#162 pick some of the biggest ones and put them on your windowsill to ripen. For some reason it doesn't take as long.
temco1,
Feb 13, 8:07pm
Well. last year DH rotary hoed a 10x5 metre part of our section to plant spuds.He dug them all up on the weekend and we have bags and bags of spuds.They should keep us going for quite some time.Anyway, he says "what shall we do with that bit of turf now!" and i shrugged my shoulders.Sunday came and he was out there with the rotary hoe again and we now have a HUGE vege patch as well as our two raised beds.So, the area has been planted with carrots, parsnips, beetroot, more spuds, and some other stuff that I'll have to check on.From the beds we are harvesting beans (still!), tomatoes which are mostly being made into bolognese sauce, capsicum, beetroot, lettuce, silverbeet, spinach, carrots and herbs.We also have another area of garden which is heavily mulched and growing pumpkins and zucchini.The neighbours and family are all really happy!
kiwiscrapper1,
Feb 14, 1:54am
temco you are so lucky, we have two raised beds but i want another 2 and also deeper by the end of the year, my tomatoes are still green, how can I get them to ripen!
mim5,
Feb 14, 3:22am
I just put mine on a windowsill and they don't take long - but I don't pick until they have some colour. When I went out tonight after work the red ones were eaten by birds - next to a bird bath after lots of lovely rain so can't be because the birds were thirsty (someones suggestion) maybe they like red ripe tomatoes!
em007,
Feb 14, 1:55pm
I have just planted some giant silverbeet in a large pot near the back door so hopefully it comes through soon with this lovely rain we have been having. My silverbeet in my veggie garden is not looking good the leaves are dying on the plant and going all speckly - does anyone know what I can do!
jules.,
Feb 14, 8:09pm
bump. :)
juliewn,
Feb 14, 8:26pm
Hi Em. I would take the leaves off the silverbeet plant so that the only ones left don't have any markings on them. Leave the centre unmarked leaves to continue growing. Keep the plants watered, by hand if it's not raining, and they'll continue growing for you. I find I take the outer leaves off as the plants grow - the ones that tend to go yellowish, so the goodness is going into the newly growing leaves that you'll use. Hope this helps. We've had some rain here this morning too. it is so good to hear it on the roof and know my plants are receiving the wonderful rain.
juliewn,
Feb 16, 5:42am
How are all of your gardens growing. I am so enjoying fresh home grown veges. lots of cherry tomatoes ripening each day. my Supertom Moneymaker is still not growing that well = less than half the size of the Supertom Sweet100, from which we've had several handfuls of tomatoes - none at all so far from the Moneymaker, though there are several green half size tomatoes on the plant now. The plants were planted on the same day - I've used sheep pellets on both plants, and they're both watered regularly. Strange that the two plants are about two metres apart and they're growing so differently.
stevee6,
Feb 17, 10:33pm
Bump for Tommy.
jules.,
Feb 17, 10:46pm
almost at the end of the summer veges, picked the last of the corn cobs and put them in the freezer. the beans are still going, have picked around 6kg now. the cucumbers are still coming, i lost count after around 30ish. need to start thinking about getting the cauli, broccoli, and cabbages in soon. the corn plants are on their way out of the garden and there are more spuds going in. what else can i plant for winter!
jules.,
Feb 18, 9:31pm
oh bugger, maybe you can do it in stages!
juliewn,
Feb 19, 6:41am
Hi Everyone. hope your gardens are growing well. I was browsing through a local gardening store today. yesterday now! - and looking for perennial's or shrubs of between .500mm andabout 1.5m in height, that are colourful and interesting. I wandered over to the fruit tree and berry section - and discovered some interesting looking berries. which turned out to be cranberry's. which I'm delighted to report had quite a number of berry's on the plants, so I was able to taste them. Yes I ok'd it first with the lady who came to help. They were delicious - and quite different in taste to the craisin's or the cranberry juice drinks that are available now in supermarkets. I convinced myself to purchase two. it wasn't that hard! hehehe. and have them to plant in two new gardens that I have underway. I've kept them inside overnight, as we're eating the several hundred cranberry's that are on the two plants, and I have a feeling that the birds will love the fruit and we won't get any! These will bring it to 43 edibles I'll have growing. and I have plans for me.
juliewn,
Feb 19, 6:43am
oops! I have plans for more edibles to add to those I have growing now.
katelin1,
Feb 19, 1:48pm
cranberries Hi Julie, I love reading about your edible garden!is your new cranberry plants the true cranberry (Vaccinum sp!) or the NZ cranberry/Chilean guava (myrtis ugni)!The latter is a fantastic wee plant that can be grown as a bush or even as an alternative to Buxus hedging.The fruit makes the MOST delicious juice, and is really highly scented - get whiffs of it walking past my plants! (much nicer than the cat pee smell of buxus!)
