appreciate your. help stevee6 as I didn't know that they were suckers, will plant more pittos around them.
drewboy,
Jun 25, 3:17pm
good morning everyone. hope your gardens survived the wind and rain from yesterday.its still raining here.
stevee6,
Jun 25, 4:12pm
Suzq62 - I always look up plants I'm thinking of buying to find out both the good & bad qualities. This is almost more important if you're a beginning gardener as you don't want plants that throw up unexpected and nasty surprises, like suckers!
jules.,
Jun 26, 3:46am
i planted 5 more rhubarb plants today, and 20 more strawberry plants, thats a total of around 60ish plants. we wont be running short this season and may even make some jam too.
juliewn,
Jun 26, 7:56am
Hi Everyone. I've brought back two dwarf apple trees today that have previously been planted beneath a feijoa tree and an apple tree. in a warmer, sunnier site, I think they'll do well. I also harvested some of my Jerusalem artichokes - they are delicious! I looked for them for years before a friend was given some - and gave me a couple of tubers. it's good to have them growing. they're so tasty - roasted is our preference. yum!
stevee6,
Jun 26, 7:45pm
Splashed out megabucks today for a duo-plum, single pear and two feijoas to add to the 'orchard' of existing citrus, peaches and berries. Neighbour is letting me use their 'too small to subdivide' empty backyard to plant in trees that I can't fit into mine in return for yearly grape pruning of their existing ancient Albany Surprise. So once I put these plus a tamarillo, loquat and maybe a quince, we'll be seasonally self sufficient!
whiskey13,
Jun 26, 7:51pm
Yip jules I'd be happy with the 40 odd strawberry plants I've got giving me a feed or two and a jar of jam.And the 2 rhubarb plants dad gave me last year are now 7,and they haven't died down yet,I'm still getting a decent feed every week or so.Which my partner is pleased about cos rhubarb crumble is his favourite pudding
jules.,
Jun 27, 1:24am
oh yum whiskey, RHUBARB CRUMBLE!
juliewn,
Jun 27, 8:16am
Hi Everyone. yum too Jules! Hi Stevee. thanks for including that some of those topics are covered - I have a lot of reading to catch up on - including the GG emails from September last yearwhen I started building, plus the Homegrown books and Gardener magazines. so have not read those things yet. I'll keep watch for them when I get to read them. thanks.
carl-van-essen,
Jun 27, 9:16pm
Oh wow. 10 dollars a week on groceries! I would save so much money. I have a friend who wasying to become self sufficient. He has a green house, but unfortunately the earthquake and liquifaction ruined his garden. I agree they should definately introduce some more gardening programs like mucking in. My friend used to parboil some of his excess vegies and put them in the freezer his grocery bill was very low.
drewboy,
Jun 29, 1:11am
weekend bump. everyone must have been busy in the garden this weekend.I knwo I have.DH decided our garden wasn't big enough so now extended it either side.nevermind it was pouring with rain all weekend!.Picked up my four new chickens on friday.they are settling in nicely.hopefully in a few months I will have some freash veggies and freash eggs!
stevee6,
Jun 29, 2:16am
It's been persisting down all day here so we just did some planning and garden reading. With luck it'll be a tad dryer tomorrow.
owl32,
Jun 29, 2:43am
yah! Toady was the start of something good. My husband and I weeded my veg garden, and tidied up the plots, I planted some more strawberries and my garlic. I harvested parsnips and brussels sprouts and italian broccoli for tea. The red cabbages are growing well and my other plants still coming along fine. Oh and my compost is looking good too :) Feel like spring won't be too far away now.
juliewn,
Jun 29, 7:20am
Hi. cold and wet here too. so a weekend to spend indoors. I'm reading my Get Growing 2 book - there's not a piece of writing on any page that's not getting read! Anyone else like that! My NZ Gardener magazine is the same. any other magazine, I flick through the pages, reading just bits that interest me. gardening books I read the lot! Have a great week everyone.
fly04buy,
Jun 29, 2:38pm
looks like. it's going to be another wet week!
stevee6,
Jun 29, 4:19pm
Got husband to read the new Get Growing too - and he was most impressed. I'll make a gardener out of him yet! We're trying to consider how to relandscape our backyard with a big old shed soon to be removed(my birthday/christmas present combined). Raised vege beds methinks!
drewboy,
Jun 29, 8:24pm
Jerusalem artichokes I saw Lynda mention them on one of her gardening interviews.or was it her magazines.oh I can't remember LOL.but they looked so tasty!.sun is out today I was hoping to get into my garden, but now have sick kids!.oh well
juliewn,
Jun 30, 6:09am
Hi Drew. they are delicious. with a sweetish and nutty sort of flavour. we love them roasted, and they're great in stirfries, mashed, grated in fritters, salads, added to casserole's, etc. highly recommended. yum! I've seen them listed on Trademe - which is great - I searched for many years to find some - then a friend was given some and gave me a few from her first crop. Just a couple will quickly grow to give a good crop in the first season after planting - plant in spring when they start to sprout, and they'll grow - from 1.5m to 2m tall with small sunflower type flowers, then slowly die down, for the artichokes to be used that following winter after planting. I wouldn't be without them now - it's like having a little store in the ground, as they can be left there and what is needed can be dug up when they're needed. Leaving just a couple of small pieces in the soil will start the next season's crop - so they're a plant that you'll always have.
juliewn,
Jun 30, 6:11am
Hi Stevee. did you see the sheds included in the new NZ Gardener magazine that's just come out. they were from the 2008 Chelseaflower show - and there are all kinds from quirky to designer built. including one that was just a facade in front of an old shed, so it looked new from the front. Lot's of styles and colours are included. makes me want an old shed to 'do-up'! - you might have an asset there with your shed.
stevee6,
Jun 30, 5:16pm
Julie - aren't they georgous! I loved most of them especially the couple of folksy ones. Sad to say, our shed is plonked right in the middle of the yard with wasted sunless space behind and beside it - fences either side, and dominates the area(too big to ignore but too small to be truly useful as a spare room, plus asbestos clad with rotten windows and door). I've lived with it for three years, planted around it and considered all sorts of makeovers, but as this is also my only flat area, is in direct view from our new French doors in the bedroom, and also hides our truly beautiful hills reminiscent of Queenstown's Remarkables, it's got to go.
daleaway,
Jun 30, 6:29pm
I was thinking of growing globe artichokes next summer - do they need full sun! I know they are big brutes and need a lot of room. Are they best grown from seed or plant, and where are they best obtained!
libby51,
Jun 30, 10:43pm
I've never cooked with them either, (artichokes of any description).How do you prepare them!I know that sounds more like a cooking thread question, but you people know about them!If I knew what to do with them, I'd consider planting them.
Hi scrappy you've come to the right place for advice. I find that gardening in soil is much easier than in pots because pots dry out if you forget to water.
javlin,
Jul 1, 4:12pm
I haven't been in these threads for ages. When we changed ISP we lost the Get Growing email - must get it back. Great seeing the piece on public vege gardens in South Auckland on Sunday last week.
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