Paeonies or Peonies? Doesn’t matter, they’re still pretty

Things I learnt about paeonies today:

• The peony rose will guzzle through water like no other cut flower. A vase with only five peony stems can drink up to one litre of water every day.
• In New Zealand, they’re only in season for about 10 weeks and that window of opportunity is here.
• This feathered rose needs a frost to grow so they are mainly grown in cooler climates. A cold frost will help set the buds in the ground, encourage stem strength, and even affects the colour quality of the peony.
• If you want your cut peonies to open sooner, put them in warm water or in an area that gets lots of sun. If you prefer your peonies to last the distance, keep them in cold water and place them in cooler areas.
• Originally from China, the peony has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese art as a symbol of riches and honour.
• For the Japanese, peonies are a common subject in male tattoos. Used in conjunction with other motifs, connoting elements of strength such as tigers and dragons, peonies became a masculine symbol associated with a ‘bad boy’ attitude.
• And the New Zealand Paeony Society has a new website with great peony cultivation information, upcoming events and links.

Spring Bloom: Phytoplankton

Plankton is the key to ocean life.  Phytoplankton convert energy from sunlight into food for tiny animals called zooplankton. These in turn become food for larger animals.

They also provide nearly half of the earth’s atmospheric oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When they die, they sink to the ocean floor where the carbon they took from the atmosphere is stored for thousands of years.

In spring, more light penetrates the surface waters and phytoplankton grow rapidly, reaching a peak in New Zealand around September and October.

Off the east coast of New Zealand, cold rivers of water that have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past the South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south past the North Island. The surface waters of this meeting place are New Zealand’s most biologically productive. This image of the area on October 25, 2009, from the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the basis for that productivity: large blooms of plantlike organisms called phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton use chlorophyll and other pigments to absorb sunlight for photosynthesis, and when they grow in large numbers, they change the way the ocean surface reflects sunlight. Caught up in eddies and currents, the blooms create intricate patterns of blues and greens that spread across thousands of square kilometers of the sea surface.

Photo Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response/Jeff Schmaltz. Caption Credit: Rebecca Lindsey, NASA Earth Observatory.

To learn more about New Zealand’s plankton, visit Te Ara – the encyclopaedia of New Zealand

Growing magic beans

To me, seeds are mini miracles. When I hold them in my hand I get terribly excited by all that potential inside them. And eating something that grew from a little seed I planted and nurtured is simply incredible.

Some seeds themselves taste delicious and some just look beautiful – some are both. I have twenty varieties of different beans at home and no two look the same – spotted, speckled, stripey and squiggly in a range of colours, shapes and sizes.

If you’ve never dabbled in the wonders of seeds, beans are a great place to start. They’re keen beans, they grow fast. Satisfyingly so. They’re easy – soak them overnight in some warm water, then direct sow them into your garden keeping them moist. In seven days you should see them coming up. Be vigilant for slugs though!

Magic beans

Our modern beans are derived from plants that once grew wild in Central and South America. But we’ve been cultivating beans for ages and archaeologists have found traces of domesticated types that date back more than 7000 years. Heirloom gardeners have hundreds of varieties of bean to choose from. So I’m just going to focus on a few of my favourite shelled beans, all available in New Zealand, some of which have been available through Seedy Sunday.

Generosity: The other part of the how much to plant equation

I always hear about people so sick of zucchini at that certain time of year.  Stories about sneaking it into muffins and scrambling to find as many uses as possible until they’re thoroughly sick of the sight of it. Then they do the same thing later with something else – silverbeet for example. Sound familiar?

What I can’t work out is why they simply don’t give it away. Or at least trade it for something else. 90% of New Zealand’s vegetables get bought at supermarkets – they can’t tell me everyone they know has a glut of zucchinis. If that’s the truth, they need to get out and meet more people.

So my big piece of advice is grow what you can. If it’s more than you can eat then give it away. Be generous – people will love you for it. Leave big bouquets of salad leaves on people’s doorsteps. Send herb clippings to your neighbour. Take your broccoli seedlings to work. Give your left over lemons to the food bank. Take your spare beans to Seedy Sunday. Trade some of those zucchinis for some new potatoes with the gardener down the road.

I do all these things regularly and I want to do them more. I love it. It makes me feel great. It makes me feel part of my community and it stops me from feeling isolated or sad. People love it and I feel like a better person. It’s a win win win situation.

Don’t be scared of planting too much – just don’t let your extras go to waste.

The 30% rule: How much should I plant?

Rachel asked me how I knew how much of anything to plant. We were talking about how all the published advice we had both seen on the topic was, work out what you eat each week and start from there ie 2 lettuce per week, plant 2 every week.

