Frosty gardening

We got the frost to end the growing season last night. It's good to remember to protect plants around full moon as it often frosts hardest then. Here it's too late to try and keep things protected, winter has stamped it's mark.

It's not all bad though, brussel sprouts, parsnip, swede, etc all have their flavour improved after a few good frosts.

I went out at 9am to feed the chooks and to have a look at how the frost has affected the altered area of the section near where the big shed is built. The shed is a bit of an eyesore, it's not as cute as the old one and it's not the studio I had wanted but it does have one redeeming feature; a tank to collect rain water from the roof. One little step towards sustainability and L's answer to spending the country out of a recession. There is a soak hose coming off it which I'll run around the vege garden once the wood piles are sorted out. I had hoped it might be a little bit more frost protected with the shed there now but it doesn't seem to be much of an improvement.

Then I glanced over to the neighbours place and thought to myself "thou shalt NOT covert thy neighbours passion fruit vine"!!

She has used a little trick that we did when we lived in another cold area. If you have a fire with an external chimney plant those frost tender vines or tree tomatoes near it under the eves of the house. It provides just that extra bit of heat needed on frosty nights. We have a inside chimney here so it doesn't work for us, I've tried about 5 times and it dies every winter. Hopefully my lime tree thrives and then I may have something to barter with.

Otherwise in the garden I'm still just composting, clearing and preparing to plant garlic. I'm harvesting, kumara, potatoes, brassicas, leeks, spring onions, winter lettuce, the odd straggly tomato, peppers in the glasshouse, parsnips, pumpkins and yams which are a bit pitiful this year. The chooks have also finished laying so we'll miss our fresh eggs until after the shortest day now.

Giving back

One of my fabulous Aunts has worked for most of the school holidays helping PJ with her reading. I feel very guilty that PJ doesn't find reading easy like the big boys did. I know that the effect of me working night shift when she was small is showing now, she simply didn't get enough storey telling as I rushed off to work at 7 o'clock every second night and then slept late each day. The red head who was a surprise baby, was such a blessing as I gave up my night shift of course and got the family back into a better routine. I feel such guilt though when I she her old Playcentre friends enjoying reading so much. I am not sure if PJ has something going on that makes it difficult to read but the school don't seem to think so. We're all reading alot more these days to try and support PJ.
To thank "Aunt" I made a few cloth shopping bags, she has commented on mine several times when I've been getting extra strawberries at the family farm.

I should also thank Mum as she drove PJ to Aunt's house every day before she went to work. Mum is harder to make things for though so I shall have to think on it a little longer.

My other fabulous Aunt was the classic 50's farmers wife. Excellent cook, mother and make do-er. She told me that she use to bottle her grapes with peaches for a yummy winter fruit salad. My peaches are all finished but I gave the grapes a go yesterday.

I had very good intentions of making strawberry jam for all the people who made meals for me recently, but I jolly well burnt it! Not too badly but it's not perfect enough to give away. I shall have to think of something more fabulous for my friends.

If anyone else wants to enter for some lovely possum wool or a "gillybean" brooch let me know before I do the draw. I love to do giveaways as I "meet" a whole lot of new people, so say Hi.

Harvesting and planning

As the school term gets going I've enjoyed catching up and hearing what every one's been doing during the summer holidays. It' seems 3 out of 4 people I talk to have been camping, enjoying the top of the South Island's beautiful sites; Golden Bay, Marlborough Sounds, Nelson/Tasman and the West Coast. I sort of envy the "idea" of camping but actually hate packing up, getting bitten, sunburned, and doing all the Mum stuff away from the conveniences of home. Also 3 years living in a house bus and hand washing nappies, I think has put me off entirely. Admittedly I'm becoming a bit of a Nana in my middle age. It sounds like my friends all enjoyed their adventures even the hiccups. Lucky for L and I we have a "village" to raise our children so they haven't missed out on adventures, they've been away with good friends and family. We must be doing something right cos they get invited to go back again and again.

Back here in the garden, locals and blog readers have asked about the cannelini beans. They have been a super crop here, the first lot I harvested early as I grew them in the glasshouse but it seems there was no need because the outdoor ones which I planted around the fence lines have produced beautifully with no extra water after they got established. The little bit of rain we got a few days ago wasn't even enough to wet the soil underneath the corn and pumpkins. So to answer about the cannelinis; I leave them to dry off on the vine then once picked leave them in their shells for several weeks longer to dry right out. I learnt this is the hard way after harvesting some dryish pea pods and shelling them straight away, popping them into a paper bag only to find some of them went mouldy. Plants going to seed all over the garden make it look pretty messy and disorganised but I reckon it's a sign of a good productive garden. Mine is looking pretty wild but I know where to find the tomatoes, spring onions, lettuce, pumpkins, melons and beans. The kumara are putting on alot of top growth so I'm hoping too that there is something going on beneath the soil. They say when you're planning your garden to check out what's growing well in other local gardens, so I have to share that the Nashi pear is my best productive tree aside from my citrus. It's laden with fruit, grows beautifully organically and is just about ready! Highly recommended.

The glasshouse is producing really well though an aphid infestation will probably get the better of it soon. I'm watering, feeding and using pyrethrum to try and stay on top of it.
I haven't quite kept up with sowing all my own seed, recently I've sowed lettuces, leeks, brassicas, peas, coriander and parsley in my messy little nursery/shady spot. I've also bought extra brassicas from a good little plant stall in town.

The brassica's I've put in where the garlic came out. I've mulched them heavily and hope my little paper wasps can keep up with all the caterpillars. I sprinkled round a bit of blood and bone too as the soil was looking a bit depleted.Finally somewhere in the middle ground of this picture is a patch of horrible seedy paspalum grass overtaking the onions. I weeded it out twice but it got away on me over Christmas so my poor onions look like pickling onions! I must get onto pulling it all out before the seeds spread everywhere. "1 year seeding 7 years weeding" So that is how I'll spend New Zealand's national day "Waitangi Day" before I head over to the airport to see my bro.