thanks bjkiwi, i was thinking that last year when i first put the stawberries in with the fig i put a generous amount of the strawberry fert, and the fig didnt seem to complain then. so think i will just go for it and ake my chances :) our fruit trees are in wonderful blossom aswell, hey smell SO great! we had a beautiful spring day here today, too bad i saw most of it from the shop window :(
jules.,
Sep 9, 2:56am
my peas are all climbing! went to check on the podded peas and sugar snaps today after work. they are all clinging to the wire netting and starting to climb. the sugar snaps are about 30cm now. the broccolli plants have doubled in size over the past few days. must be the good 'product' or rabbit gives us! transplanted 2 rhubarb plants from my nans garden yesterday also, they are looking strong and healthy too. this gardening thing is VERY addictive, hehe :)
stevee6,
Sep 9, 2:59am
Allnall - hang in there. Mine took nearly three weeks but are now all perky & starting to look around for their supports.
imrae1,
Sep 9, 4:08am
I have no more stakes so I sowed peas around a plum tree with a bit of netting to the branches. They are alderman peas so fingers crossed that it works
simplesean,
Sep 9, 5:47pm
699 oooh so close. who will get the 700!
donnabeth,
Sep 9, 5:51pm
I'm back from a Rarotonga holiday and keen to get into the garden again. I have to wait untill about labour weekend to plant most veges as other years planting out sooner has slowed the growth rather than increased it. My cherry tomato on the sunny terrace gave us it's last fruit just last week, so I'm definitely going to grow that again. Cherry toms from February to August is pretty good.
jules.,
Sep 10, 2:42am
i dug up 1 of the cauli plants i have had in ALL winter today. they all havelovely big leaves and look very healthy, but none have any signs of getting heads anytime soon. when i got there, i asked why they thought it wasnt producing. they got VERY defensive and told me very rudely that i had too much nitrogen in the soil. i have had brocolli planted along side and harvested them 6 weeks ago, very nice! they told me to use potash and told me they take a long time to head up. i have had no problems in the past with these. is there any truth in this or did they just not want to have to replace them for me($3-$4, i would hate to send them bankrupt!)!
juliewn,
Sep 11, 8:11am
Wow. that sure is good Donnabeth. After reading a thread about growing capsicums inside, I'm going to try that this year - I've not had a lot of success with capsicums previously. so wish me luck! After seeing your post, I'll try with tomatoes too. I've bought 6 square 10 litre buckets at The Warehouse tonight - 2 for $3 - and am going to use those, with drainage placed into the bottom. and will grow a few capsicums and tomatoes this way.
juliewn,
Sep 11, 8:12am
I'm also doing this for the first time - . I've been saving the inner cardboard tubes from gladwrap, toilet rolls and paper towels for some time now, and have cut the longer ones into three pieces so they're all about the same length. I've placed them vertically in plastic containers, so they fill the bottom of the containers. Tomorrow's job is to fill each tube with seed raising mix, moisten them, fill to the top with the mix again, moisten lightly then I'll plant a seed in each one, so it will grow there. The containers the tubes are sitting in will keep any moisture in, and the tubes are packed firmly together.
juliewn,
Sep 11, 8:13am
When the seedlings are ready for planting into the garden, I can lift a tube out and plant the whole thing into the garden, where it will continue growing, without having disturbed the roots at all. and the tube itself will slowly break down. Doing this, I'm planning to grow lots of tomatoes, capsicums, cucumber's and watermelons, plus a few courgette's and scallopini plants. I think it will work well. and that we'll get enough of these veges for meals, sharing, giving to our local foodbank, and for preserving.
juliewn,
Sep 11, 8:15am
Something special to share. there's a Ruru - a Morepork - calling from a tree nearby. we live in town - and it is so lovely to hear.
marge_s,
Sep 11, 8:24am
Hi juliewn I raised seeds in toilet rolls for a while but stopped it because I found them very hard to water from below.I was also concerned about fungal problems due to the mould that develops on the side of the damp toilet rolls.I admit my concerns may have been unfounded, but due to damping off problems in the past I'm very particular.
jen92,
Sep 11, 3:54pm
#704 Ditto Julie !We have a Morepork here too, but we only hear him/her if we stay up late enough.It's a beautiful sound, isn't it!This week some Kereru have been faithfully visiting my garden, eating all the blossoms from the magnolia trees, the kowhai isn't flowering enough for them yet.Also seen some gorgeous shy Tuis visiting.So many more birds this year because I've started feeding them different things to attract them to my garden.The blackbirds are feeling thoroughly annoyed I think.Soooo many of the little birdies coming now, I'm not even going to try and mention them.Usually it was only the blackbirds hanging around eating my snails and slugs.LOLOL
stevee6,
Sep 11, 4:33pm
Jen - I was up in New Plymouth on Tuesday and it was beautiful! The blossom, especially the magnolias were just so eyecatching. You live in a spectacularly beautiful part of the country :-)
jen92,
Sep 11, 5:23pm
Hey Stevee ! That's true, this is a beautiful part of the country and I always laugh when people diss this place and they haven't even seen it.BTW, I'm miffed you couldn't come and see me for a coffee + chat when you were here on Tuesday.:-(I would truely have loved to have finally met you in the flesh.If ever you come up this way again, we simply must make contact, okay!It's too good an opportunity to miss.
allnall,
Sep 11, 6:34pm
WOO HOO four more sweet peas have just popped up. awesome i'm off to check the carrots and raddishes ;}
jules.,
Sep 11, 10:47pm
yay, looked out the window today and my precious golden queen peach tree is starting to blossom, it has beautiful pink blossoms dotted all over it. YUM! also the seeds raised in the loo rolls sounds a wonderfull idea, i might just give it a go, thanks :)
stevee6,
Sep 11, 11:47pm
Jen, I would love to. Sad to say, the visit was for a family funeral so was there and back in a day. But maybe next time :-) Same applies if you come down to Kapiti :-) Jules - absolutely. I think spring is the most precious time of the year.
gr8tymz,
Sep 12, 12:37am
From the GG team on bended knee! We may be a tad late today. On deadline for the magazine again! Apologies in advance but we hope you have a great weekend in the garden
stevee6,
Sep 12, 12:38am
Hugs to you & the team Rachel. We're patient :-)
gr8tymz,
Sep 12, 12:47am
Patience is a virtue. of most gardeners . for which we are truly thankful! It sounds like everybody has been pretty busy with spring plantings. I'm still waiting for my seeds to arrive and it feels just like it did back in the day waiting for santa to come!
gr8tymz,
Sep 12, 3:15am
Just hit the SEND button now! sorry bout that
bjkiwi,
Sep 12, 4:40am
well i planted cabbage, broccoli and caulis at the start of winter in the glasshouse and mine are all going to the chooks.two of them (it was a six pack of mixed so I dont know whos who!) are HUGE but no head of anything.the cabbages just sat there until about 2 weeks ago and have now just bolted, and the other two are just average looking but no sign of any heads.
bjkiwi,
Sep 12, 4:44am
so out they go cos I need to get things ready for the tomatoes.I think prehaps brassicas need to be just about cooked! before winter sets in.They will then hang out happily in the garden over winter, provided you can keep them protected from hail etc, but they wont do much extra growing.
juliewn,
Sep 12, 6:52am
Hi Everyone. I've got cabbages bolting too. I've grown them through winter before without this happening - although we've had quite warm (wearing a shirt without a jumperneeded warm days) days quite a lot over the past couple of months. Maybe due to that!
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