But neither of us plan our meals with that much detail. I plan mine around what I have available or how I feel at a particular time. I’m a big foodie, I love food and working around these things is just the way I like to do it. Can’t think of anything worse than coming up with weekly meal plans. Screw it, I’m just not that organised, nor want to be.

My rule of thumb for planting amounts was taught to me by my parents and applies to any farming – plan for 30% stock loss.

30% has served me well. Punnet of 6 seedlings, I’m likely to lose a plant or two and/or have them some under-perform – be it by pestilence, disease, weather or forgetting about them (yeah, it does happen). If I plant just one bean seedling, chances are I won’t see anything off it. So, I plant 3 instead.

For seed sowing I add another 30%. I plant 30% more seed then I expect to grow. Some won’t germinate, some will be pricked out and some I will lose by natural attrition.

This isn’t a scientific formula but it has done me well over the years. How do you plan how much to grow in your garden? Do you plan everything in detail? Do you do complex maths equations based on dietary requirements? Let us know in the comments.

It should be renamed Hard Labour Weekend

I ache. My hands, my arms, my legs, my torso, my ass, my toenails  – they all hurt. I have so much dirt encrusted in my hands and face,  it may be mistaken for a tan when I return to work tomorrow. If I make it that far. I’ve fallen asleep on the couch the last two nights and been put to bed by 9.30pm.  But I’ve managed to get a heap done.

Everything is looking amazing. The raised beds are teeming with plantlife.  Seeds, seedlings and sprouts adorn nearly every surface of the house. And best of all we have a new forest garden…but more on that when I get my strength back. Roast chicken dinner with friends should help. And tomorrow it’s back to work, slowly.

Cavolo nero, lettuce and purple sage all getting along really well

Globe artichokes mixed with verbenas, heliotrope & pretty blue flowers

A couple of square metres of barley growing in an old vegetable bed

Chives, rocket, marigolds, alyssum and carrots are living it up in the raised beds

Separate mesclun bed is about to give us the first crop - 2 more coming

I finally got the strawberries into their proper bed with some pyrethrum daisies

A lot of green leafy things are coming out of the main vege bed with garlic at the end

Edible landscaping

A big yay for whoever planted the roadside verge in Plimmerton, near Wellington. They’ve done a fantastic job with big, colourful Swiss chard, calendula and parsley. It looks amazing and completely edible. There is the issue of a highway right next to it so I don’t know if you would actually want to eat anything out of that garden. But if this was located somewhere else, it would be a fantastic resource for the community.

I love edible plants in landscaping.

Five things that have annoyed the snot out of me lately

1 – Can it just stop raining already? We’re one month into spring and it feels like it’s rained more than the entire winter.

2 – Allergies. My nose is so red that I look like I’ve been bingeing on whiskey all winter. I’m sniveling like a terribly snively thing and pseudo-ephedrine is now one of the most controlled substances in New Zealand.

3 – National minister Gerry Brownlee is fronting an agenda to allow mining New Zealand’s conservation lands. How are more people not more upset about this? New Zealand’s green image is about to go completely undermined! They are aware that one of our major earners is tourism, right?

4 – National minister Steven Joyce has this completely divide and conquer campaign trying to get an expressway built through Kapiti and has completely torn a community apart. It’s unsustainable, it’s unrealistic and it’s unethical – putting the interests of the transport industry before all else.

5 – I continue to rage against agapanthus. Ugly, snail-ridden blights on the landscape.

There… that should do me for awhile. Now back to the pretty things…

Nuts

Yesterday, we lost a dear friend. Today, we adopted a macadamia. A hard old nut with soft and buttery centre that has a bit of a gammy ankle.

We’ve called him Alphonse and he lives at the bottom of our garden.

RIP AK Goss xx

We will miss you terribly.

Am I just providing safe-harbour to an enemy?

I couldn’t help but bring it home. It’s just so pretty!

Cytisus ‘Lilac time’ (Cytisus scoparius) is an evergreen shrub with very small leaves. Lilac-pink pea flowers adorn the bush in spring. I bought it in full-flower. It dazzled me with its charms. I failed to notice that it was in fact, a broom.

There are some good things to say about broom. They’re drought-tolerant and colonise disturbed and poorer soils, improving the soil; broom is leguminous, part of the Fabaceae family, and nitrogen-fixing. Broom stops erosion on hillsides. It’s a great food source for butterfly larvae. The flowers can be eaten in a salad. Don’t forget the prettiness!

