Totally get what you mean I moved south due to work but have not looked back (9 months into it) - loving living rural, having some land and leading a relaxed lifestyle.
Good luck with your decission
skye7,
Nov 21, 1:09am
I moved down January 20th 2009 and hubbie followed in June. I have two children 21 and 19 years both now at university (Christchurch and Dunedin). So a new lifestyle for hubbie and I.
We will always call ChCh our hometown but Southland is a touch of paradise and a great place to change direction and begin the journey of "childless".
AND the bonus love the job and hubbie's transfer has been a sucess so life is ticking along fantastically
skye7,
Nov 22, 2:11am
Today has been the BEST a stunning day in Southland today and I have spent the day in the garden. Feeling quite proud of my efforts. Vege gardens looking great, sheep pellets dug in. Planted some very cool flowers - have to confess I am a love the flower and smell then its worth planting. Garden edging complete and lawns mowed. AND the best thing was picking beans, silverbeat and enjoying these for dinner. Desprtehousewife sure has made the empty nest easy. Sp proud of both of my kids and what there doing and loving our new journey.
ords,
Nov 22, 3:38pm
Hey there, Im here. Things are progressing well here. I pulled out all the carrots in our tunnel house. They had a hard core to them so the sheep got a treat. We have eaten the spuds we planted in there. The stalks were taking over and annoying. they were yummo tho.We are eating all the brasica that I planted in April/May and have already been eating lots of lettuces that I grew from seed. The outdoor garden is thriving. Spuds well up, strawberries just waiting to turn red. Ive had no success with carrot tape so far but have beets, brassica, cabbages and sweet pea all thriving. I have built 3 new raised bed that are finally getting some dirt today. Will mix in compost and then one will be a corn field and our 2 oldest children would like to garden the other 2. They will grow spuds, strawberries, lupins, carrots and radishes and some remaining brassica and red onions. Somethiing is eating the marigolds so I think I may hve to plant more of these. All is humming along nicely.
owl32,
Nov 23, 3:09am
I had cauli's that I planted before winter down here in ingill, and we had them about a month ago. they were huge and yum!Also the purple sprouting broccoli was good too. Already eating silverbeet and baby spring onions and everything is growing sooo good this year. baby zucchini already and tomato flowering and flowers appearing on spuds. I have about 5 different spuds, purple,white and red, beetroot and carrots growing well, cauli's getting there, radishs,berries, flowers on peas, It's all happening. and this is INVERCARGILL lol, haven't had such good results for a while this early.My berries are growing really well, and the herbs are growing and tasty too.
shellan_1,
Nov 23, 3:31am
I am a vegie garden beginner- am really enjoying it so far! . I have a question though, I'm growing both normal and apple cucmbers, which I have in pots, and staked with bamboo. They are thriving, and have just started flowering. My husband it going to make me some bamboo teepees, do I train the tendrils around them!
soc_butterfly,
Nov 23, 6:53am
ive used natures curator to save a couple of dying plants and it worked well.they really picked up within a week of using it so I kept using it weekly til they were on their way.it's expensive to buy the large concentrate but I started with the spray bottle that was cheap to try it out with and then decided to invest in the concentrate.I use it on struggling plants now with great success.
pentax1,
Nov 23, 4:49pm
My lettuces are now safe from the birds but something else is now eating them, i think it could be slugs but have not seen any. What do i do to get rid of slugs if it is.
soc_butterfly,
Nov 24, 12:41am
QUASH is what you want, get it from mitre 10 and it's pet friendly unlike blitzem.
ords,
Nov 24, 12:59am
Owl, things are growing well this year down in the south. We are just outside Riverton and our garden is thriving. Today we planted a corn crop and our 2 older children filled in out new raised beds. They are growing spuds, red lettuce, strawberries, marigolds, lupins, radishes, carrots and lots of carrots. they are looking forward to them all growing. My watermelon in the tunnelhouse wilted away and died. Im not surprised. The zuichini however is flowering as it the lemon tree in the tunnelhouse. Our berry plants are growing well too. no fruit yet as they are new this season. Planted our new cherry and apple trees today too. loving it!
thrifty-sella,
Nov 24, 1:05am
I grow Capsicum (with out a glasshouse and we live in Southland.It can get rather hot here.
firebird20000,
Nov 24, 2:29am
Its probably snails eating the strawberries, I use Blitzem sprinkled around, does the trick. Same around the lettuce, which only seems to get eaten in my garden when very small, once they grow a bit the snails don't seem to eat them. I feed my strawberry plants with tomato food, or Thrive Fruit and Flower, does the same as buying the specific strawberry food.
buzzy110,
Nov 24, 3:58pm
Here is a good tip for those bothered by birds. I buy those little toys with a fan on them that spin in the wind. Usually I just buy the big flowers but have branched out and bought a bee. These are brilliant at keeping birds away from young seedlings. My husband loves the bee and I have been instructed to buy more. lol.
I also crush all my eggshells (no need to bake them or anything) and store them in a big plastic jar. When I plant seedlings into the garden I take along my jar and put a thick layer of crushed eggshells either around each plant or around the border of the garden.
