June

Lavender field as at end June 2011


Vegetable garden as at end June 2011


Winter is now in full swing. I can't really complain because we had such a long summer and mild autumn. But now it is quite cold. Still, we've only had one real frost so far, so it's not as cold as it could be I suppose.

We've had the fire going every evening, and noticed a lot more success with it than the first year we were here. The main factor has been bringing the firewood inside and letting it dry out for 2-3 days before using it. As well as just understanding the way fire works, the best placement for the wood in the fire, how to get optimal heat at the beginning and slow it down as the room warms up, etc. However in the last few weeks we have been going through so much wood each day that I'm having to bring it inside every 2-3 days and it's not having the chance to dry out as much as it needs to before we use it. We are also very quickly going through the carefully split and stacked wood that P and I sorted last month.

Got a book out of the library about composting, and read it trying to learn more about it. The book said the way we've been composting (i.e. burying our scraps) is called trench composting and basically ineffective when it comes to making something to put on your garden, unless you actually do it IN the garden. Well, I'd pretty much figured that out for myself as the pile was not growing, and the only thing that was growing was the scraps. We had corn that had sprouted from a half eaten cob that was buried. I carefully dug these out and transplanted to a tub on the deck. So far so good, they are still alive but not growing any bigger. There was also an avocado growing, which I very carefully dug out and planted in the ground near the citrus trees. I find it ironic that I have tried a few times to grow an avocado from seed in a glass on the windowsill without success, yet one that got thrown out and buried in the ground actually grew into a tree. It has grown quite fast so hopefully we'll be growing our own avocados to eat in a few years. I know it's probably the wrong time of year to transplant these things but I needed to move them out of the compost.

I have also tried to make a new compost pile using layers of lavender clippings, the neighbours pony poo and sawdust, rotten wood, plus food scraps, vacuum contents, fireplace ash and paper. I built up a few layers of each. Didn't even use up half of the available materials but the heap was getting big enough, plus it was starting to rain, and I thought I’d wait a few weeks and see how it did before using the rest. So far it is looking good and healthy, but hasn't changed much either. The lavender clippings aren't breaking down much. Mind you the weather has probably been too cold for anything to happen. Should add some more layers on soon.

Have decided not to plant anything else in the vegetable garden now until spring. Didn't get around to it in time and now I think it's too late. The only thing growing is the mustard seed and it's doing really well.

Have had lots and lots of rain in the last couple of months. In April (I think) I started re-digging my trench in the lower paddock but didn't get very far before I had to stop. Then the rain came and has pretty much rained ever since. The paddock has been very waterlogged and boggy. I won't be able to get back to it again until summer probably at this rate. The pukekoes and ducks are enjoying it though. Have seen a male and female duck hanging around together a lot. And at the beginning of June I saw a mother duck leading about 6-8 babies behind her, walking through the paddock together. Haven't seen them since so guess they were just passing through.

-M

May

Lavender field as at end May 2011


Vegetable garden as at end May 2011


May began with three of P's friends coming over to give us a hand shifting logs, rounds and firewood out of our bottom paddock. We hired a log splitter and P and I took turns to split the wood we already had, and the guys split the stuff they gathered and took it away with them. I looked at all the wood we had split and estimated we had a couple of years worth there. Now I'm not too sure.

Over the course of the next week we moved the split wood into the newly cleaned out woodshed and stacked it nicely on pallets. P had put up polythene to catch the drips, but had to modify it a few times as the wind and rain got hold of it. It is now fairly water-tight.

Not content with just building a new woodshed, P is now working on a carport to keep the tractor and bits dry. His first attempt, using a large tarpaulin as a roof, didn't work very well. So he's back to the drawing board but not out.

Also at the beginning of May T came around and we pruned the lavender.

In April we were complaining about the lack of feijoas this year. Our neighbours gave us a whole bagful. And then this month our trees suddenly started dropping an abundance of fruit that I hadn't even noticed on the trees. We had so much I didn't know what to do with it all. I discovered making it into a feijoa juice drink was quite nice. Scoop the pulp of four feijoas into a bowl, add a quarter cup of sugar, and pour some boiling water over the top to dissolve the sugar. Leave to cool. Once cooled, strain the juice into a jug and top up with cold water. It's pretty much the same recipe for making passionfruit juice too, but we didn't really have any of those this year.

We bought a new ride on lawn mower from the Lifestyle Farmers Field Days at the end of May. A John Deere. We've been using the tractor to cut the grass pretty much since we moved in here, and it really rips up the ground. Also can be tough to manouver, and feels a bit scary driving on the slope under the fruit trees. I've wanted to get a real ride on mower for ages, but the one I really want is probably upwards of $10k. We deliberated for a while before deciding to get this one as there are good points and bad points. It’s slower than the tractor but can get a lot closer and turn in smaller circles. It mulches the grass and spits it out to the side unfortunately right under the adjacent row of lavender but at least it doesn’t leave great clumps of grass behind like the tractor does. It did a good job on the hill under the fruit trees. So far I'm pretty happy with it. We also bought a leaf blower as it was recommended to use one of these to blow the grass clippings away from the mowing deck everytime you finish using it.

The vegetable garden is empty at the moment. My next job is to plant some broccoli and spring onion seedlings (no more trying to grow from seed) for the winter and put more mustard seed down in the rest of the garden. I'm going to give broccoli another go over winter when the cabbage moths aren't around and see how it goes. I'm also going to make up some proper compost with the horse poo and sawdust the neighbours gave us, the rotten timber from the old woodshed, and the lavender clippings.

