Dave Young of the Horticultural Society.
President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)
Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz
Happy New Year!
We have had a wonderful start to the gardening year with glorious warm weather producing bumper crops as long as you can keep the watering up!!
Sadly we have also started the year feeling the loss of our Immediate Past President and Founder member Barrie Mayfield and our thoughts continue to be with Sharron at this time.
Several Club members attended Barrie’s funeral and it wasn’t until the end that we noticed this very fitting vegetable tribute atop his coffin.
Dennis Dorney was one of those attendees and wrote the following;
“I was one of a number of Club members who attended Barrie's Funeral at Hopes.... By my estimates the number of people wishing to give their last respects exceeded 200 people and pays tribute to a long life of public commitment. Although I was aware of his involvement in Probus,I knew nothing of his numerous other activities. I doubt if any of us knew that he was a fine athlete in his youth or that he took a keen interest in music. His creation of our Vegetable Growers Group was a challenge he took up very late in his life. A fitting memento would be if our Club had as long and interesting a life as Barrie's.”
December meeting
The unearthing of the potato in a bucket competition was the best yet with lovely warm and sunny weather meaning we had more room outside to operate and observe the occasion. Congratulations to John Morris who won easily with 1.583kg total weight as well as the largest potato at 525g!!!
Second place went to Margaret Dodds with a total weight of 859g and second largest potato of 215g.
This shows a definite improvement over previous years so I am hoping we can break the 2kg barrier in 2012 :)
The TopCrop/FlopCrop session went well after we warmed to the idea. We will definitely repeat this with a bit more warning next time!
January 16th Meeting;
Club talk – Jane Forsyth on Broad beans
BrainsTrust/Open Forum – hosted by Dennis and Andrew
Invited speaker – Dave Young – The Horticultural Society and a beginner’s guide to entering Vegetables in Shows.
Competition – 3 pods Broad beans
Announcements, seed sharing/swapping and Supper
January Open Garden
Heather and Mike have kindly offered to show us their garden on Saturday 21st at 2.30pm.
Mike has recently installed a watering system in the Mayfield’s vegetable garden and has offered to talk us through the installation process using his own system as an example.
The address is 238 Wakari Rd, Helensburgh and parking is limited but there is some grass roadside verge to park on.
Moon Planting times…
January 12th to 13th is one chance to sow root crops this month with another on the19th and 20th. The 16th-18th is a great time for weeding with the 23rd-25th the best time to dig in some compost and fertiliser for the winter crops to come. From the 26th Jan to the 5th Feb is time for the next lot of sowing and planting…the 5th and 6th Feb are also Fab for liquid fertiliser!
Bank Account details…
For those who would like to pay their subs via internet banking the Club bank account number is;
Westpac 030905 0515906 00
Subscriptions (still $10 ) are now due :)
Peninsula Open Gardens
What a great day, wonderful weather and the sea side beside you as we drove out to Company Bay.
The first of two wonderful gardens was a walled terraced area that was very sheltered and extremely productive. I particularly enjoyed learning about the boards that were between rows to walk on and also keep the weeds down. Everywhere you looked more and more plants producing.
Just down the road was a member of the vege club’s garden and again lovely and sheltered with a very lush productive garden and I particularly liked this ladder of salads. The hedge that protected the vege garden did not deplete the nutrients as the area close to the hedge was planted in big tubs, (rubbish bins recycled). Thanks to Alex for coming back from his work to show us around including the gallery. Some very talented people in the club. Thank you to the folks at Higham and Alex and Cathy Shemansky’s.
Words and photo supplied by Margaret Scott
Internet Interests
There are some very good and clear instructions, from a nearly local gardening guru here;
http://www.dirtdoctor.co.nz/page.php?id=128
This is a Dunedin company with their factory in Fingall St not far from St Patrick’s.....very good products :)
http://www.artemis.co.nz/shop
....and this is our local Freecycle group
http://groups.freecycle.org/Dunedin_Freecycle/posts/all
Library
Please bring back your library books so that others can have a turn. It seems to be sensible to limit the lending time to one month, or two if you forget! A reminder will be put in the newsletter each month to jog memories. David Neill has taken over the running of the library and is proving to be much more efficient than I :)
Having picked my first crop of Blackcurrants , I went looking for recipes and found this very easy one ;
Blackcurrant cake
· 2oz/60g butter
· 4oz/110g plain flour
· 4oz/110g caster sugar
· 1 egg
· 7oz/200g blackcurrants
Heat the oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F.
Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it's the consistency of breadcrumbs. Mix in the beaten egg. Stir in the fruit gently so as not to break it; it's best to use your hands.
The mixture will look dry but don't worry; the end result is very moist. Turn into an ovenproof glass or china dish (the acidity of the fruit may react with metal and taint the cake). Bake for 45-50 minutes. Turn out carefully and sprinkle with caster sugar. Eat at room temperature.
Proposed Rule Changes
The Committee have been revising the Rules and have come up with 6 amendments and one new rule! This would be a lot to take in on a Notice of Motion so an attachment will be sent out with this newsletter outlining these changes so that you can have time to read them, discuss them at the February meeting and then vote on them at the AGM in March.
Nomination forms will also be made available from now on for people who would like to come onto the Committee. So far we only know for certain that we will be needing a Vice-president and perhaps one non-office bearing member.
Carol Henderson
Newsletter Editor
The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 5.1 January 2012
Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck )
Our next meeting is January 16th with Invited Speaker Dave Young of the Horticultural Society.
President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)
Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz
Happy New Year!
We have had a wonderful start to the gardening year with glorious warm weather producing bumper crops as long as you can keep the watering up!!
Sadly we have also started the year feeling the loss of our Immediate Past President and Founder member Barrie Mayfield and our thoughts continue to be with Sharron at this time.
Several Club members attended Barrie’s funeral and it wasn’t until the end that we noticed this very fitting vegetable tribute atop his coffin.
Dennis Dorney was one of those attendees and wrote the following;
“I was one of a number of Club members who attended Barrie's Funeral at Hopes.... By my estimates the number of people wishing to give their last respects exceeded 200 people and pays tribute to a long life of public commitment. Although I was aware of his involvement in Probus,I knew nothing of his numerous other activities. I doubt if any of us knew that he was a fine athlete in his youth or that he took a keen interest in music. His creation of our Vegetable Growers Group was a challenge he took up very late in his life. A fitting memento would be if our Club had as long and interesting a life as Barrie's.”
December meeting
The unearthing of the potato in a bucket competition was the best yet with lovely warm and sunny weather meaning we had more room outside to operate and observe the occasion. Congratulations to John Morris who won easily with 1.583kg total weight as well as the largest potato at 525g!!!
Second place went to Margaret Dodds with a total weight of 859g and second largest potato of 215g.
This shows a definite improvement over previous years so I am hoping we can break the 2kg barrier in 2012 :)
The TopCrop/FlopCrop session went well after we warmed to the idea. We will definitely repeat this with a bit more warning next time!
January 16th Meeting;
Club talk – Jane Forsyth on Broad beans
BrainsTrust/Open Forum – hosted by Dennis and Andrew
Invited speaker – Dave Young – The Horticultural Society and a beginner’s guide to entering Vegetables in Shows.
Competition – 3 pods Broad beans
Announcements, seed sharing/swapping and Supper
January Open Garden
Heather and Mike have kindly offered to show us their garden on Saturday 21st at 2.30pm.
Mike has recently installed a watering system in the Mayfield’s vegetable garden and has offered to talk us through the installation process using his own system as an example.
The address is 238 Wakari Rd, Helensburgh and parking is limited but there is some grass roadside verge to park on.
Moon Planting times…
January 12th to 13th is one chance to sow root crops this month with another on the19th and 20th. The 16th-18th is a great time for weeding with the 23rd-25th the best time to dig in some compost and fertiliser for the winter crops to come. From the 26th Jan to the 5th Feb is time for the next lot of sowing and planting…the 5th and 6th Feb are also Fab for liquid fertiliser!
Bank Account details…
For those who would like to pay their subs via internet banking the Club bank account number is;
Westpac 030905 0515906 00
Subscriptions (still $10 ) are now due :)
Peninsula Open Gardens
What a great day, wonderful weather and the sea side beside you as we drove out to Company Bay.
The first of two wonderful gardens was a walled terraced area that was very sheltered and extremely productive. I particularly enjoyed learning about the boards that were between rows to walk on and also keep the weeds down. Everywhere you looked more and more plants producing.
