End of May and the End of Autumn

This is my post for the Garden Share Collective for June.

Here in New Zealand the end of May is also the end of Autumn, with chilly wintry blasts coming through at an ever increasing rate.  In fact as I write this we are having a polar blast, with some sleet and threatening snow.

My vege garden is looking a bit bleak, I'm sure it always looks better when the sun shines!

PLANTING THIS MONTH

We are still able to plant brassicas, and you can see that I have put some more Kale in. These are seedlings I raised myself on a window sill.  I have a lot more still to go in, but I'm not sure if our family will be able to eat it all if I go overboard on the numbers of plants.

I also put in some onion seed, and I am a bit dubious about how it might go.  At present it is hard to distinguish the onion seedlings from the grass that is coming up. But we shall see.

HARVESTING THIS MONTH

Harvesting has actually been very plentiful.  I have been collecting Feijoas off the ground under my plants, even today in this freeze.  Feijoas are the most amazing fruit, with a pear-like grainy flesh and a fragrant taste.  I love them.  When I lived in England I missed them so much that I went to the Harrods food hall and bought one, for STGPounds3 .  Sooo expensive, but a real taste of home.  I haven't seen them in other countries, not for sale or in people's gardens, but here in NZ they are very popular.  I have two varieties, for cross pollination.

We have also been eating, Rhubarb, Spring Onions, Leeks, Kale, Cauliflowers, a few last tomatoes in the glasshouse, and we have eaten the last of our Red Beet, and Butterbeans.

TO DO LIST

Pick up the glass from where our glasshouse lost several panes, and replace the glass, so that I can try to have some lettuces for winter planted in there.

Put up strings for the Broadbeans and Peas to support themselves on, as they are getting quite big.

Pinch out the growing tops of the Peas to encourage side shoots.

Put some more topsoil and manure into the empty garden bed.

Prune the Mixed Berry, so that I get lots of fruit next year.

Pull out the plants that are "done" this year, and that have been frosted already, like the Courgette