Even the weeds look good

I haven't had time to do a lot of seed raising, planning or planting this spring, but luckily for the last six years I have established many of the herbs and fruit trees we need. Radishes, kales, beetroots, lettuces etc self seeded last autumn and are now providing us with tender salads along with the addition of a few choice self seeded weeds. I've also been indulging in some local olives and oil just to top them off.
( Just need to find a source of nice local feta to barter.)
It is interesting that Motherwort and nettle are thriving in my garden at the moment. My friend who is a herbalist once suggested to me that all the plants you need for your well being at any point in time will colonise your surroundings, this might also explain why I just cannot grow some herbs despite much persistence while others rampage out of control. The nettle is being taken as tea for the iron and vitamins, while the Motherwort is helpful for woman's cycles.

Other herbs and medicines also thriving are: Elderberry and elecampane, chickweed and calendula, comfrey and hop plant, lovage, marshmallow, borage and lemon balm. Listing those herbs makes me really think about all their properties as well and how I must "make hay while the sun shines" so to speak. The warm, windy weather is quite favourable for harvesting and drying them.

The weeds are also doing a good job of "supporting" some things I have planted. The broad beans for example don't need to be staked as they are being held upright by weeds.

The planting that I have been doing has involved planting 6 telegraph cucumbers in the tunnel house, a few, "Ahem!" F1 hybrid tomatoes in the glasshouse. Ox heart tomatoes curving round the corner of the garden path leading to the blueberries. Tomatoes and basil near the water tank. Sunflowers and Phacelia by the neighbours fence with spinach and hearting lettuces poked in the shady wet spots. The onions were a disaster, I think they were too little when I planted them out so only half have taken off. Peas look good, a few flowers showing. The red head has a very close eye on the strawberry patch after a lesson in why we don't pick the strawberry flowers for Mum, a few weeks ago.

One row of spuds in, one more trench dug and lined with comfrey.

Hope to get the Purple Cherokee tomatoes planted in the tunnel house this weekend as well as the cannelinni beans and gherkins outdoors. Have four zucchini in but have been a bit slow to plant the pumpkins and forgot to buy corn seed altogether. Will watch a friends experiment with saving corn seeds this summer with interest.

If any Kiwi's want motherwort roots, sunflower seeds or cannelinni seeds drop me a line.

I'll happily pop some in the post.

Saved seed verses bought

It's interesting to note how my own saved strain of sunflower seeds compared to a packet of bought seed of the same variety. I've been saving my strain for about 6 years. This year I only had quite a small amount of saved seed to plant because I didn't do enough collecting in Autumn, so I bought a packet. I sowed one tray from the bought seed and one tray of my own seed on the same day in the same potting mix and raised them under identical conditions.

So there they are sitting next to each other, my seed on the right is growing bigger and healthier looking plants. I am very encouraged.

Just wanted to show this good recycling idea too. We buy old ironing boards from the recycling centre for $2 each. Because they fold down flat they are ideal as market tables in summer, with a cloth over them you'd never know. Then when they get to tatty for that I use them as potting tables around the garden and in the glasshouse.

My plant tags are cut up icecream containers or venetian blinds.

Garden and giveaway.

Teenage son said "why can't we get veges out of packets, you know cut up or grated, like normal people"? I hope an explanation about unknown sprays, fertilizer and goodness deteriorating as soon as veges are picked will one day sink in. He's heared it all before and might be just winding me up but I'll be so sad if he grows up not sharing similar values. I told him we're normal and they're not.

I got a parcel in the mail today from Pherenike of Sunshine dew.

I'm really looking forward to a few quiet moments to read the magazines, my budget doesn't often stretch to magazines so that was a treat. Seeds as well, excellent timing, I'm itching to do some more planting. See the cool little packets with horticultural text.

And finally some new bags and I thought I'd pay it forward with a giveaway. A zip up wool bag with a doily and button. It will vary slightly from these two cos I hope they will both sell this weekend. Just drop me a comment.

Self sufficiency project

Living on just under half and acre of land clearly we'll never be truly self sufficient but I'm practicing in case my circumstances change. I dreamed, but wouldn't have guessed 15 years ago as we were traveling and living in a 1963 house bus that we'd be home owners now, so..... you never know.

I've updated my side bars to reflect what's happening in the garden. I reckon if L and I were retired we might be able to live out of our garden. I'd long for meat and fresh milk though. I grew up on 2000 acres so we ate lamb nearly all year round with fresh pork,beef crayfish and paua for a bit of variety, we didn't know how lucky we were. My Dad even kept beehives and we fished for eel and trout in the river. At my Mums side I learned how to spin wool and knit, dye using plants and sew my own clothes. They gave us an unforgettable childhood to which I'm truly grateful and wish I could provide to my own kids. They have everything but the space and security that I was raised with.

What we're eating fresh:broad beans, eggs, silver beet, lettuce, peas, spring onions, carrots, asparagus, grapefruit, oranges, lemons

What we're eating from stores:berry jams, pumpkins, potatoes, frozen berries, frozen tomatoes

What's still growing: strawberries, carrots, garlic, asparagus, broccoli, cauli, cabbage, onions, peas, giant red mustard, kale, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, celery, capsicum, sunflowers, potatoes, yams, kumara, beetroot, pumpkins

Seeds sown recently: chili, beans, more corn,

Herbs growing: fennel, basil, parsley, Korean mint, mint, sorrel, tansy, mother wort, mug wort, hypericum, Valerian, lemon balm, lemon verbena, dill, caraway, echinacea, elecampane, horseradish, comfrey, bay tree, sage, white sage, tansy and weeds

Fruit trees, vines and bushes: Plums, blackboy, golden queen and white flesh peaches, apricots, cherry, mulberry, elderberry, figs, lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, orange, hazelnuts, fejoias, thorn less blackberry, boysenberry, blueberries,red and yellow raspberries, red and black currants, nashi, nectarine, home grafted apple- "golden delicious", " Hetlina" apple, mini kiwifruit, prune plum, red skinned pear.



GO GARDEN!!!

We've had fairly good frosts the last few nights. Not enough to ruin the asparagus but the zucchini and cannelloni beans that were waiting in the glasshouse got their leaves a bit burnt. I spent a beautiful day in the garden, I'd been getting withdrawal after the obsessive housework and visitors earlier in the week. I probably shouldn't have been gardening as the moon's not quite ready but I just stuck to squashing aphids on seedlings and transplanting the ones that needed it into bigger pots. I sorted out my messy piles of pots and trays finding heaps of snails which the chooks enjoyed. A wee while ago I planted out the first sunflowers, they have so far escaped frost damage and it's interesting to note the ones I planted with the rising moon are thriving while the others are a little crooked and getting attacked by aphids. I've been mounding up potatoes and making sure the peas get enough water so their little pods fatten up quickly. I need to get onto making some liquid fertiliser out of things like comfrey, nettles and seaweed as things are looking like they need to be fed. The worm farm is only supplying enough for the seedlings. There is a rampant hop plant in my garden! Last year I should have been more severe with it but I ignored it. It dropped alot of hop flowers which have composted beautifully where they fell but the great big underground runners are coming up everywhere so I also spent a good part of the day trying to pull them up. This week is primo for planting seeds, I'll be still sowing into pots in the glasshouse as the ground's not quite warm enough yet. I'll be putting in more sunflowers, corn, melons, basil and lots of flowers to try and attract those horrible garden pests away from my veges. I won't mention what's doing well incase a nasty frost wipes them all out tonight! When L brings the camera home I'll post some pics of what I've been sewing.