Planting for Plenty

Winter veges can be a bit hit and miss, with some bolting in the autumn, or as soon as you hit spring.  So I am never sure quite what to plant and when.  I have done my  best this year tho
This week I planted

Red Cabbage
Broad Bean seeds
Silver Beet
Curly Cale
Red Beetroot
Leeks

I am hoping that some will be edible during the winter, like the Kale.  Incidentally, Kale is supposedly the latest "in" thing in cooking.  It's one of those real oldies, but goodies.

We are still harvesting lots of  beans, about 6 more pumpkins (with lots yet to be ready), parsley, tomatoes, basil, and capsicums.

More Plenty from the garden

This extended warm weather has been fantastic.

First our paddocks looked like bony, stoney desert, but last weekend we had the first rain since 4th Feb, and new we are all green and new again.

The beans I put in late, which critics tut-tutted over and said they would never grow, have produced their first wee crop.  Within about another week I should have hundreds, there are plenty more tiny ones just waiting in the wings.

Today's haul

I heard someone on the TV saying that we need to expect "Mediterranean" summers due to global warming.
We should expect extended periods of warm, dry weather over our summer season.  This is based on one hot,  long, dry summer...?  I can't remember when we had a summer like it.  So, if it is true, YAY, bring it on.  Summers for swimming lots, and eating outside are a treasure.

What it has meant for our garden is this!  tomatoes, capsicums by the bucketload, and friends and family who have grown cucumbers unlimited.  These are not always things that grow easily here.  I wish I had planted aubergines, I love them, and they need a long, hot summer.  This year would have been perfect.

Here is what I picked this morning

I asked for a Chainsaw, and got way more

We have had a large pile of cut branches from when our macrocarpa hedging was trimmed, and I have been eyeing it up for firewood.  Hubby has been insistent that he wants to do a "big burn" which seems such a waste of good wood to me!  so...I went to the equipment shop (very daunting, male dominated environment there!) and enquired about the smallest chainsaw you can get.

Then I tentatively asked hubby if I could buy a chainsaw.  You have never seen such love and devotion, "of course, honey" was his immediate answer.  Here was I thinking that we already had a chainsaw (a huge monstrous thing you need arms like gorillas to wield), and I would be refused outright.  But, apparently a chainsaw is something you can ask your man for without any problem.  Now, a new sewing machine would be a different matter....

Herewith I started chopping up the small logs.  There is a heap of wood there, and I am a happy camper.

Meanwhile, since I am in his good books, he built me a herb garden.  YAY. It has been filled, and planted out with a few beginners...

Did you see our article in Essence Magazine?

Check out what they had to say about our house http://www.essencemagazine.co.nz/article/house-and-garden/sustainable-living/

Autumn must be coming, because here come our Pumpkins

This biggie is the first.  Isn't he a giant!

Pumpkins will keep for all winter in a cool place.  Wash the skins with a very diluted bleach mix (1litre H20 and 1t bleach) to kill any moulds or whatnot that may be parked on the outside.  Let dry, then put on a shelf in a cool place.  They do not deteriorate at all, and make wonderful eating during the winter months.

I haven't counted how many we have outside, but there must be more than a dozen, all looking gorgeous.

A Cowtastrophe

Oh Dear....Mark's beloved corn has been trashed.  He moved his cows into the field behind the vege garden and lo-and-behold, they got over the fence and into his corn, and ate the whole lot down to ragged stalks!

He was so proud of the corn, it was his pride and joy and he delighted in telling eveyone how his corn was so much better than mine because he planted his from seed, whereas I planted mine as seedlings.  In truth, his was way healthier, bigger and had more cobs on it.  I have to give him that.

But now, devastation....

Good news, the pumpkins are growing little pumpkins everywhere, including hanging from the fence.  Mark has learnt a wee lesson, and there is an electric fence around the pumpkin that has spread out into the fields beyond the garden.  - so the cows won't get in this time.

In other news the artichokes are going to seed, and everything is getting a bit overblown.  We have a new lot of potatoes in which Mark put in and they are now flowering.  I put more beans in with the hope of getting some before autumn.  And our strawberries are still producing great berries for school lunches.