I have recently started reflecting on where plants in our garden are originally from, because people often ask me the same question about myself. Most of our flowers, fruits, veggies and herbs in the garden are from other countries. I have started writing a series of blog posts to explore some of our favourite flowers and edibles we have grown over the years which are from overseas. In this post, I would like to cover some plants we have grown in our garden that are thought to originate from Africa. Watermelon Years ago, I used to be able to grow watermelons (and other types of melons) successfully in our garden in Auckland. Sadly, this is no longer possible due to climate change as our summers start later every year, are shorter and temperatures are considerably cooler than in previous years. Here is a picture of a watermelon which I grew three years ago. It is a variety called Charleston Grey and was grown from seed. Okra We love okra and enjoy growing it every summer. Like snake beans, I plant okra in late December and it usually crops in late autumn (April and May for us). I have experimented and discovered that okra performs better when planted in containers. I use 9 litre black square pots filled with potting mix. Okra is self-pollinating and does not require help from bees. The plants produce a beautiful flower in the hibiscus family, which turns into an okra pod. Once plants start forming flowers, I recommend keeping an eye on them regularly so you can pick okra as soon as they are fully developed. If left on the plant for too long, they become quite tough to eat and are not very nice. Broad beans We enjoy growing broad beans in spring. They are incredibly easy to grow, delicious to eat and the plants are good for fixing nitrogen in the soil. We shell and freeze surplus broad beans. I recommend blanching them first for best results. Tropical impatiens I grew tropical impatiens from seed for the first time last spring. I sowed the seeds in a punnet filled with some seed raising mix and covered them with some more mixture lightly. I propagated them on my heat pad as temperatures can be quite cool in spring, especially at night. Once the plants had germinated, I moved them into our greenhouse to grow a bit more before potting them up into six cell punnets. Once they had outgrown them, I potted each plant into an individual 10cm plastic pot and left them in our patio to grow. In late summer, I potted each plant into a larger pot. As it started to get cooler towards the end of autumn, I moved the plants into our greenhouse as tropical impatiens are sensitive to the cold and I didn’t want to risk losing the plants, especially as I had put so much effort into caring for them. Here is a picture of the fourteen plants that originated from a packet containing approximately 20 seeds. The variety is called New Guinea Divine Mix and is available from Egmont Seeds in New Zealand. If you live overseas, check your local mail order seed suppliers to see if they have this variety.
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A couple of days before we went into lockdown in August last year, I had my laptop sent away for repairs. I only got it back three months later, which meant that I could not write any blog posts. While it is a long time ago now, I would really like to share a report on our spring and early summer garden. Everything went really well. It only went downhill in summer, but that is the subject of another post! Miner's lettuce A firm favourite in our spring garden is miner’s lettuce. In September, I prepare a small area by mixing in a bit of compost and garden fertiliser. I then sprinkle a 10g packet of seeds and cover lightly with soil. At this time of the year, it is not usually necessary for me to keep the area moist as it rains a lot. The leaves are tender and delicious. We harvest them as we need them. At the end of spring, it runs to seed and if left there, the plants will happily self-seed the following season. NZ Spinach Another favourite in our garden is NZ Spinach. I sowed our plants from seed over the summer and planted them out in autumn. NZ Spinach is difficult to get established but once it takes off it spreads and ends up growing in a bit of a bush. We pick the leaves for our daily green smoothies. The leaves can also be steamed as with any other spinach Sprouting broccoli In July, I planted quite a few punnets of mini brassicas that I purchased from Roger’s, including broccoli. After we harvested the main head, I left the plant in the ground and side-shoots began to form. This kept us with a constant supply of broccoli all spring, right up until mid-December when the plants started going to seed and I needed the space for the dahlias. Potatoes Last spring, I grew two varieties. I always grow Liseta, an early variety which matures in 70-80 days. I also grow Summer Delight, a main crop potato which matures in around 120 days and stores very well. We had a really good crop and have been enjoying eating potatoes from our garden right up until February. Broad beans We had an incredibly good crop last year. We ended up freezing lots. To freeze broad beans, shell and blanch them first. Strawberries Awapuni very kindly gave me two mega bundles of strawberries to grow in our garden. There were two varieties, Camarosa and Ventana. Each bundle contained 50 plants. They were honestly the best strawberries that we have ever eaten and I have been growing strawberries for many years now. I highly recommend Awapuni’s plants! Avocados We planted a Cleopatra dwarf avocado tree in 2017 and it cropped for the first time last spring. We harvested about 60 avocados which was a great result. Iceland poppies I grew Iceland poppies for the first time last year in a garden bed alongside our driveway. I was very inspired by the displays that I have seen in council gardens. Ours did not disappoint and we had a beautiful display in spring. Early summer poppies Every year, a number of different kinds of single and peony poppies self-seed merrily in the garden. Last year, we had a spectacular display. Tulips Last year, Bulbs Direct kindly gave me a number of different tulips to grow in our garden. We had the most magnificent display in late winter and early spring. Here are some of my favourites. Roses Our roses always look their best in spring and last year they put on a spectacular display. Here are some of our favourites. Bedding plants
Here are some photos of our bedding plants in early spring |
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