February

Lavender field as at end February 2011


Vegetable garden as at end February 2011

The first two weeks of February were spent weeding the lavender. Weeding and weeding and weeding. Harvested half of it on the 10th and the rest on the 19th. Got a pretty good yield from the Super, but not as much of the Grosso as I may have expected, perhaps we harvested a bit late. However there was absolutely no way I could have finished the weeding any sooner than I did. I spent many evenings weeding after the girls went to bed, including one evening in the pooring rain.

The poor lawn suffered from the four weeks of school holidays and then two weeks of focus on the lavender. When I finally got a chance to mow, it was knee high. I had to mow two consecutive weeks in a row just to get it back into good condition.

Although I spread the planting of lettuces out by planting one a week, they still all came ready at pretty much the same time, and one ended up going to waste because I didn't pick it in time. Planted some more lettuces but they are still small so we don't have any at the moment. Next year will have to spread them out to maybe two weeks and make sure I keep planting more even when they start to be ready to ensure a continuous supply.

The zucchini and cucumber plants are doing very well. We currently have approx 10 of each in the fridge and will have to do something about it soon.

Have picked about 2-4 cups of blueberries. Have made one batch of blueberry muffins and still have lots left. Gathered lots of walnuts. Planted some more broccoli and corn.

We don't have an apple tree on our property, but bought a share of an apple tree at AgResearch in Palmerston North. Have picked about two fruit bowls full of apples and now have to do something with them.

Potatoes: Are ready to be harvested
Lettuce: Original 6 harvested, 6 small ones growing.
Brassica: Ate one of the original broccoli, the other one went to seed. Ate one of the cabbages, the other one never really grew (too many potatoes in the same plot). The two cauliflowers never really grew for the same reason. Planted another two broccoli in a different plot. All of them have been ravaged by cabbage moths. Have decided I'm not going to grow brassicas again. Even if they do grow, I'm very reluctant to eat them because of the number of caterpillars on them (can never be completely sure I've gotten rid of them all before cooking them).
Tomatoes: The ones on the deck are growing well, the ones in the garden are growing slowly.
Zucchini: 1 plant and going strong
Cucumber: 2 plants and going strong
Capsicum: 1 plant with approximately 3-4 fruit
Pumpkin: 4 fruit growing
Corn: Discovered that the place where I chose to plant them is also the place the dogs like to sit when they are watching the neighbour's yard. Tried planting another couple somewhere else, don't think they will do well though.
Strawberries: Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Got one good harvest with lots more fruit still to turn the right colour.
Walnuts: Have gathered about a fruit bowl full so far


-M

January

Lavender field as at end January 2011


Vegetable garden as at end January 2011

January has been a very hot month, with a few spots of very wet weather to keep the weeds growing. I have also been stuck at home with two preschoolers for the entire month and not been able to get as much done around the place as I would like. And it's probably the month where the most stuff needs doing.

I haven't managed to get down to the lavender field at all to do any more weeding. I mowed the grass once.

One thing I have managed to do is a lot of weeding in the vege garden and the herb garden. The zucchini and cucumber are doing very well. The lettuces did very well and almost all have been picked now. Have started planting some more to see us through the end of summer. The broccoli have been attacked by something (I assume cabbage moths although I haven't seen any). Have a pumpkin plant taking over half the garden and spreading like crazy, didn't seem to have any fruit but have just noticed two finally growing. Plus two other plants which grew wild and I transplanted into the vege garden. The tomatoes are not doing well at all. They are growing, but very slowly. Probably because it's been so hot and dry a lot (and I didn't water them) I guess. Have got some growing in the garden and some in containers on the deck. The swan plants on the deck are also not doing well. They both had caterpillars on them in early December, which ate all the leaves and then disappeared in search of more food. One plant died as a result but the other managed to come back from the brink. Now they have once again been subjected to an onslaught of caterpillars, as well as aphids, and I doubt that either will survive this time.

