Hot hot days and lots of produce, too much some days. Best collected at the beginning or end of the day (my favourite).
I preserve, give away to family and friends and put some in the local Pataka Kai, doing my bit to help with the local food movement.
I’ve followed Helena Norberg-Hodge from Local Futures for a few years now and I agree with her when she says:
“If you want to create a more sustainable society, a good place to start is by helping to rebuild your local food economy: food is something everyone, everywhere, needs every day, which means that even relatively small changes in the way it is produced and marketed can have immense effects. And since eating is a natural part of daily life, we all have frequent opportunities to make a difference.”
Here is the rest of the article.
My favourite preserving recipes for tomatoes and zucchini are these… Tomato Relish, Tomato Sauce and Zucchini Pickles. Freezing 400g bags of blanched tomatoes like I started last year is also very worthwhile.
I adore sweetcorn and this year my little plants did me proud…
I say ‘little plants’ because look at the size of Rob’s!
As he says in our video on How to grow Sweetcorn, they are a hungry crop and he’s bolstered his this year with loads of chicken manure and our all-round Morganics fertiliser.
My corn were so delicious that I’ve planted some new little plants and hope they’ll mature before the end of summer.
It’s a good time now to sow or plant peas. I usually plant dwarf peas, but I’ve really enjoyed having my screens up the driveway covered with growth and the sunflowers are now ready to pull out. They’ve done all their flowering and the birds have had their fill of the seeds. So I’ve sown tall peas to go up the screen to follow the sunflowers. Remember to wash punnets out with a dash of white vinegar in the water before re-using.
Our ‘Fordhook Giant’ silverbeet plant has had a glorious end, going to seed in all sorts of artistic directions.
Two new little plants (‘Ironman’ – left over from the community garden) have gone in. I suspect they’ll be smaller in scale than their predecessor. And round the edge of the bed, seeds of the zinnias which were in here last year have germinated, which is a lovely surprise.
Our two big fruit trees couldn’t have behaved more differently this year. The Luisa plum had 6-8 (only!) plums on it. In the windy period we’ve just passed through, all except one plum dropped unripe to the ground. The one that held on turned red and was amazing!
The Granny Smith apple tree on the other hand is covered in apples. It’s a little tree, producing well every year, which is probably why it never gets a chance to grow strong limbs. This year, however, I’ve had to help some of the limbs by putting a waratah in the ground and tying the branch up. A waratah is a good stake because it has holes up it to thread your tie through.
The Luisa plum is therefore ready for its summer prune which Rob and I are going to do this coming weekend. Hoping to record some tips and share those.
Now more about lovely surprises… after about three years in the ground, our grape has produced the most amazing grapes. Note here: you have to cover them well – this bird netting is one from Bunnings and is great.
And the two passionfruit plants I put in a couple of years ago, have produced equally amazingly in number and taste. It’s our nightly dessert treat.
And the third iteration avocado had one avo on it this year, and when I finally picked it and let it ripen, I thought, I’m sure this will be a disappointment, but it wasn’t! Patience is the key.
And finally, loving the way melons grow (the next crop to look forward to)…
Happy February gardening!
From Jan and Rob
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2 Responses
Thanks for the updates. The grapes look fab! What variety are they?
Hi Karen These are Niagara and are delicious! 😊