I'm a very stubborn gardener, and sometimes if my mind is made up to be in the garden, almost nothing will stop me. I suppose that's why my neighbours might sometimes see me, in the torrential rain, outside, getting soaked, weeding the garden. I actually like the feel of rain bouncing off my face, I like getting covered with mud from head to toe. It makes me feel alive. And sometimes one of my young children will join me in my madness.
One of these moments spawned the following blog, which I simply called "Rain".
http://faithfatherhoodandfood.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/rain.html
So winter doesn't reduce the time I spend growing food much - it just changes the weather and my clothes. Over the years we have trialled many winter crops. Some, like parsnip, carrot, and beetroot, effectively bank the warmth and sunshine of the autumn, packing it away into their nutrient-dense roots. These crops then simply sit there, in the giant-outside-refrigerator called winter, until they are needed. And a few other crops actually like winter weather. I find winter is the easiest time of year to grow salad greens, if you pick the right species. Tat soi, corn salad, and miner's lettuce thumb their noses at our cold wet soils, even germinating if sown in June and July. In fact, most of my garden is coming up with miner's lettuce like a rash, as a result of plants left to go to seed last summer.
On Friday I was on Radio New Zealand, being interviewed about our winter garden. Here is the link:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201803248/gardening-tim-martin
So if you haven't thought about your garden recently, it's a great time of year to plant garlic, miner's lettuce, corn salad, tat soi, and if you have a cloche or mini plastic tunnel house, lettuce and mesclun blends. And we are only eight weeks away from inside sowings of long-season summer crops, like capsicums. Summer is around the corner?
Till next time,
Tim
Showing posts with label mesclun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mesclun. Show all posts
Millions of Peaches
Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free.......
Hearkening back to my not-so-reckless youth, this song lyric by "The Presidents" seemed aptly fitting this autumn. Our tree, upon receiving death threats for its previous lack of fruitfulness, fronted up with 44 kilograms of delicious golden queen peaches, and that kept us very busy (hey, even Jesus cursed a fruitless tree, read Mark 11 v 12-14), The humid weather was threatening their loss the moment they were ripe, so we preempted the microbes with a ridiculous amount of stewing and freezing - our freezer is now well stashed with dessert-sized servings of peachy goodness stored in plastic clipseal bags. On one particular evening we had four sauce pans simmering away on the stove, and then emptied, refilled and repeated the process to do eight in the night!
One days pick from the peach tree (and a big night of processing ahead)!
This was also the first year I made a concerted effort to grow capsicums properly. Dedicated beds, transplanting out three month old, individually potted seedlings (started inside in the winter), fertiliser, plentiful compost, and a mulch of pea straw. They took a while, with the first pickings in mid-February, but they are so useful over the summer months being tossed into salads or chargrilled on the barbeque. And we are still picking the last of them in June, so they completely outdid our tomatoes and beans for length of season. I for one am a convert to capsicums, and they will be added to the list of essential summer vegetables I grow every year.
The first capsicums "Dulce Espana"
With a smallish backyard, I have also been snooping around the neighbourhood, foraging foods on public land. From our kitchen window you can get a glimpse of Hamlins Hill, a large lump of sandstone that protrudes above the houses and industrial estates, and which, thankfully, has remained as a reminder of our suburb's rural past. Hedgerows of historic hawthorn trees cut across the hilltops, and this autumn they glowed red with a heavy crop of fruit. Using trusty Google to find a use for them I experimented with hawthorn jelly - the labour for volume return wasn't favourable, but the flavour was pleasant and quite unique.
Hawthorn berries from Hamlins Hill (Mutukaroa Regional Park).
Boiled then strained using the traditional Martin family method (stocking and an upside down barstool!)
Hawthorn Jelly: the final product (after mixing 50:50 with sugar and simmering for 10 minutes). A great accompaniment to game meats.
Continuing the cost benefit analysis of the garden, the summer months have been very productive. Combined, during March, April, and May, the garden produced $486 worth of fruit and vegetables, after costs were considered (detailed breakdown below). And I don't think this is a particularly extraordinary year - our tomato and bean crops were poor due to excessive rain and humidity, and these are often, by value, the mainstay of our summer garden. Peaches were the highest value crop for March, followed by basil (the half- kilo harvest of basil leaves was used to make a years supply of basil pesto, also stored in the freezer). Capsicums, mesclun, and herbs were the big producers of April and May. So for the 10 months calculated so far (August - May) the garden has produced, at Countdown prices, $1178 worth of produce (or an average of $3.80 per day). I was expecting about $800 for an entire year, so have rather underestimated the cost benefits of our forty square metres of dirt!
