GREEN DESK GARDEN UPDATE – 17.06.08

Well we’ve had a busy few weeks and thanks to the weather we have done a bit more planting. Managed to get our hands on some seedlings and so our raised bed now has a couple of silverbeet plants, some Cos lettuces and a row of spinach – all for a only few dollars. Things did get a bit dodgy for a couple of days when the wind blew and the Cos started growing horizontally but thanks to some sun and calmer days they are upright again. Most excitingly of all is that we have several garlic shoots showing above ground already!! Only about 25mm but definitely green above ground. Also we splashed out on three fruit trees – a Lemon Meyer, a Satsuma Mandarin and a Tahitian Lime. They have spent the last two weeks being moved in their bags around the garden and its now time for the Lime to get into the ground. We were out fishing on Saturday and after all the filleting I kept the fish heads, bones, guts and skin in a bag for this very day. I have dug a hole that is just a little bigger all round than the bag the tree came in and I am putting some of the fish bits in the bottom, next I’ll be covering the fish with a layer of compost before putting the tree in the hole – checking that ground level in the bag matches with ground level in the garden. The hole is then backfilled with a 50:50 mix of garden soil and planting compost.

BROAD BEANS

We’ve got a batch of good-looking broad beans that need to go into the ground - spaced about 6 to 9 inches apart and at the back of the bed where they won’t shade smaller growing stuff such as broccoli and kale.

A few tips on planting seedling plants:

Because it’s mostly mild in the Auckland area we can plant seedlings out now. But these delicate young plants need the right care and attention if they are to get off to a good start in the ground.

Buying – look for a tray that has good, strong growing seedlings and avoid those whose contents are spindly, hanging or laying about.

Caring – until you get round to planting them, keep your seedlings sheltered and well watered. Don’t leave them out of the ground for too long or else they will put on loads of root and the plant with begin to struggle for nutrients and become weak.

Planting – make sure the ground is well prepared and take note of the planting distance. This info is usually on the back of the plastic label that should come with the tray. Your tray should have a number of cells each with a seedling in it. To get your seedling out of the tray push up gently from underneath so that seedling and its roots loosen and come away together. Avoid lifting the seedling by its leaves but let it sit in your cupped fingers. Make a hole that is as deep as the root block of the seedling and pop it in. Fold the soil back nice and gently and don’t firm around it too hard. As the plant grows it will gain a firmer hold on the ground with its developing roots.

Watering – even though it says its winter on the label that doesn’t mean it’s raining all the time so keep an eye on your seedlings and keep them well watered. Best to use a watering can with a rose (one of those heads with loads of holes in them) to reduce the amount of flow hitting your delicate young plants. If you have to use a hose make sure that you use a gentle spray and not a jet which will only blow your seedlings over and possibly out of the ground.

WATER CONSERVATION

With rain around and about you may want to look at setting up a form of water collection for your garden. We have a largish corrugated iron drum connected up to the garage roof that stand close enough to part of our vegetable garden that gets fairly dry in the summer. You can hook up a recycled wine barrel or two to your shed or garage or even divert some of the run-off from your main roof into a water butt – these come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes and the exercise can be as easy or as complicated as you want it to be. A few helpful links on the subject are:

http://www.sustainablehouseholds.org.nz/actionpdfs/save_water_action.pdf

http://www.bb.net.nz/barrels_plastic_steel.htm

http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/water/rain-barrels

SOIL MIX

Jose asked about the ingredients in our soil mix – the three biggies are seaweed from the beach, sheep pellets and pea straw. We chop the lengths of seaweed up into rough credit card-sized pieces by putting a whole load into a wheel barrow and then attacking it with the garden shears. We shuck about tow spades-full of the small pieces on every square metre of garden bed along with a couple of hands full of sheep pellets and a light dusting of pea straw. On top of this we put about a spade full of our own home-made compost and turn the whole lot into the soil. Ideally you should then leave it all for about four weeks - whilst the worms, bugs and micro-organisms do their stuff and break everything down – before you plant into it…

GET READY FOR SPUDS

Which just gives you enough time to get your garden prepared – if you haven’t already done so for the great potato planting in our next show. It is time to buy or order up some seed potatoes which, if you get them in the ground in the next month, you will be harvesting and munching your way through in time for Christmas. We will be getting some of the heirloom varieties from Koanga Gardens www.koanga.co.nz as well as some other mainstream varieties from local garden centers. If you want to plant your’s with us then in about 2 weeks’ time hopefully you will have your seed potatoes and can get on with sprouting or ‘chitting’ them. Place them your seed potatoes on a tray in a sunny place for about 7 to 10 days, you will notice shoots appearing from some of the ‘eyes’ on the surface of the potato, these are delicate so inspect them with care. Ideally they should get to about 1 to 2 inches in length before planting time. Whilst the sprouting is going on you can pop outside to make sure that your soil is deeply dug – at least a spade’s depth so that roots will easily find their way through it. If you are not too flash in the soil department then never fear because on the show we will be telling you how to plant potatoes in stacks of car tyres, bin bags and also in piles of mulch. Catch you on the next show!

