The guide to great gardening

[3monkeys]

My first attempt was a disaster. I think I got one lettuce and the weka and the blackbird got what was left.

My second attempt was also a disaster. Mainly because I was so disheartened about attempt 1.

My 3rd attempt.... well its going ok so far. I have brocolli, pak choy, spinach and silverbeet in my dinner tonight, and everything else is growing well, almost. I watched the weka walk PAST my garden the other day, another good thing. I have a few problems. Aphids being my biggest. And I never realised that coriander was such a weed!!!!!!!!! My tomatos I dont think will make it.....:(, but its a lesson learned.

So attempt 4 - next year and over winter. It will be a roaring success I hope. So first I need a tunnel house. I need good soil. I need to find a natural way to keep the aphids at bay.

So what works for everyone and what doesnt. What grows well in different climates. What is your gardening secrets. I am yet to pass gardening 101 but I am starting to enjoy it.

My older sister told me once that when you enjoy gardening its a sign you are getting old.:eek: Maybe she feels old.

Anyway tell me about your "patch" and what makes it tick

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I love gardening. Does that really make me :old: ???

Thing is, as seaweed can tell you, gardening down where you are, is not like gardening here.

But a Walipini (3 mb pdf (http://benson.byu.edu/Publication/Manuals/Walipini.pdf)) can make all the difference. Trouble is you'd need "consents" and other bureaucratic speed wobbles to be able to do it...

My compost has gone ahead with leaps and bounds since I got chooks, and poop scoop daily, add to compost with leaves and grass... The only thing is that chook poop interferes with, and ties up magnesium, so you need more dolomite.

I have a collection of books, from all sorts. I like Bob Flowerdews books though. I'll stick some photos up shortly :D

[Seaweed]

I was thinking that I should post a thread here about gardening but you beat me to it.

My garden sort of chugs along & every year I find out new things. Some things work & others fail miserably. I am very permaculture orientated - read I don't get time to weed. My aim the last year & this year was to be self sufficient in potatoes. I am getting there definitely. My garlic is going great. I put in some asparagus this year but it will be a few years till we can eat it. I've planted globe artichokes, sea kale & cardoons. Green leafies garlore & herbs so we never have to buy salad. Peas do good but I am still experimenting with beans. I had a lot of sucess last winter with growing all our leeks. Organic leeks were like $1.80 each so I decided something had to be done. Carrots & caulis grow well too. Parsnips self seed from year to year so I never even sow them anymore. What else? My pumpkin which grew best last year was a marina di chioggia which is the italian heirloom sea pumpkin. I have been growing hulless oats quite well. This year I have put in a corn field bed of spelt, oats, poppies, dalmatian soup peas, vetch & corn cockles. I did have the horses have a breakout in sector 67 & raid the garden so I am hoping they did not munch too much of it. I have been too scared to look! I have varying sucesses with tomatoes. All my plastic houses have blown away as I am in a super high wind zone so it is outdoors or nothing. Year before last I got some of the small wild tomatoes to grow outside. My long term aim is to sucessively save seed until I get a viable outdoor tomato. I just need to get it together to start the process.

My orchard is doing well too. We had a late frost which stuffed out my early plums. My greengage has fruit on tho' & the apples are all looking good. The other fruit trees are still small so nothing there. We've already had some raspberries & a few strawberries, the gooseberries are laden with fruit. Black currants & red currants are new still. I put in a rosehip orchard this year ( possums don't eat rugosa roses ) so I am looking forward to that doing well. Cape gooseberries & those NZ cranberries are getting there too. I think I am up to 4 different types of rhubarb as well. The birds are stealing the cherries on the cherry trees coz it has been so windy my bird netting keeps blowing off. They aren't even cool native birds that are doing it either. grrr!!!

I garden at our local community garden here as well. Everything is going good there. The late frost got the kamokamo & I found out the hard way those nifty newpaper seedling potlet makers don't work in practise as everything dries out too quick & has bolted by the time it is big enuf to plant outdoors which was very irritating. We've got all our tomatoes in the plastic house going well. Plus a cucumber & a pepper. I was given some flour corn too by a man out the taieri. I doubt it will stand a chance of growing at home so I am trying it there.