sit1,
Feb 19, 2:58pm
Buxus and the cat pee smell! I have heard that buxus smells like cat pee and yes I have smelt that smell on the ones at some of the botanical gardens- YET mine doesn't have this smell. I have a highly sensitive nose- I can smell the gardenias on the otherisde of the house when the windows are open. I have tried stripping off some leaves and crushing them but can't get the cat pee smell. Its definitely buxus. I have pondered what could be the difference perhaps the variety! all my buxus have come from cuttings off my original 100 plants we purchased for the front garden.
katelin1,
Feb 19, 4:50pm
Buxus There are a few different types of Buxus - though most hedges are sempervirens which I think is the cat pee smelling one!There is also suffruticosa which is a dwarf type, has a slightly different leaf too.I wonder if soil type or climate or time of year might create the cat pee smell!!!!!
flossy21,
Feb 19, 6:27pm
My cranberry bush is loaded with fruit and the birds don't go near it. I don't know why as they go after everything else. I am winningat keeping my blackberries without bird netting as I have attached a large plastic magpie which swings back and forth in the wind.no blackbird will go near the bush as they fear magpies.
juliewn,
Feb 20, 1:42am
Hi Everyone. it's good to know that the birds aren't too fussed on the cranberries!. I've kept the plants inside again tonight just in case though! And we can nibble on a couple or three when we're in the kitchen!Hi Katelin :-). thank you for your lovely words. these cranberries are the Myrtus Ugni. I was thinking today that the flavour is similar to a guava. The juice sounds delicious. could you let us know how you make it please! Thanks. I make grape juice by fillinghot sterilised pop-top type jars 1/3rd full with washed grapes that have been taken off the stems. I then top up the jar with syrup made in the ratio of 3 cups water to 1 cup sugar, and once the jar is filled right to the brim, I place a sterilised pop-top lid on firmly. Over the next couple of weeks, the colour and flavour of the grapes changes the syrup to wonderful grape juice, that is just delicious with lemonade, in a glass, or used with lemonade for punch. The grapes taste good too.
juliewn,
Feb 20, 1:44am
I was wondering if the cranberries could be used in the same way to make juice, and will look forward with interest to find out how you make your juice. Thanks Katelin. :-) . I'm guessing that cranberry jam would have a lot of seeds in, and that to make a jelly type jam would be better.
juliewn,
Feb 20, 1:45am
For others who may be interested in adding cranberries to their garden's, the tag notes: "An attractive shrub with delicate pink bell-shaped flowers that produce scrumptious sweet wine coloured berries. Suitable for a host of culinary uses. Popular for hedging or as a container plant. Best in sunny position. 1.5m x 1.5m. The plants at a local garden centre were $16 each.
katelin1,
Feb 20, 1:38pm
cranberry juice Hi Julie, sorry I don't have the recipe - I have only tried the juice - actually while I was in Tasmania! I visited a garden centre there that had a great cranberry hedge leading into the store, and they used the fruit to make juice for their customers! Great selling tool!However your grape juice recipe sounds great, and I'm sure would work for these berries too as they have similar juice content & skin type to grapes. Yum!
stevee6,
Feb 20, 3:05pm
Another good snippet by Lynda on Sunrise this morning. I like the idea of varied coloured veges. As a child I loathed silverbeet, but the rainbow stuff looks fabulous, and nowdays finely shredding it and cooking lightly with pinenuts etc or adding it to lasagne certainly improves the taste. I just hope she has a good strategy for the cabbage white butterflies everywhere next week - those brassicas attract 'em like magnets!
juliewn,
Feb 20, 7:24pm
Hi Katelin. I'll give the juice a try and see how it goes. in one small jar as we've been nibbling the berries! Hi Steve. there was a recipe for keeping white butterflies away from brassica's in a thread recently here recently - I thought I'd copied and saved the recipe though now can't find it. It included using the outer leaves of lettuce, that would normally be discarded. They're chopped in a food processor and mixed with something else and water. the post included that white butterfly's don't like lettuce, which is why they don't lay their eggs on lettuce, so using a solution based on lettuce, that is then sprayed on brassica's, acts as a deterrant for the butterfly's. Hopefully someone else has saved it.
kiwiscrapper1,
Feb 20, 9:42pm
damn damn damn! my huge tomatoes have finally started to ripen and I have been watching them everyday this week, got home from work today to find that something had eaten one, nearly the whole tomatoe that was half ripened, just left the little bit of green! I have cut off the others that have just started and have them sitting on my window sill to finish ripening, I left some of the vine on them so hopefully will get the 'homegrown' taste of tomatoes. I know they have to eat too but why pick on mine when I have been waiting so long.sob sob
revengeme,
Feb 21, 3:24am
something is eating my lettuce and it's not those white butterflies, they eat a bit here and a bit there. This ' creature is eating up one side and down the other of my lettuce leaves, starting on the outside and working their way in to the inner leaves. Since I don't know what is doing it, I don't know how to tackle this problem! gggrhhhhh! On the upside, I'm loving my tomatoes and my blackberries.
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