The Green Desk Garden - update 1

So we’re out at sunny bFM acres on the wild West Coast in Piha. There’re a variety of different parts to the ‘estate’ but for now we’ll concentrate on a handy little section that’s ready for some action. We are looking at a raised bed full of lush loose soil, composted, dug over several times in the past few weeks and ready to receive!

Before we get onto the planting side of things here’re some facts about raised beds:

Dimensions:

Width - Ideally you should be able to reach into the middle of the bed from either side without walking on the soil. A good way of working out what dimension might be right for you is to lie on the ground and stretch out your arms. Notice where your finger tips are and use the distance between them as the width of your bed. In my case its 2 metres. As for length – well that’s generally a personal matter but the bed we will be working on is 3 metres long.

Height – The minimum soil depth for lettuces, silverbeet, onions, radishes and spinach is about 20cm whereas the likes of beans, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots need 45cm. The great thing about beds that are 45cm tall (standard seat height) is that you can perch your bum on them whilst you are weeding, watering and feeding.

Materials – Avoid treated timber which leaches chromium and arsenic into the soil - although there are those who do use this stuff and line it with heavy duty polythene to keep chemicals away from vegetable roots; far better to use macrocarpa which has natural oils that preserve it in and on the ground without any adverse effects on your veggies. Loads of folks use macrocarpa sleepers which are usually 20cm x 15cm x 2.1m but they can be a bit pricey. In the bFM garden we are using macrocarpa boards 20cm x 5cm bolted to 15cm x 10cm corner posts. Alternatives to macrocarpa are concrete blocks and bricks, old native timber weather boards (with the painted side facing out) – you can even use wine bottles filled with sand and buried neck-down to put some curves onto your veggie patch!

Weed prevention - When you decide where your bed is going to go just cut off any grass and dig up any weeds that are in the way before you put in any soil or compost. If there are persistent weeds in the ground like kikuyu or couch grass and bindweed it can be handy to lay some weed-proof membrane (buy it by the metre from garden centres) - or if you can get your hands on some – old wool carpet in the bottom of the raised bed. This should stop weeds coming up through things and causing hassles.

We will be talking about how to get a good growing medium going in the next show so watch this space…

PLANTING NOW.

Even in the grip of Winter (what Winter?) you can be planting stuff. Right now you can be sowing broad beans, kale, mizuna (mustard greens), peas and radishes as well as planting onions and GARLIC.

GARLIC

I just love this stuff, it is so easy to plant and harvest and it’s almost worth its weight in gold. A kilo –about 8 to 10 fists - of organic garlic is going for around $25 to $27 at the moment so what better incentive to grow your own and save some dough! As a general rule they say that garlic is planted on the shortest day (June 21st) and harvested on the longest day (December 21st) but here in warmish Auckland we can plant garlic any time from now until the end of June.

The right stuff – You need to get your hands on good quality seed garlic from a garden centre or alternatively buy NZ-grown organic garlic. Much of the puny white stuff that many of the supermarkets peddle comes from China and has been chemically treated to stop it from sprouting, it’s not a patch on good fat juicy organic cloves anyway. Plant the biggest, fattest juiciest cloves and in six months’ time you should be rewarded with similarly large, fat, juicy produce.

Action stations – As long as your soil has been dug through so that it runs through your fingers like crumbly chocolate and it has plenty of well-rotted, rich organic matter in it then you are probably ready to take your first step towards the garlic hall of fame. Using a dibber, piece of kindling or – if your soil is really well-dug through – your hand with fingers pointed kung-fu blade style, push down into the soil to make a hole around 10cm deep. The individual garlic cloves should be buried so that the fat rooty bottom bit goes to the bottom of the hole with the pointy bit looking at the sky. There should be about 6cm between the pointy top of the clove and the level of soil in the garden around it. If all is okay and you are happy then gently fold soil back over the clove and move on. There should be 15cm between each clove in the row and 15cm between each row. There you go!

What is also fairly handy is that you can plant garlic in buckets or containers that are bucket-sized or bigger. Make sure there are holes in the bottom for drainage and fill with a good quality potting mix. Plant your garlic as directed above and be sure to monitor watering closely as soil in buckets and pots dries out much quicker than in beds.

Catch you soon – have fun!

Paul

Listen to the Green Desk for 27 May 2008 here