Entirely home-grown salad: lettuce, mesclun, cucumber, capsicum, yellow tomato (an heirloom French variety called Garden Peach), alfalfa sprouts, chick-pea sprouts.
However, even at $3.80 per day (or $117 per month) I forsee the intangible benefits as even greater. Gardening for me is therapy from a stressful day, my kids are growing up learning how to grow food, and knowing where at least some of their food comes from, and I appreciate inclement weather like rain and frosts (I am awaiting the first frosts to signal the start of the parsnip season). So while I have well and truly demonstrated that gardening is great in lean economic times, I suspect I would do it even if it came at a financial cost.
So if you don't have a garden, or if you think your lawn doesnt need to be as big as it is, why not start thinking about feeding your soul and your stomach? The ground is soft and its a great time of year to start.
Till next time,
Tim
| March 2012 | |||
| produce | weight kg/# packs | retail | value |
| alfalfa | 3.00 | 2.15 | 6.45 |
| beans | 0.50 | 9.99 | 4.99 |
| beetroot | 0.24 | 3.99 | 0.94 |
| raspberries/boysenberries | 0.00 | 41.50 | 0.00 |
| capsicum green | 10.00 | 1.79 | 17.90 |
| capsicum red | 13.00 | 1.47 | 19.11 |
| courgette | 1.05 | 4.99 | 5.23 |
| lemon grass | 1.00 | 3.98 | 3.98 |
| mesclun | 4.00 | 3.50 | 14.00 |
| kaffir lime | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| spring onion | 1.00 | 1.79 | 1.79 |
| apples | 1.54 | 1.99 | 3.07 |
| peaches | 41.40 | 3.99 | 165.20 |
| rosemary | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| silverbeet | 2.00 | 2.79 | 5.58 |
| strawberries | 0.00 | 11.00 | 0.00 |
| basil | 0.52 | 99.50 | 51.24 |
| cucumber | 4.00 | 1.29 | 5.16 |
| tomatoes | 2.15 | 3.98 | 8.57 |
| garlic | 0.00 | 22.98 | 0.00 |
| 319.18 | |||
| lime | 9.00 | ||
| celery plants | 1.39 | ||
| water | 5.00 | ||
| seeds | 14.00 | ||
| 29.39 | |||
| benefit minus costs | 289.79 |
April 2012
| produce | weight kg/# packs | retail | value |
| alfalfa | 1.00 | 2.15 | 2.15 |
| beans | 0.07 | 9.99 | 0.66 |
| beetroot | 0.55 | 3.99 | 2.19 |
| lemon | 0.13 | 3.98 | 0.51 |
| capsicum green | 13.00 | 1.79 | 23.27 |
| capsicum red | 7.00 | 1.47 | 10.29 |
| courgette | 0.30 | 4.99 | 1.52 |
| parsley | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| mesclun | 5.00 | 3.50 | 17.50 |
| kaffir lime | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| spring onion | 0.25 | 1.79 | 0.45 |
| apples | 1.91 | 1.99 | 3.81 |
| peaches | 3.11 | 3.99 | 12.40 |
| rosemary | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| sage | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| silverbeet | 1.00 | 2.79 | 2.79 |
| thyme | 2.00 | 2.99 | 5.98 |
| basil | 2.00 | 2.99 | 5.98 |
| oregano | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| tomatoes | 0.29 | 3.98 | 1.13 |
| bay leaves | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| 108.57 | |||
| water | 5.00 | ||
| seeds | 8.97 | ||
| 13.97 | |||
| benefit minus costs | 94.60 |
May 2012
| produce | weight kg/# packs | retail | value |
| alfalfa | 2.00 | 2.15 | 4.30 |
| rhubarb | 0.62 | 6.99 | 4.32 |
| beetroot | 0.20 | 3.99 | 0.80 |
| capsicum green | 4.00 | 3.99 | 15.96 |
| capsicum red | 5.00 | 3.99 | 19.95 |
| courgette | 0.40 | 10.98 | 4.40 |
| mesclun | 4.00 | 4.15 | 16.60 |
| kaffir lime | 2.00 | 2.99 | 5.98 |
| apples | 2.44 | 3.48 | 8.50 |
| rosemary | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| sage | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| silverbeet | 3.00 | 2.99 | 8.97 |
| thyme | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| basil | 1.00 | 2.99 | 2.99 |
| 101.74 | |||
| Costs | 0.00 | ||
| benefit minus costs | 101.74 |
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