On the very big downside, New Zealand has major problems with broom and its close cousin gorse (Ulex). Stock won’t eat it and it shades out pasture. It produces up to 30,000 seeds per square metre, every year. It outgrows saplings, effectively destroying crops of plantation trees and therefore is a major burden to the forestry industry. Apparently, only Pinus radiata can grow fast enough to compete with broom and tolerate the harsh herbicide treatments needed to treat sites infested with it. (I have major issues with Pinus radiata…but that’s a whole other post). So yeah, major problem for New Zealand. We’ve even started bringing in biological control agents to try to counter the spread.

So despite the fact that my pretty little shrub’s cousins are terrorising the country, I’ve provided a safe and loving home for this little one. He’ll only last for about 5 years. I will be watching it carefully though and chopping it back regularly to stop it seeding. I’ve planted it next to an outdoor seat framed by pittoporums, at the front of the house. Having it where I can see it every day, I’ll remember to keep it inline and not allow it to open up another invasion-front.

A note on New Zealand broom

New Zealand has a genus of its own broom called Carmichaelia. They are in the same Fabaceae family as the European species, but far-distant cousins.  There are about 20 varieties.

Am I just providing safe-harbour to an enemy? Pretty vs Plague – let me know your thoughts…

Maara Kai project ‘sowing seeds of potential’

Setting up a maara kai (community garden) is an act of reclaiming Māori culture, self-reliance, and rangatiratanga, according to Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of a New Zealand programme to promote community gardens on marae and Māori community projects. 250 eligible maara kai can get grants of up to $2,000 to buy tools and composting equipment, or to build garden beds and implement sheds. The programme is a joint venture between Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Waka Kai Ora, the Māori organic food collective. Gardens must be non-commercial, to benefit a local Māori community.

Dr Sharples said the $500,000 Maara Kai programme achieves many outcomes at once.

“On the most immediate level it will result in measurable benefits in terms of healthy produce to eat. But there are other, less-tangible but just as significant benefits – healthy outdoor activity, and learning the skills of planting, growing, harvesting and storing fruit and vegetables.

Community and social benefits – a network of friends, people with knowledge passing it on to those who are keen to learn, crops to share amongst whānau, and the satisfaction of cooking and eating food we have grown ourselves.

All the activities involved in setting up, tending and harvesting maara kai bring us closer together and help us to remember the teachings of our tīpuna and the way they live. Our tīpuna worked together, they shared what they had, and they ensured younger generations were equipped with survival skills. This made them strong enough to survive the challenges of their world.

It is about encouraging collective responsibility for our health and wellbeing, while at the same time preserving our respect for our whenua, our land – the ultimate expression of kaitiakitanga.”

Human urine and wood ash make potent sustainable fertilisers

Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers.

Read more at Science Daily

Link lovage

Handy little chart of how to store your fruit and vegetables.

Amazing things you can do with 500,000 dahlias.

There are new White House kitchen garden videos.

Edible Geography has a day out with mushrooms grown in an old railway tunnel.

Victory gardens in bomb craters?

Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire now on TV

Kapiti Community Food Forest

Inspired by Geoff Lawton’s Establishing a Food Forest, a group has got together to explore the potential of food forest gardening on the Kapiti Coast. Our vision is to build a community food forest garden for Kapiti.

Planned, planted and maintained by the community, the forest garden will serve as an education resource, plant nursery, seed bank, outdoor community centre, meeting point and food bank. Accessible to all, the area will become an edible landscape with walkways and glades, natural in look but designed with our needs for sustenance and play. A living repository for the future, in the heart of our community.

We’ve been doing a lot of talking, thinking, researching and come up with a document that we think encompasses the project’s heart. Now, we need some input and some support from you.

Have a read of the Kapiti Community Food Forest Proposal
Please do send us an email answering the following questions:

1. Do you support in principle the establishment of a community food forest in Kapiti?

2. Would you be willing to be part of a group of volunteers that is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a Kapiti community food forest ?

3. Do you have any resources (land or money) you would be willing to donate to help to establish the Kapiti community food forest?

Food Forest Gardening Intro

First in a series looking at wonderful world of food forests, or forest gardening.

A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a productive and organic garden modeled on the ecosystem of a forest. Species are selected to create a stable, functioning environment that fulfill the needs of the gardeners by producing fruits, berries, vegetables, herbs, seeds and other useful plant material.

Each plant performs many multiple roles within the system – promoting growth of other plants, inhibiting weeds, shelter, mulch, pest control, bird food, cross-pollination, attracting beneficial insects and of course providing food, medicine and utility plants for community use.

Food forests are:
- consciously designed using permaculture principles which mimic natural systems;
- multi-layered – trees and shrubs grow surrounded by a herbaceous layer, root crops, vines;
- perennial – plants grow every year without replanting;
- highly productive;
- biodiverse;
- beautiful;
- self-renewing;
- self-fertilising;
- once established, can be low-maintenance.