I do get frustrated with the crappy climate here. I am not prepared to move to Mosgiel tho so as I can grow more stuff as I need to be able to see the sea & I am kinda partial to living somewhere hilly.

Did you notice how I ignored the suggestion that enjoying gardening makes you old :p

[deesalie]

We're in a rental property so we're reasonably limited with what we can do in the garden. We have a great herb plot... parsley, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, basil, chives, sage & thyme, all of which are going ballistic atm. We've got a lemon tree in a large terracotta pot. And we've got half wine barrels which have tomatoes, cucumber & lettuce in them atm.

Our real aim is to get out onto some land. DP's parents have a couple of hundred acres... we've started an orchard there with peaches, apples, pears, nectarines, oranges etc & they're starting a mini permaculture area with a series of water ponds for irrigation.

[Seaweed]

What type of aphids do you have 3Monkeys? I get the greyish ones on my brassicas in the summer. It is often a sign of drought stress. I very much dislike having to spend massive amounts of time washing them off. Hence I avoid planting all those flowery head veges like cauli & brocolli as they are impossible to totally deaphid. If you can plant them so as they are ready autumn/winter & spring, the cold, the rain & the odd frost kills the aphids. I avoid frilly lettuces in the summer for the same reason.

[3monkeys]

They are the green ones. And I am only getting them on my herbs. Infact they annoyed me so much I ripped all my herbs out....... I was chucking my dish water on them but there were just too many. My sister told me that planting garlic stops pests. maybe thats why my brasica garden is doing well!!!!!!!!

[Seaweed]

I don't really get the green ones. I think it is too windy or too cold where I am. My oldest dd has them all over the roses where she is renting. The roses actually look like moss roses there are so many of them. There is a decent population of ladybirds there but they don't seem to be making a dent in the aphids. You know you are supposed to plant garlic with roses so maybe that is why? My garlic is in a bed on its own but I may experiment with interplanting it with the brassicas next year. It would be a trick to make sure it is all ready at the same time or I guess I could just chop the brassicas off at the base instead of pulling them out & disturbing the soil. btw we have found that that purple sicilian cauliflower grows another head if you coppice it.

[FrangipaniRose]

3M I have great fun with aphids - get a spray bottle, add several cloves of crushed garlic and a drop of dishwashing liquid. Fill up with water and spray - and watch those suckers die. They don't run away or do anything, they just sit there, and the next time you check them, they're dead. Awesome. And it lasts and lasts, I would have used the same stuff for a year (I was only spraying one rose, and once I'd killed off the aphids I wouldn't see any more for a while), and it still worked a treat. The only thing I would say is maybe wrap the crushed garlic in muslin and drop it in the spray bottle - it can clog up the spray mechanism otherwise which is a pain.

But. Don't get the spray on yourself or nobody will come near you and don't open your mouth when it's windy :D

[3monkeys]

I am going to try that. I sit there and squsih them one at a time. But of course thats not very effective...........

Hahaha, I just looked out my window at my garden. Yesterday I lovingly pegged all my peas to the lines I put up for them to climb. My children have been out there and lovingly unpegged them all.......

[waiting]

The gophers love my garden. :D

Since we are currently renting, I don't want to pour a lot of money into gopher avoidance solutions, and the cheap solutions do not work.

However, the plants that I protected with wire cages did well, and we did enjoy some squash, corn and tomatoes. The gophers enjoyed chard, onions, garlic and all of my carrots.

Last winter I picked up a cheap greenhouse, which I've gotten tons of enjoyment out of. When we place the greenhouse on our land, I'll be sure to put a wire mesh in the dirt to keep the furry diggers out. It is early winter here, and I've appreciated the late tomatos.

[FrangipaniRose]

I don't mean to lol at your post but it sounds so cute - this side of the equator (or at least, in NZ and I believe Aus too) we don't get gophers, I don't think I've ever seen one. They sound a lot cuter than aphids anyway :D

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

The gophers love my garden. :D

Since we are currently renting, I don't want to pour a lot of money into gopher avoidance solutions, and the cheap solutions do not work.

However, the plants that I protected with wire cages did well, and we did enjoy some squash, corn and tomatoes. The gophers enjoyed chard, onions, garlic and all of my carrots.

