Monday, September 01, 2014

Garden share collective - September 2014 - Welcome Spring

Hello there, thank you for visiting and for reading my GSC post for September 2014.
Part of the Garden Share collective, hosted by Lizzie over at Strayed from the Table.
All of this months posts from other contributors are here
Find us here too on Facebook
ETA: At the bottom of this blog post you'll notice I've added an InLinkz button, there you will be able to link to other GSC members blogs. Clever eh!

It's the first day of Spring here in New Zealand and it's raining! But never mind the garden needed a bit of a drink and it's supposed to clear by the afternoon. I hope you enjoy seeing what's happening at our place. 
The Greenhouse and other growing areas
Joe put some pavers around the greenhouse, hopefully it will be easier to walk down and less maintenance, we were constantly weeding the bark mulch path.

The greenhouse
A work in progress

And finished, apart from one or two small jobs, but it's ready for use once Joe has dug out some of the old soil and topped up with compost and manure.

Moving raised beds
The beds we had outside the laundry don't get enough light in the winter, so we moved them
The bed made from sods of earth cut out from a new bed will be a pumpkin bed, it needs to be filled with compost & muck.

Other maintenance
I sprayed the stone fruit tress with copper and fed the citrus trees, weeded the beds with crops in and the raspberry canes were cut back

What's growing and what's being harvested
Broad beans are flowering, the silverbeet and spinach is finally taking off...

 ..as is the kale

the strawberries are flowering, they will be need to be replanted next year, apart from tidying up they will be left alone this year.

Since I weeded the leek bed the leeks have made some growth, we will need to get them in much earlier next time if we want to use them during the winter.

The satsuma tree is still producing and I've used some of them in Marmalade
I was also given some lemons, so they and grapefruits from our tree were also used

My one lone seville orange, used specifically in marmalade. This one will end up in the next batch I make.

 We've started harvesting some of the green leaves....

 ...and had to use some of the parsley

 so made a parsley sauce to serve with some fresh fish and wilted greens.
It was delicious......

What's being planted?
We bought a lot of seeds from one of our local garden centres, they are changing their packaging on their own seeds so were selling them off half price!
I've planted seeds from these....

Other seeds planted: Crown pumpkin, butternut squash(from seeds saved from a shop bought squash), sweet fennel, celery, basil and a selection of lettuces
....others still to plant...

Planted in peat pots, covered with vermiculite. They can be direct sown into the place of planted, pot and all. As soon as we have some shelving in the greenhouse they can be moved in there.

Covered with damp newspaper and polythene sheeting, the pots don't dry out this way.

As of the other day a pumpkin and cucumber are popping their heads up..

 
 Other seeds.....

 

The potatoes are in egg trays chitting (sprouting)


When we moved the raised beds we had to replant the garlic, earlier bulbs hadn't sprouted at all. Also reduced at Oderings were some garlic bulbs, we planted those and already they are sprouting. We'll leave planting them until later next year.



In the rest of the garden
Back in the June post I mentioned that some changes were to be made with the herb garden. We got around to making those changes this past week or so. We emptied the raised bed which was moved to the area by the greenhouse and transplanted the plants into the ground. This area is right outside the kitchen. I want to add a few more herbs that we regularly use and I also plan to puts some salad veg in here such as toms, cucs, lettuce etc

 We did it this way as we wanted to echo the shape of the rose border

 In the rose border we planted box hedging behind the roses. 
The buxus I managed to grow myself from cuttings

I saved us quite a bit of money doing this, we just have to wait for it to grow.



I still have lots left that need to develop their root system a bit more

All of these have been either taken from cuttings, transplanted or taken off other plants



The work force!

I hope to get around to reading more of your GSC posts this month
So until next month, happy gardening.





16 comments:

  1. Wow, I am inspired by your industry and enthusiasm! what a great blog post, thanks for sharing

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  2. Anonymous11:06 am

    Wow Sue .. you are amazing! There is so much going on in your garden. Just love that greenhouse of yours .. I'm jealous. I have never used vermiculite but I hear it is very good. Love the link down the side by the way. Do you dip your spuds in seaweed fertiliser and water while chitting them? Helps them along :)

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    1. Gosh you made me blush lol! Joe has to take much of the credit for the hard labour! I ended up putting the link at the end of the post, I think it may have got too long for the side panel x

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  3. I am so impressed with your greenhouse building. What a brilliant undertaking. Raising those beds are a huge effort too. You are always inspiriring and I love your kale and magnificient strawberries :D

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    Replies
    1. Joe did a grand job :D I think being part of this GSC is helping, in the back of my mind is knowing that I have to do a post about the garden every month, that's where I get my inspiration, or is it just a kick up the bum :D

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    2. I agree Sue, a week or so before the next GSC you do start thinking about what to post and where you are going. You and Joe are doing a magnificent job x :D

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  4. Goodness lots of activity at your place Sue! All looks great and all your hard work will pay off I'm sure. Your new garden will be great - and all those cuttings! Fish dish looks great too I've got heaps of parsley at the moment too. cheers Wendy

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  5. it's the first day of spring and its raining here in hobart too - but like you, we need the rain, so i'm not complaining! i second others here - just amazing what you have growing. i'm envious of your four-legged helper too :-)

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  6. Anonymous5:06 pm

    Your greenhouse looks wonderful, love the path - that's what I need at the side of my house.

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  7. Your garden is amazing and I love seeing the yummy things you cook!

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  8. Anonymous11:39 pm

    Your garden is wonderful and you've made excellent progress with your planting. I'm especially impressed by your greenhouse. It looks great.

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  9. I just love reading about your spring as I head into fall. Our summer plants are starting to die off. You are just seeding yours.

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  10. Sue, you have been busy! loads going on, and I too like pavers for easy walking we have some outside our chookpen for when its raining so we don't have mud everywhere. Looks like spring is ready to arrive at your place for sure. Have a good month

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  11. Your garden is looking amazing Sue - your growth is much further ahead than us over in this little area. I love reading all the yummy recipes you cook too. Have quite serious glass house envy going on too :-)

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  12. You have alot going on this month. It is all looking great. I have not heard of a Satsuma Tree. I also have serious glass house envy!

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