Saturday, January 9, 2016

Vegetables

Doug has an area approximately 4 metres x 1.5 metres for his vegetable garden this year. So far it has been very productive.

At the back and on the teepee are beans - both scarlet runner and one we call "Brian's bean" for the obvious reason as Brian gave us the seed and he didn't know the name of it.  Anyway they are doing very well and I generally pick a half bucket every day.  Brian's bean is a flat yellow bean that doesn't need "stringing".

In the foreground is the Delicata squash that my brother recommended.  I managed to buy 5 seeds on "trade me" - unfortunately only one was viable.



The weather has been very variable this year - drought then heavy rain and now humid.  The first fruits that came on the Delicata had what I assume was blossom end rot.  It now looks as though we will get some squash but it is early days and one never knows what the weather will do.  The leaves are greyish but that seems to be their colour rather than mildew.


tucked under the squash are some beetroot.

and on the other side some carrots.


At the other end of the garden are two Lebanese cucumbers that are slowing down at the moment but have been producing a huge crop up till now and a self sown potatoe.



Then there is silver beet known as Swiss Kale in Europe,  this has grown huge but is very tender.  We had some last night as a change from beans.

In my garden I just have rocket which went to seed very rapidly but which I am leaving in the hope it will self seed, parsley, mint, basil, chives and perpetual spinach.

7 comments:

  1. It looks very, very productive. We shall eat a Delicata tonight. I lightly peel them, cut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds (remembering to keep some), and roast with whatever I'm roasting.

    Rocket does better if sowed later on in the growing season. It always bolts if sown early; unless you can keep up with the production. Later sowing also reduces the little holes that appear all over (if that also happens in NZ).

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    1. I do hope we end up with some - it all depends on mother nature and the weather.

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  2. There is absolutely nothing like having veges straight out of your own garden. Lush, green, and so yummy.

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  3. For such a small area the veg patch looks very productive - I think that Doug must have green fingers. I would love to be able to go into our garden just now and pick a helping of beans for tonight.

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  4. Yes, many years ago I used to freeze the excess but they were never very appetising so nowadays I just eat by the seasons.

    We will give some to Brian and his wife today after gym as they don't have a vegie garden this year.

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  5. That is a lot of veg from a not very big patch. I hope it goes on cropping well.

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