Probably way behind my contemporaries up North, but not bad for Christchurch where we haven't had any decent rain apart from a few drops for weeks, and everything has to be watered every day.
rainrain1,
Nov 20, 11:05pm
Love it! Great satisfaction for you
samanya,
Nov 20, 11:22pm
Looking good!
brightlights60,
Nov 20, 11:51pm
Ta, so nice to be eating fresh lettuces, first zucchini on Saturday, dried a whole lot of chives in the dehydrator, eating spinach and first celery too. Sometimes I wonder if its worth all the effort, but the taste is so much nicer than store bought veges eh!
lythande1,
Nov 21, 1:14am
We have only just started flowers on tomoatoes and capsicum plants are small yet. Zucchini is growing like a weed (as it is) and been picking for a few weeks now, peas coming along. passionfruit has green fruits, baby fruits and flowers. Grapes well on their way, done their flowering and teeny grapes now. Strawberries been picking for a few weeks. Corn is about thigh high. We don't do beans till after peas done. We don't start that early here either, but we do tend to continue well into late autumn. is the only difference between you canterbury people and up here.
We don't do salad greens, potatoes, onions or carrots. Not worth it, cheap enough at local vege shops here, and storage is another issue. Minitaure silverbeet and caulis we do over winter.
rainrain1,
Nov 21, 1:30am
Envious of No. 4
brightlights60,
Nov 21, 7:58am
Bit early for you guys yet! I have a relative up in Glentunnel and they have a very short growing season. Mind you, everything is grown from seed inside, and popped out as soon as possible. They still manage to feed themselves year around with veges and have huge raised beds. I get my pig manure from out Darfied way, or use Bioblend from Oderings. This guy has all the fertilizer that is my secret ingredient for all my gardens: graham14 check out his listings. Been buying his mixes for years
brightlights60,
Nov 21, 8:01am
I want to do spuds as well, need a couple more beds, but since the earthquakes our back yard floods in the rain, every time, so hubby needs to redo the drain back there and put in a sump. Basically I grown anything we like to eat now. I freeze around 30-50 litres of tomato puree for sauces, soups and pizza bases every year and end up having to buy sauce tomatoes, hoping not to do that this year, as last year they were in short supply. Most things we have through to April, with a few wintering over crops. Mostly I just freeze the glut and dehydrate the herbs etc that I use in cooking every day. Love my vege patch.
dibble35,
Nov 21, 5:30pm
I need to get myself a freezer - like you brightlights, I need to freeze the glut while I can and use thru winter. Usually I manage enough tomatoes to see me thru about half of winter , my tiny freezer cant cope with any more. You are all doing better than me and im up North! I cant get my zucchini seed to grow this year, this is the 3rd time ive tried and still nothing. Only bought the seed last year so it should still be alright - I like the Lebanese zucchini rather than the green. I've got quite a small vege garden but it is good for me. Grow heaps of tomatoes and sweetcorn. Some herbs such as basil, chives, thyme and parsley. A few lettuce plants where ever I can tuck them in. I chopped down a big peach tree last winter and have a big gap opened up now with lovely soil underneath thanks to years of lawn clippings and kitchen scraps. Planted watermelon there so hope that comes to something,
lythande1,
Nov 21, 6:13pm
Geez, you guys freeze a lot of tomato. I make relish and some passata, but not that much by any means. I wouldn't have the room in freezer! Herbs. the only one is basil I need to freeze, that won't last the winter. The rest do. The slow down but never die off. Thyme, oregano, sage, parsley, mint, bay, marjoram.
brightlights60,
Nov 21, 11:15pm
The tomatoes I freeze as puree, basically cook them up for only a few minutes with onions, basil, and a tiny smidge of water, boil only a minutes or so till soft then pop through a mouli. A mouli (as opposed to a blender) removes the skins and the majority of the seeds, so you get a nice red, sweet sauces. If you whizz tomatoes in a blender, you get the seeds and they can make it bitter and orange. We used to do this as kids for Mum, use the mouli. I have the old fashioned spong bean slicer too. I still con my "kids" into doing it for me. I am a big fan of blanching, it retains all the goodness of the veges. I know a lot of people just bung stuff in the freezer but it destroys the nutrients. I have learned to only grow what we really want to eat. Just starting to reap the rewards now, yum! I was a Tupperware lady for years so have very well organised freezers. The tomato puree fits in 700ml containers, which in turn a block of the puree fits in the 1L tupperware microwave jug, so its perfect for sauce for a family of 4 or 5 with bits (tomato paste, salt, peper, thickening) added. The freezers look like Leggo!
brightlights60,
Nov 21, 11:18pm
If you get loads of zucchinis, I make the zucchini slice with cheese and eggs in bulk and freeze it. Delicious for lunches in the Winter.
taurus2005,
Nov 22, 12:48am
lovely garden
brightlights60,
Nov 22, 3:36am
Want to see the other parts?
nauru,
Nov 23, 8:32am
Well, you guys are way ahead of me. I'm very envious. Bit slow here this year, a variety of salad leaves, spinach, silverbeet, celery, spring onions growing well, and tomatoes coming on well. Just replanted my all herbs into another bed so they seem to be happy again. The grapevine is doing well so hoping for another good crop this year. We juiced about 75 litres last season, just finished the last bottle and looking forward to the next one.
lythande1,
Nov 23, 6:03pm
No it doesn't. What it does, is break up the cell walls from the enzymes. You get soggy veges when you thaw them for one.
Blanching helps slow this process. The only way to prevent it properly is to flash freeze, something we can't do at home, you need an extremely low temperature.
Blanching (scalding vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short time) is a must for almost all vegetables to be frozen. It stops enzyme actions which can cause loss of flavor, color and texture.
Blanching cleanses the surface of dirt and organisms, brightens the color and helps retard loss of vitamins. It also wilts or softens vegetables and makes them easier to pack.
Blanching time is crucial and varies with the vegetable and size. Underblanching stimulates the activity of enzymes and is worse than no blanching. Overblanching causes loss of flavor, color, vitamins and minerals.
hidecote01,
Nov 23, 8:39pm
brightlights. Very good for Chch. Yes very dry here. I am embarrassed I only have a couple of tomato plants and cucumbers. Mine is in a lot of grass and nicely trimmed shrubs.
brightlights60,
Nov 24, 5:59am
I have just picked lovely crunch lettuce, raddish, cellery, chives and cucumber for dinner. Not a bug in sight either. Washed and straight to plate. Had to buy the new spuds though. Can't put more raised beds down there till we dig up our stormwater as the whole back yard floods during Winter since the quakes.
540trickzter,
Nov 25, 10:14pm
First time Vege Patcher here. Some photo's of our patch. Quite proud of it for a first timer.
If you ever see Freckles lettuce seed - or plants, grab them. It is the sweetest lettuce I've ever grown, totally reliable in striking and once in the garden if you let one plant go to seed you'll have it forever. Totally recommended - and pretty too!
brightlights60,
Nov 26, 9:52pm
Thanks for that. Just out in the vege patch this morning, had to get some 2M cane stakes for my beans that I have teepeed this year instead of growing on the fence. My tomato plants in our port are over the 6ft mark too.
eljayv,
Nov 26, 10:59pm
The gardens look lovely at this time of the season but I dread the clean up at the other end when it all looks quite different.
maclad,
Nov 27, 12:58am
Surplus zucchini can also be grated, then frozen for use in soups, stews, whatever takes your fancy.
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