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 the favourite flowers and edibles we have grown over the years which are from overseas. In this post, I would like to cover some edibles we have grown in our garden that are thought to originate from China. Wombok cabbage Two years ago, I grew wombok cabbage for the first time. It was incredibly easy to grow and matured much faster than regular cabbage. I grew the following four different varieties from seed:
I sowed the seeds in a punnet filled with some seed raising mix, covering them lightly with a little more seed raising mix, in autumn and left them in our patio. When the seedlings germinated and had grown a bit, I carefully pricked them out and transplanted them into seedling trays filled with some potting mix, so they could grow a bit more before being planted outside. I always line the seedling trays with some newspaper as they contain holes in the bottom and that prevents the potting mix from falling through. I was amazed at how quickly they grew! I planted my seedlings outside in early March and they started to become ready in May on Mother’s Day. This is what I gave mum as a present, along with a bunch of jonquils from our flower garden. Mum prefers receiving things from our garden rather than purchased presents. She also enjoys making a home cooked meal with produce fresh from our garden rather than dining out, both on Mother’s Day and generally. Snake beans I really love growing snake beans, which are native to China. They are sometimes called yard long runner beans. They do require incredibly hot weather in order to grow well. Last summer wasn’t a good year for them at all, but they have done very well in previous seasons. Because our summers start quite late and the plants are very sensitive to cold weather, I always plant seedlings outside after Christmas just to be on the safe side. In order to do this, I need to germinate seedlings on our head pad in late November or early December. They usually grow and develop in January and February. By March, the plants start flowering and beans form. We are busy harvesting the beans in April and May. That essentially means that while they are planted in summer, they only start producing in late autumn for us, but it may be different in other parts of the country and will mostly certainly be the case overseas, especially in tropical environments. Garlic When I first started gardening, it was so easy to grow garlic. I simply popped cloves into the ground on the shortest day, covered them with a little dirt and by the longest day when I lifted the plants, there were huge balls of garlic. Unfortunately things have changed and garlic has gone from being the easiest thing for me to grow to now being one of the most difficult things to get right. The reason is because of rust. I have tried lots of different sprays over the years in an attempt to prevent and control rust, to no avail. You can read more about my troubles with rust and growing garlic in my previous blog post. I haven’t included photos because the ones I wanted to use are the same as in that blog post. Onions Last summer wasn’t a good season for growing onions (as with a lot of edibles) due to the floods and cyclones in Auckland, but the previous season was exceptionally good. I grow both brown and red onions. Brown onions are used in cooking, while red onions are wonderful in salads (my favourite being Greek salad). As with garlic, I always hang our onion harvest on our washing line for a few days so the bulbs dry and cure (in other words, the skins thicken), so they store better. Afterwards, I place the onions in trays and store them in our greenhouse to continue drying. Peaches
Back in 2017, I added a mini orchard to our garden, including some dwarf peach trees. They are planted in large containers. I planted a few different varieties so they can cross-pollinate with each other and produce a better yield. The other advantage to doing this is that they crop at different times, allowing for a continuous supply of peaches in late summer and early autumn. In recent years, they have started cropping really well. Here is a picture of some peaches harvested from our garden.
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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 my previous blog post, I covered our favourite edibles in the garden which come from Europe. Because there are so many, I decided to divide them into two posts. This post focuses on our favourite brassicas we grow in our garden that are native to Europe. They are cabbage (green and red), cauliflower, broccoli and kale. Since Wombok cabbage (Chinese cabbage) originates from Asia, I will cover that later on when I write about our favourite edibles which are native to that region, of which there are many. If you enjoy gardening, it’s not a bad idea to consider growing the brassicas I mentioned above because they have become rather pricey in New Zealand over the past couple of years, even when they are in season, which for us is during the winter months. Brassicas fare best when grown during the cooler months, so I usually plant them in autumn and winter. If planting brassicas in early autumn, you may need to protect them from the white butterfly. If you want to avoid using a pesticide such as derris dust (which is also available in an organic form), you could always drape fine netting or old net curtains over the plants to protect the white butterfly from laying eggs on the plants which turn into caterpillars who then munch on them rather merrily and can do a lot of damage. I recommend using tunnel hoops to drape the netting fabric over so it doesn’t come into contact with the plants and damage them, similar to the way I cover my strawberries with bird netting. Brassicas are not difficult to grow