Potatoes: Still got heaps. Some of them are almost ready to be harvested.
Lettuce: Have eaten 4, 2 ready to be picked and 1 new one growing
Brassica: The original 6 are struggling along and I have planted 1 new one in a different part of the garden.
Tomatoes: Not sure of the exact count - about 4 in the garden and 3 on the deck
Zucchini: 1 and going strong
Cucumber: 2 and going strong
Capsicum: 1
Pumpkin: 3 plants, 2? fruit
Corn: Have planted 1 plant so far, with 5 more still in their punnet to be planted out one a week (or fortnight?). When I see how large the corn are in the fields around here, I think I started these too late.
Strawberries: Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Keep forgetting about these too. The bird netting keeps blowing off in parts so I think we've lost a lot
Plums: Got a dozen or two fruit off it before they were all gone
Walnuts: The tree is starting to drop its nuts, have gathered about a dozen so far. Looks like it will be a good crop this year (if I remember to go and gather them regularly)

I feel bad that I haven't had much time for the garden over the summer. Hopefully with the kids going off to school/preschool in February I will be able to get back into the swing of things again.

-M

December

Lavender field as at end December 2010


Vegetable garden as at end December 2010

After a very hot November, we had rain for pretty much the first three weeks of December. And the weeds grew like wildfire. Luckily the weather has been pretty good since Christmas. I haven't managed to get into the vege garden to deal to the weeds, but I've had a couple of goes at weeding the lavender and it's not looking too bad. Still lots to go though and I started with the easy stuff.

You can't really see from the photo above but I have a lot of veges growing in the garden. Everything is obscured by all the potatoes and a few weeds which have sprung up lately. The vege count this month is:

Potatoes: HEAPS. None are ready and not sure if they will be either as they are last years stock replanted
Lettuce: 6 Planted 1 a week and all coming ready now
Brassica: 6 (two broccoli, two cabbage and two cauliflower) Planted 1 a week and the early ones are doing alright but the later ones are swamped by the potatoes
Tomatoes: Planted 6 Roma but only 3 survived. Planted another 3 beefsteak. Plus 2 more beefsteak and 2 cherry tomatoes planted in pots on the deck
Zucchini: 1 Only planted one this year after the success of last years
Cucumber: 2
Capsicum: 1
Pumpkin: 2 Found a couple growing wild in the compost heap and successfully transplanted them into the vege garden where they are now growing quickly and have flowers too
Sunflower: 0 The kids planted one each but they got bent over in a storm and seem to have died
Strawberries: The shade cloth I put over didn't really work. The ones where there is no weedmat are completely covered by weeds. Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Coming along nicely although the bird net blew off and it took me a while to put it back on again
Plums: Yes, we have a plum tree I never knew about and it is fruiting lovely this year

In late November/early December we had a family of starlings living in an old watering can that was hanging outside the front door. Every time we went outside, mummy bird would fly away. Every time she came home the babies would squawk and make a racket. But it was fascinating to watch them grow. It took just over two weeks from when they were eggs, to when they flew the nest. When I realised they were gone I felt quite sad, as I'd gotten used to mummy birds comings and goings.



P and I have finally been able to put some work in to clearing the logs and rubbish from the bottom paddock, logs which have been there since the big storm two and a half years ago. Am hoping to continue the momentum in January.

-M

November

Summer has finally arrived at the end of October. It's been hot and sunny just about every day since then. Almost starting to worry we won't have enough water to last the summer, but I don't want to jinx it because I'm enjoying the warm weather so much. It was so nice we even managed to get out to the beach one day.

Finally got some help from the neighbours to put the plow attachment on the back of the tractor and I was able to dig over the vege garden. Albeit much too late, I should have done it a month ago. As soon as that was done I took the plow back off and put the mower back on and mowed the grass which was very, very long. Over the new few days I raked up a bit of grass at a time until the entire vege garden was covered in a layer of grass clippings.

I planted all of last years potatoes back into the garden as they were growing quite nicely in the cupboard. I don't know if they will be any good to eat or not, we will see.