Wellington’s gone all planty

Well, I guess it is spring.

One of the things I love about this city is how green it is. Not the city city but the hills surrounding it – houses peaking out from amongst the trees, it looks incredible. Love it. And then there’s the Karori Wildlife  Sanctuary and Otari Wilton Bush that are incredible conservation areas just 10 minutes from the city centre.

Anyway, the point of all this was to let you know about DOC’s Conservation Week, the Wellington Spring Festival including the tulip displays at the Botanic Gardens. Wellington Botanic Society are exploring the mysteries of lancewood at their September talk (despite two years of trying, I haven’t made it to a single event of there’s…I will keep trying).

And don’t forget Seedy Sunday in Kapiti on September 20. A chance to swap your seeds, plants and produce and learn a little about gardening and about your local community. Brooklyn Transition Towns also have a seed swap that day.

Seedy Sunday is next Sunday – September 20, 2pm – new venue!

Hoping to see you next Sunday! Because things have got a little bit tight lately, with SS becoming so popular, we’ve now had to move to a bigger venue – the Paraparaumu Memorial Hall on the corner of Tutanekai and Aorangi Sts. Click here to see it on Google Maps.

This month, Dave Johnston will be talking to us about Effective Microorganisms (EM). The concept of EM was developed by Japanese horticulturist Teruo Higa, from Japan. He reported in the 1970s that a combination of approximately 80 different microorganisms is capable of positively influencing decomposing organic matter such that it reverts into a ‘life promoting’ process. So essentially, we are talking about putting life back into our soil and growing healthier, nutrient-dense food.

The swap table has been huge! It’s fantastic to see such a variety of plants being grown in the area. Bring along any of seeds, produce or plants you have to swap.

This month, you may want to remember to bring some cash as there will also be a bit more of a sales table with books from Levin Soil & Health, Earth Whisperers/Papatuanuku DVDs, some Bokashi buckets and other EM.

I have to say a huge thanks Pat at the Kapiti Community Centre for looking after us so well. We are so lucky to have such great facilities available here.  I’ve also been very grateful for the support of the Kapiti Observer, Levin Soil & Health, Sam, Andrew, Jo, Sharon, Pam and Richard, as well as you all for making Seedy Sunday such a great event. Let’s do it all again this Sunday!

Rocket Farming

Now that I’ve managed to make it successfully through winter, I can look back and say yes, it was a breeze! Truthfully, I’m not a fan. Living in temperate climates, I’m sure you get more colds, flus and generally nastiness than you do elsewhere. It’s these middling bits where one minute you’re warm, the next you’re freezing. Bug central.

One thing that keeps me happy over winter are my bonsai rocket gardens. Leaving the house for work when it’s dark and getting home in the some disposition, doesn’t allow time for garden therapy. So I’ve been bringing it inside. I spread them on to paper towels on an ice cream container lid, sprinkle water over it once a day and here in winter it usually takes 4 – 6 days to have yumminess. Then I just use them in everything.

High in nutrients and vitamins A, B, C and E, rocket (Eruca spp.) rocks over winter. The sprouts add a nice bit of warmth to any vegetable dish. I use them as a side vegetable for just about anything, sprinkle them on my tomato soup, add them to cheese sandwiches.

Living architecture – amazing plant pictures

“Plants are amazing: they provide food, air, medicine, and material with which we can create buildings, furniture, and art. But through an ancient yet obscure craft, still-living plants can themselves be turned into bridges, tables, ladders, chairs, works of art, and even buildings. Known variously as botanical architecture, tree sculpture, tree-shaping, tree-grafting, pooktre, arborsculpture, and arbortecture, the craft is, at its essence, construction with living plants.”

See the rest of this incredible photo article at Dark Roasted Blend

Fruit and vegetable washing

Lately,  I’ve noticed more ads for fruit and vegetable washes to get rid of nasties like pesticides and fungicides. I wash produce thoroughly when I get it home from the supermarket (I don’t live out of my garden alone).  And while I’ve generally been satisfied by this,  it may be a good idea to step it up. But, I’m not prepared to buy expensive sprays to do it. Lifehacker, and Re-Nest step in to provide more info for the clean and frugally-minded:

A produce wash has just enough kick to it to more effectively cleanse the surface of the fruit and wash away contamination.

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 20 drops grapefruit seed extract (available at your local health food store or you can substitute lemon juice in a pinch)
• Combine all ingredients and transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce (avoid using on mushrooms), let sit 5 to 10 minutes and rinse.