but can take a long time to mature as growth slows down considerably as it gets cooler. However, there are mini varieties that you can grow which are more compact and mature much more quickly. Another advantage is that because the plants are so compact, they can be planted quite close together. Regular varieties can get quite large and need a wider berth when spacing seedlings. I have grown the mini green cabbages “Ranfurly Mini” and “Space Saver”, the red cabbages “Red Express” and “Ruby Red”, the cauliflower “Majestic Mini” and the broccoli varieties “Mini Italian” and “Mighty Mini”. I highly recommend all of these varieties and have had great success with them. If you are living on your own or with just one other person, or have a large family but other people don’t like eating brassicas, growing mini varieties might be a good idea as it can take a long time to get through a large cabbage or cauliflower. After awhile, they start to lose their freshness. Mini varieties are sometimes small enough to be cooked and consumed in one meal. If you wish to plant brassicas when it has gotten very cold, you can always protect tender seedlings from frosts by covering each plant with a cloche. Cut the bottom off a 2 litre milk bottle and place it over each plant. This also helps keep slugs and snails away from young plants. I don’t recommend relying on this though as they can crawl through the hole at the top, so it’s a good idea to use additional protection to deter them from munching on seedlings. One little tip for growing broccoli is to leave the plant in the ground when you have harvested the main head. After awhile, side shoots will start to form. You can cut these little broccoli florets off the plant. Keep an eye on your plants regularly, as they will continue to form until the plant eventually runs to seed as it gets warmer towards the end of spring or beginning of summer. Kale is a bit different to the other brassicas I have mentioned as it doesn’t form a head and have to harvested at once. You can pick the leaves as you need them. We like using fresh kale leaves in green smoothies. But there are so many other ways kale can be consumed and it is well worth growing in the garden. Towards spring when the plants have fully matured and the leaves are really large, we pick them for making kale chips marinated with olive oil and baked in the oven.
It’s been awhile since I posted an update of activity around Anita’s Garden. So much has been happening here! I can’t believe it’s almost autumn. It’s certainly starting to feel that way. The days are gradually becoming shorter and we have been busy harvesting traditionally autumn crops. It hasn’t been the best summer, so I’m looking forward to the season ahead. Plant nursery My boutique plant nursery is open for plant sales. At the moment, I have a range of autumn and winter veggie seedlings for sale. You can view my complete stocklist here. To make an appointment to come around, please text me on 021 02762091. We are located in Papatoetoe (Manukau side). Anita’s Garden competition As some of you will be aware, I recently ran a competition to win a selection of seedlings for autumn and winter. This competition was limited to locals, who would be able to collect the plants but I promise to run another competition for those who live outside Auckland in future (I just need to find my gift certificates which I have misplaced). Here is a photo of the winner Rita Prasad with her prize. Congratulations, Rita! Feijoas! For the first time in the history of Anita’s Garden, we have been harvesting feijoas in February! Normally, they crop in autumn, from March through to May. I’m unsure of the cultivar as the label has come off, but it is either Kaiteri or Kakariki from Waimea Nurseries. The autumn and winter garden While I have been busy sowing seeds, the wwoofers who have been staying with us have been helping plant our autumn and winter garden. We have beetroot and kohlrabi growing in two of our large garden beds. There was also some space after the celeriac and parsnips were pulled out so Mathilde and Justine planted some cabbage “Ranfurly Mini” seedlings from Egmont Seeds. They also planted some Romanesco broccoli from Franchi seeds (distributed by Italian Seeds Pronto in New Zealand). Below is a photo of the “Ranfurly Mini” cabbage plants, which are looking incredibly strong and healthy just one week after planting. Below is a photo of some of my Romanesco broccoli seedlings from Franchi Seeds. A star performer in the plant nursery is my pansy and viola seedlings, raised from seed by Egmont Seeds. The owner, John McCullough, kindly gave me a selection of seeds to grow in the garden this winter and I am very excited to see what they will look like. I plan to plant them in the plastic hanging baskets which previously housed our Topsy Tom tomatoes (also from Egmont Seeds) Spring bulbs
It’s now time to look through catalogues and order your spring bulbs. The best and most popular varieties sell out fast so it pays to be in quick. I find that the quickest and easiest way to purchase bulbs is by mail order. The selection, quality and prices are far superior to garden centres. By far the best company I have discovered is Bulbs Direct. Their bulbs are fantastic quality, very reasonably priced and the service is superb. They are the newest mail order company to the scene but have been giving the more established ones a run for their money. I highly recommend them. Anita’s Garden has a new collaboration with Bulbs Direct, which you can read more about here. Did you know that I have a Facebook page? I have reached nearly 1.4k Likes! Please help me to cross the threshold. When I do, I promise I’ll run another competition! Thank you for your on-going support. |
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