I also bought a six-pack of lettuce and a six-pack of broccoli/ cabbage/ cauliflower. I actually only wanted to buy one of each but couldn't. It is my intention to plant one in the garden each week and hope I can keep the rest alive in their little cell packs until it is time to plant this. In this way I'm hoping I can spread out the time that they're ready to eat. I don't want to plant six lettuces at once and have them all ready at once because we'd never eat them all.

Have also planted six Roma tomato plants along the back of the garden. I've learnt from last year and bought six (instead of two) and have spaced them all quite far apart.

Got given some cherry tomato plants by another neighbour and have planted them in a container on the deck this time around. They grew too big in the garden last year, plus by having them so accessible I hope the children will enjoy eating them more often.

The lavender now has tiny blue buds on it. I mowed the grass in the lavender field for the first time in a very, very long time. I haven't been able to get to it because the neighbour has had his cattle in the other half of the field. The grass was as tall as the lavender in places. But I am getting it back under control now. And I'm sure I'm in for another busy summer of weeding.

Covered the blueberry bush in netting again. Tried weeding the strawberry patch and covering it with something better. Not sure if it will work.

-M

October

As the weather started to dry out I was able to do some things I hadn't been able to do for a while. Sprayed weeds for the first time in a long time. Weedeated around the rows of lavender which I hadn't done in a very long time. Mowed the lawn which was getting long and used the grass clippings to mulch the fruit trees.

-M

September

The month began with rain, lots of it. It rained heavily in the Tararuas and came down the valley, flooding our neighbours across the road and taking most of their newborn lambs. The waters continued on across the road to the cafe next door to us, turning their parking lot into a lake. We were unaffected, being up on the hill. Even our bottom paddocks seemed to have escaped most of the flooding, thanks in part to my trench that I dug. In the early stages it held all the water and even as the water levels rose over the top of the trench, it still helped to keep the water in that area as opposed to flooding out all over the paddock. The water flooding over the road only lasted for an hour and then it was passable again. We were a bit late for school that day. All the farms and paddocks in the area seemed to have turned into lakes, especially in the Koputaroa and Shannon areas, but not so much closer to Levin. In some places the water was so deep that when it receeded there was grass stuck to all the fence wires, from the bottom to the top. There is one farm on the way to Koputaroa where last summer the farmer had dug a very deep trench (totally puts mine to shame, it is several metres deep). Well during the floods this trench was completely full and flooding out the top. Even a week later it was still very full. The rain lasted for several days but not as heavy as the first night.





The day of the flooding


One week later

Later in the month, when things dried out a little bit, I attempted to put the plow attachment onto the tractor so that I could turn the ground over in the vege garden in preparation for planting new vegetables. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it on.

The Foxton Spring Fling was held at the beginning of the month, marking the beginning of spring. While we had some very cold days, this winter feels like it was more mild than last year.

The weather may be getting warmer but we have had a few very cold nights, with a couple of mornings where there has been more snow on the Tararuas than there was on any morning in the middle of winter.

-M

August

This month I finished my work digging the trench in the bottom paddocks. Our neighbour in front has mentioned a few times the tree stumps in our bottom paddock which borders his but it just hasn't moved high enough up my priority list. I had a go at it a couple of months ago but it is hard work with just a shovel and my own strength. He mentioned he had a friend with a digger, and the friend came over and dug some big holes and buried all the tree stumps. Just like that. Took a day or two, compared to how long it would have taken me with a shovel. And just 10 metres away was my little trench which I had been feeling pretty good about, and now it feels pretty insignificant being the width and depth of a shovel, compared to what a digger could have done.

For the last year and a half we have been diligently burying all our food scraps in the compost bin. And in a year and a half the pile of compost has grown by exactly nothing. It is still the same it was a year and a half ago. I think we must have created a pretty good worm farm but not a very good compost pile. Heard somewhere about layering horse manure and grass clippings in the compost, both of which we have in abundance. So I spent an hour or so one day shovelling up horse manure from one of our paddocks (from our neighbour's horses) and raking up grass clippings after I mowed. Too soon to tell if it'll make any difference or if I've done it right.

Ate some of the cherry tomatoes and zucchini I pickled last year. Both turned out very nice and very zingy.

-M