Just down the road was a member of the vege club’s garden and again lovely and sheltered with a very lush productive garden and I particularly liked this ladder of salads. The hedge that protected the vege garden did not deplete the nutrients as the area close to the hedge was planted in big tubs, (rubbish bins recycled). Thanks to Alex for coming back from his work to show us around including the gallery. Some very talented people in the club. Thank you to the folks at Higham and Alex and Cathy Shemansky’s.
Words and photo supplied by Margaret Scott
Internet Interests
There are some very good and clear instructions, from a nearly local gardening guru here;
http://www.dirtdoctor.co.nz/page.php?id=128
This is a Dunedin company with their factory in Fingall St not far from St Patrick’s.....very good products :)
http://www.artemis.co.nz/shop
....and this is our local Freecycle group
http://groups.freecycle.org/Dunedin_Freecycle/posts/all
Library
Please bring back your library books so that others can have a turn. It seems to be sensible to limit the lending time to one month, or two if you forget! A reminder will be put in the newsletter each month to jog memories. David Neill has taken over the running of the library and is proving to be much more efficient than I :)
Having picked my first crop of Blackcurrants , I went looking for recipes and found this very easy one ;
Blackcurrant cake
· 2oz/60g butter
· 4oz/110g plain flour
· 4oz/110g caster sugar
· 1 egg
· 7oz/200g blackcurrants
Heat the oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F.
Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it's the consistency of breadcrumbs. Mix in the beaten egg. Stir in the fruit gently so as not to break it; it's best to use your hands.
The mixture will look dry but don't worry; the end result is very moist. Turn into an ovenproof glass or china dish (the acidity of the fruit may react with metal and taint the cake). Bake for 45-50 minutes. Turn out carefully and sprinkle with caster sugar. Eat at room temperature.
Proposed Rule Changes
The Committee have been revising the Rules and have come up with 6 amendments and one new rule! This would be a lot to take in on a Notice of Motion so an attachment will be sent out with this newsletter outlining these changes so that you can have time to read them, discuss them at the February meeting and then vote on them at the AGM in March.
Nomination forms will also be made available from now on for people who would like to come onto the Committee. So far we only know for certain that we will be needing a Vice-president and perhaps one non-office bearing member.
Carol Henderson
Newsletter Editor
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 2011 Newsletter
GREENS~LEAVES
The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 4.12 December 2011
Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck )
Our next meeting is December 12th and the Main Event will be Unearthing the Potatoes in buckets.
President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)
Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz
Last Call!
We would love to have more company for our Xmas Dinner so here are the details again :)
The venue is “Nelly’s” at Hotel Taieri, 6 Gordon Rd in Mosgiel and the date is Dec. 10th.The time is 6.30pm for 7pm and the cost is $40 for a sumptuous buffet meal and apparently dancing later!!. The committee has decided that we can afford to subsidise each paid up member to make it $32.50 each. Could you please let us (Margaret or Carol) know the numbers as soon as possible!
November meeting
It was refreshing to hear of the power of growing plants from Russell Dickson of Youthgrow. A big thankyou to Russell for agreeing to talk at such short notice and for speaking so well.
I hope you all received your magnetic calendar card with all of the meeting dates and vegetable competitions on it!
Change of format in December
The December meeting is always a bit different and this year you, the members, will be playing a bigger part than usual!!!
Apart from us all bringing our competition Potato in a bucket/container along for unveiling ,we have decided to forgo the usual Veg of the night talk and replace it with a Top Crop/Flop Crop session. This was requested by a member some time ago and this seems to be an ideal time for it. All that is required is for you to have thought about what vegetable has grown best for you in 2011 and which has been the least successful with maybe a few ideas on why!! Then come along prepared to tell us all about it in the same style as the Open Forum :)
The other difference is that it would be lovely if everyone could bring a plate of supper to celebrate Xmas and the end of another year!
December 12th Meeting;
BrainsTrust/Open Forum – hosted by Dennis and Margaret
Club talk – Top Crop/Flop Crop
Potato in a bucket competition.
Announcements, seed sharing/swapping
Supper- Members please bring a plate
December Open Garden
Sunday Dec. 18th 2pm at the Higham residence at 1 Newbury St in Company Bay, then on to the garden Shemansky’s at 1 Castlewood Rd. Parking is difficult, especially at Shemansky’s but it is close enough to walk from the first to the second….which is what I plan to do! Newbury St runs off Raynbird Rd and it will be necessary to park there and walk down to the house. I will endeavour to produce some maps :)
Car pooling advised from town.