Last winter I picked up a cheap greenhouse, which I've gotten tons of enjoyment out of. When we place the greenhouse on our land, I'll be sure to put a wire mesh in the dirt to keep the furry diggers out. It is early winter here, and I've appreciated the late tomatos.

Good quality moveable fencing wouldn't be a bad investment would it?

[waiting]

Good quality moveable fencing wouldn't be a bad investment would it?
The hardest part of the investment would be the labor of placing the small wire mesh 2 to 3 feet under the ground. If we don't have plans to move by March, than yes, I'll probably do this. It would be nice to have some carrots coming up, so I'll most likely buy some mesh soon.

Gophers may be cuter than aphids, but drat it, they aren't seen very often, and when they are seen, they bare those big 'ol teeth at you and squint. At least aphids only take small chunks -- gophers take the whole onion... and leave a little bit of green stalk poking out of the hole. Funny - but frustrating too!

Here is wiki's views on the critters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_gopher

[Serephina]

They are very cute waiting. Reminds me of that old arcade game where you had to hit the gophers on the head as they came out of their holes :giggle:

[momofsaa]

3monkeys,
Have you looked into companion gardening? This has you planting a deterrent plant near a plant that has certain pests allowing you to garden more naturally.

[Mr. Beyondtheory]

maturity, of having more patience, than simply of growing old.:eyeroll:

Anyhow, is 43 that old? I've been really enjoying gardening for a few years now. I think it was finding out about Peak Oil that really scared me into bettering my knowledge and skills.

I attended a really great talk by David Holmgren on Peak oil about 2 years ago (the co-founder of Permaculture) and he said in the future our societies will really need more gardeners.

We rent, but I decided to go for it, and take the risk that the next tenants will neglect the garden, let it run to seed, and be weed infested. So I've planted feijoas, goumi, grape vines, lots of herbs (ie. rosemary, lavender, wormwood, sage, gotu kola, oregano, thyme etc.), asparagus, rhubarb, sunchoke, horseradish, and loads of berries - loganberry, raspberries, and boysenberry.

The real revelations for me are that out of the berries the boysenberries are by far the most vigorous, and tastiest. They grow like triffids!

Sunchokes are prolific, and have lovely flowers.

Landcress are a really useful, self seeding perrenial plant, that taste just like watercress. High in magnesium, and good in soups and stews, they are a must.

Brussel sprouts and cabbage are torn apart by green caterpillars. I have decided that possibly the commercial seedlings I planted are not the most resistent, and it would be better to try heirloom seeds. They are probably tougher.

Seaweed, I am impressed you have rosa rugosas. They seem to be impossible to buy up here in Auckland in garden centres. Any possibility of getting some seeds from you?

[Mr. Beyondtheory]

I forgot to add, I also have 4 different kinds of figs in pots, a small lemon tree, and a blueberry.

[Seaweed]

Seaweed, I am impressed you have rosa rugosas. They seem to be impossible to buy up here in Auckland in garden centres. Any possibility of getting some seeds from you? I need to go to the botannical garden to look at the rene orchison harakekes soon so I will cruise thru the cemetry to see if there are any hips left. In theory they should have stratified nicely by now. I'll also check out the rose at the community garden & my seedlings I had there. I'll get back to you if I have any joy. Trinity roses sells rugosa roses on line too if that helps.

I'm gearing up to think about spring planting now. The chickweed & miner's lettuce & all our self sown brassicas have been really awesome in salads this winter. Dalmatian collards & parsley always do well too in the winter. I have no idea what happened with my leeks this winter as they are still small. I do however have a really good crop of nettles going on for stews & soups & some nice puha which is a bonus. I still need to plant my garlic & sort out my potato beds. I have a bit of a mission soon hand burying a dead horse down deeper than he already is so I may be all digged out after that. My plan is to plant a pa harakeke over the top of him as it is a very damp spot. I have a friend getting me some decent basket willows & I have some supplejack seedlings as well so I am going to do a whole weaving area. You can never have too many ketes or baskets :D

[Mr. Beyondtheory]

OK, cheers. Let me know. Yeah, I have stinging nettle too. Great for soups.