Valentine's Day
Wednesday, February 10 by Hamish Dodd
Hi guys,
I‘m sure most of you are back at work and school and your summer
holidays already feel like a distant memory. On the bright side,
your garden will be thankful you are around and back to normal
routines.
Now that you are back from your holidays it’s time to get your
garden humming. Remember, there’s still plenty of warm weather left
to grow another summer crop before the bite of autumn takes hold.
You can still sow lettuce seeds (depending on the variety, lettuce
can be grown year round) and why not think about what you can grow
and add extra flavour to your salad, such as, spring onion, dwarf
peas, radishes and silverbeet. Don’t overlook herbs – many herbs
are perennials and will grow for several years – they can add zing
to any salad. Try mixing up the different flavours of purple and
sweet basil varieties.
Continue growing beans, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, beetroot and
don’t forget the rhubarb… yum. Rhubarb stems are great with
breakfast or as a dessert. Don’t forget to keep pushing the
boundaries and growing unusual or colourful vegetables, like Yates
Beetroot Cylindra – long beets that are great for slicing. For more
great vegetable garden tips tune into Get Growing with NZ Gardener
now screening on Sunday nights on Prime. The show is proudly
sponsored by Yates and follows an ordinary kiwi family learning the
tricks of the vegetable gardening trade.
The inner-city garden is going really well. I continue to still get
zucchinis from the same plant I grew from seed three months ago. Of
course, I am feeding it regularly with Thrive, but I think the
reason for most of its success has been the fact I grew it in a
Yates self-watering pot. It’s not often I’m completely taken by
something but I can’t rate the Yates self-watering pots highly
enough – an incredible success for the Yates team. The purple beans
are going from strength to strength. I had a mixed success with my
sunflowers; I probably should have given them a little more care
than I did. They really did need staking in their early days.
Nonetheless, I was happy with the result that was achieved with 11
rising a good 1.8 metres high, and staggered flowering that meant
there was always something new to look at. I had such a huge strike
rate with all of the lettuces I planted that a lot ended up going
to seed and perhaps I should have thought of supplying New World.
My favourite plant in the garden – also thankfully growing in a
self-watering pot – still happens to be my splendours tomato plant.
It is now massive and has a huge crop of tomatoes coming on. I
continue to feed it weekly with Thrive and tomato plant food, while
trying to keep the nasty white butterflies away. I’ve been using
Tomato Dust to help control blight, and other diseases. Bring on
the weigh in. Remember to feed tomatoes’ with Thrive during the
growing season to ensure an abundance of scrummy red beauts. Our
tomato growing competition closes on the 16th, so get your entries
in now.
Last week I discussed weed killers, and last night I had the
opportunity to check up on the damage we had bought upon the
noxious weeds over the fence. Even I was surprised at how quickly
and efficiently the sprays had dealt a heavy blow to the woody
buggers. We all felt a great amount of satisfaction that not only
had we enhanced the environment by opening up the view from the
back patio but we had also contributed to removing noxious plants
from a local waterway. In fact, we were so excited afterwards we
raced inside for a great session of Guitar Hero, at which point I
realised that in no way, shape, or form am I musically gifted.
Lastly, but certainly not least, Valentine’s Day is just around the
corner. I love this time of year, I know I’m just a sappy romantic,
but it’s nice to be able to show the ones you love how much you
care. By that, I mean that I like getting presents! I’ve been
thinking what would be nice to this year give to my wife? I have
decided nothing says love like topiary in a Tuscan self-watering
pot. Instead of spending your hard earnt cash on 12 beautiful roses
that have a total life span of two weeks in a vase, how about
buying a rose bush that can last for years? Since I’ve grown an
abundance of lettuce, I have decided that this year my lucky wife
is going to have a fantastic Valentine’s Day salad. She may not see
this as the greatest meal on such a special evening but all I can
say is, ‘Don’t forget, it’s the thought that counts’. What could be
healthier than home grown lettuce?
Next week, I’ll discuss preparing for Autumn. Yuck, what a horrible
thought. Thank goodness for Autumnal colours – without them it
would just be depressing.
Until then, grow well green fingers,
Hamish.
“Back to blog >”:/hamish-dodd/
Comments (1)
Add a comment
Peter
Yates site member
19:01, 10 February 2010
Good times
Add your reply