Moon Planting times…
December starts with a sowing and watering period from 1st to the 7th followed by two days where it is best to apply liquid feed. Weeding and watering are the tasks until the 14th/15th when it is time to sow root crops then again on 21st/22nd…plenty of chances left if your carrots have refused to come up!! Rest is advised from the 23rd until 28th
(excellent timing :) ) ….then another sowing period from the 29th until the New Year.
There goes 2011 !
Library
Please bring back your library books so that others can have a turn. It seems to be sensible to limit the lending time to one month, or two if you forget! A reminder will be put in the newsletter each month to jog memories.
Internet Interests
Margaret shared this link from a fellow Vimby
( vegetables in my own back yard ) member :)
…and I saw this on Facebook and was amazed!!!
www.ted.com/talks/britta_riley_a_garden_in_my_apartment.html?mid=541
Sales/Trading table
Just a reminder that produce can be sold at the sales table but the money does not have to go to the Club.
Lynne’s Talk Part Two
“My lightbulb moment arrived in the mail in the form of a magazine called “Growing Today” in which the write claimed she could grow all the vegetables for her family in a relatively small plot by companion planting – not just herbs and flowers but compatible vegetables., successional planting plus no spraying or artificial fertiliser. The theory being that everyone can achieve a permanently productive garden by having half producing and half ready to plant.
I tried her theory but it didn’t fit in with the Dunedin climate so I had to adapt and came up with the following system which works for me!
Have your permanently marked rows 50cm apart
to leave space for plant growth and mounding up.
Plant your seeds, seedlings etc and mulch between the rows with manure, damp sheets of newspaper then compost. An alternative is to grow a catch crop such as spinach to cut down and use as mulch. These methods reduce weed growth, keep moisture loss down and feed the soil at the same time.
When the growing crop has matured , harvest, than plant the next crop in-between the rows (where the mulch was). This can be the same crop, another companion crop or a mixture of vegetables which are then mulched between as before.
Using this system, in a plot 1.5m wide, I can grow 5 rows of Brassicas in one growing year (from Sept.2011 until Aug. 2012 for example) where traditionally only 3 rows would have been grown.
Plant 3 rows in Sept. for summer harvesting followed by 2 rows in January using the mulched spaces between the original 3 rows. If you choose to grow another crop in the rows where the brassicas were some compost and/or manure will have to be added.
It is quite hard to explain but successional planting works best with rotational cropping and companion planting…..for example;
A bed where peas or beans have been grown becomes a brassica bed next, nitrogen being available from the roots of the peas/beans you have left in the soil.
Adopting this system takes time and good record keeping. Every area of Dunedin has different temperature variations and every year different growing conditions so, if you record when the rain was too much or not enough and how it affected the crops, you will build up a bank of information on how to manage your garden. This will help you to plan ahead as you will know approximate maturity times (a bit longer than most seed packets suggest!!) and if you keep planting each month there will always be something to eat.
I plant a few new potatoes each month and have them to eat from Sept. through to March/April.
My best vegetable varieties are;
Carrots- Yates “Express Hybrid”, thinnings from Dec. and crop lasts until Sept.
Red Barn “Autumn Carrots” to harvest in Spring when brushed carrots are expensive.
Brocolli- “Legacy” in punnets. These produce one big head and then side shoots for months.
Cauliflower- Nichols Winter Cauli, sold in punnets of 4 but numbered 1-7 as they mature successionally. Best to share with friends.
-Chaser is good too.
Potatoes- Jersey Benne, Swift and Karaka.
The Tuck Open Garden
Around 10 of us had a warm and generous visit to Wayne Tuck’s very productive garden despite the rain and a brief struggle to find the correct house!
Wayne has spent a lot of time and energy improving the soil and you can see that it has paid off! His large green house was full of tomatoes and 3 grape vines which he tends carefully to achieve the best crop.
We were also treated rather well with a wonderful afternoon tea and photocopied moon planting wheels to put together ourselves so Mr and Mrs Tuck deserved, and got, a big thankyou from all who attended :)
Wishing you all a Fruitful Festive Season and looking forward to some great gardening in 2012!
Carol Henderson
Newsletter Editor
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