So far these two simple and cheap devices have worked wonders keeping my plants free of being eaten to death. I forgot to do it with some left over beans I planted on the fence between our neighbour and the birds just yummed up all the new leaves. Now they are protected by my bee and eggshells and they are positively thriving, especially as I have managed to get my neighbour to agree not to spray anymore weed killer along the fence.
buzzy110,
Nov 24, 4:00pm
scholar, I can't help you with strawberries as I haven't yet felt the need to grow them (we have a strawberry farm just around the corner from us) but I did an Anytime search using the word Strawberries and there are heaps of threads. Something in there may help.
vickie63,
Nov 24, 9:15pm
Hi everyone - I have a new raised vegie garden and have taken on the square foot gardening system - and it is thriving.I have inherited my 86 year old father's compost bins (all three of them) so everything I can lay my hands on goes in there.I also inherited his worm farms (all two of them) and thankfully I still have my Dad to give me advice.I just love the sense of achievement to come home from work and go pick fresh veggies for dinner that night - oh and strawberries for dessert.
nathandsue,
Nov 24, 9:27pm
I've got in yams, lettuces and peas. It's been so cold down here though everything it taking a while to grow.
gorsegully,
Nov 25, 12:37am
Haven't checked in for a whileRe Fertilizers those for Fruiting plants like strawberries, tomatoes tend to have higher potassium content. Leafy veges fertilizer is higher in Nitrogen. Slugs / snails if you are using Blitzem and don't want to kill your pets which eat the bait or thrushes and hedgehogs which will eat the poisoned slugs/snails. Get a plank of wood, carefully lay slugbait beside the row of what is being eaten, then lay thplank on top. The slugs and snails like the protective cover and will quietly die out of reach of anything. Dunedins not bad for growing veg, although a glass house best for tomatoes etc. my worst problem is sparrows love the silverbeet. If you do come down here Desperate housewife I'd strongly recommend you buy the Star Gardening Guide. This book has been around for a long time and was reproduced this year by the Otago Daily times. It gives a week by week guide to what should be done in the garden for southern conditions. Keep up the enthuisiastic work
jaxx29,
Nov 25, 1:02am
Can some one tell me the best conditions for growing celery, i have planted seedlings and they are turning yellow and dying!
kiwipippa,
Nov 25, 1:08am
My garden is looking great.I have just started harvesting sugar snaps, my beans are growing like mad, beetroot looks really healthy, heaps of lettuce, some spring onions, tomatoes flowering as well .so far so good.When it gets really hot things start getting a bit harder, but I planted a bit earlier this year so hopefully I'll get better results.Like lots of you I find it so satisfying, and my kids even eat veges from the garden that they won't eat from anywhere else.
debncal,
Nov 25, 8:43pm
Hiya,am having a friendly debate .friend says that you can plant things in pots with just compost right out of the bag.Anyone do this or is she pulling my leg!While I'm at it - I have noticed something is eating my tomato leaves & also the leaves on a small fig tree. doesn't eat right through but leaves a membrane. And our grapefruit is covered in whiteflies that will NOT go away, sigh.Not a big fan of pesticides - is there anything organic that would work!thanks for the help!
skye7,
Nov 26, 3:19pm
Garlic is planted on the shortest day and harvested on the longest day. Although would be interested to know if you grown this inside does the timing differ!
skye7,
Nov 26, 3:24pm
I had some sprouted YAMs in my pantry and planted them, they are growing very well but the I think the proof will be in the harvest
skye7,
Nov 26, 3:29pm
Garlic is grown from the individual cloves. Each clove will produce one plant with a single bulb - which may in turn contain up to twenty cloves. Growing garlic is therefore self-sustaining. When planting garlic, choose a garden site that gets plenty of sun and where the soil is not too damp. The cloves should be planted individually, upright and about an inch (25 mm) under the surface. Plant the cloves about 4 inches (100 mm) apart. Rows should be about 18 inches (450 mm) apart.
It is traditional to plant garlic on the shortest day of the year. Whether this is for symbolic or practical reasons is unclear.
Garlic is a very friendly plant and grows well planted with other flowers and vegetables.
As garlic reaches maturity, the leaves will brown then die away. This is the cue that it is time to harvest your garlic crop. If you harvest too early the cloves will be very small, too late and the bulb will have split. Proper handling of garlic after it's been picked is almost as important as looking after it whilst it's growing. It's essential that garlic is dried properly, otherwise it will rot. The bulbs are often hung up in a cool, dry place. After a week or so, take them down and brush the dirt off gently - don't wash the bulbs at this stage.
Then enjoy the delicious results of growing your own garlic in your own garden
debncal,
Nov 26, 6:58pm
thanks for the help and am off to plant some garlic too! excellent advice!
lady_dirt,
Nov 27, 12:23am
I just got some roma tomatoes, lettuce, herbs and peas to plant into my containers. currently eating strawberries and blueberries just about ready. I got 3 small peanuts plants that are slowly growing. I got told it takes about 120 days for them to be ready for harvest.
Question: what vegetable or fruit that I can not plant into pots! Live in townhouse with no grass at all just concrete and pubbled courtyard.
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