Gardening Update

It has been an interesting season in the garden, full of surprises (the best being a super crop of Cape gooseberries that I didn't even plant!). The beans are plentiful, the yellow beans winning in number against the green and the scarce purple. I planted cucumbers for the first time in my life, but got only two and a half (the other half too skinny to eat), but they tasted great and I hope to do better next year.

And I am still picking potatoes, another crop that I don't exactly plant: I just trow peels around the garden and they keep sprouting again, all year round!

One of my favourite discovery is that it is better to plant radishes in a pot. The fact is that we don't need so many, so it is silly to dedicate an entire bed to them and have 50 radishes ready to eat all at once! I plant 4-5 seeds at the time, and plant them again when I collect the ones I need. If you don't have a garden you may like this solution too :-).

It has been a bad year for zucchini. Usually I plant a green and a yellow, and collect more than I need for a family of four, but this year, a part from a promising beginning, I only got about 20 zucchini, and then the plants died! I talked with some friends in the area, and they all told me that they had the same experience. I love to hear from anyone who live in the Auckland area, who can explain me what has happened!

On the other hand it has been a great year for tomatoes. I only put down three plants: cherry, round and plum tomatoes, and they are all doing well. Plus I got another dozen plants that self-seeded from last year, and they are producing too, without my intervention!

I started to get my first broccolini, they may take space, but it is one of my favourite vegetables! Also after I cut the main heads I leave the plants in the garden, and then I pick up the little heads that grow on the stalks.

I didn't plant strawberries, but the old plants keep producing! Everyday a get an handful, enough for the lunch boxes, or the morning cereals. But only from the plants that are very close to the house! The others get eaten by birds, rats, opossums and slugs! I will need more strategic planting next year!

Enough for now, I'll have more vegetables to talk about next time, when I get a chance to photograph them.

Also a reminder about the February giveaway:
to win this Japanese set click here.








Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©