-M

April

Lavender field as at end April 2011


Vegetable garden as at end April 2011


Autumn finally began in April with a run of cold and wet weather right at the beginning of the month, which was a real shock to the system. We lit our first fire of the season about halfway through the month, and at the end of the month I noticed snow on the Tararua Ranges one day.

Finally got the tractor going and mowed the grass. The grass around the house hadn't been done for a month and a half, the grass in the lavender field hadn't been done for two and a half months. It was almost as tall as the lavender.

P and I cleaned out the old woodshed. The previous owners of the place had kept their firewood thrown in a heap under the ramp which leads to the back door. One corner is well protected from the elements. The other corner is both exposed from the side and from gaps in the decking above. We have been slowly going through their pile of wood, until what we've been left with is the stuff from the exposed section, which is half rotten. We cleared all the wood out, kept what was good and got rid of what wasn't. Am left with a nice tidy floor, and a big pile of compost from all the dirt that was at the bottom of the woodpile.

P then used polythene to line the ceiling to prevent drips, and made walls to protect the wood from the side.

Still continue to gather heaps of walnuts. Have started getting feijoas now too. Ended up having to throw out half a dozen cucumber/zuchhini because I'd forgotten about them in the fridge and they'd gone bad. What a waste. Harvested four pumpkin.

Nothing left in the garden now. The carrots and spring onion seeds I planted never grew into anything. However the mustard seed I planted have done well. One section of the garden is growing well with mustard. I must plant more in the rest of the garden. Am also considering trying brassicas one last time, to see if they do any better in the cold weather.

The neighbours have given us a big pile of pony poo and sawdust. That's the big pile of stuff you can see in the front of the vegetable garden photo. I must get around to composting that or doing something with it.

-M

March

Lavender field as at end March 2011


Vegetable garden as at end March 2011

March has been a month of preserving. This month I have made:
* Two batches of blueberry muffins
* Pickled cucumber, cucumber jam, frozen cucumber (yes, sounds weird but it seems to work), two batches of tzatziki
* Zucchini muffins, zucchini and chocolate cake, frozen zucchini
* Apple jelly, dried apple slices

And despite all the preserving, the zucchini and cucumber plants just keep producing fruit. They do seem to have slowed down quite a bit in the last week but there are still fruit growing. Not much else is growing in the garden though.

Harvested a small amount of small potatoes. Think my experiment of re-planting last years spuds hasn't worked too well. Next year I will buy seed potatoes.

The pumpkin has slowed down its spread. It still has lots of flowers but only 4 pumpkins are growing. A lot of other people have also commented that they are getting lots of (male) flowers but no (female) fruit. It must be the weather I guess.

The corn I planted is not doing well, but I have noticed some growing wild in the compost, so what's up with that? The broccoli is full of holes. The capsicum was growing well and then I found the plant on the ground, the dogs must have knocked it over and broken it. I managed to salvage four small capsicums off it.

Have had a reasonable harvest of tomatoes from the plants on the deck, but not much from those in the garden. Don't think I'm going to do Roma tomatoes again. I planted them because I thought they were good for making sauce, but the fruit are all ready at such different times that I haven't been able to get enough to make any sauce with.

The passionfruit vine has not been doing well this year. All the leaves started dying off and I don't know why. I'm worried I may have accidentally sprayed it with weedspray, so I've been very reluctant to try eating any of the fruit (which doesn't look all that appealing anyway). The feijoas aren't fruiting either (but at least they're not dying).

We have had a bumper crop of walnuts this year and I've been checking every couple of days lately and coming back with armfuls. Don't quite know what to do with all these walnuts. It's not like they need preserving I don't think. But it's also not something we usually just eat (they're quite expensive). Maybe I should make some baklava.

During January I was busy with the kids and unable to mow the lawn. In February I mowed it twice to try and get it back into condition. And then the tractor broke down. It just won't start. Not sure how to fix it or who can do it. So in the meantime the grass is again growing longer, and longer, and longer. Not to mention the grass in the lavender field which hasn't been mown since the beginning of January. I did some weed eating but the grass is very, very long.

Have attempted to plant some winter crops. Cleared one plot of weeds and scattered mustard seeds, a winter cover crop. In another plot I dug two trenches and planted carrot seeds in one and spring onion seeds in the other. Have never had much success with seeds so am not sure what to expect. The trench seems like a good idea though, to funnel rain, water and dew towards the seeds that need it. And to mark where the vegetables are planted.

Autumn officially started at the beginning of March but it has turned out to be a lovely, warm month. The only hint of autumn has been a few very cold nights but these always lead into very hot days. In the last few days I have noticed one or two trees with leaves turning yellow which seems strange given the warm weather, but I guess it is a sign that winter really is on the way. I'm not looking forward to winter but I can't complain because we've pretty much had five months of summer this year.


Lettuce: 6
Brassica: 2 but probably won't eat them because of all the caterpillars
Tomatoes: Still growing but not much fruit
Zucchini: 1 plant and going strong
Cucumber: 2 plants and going strong
Pumpkin: 4 fruit growing
Corn: 1 in the garden which I don't think will grow any corn and some sprouts in the compost
Blueberries: Got one good harvest in February, then forgot about it for a few weeks and the berries were all gone.
Walnuts: Have gathered about 2-3 fruit bowls full so far


-M

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