This is a FB page dedicated to a local gardeners paradise, a big, empty space we can all contribute to.
If you’re in the neighbourhood and want to be part of this, then get in touch with Charmaine.
Getting the most out
So here’s a patch of the vege garden that’s gotten out of control. Believe it or not there are lettuces in there, and they’re doing badly.
The key thing is that up here in the wind your iceberg lettuce is well-named. It will sink any damn hope you have. Salad lettuce, mind you, is a win. Loose-leaved, lighter and less bulky.
I was determined therefore to save these ones.
I dragged out the low trellis dividers and stacked them to one side.
Then I got in there and turned the whole lot over. Heavy work with this pesky clay. I treated all the weeds in there are green mulch. Should have added more compost than I did, but there were trouble at mill.
Next, I hammered the trellis back in with the mallet you can see above.
Then I replanted all the salad lettuce, and mulched with pea straw.
Voila. Ready for another crop like last year.We didn’t need to buy lettuce at all from mid-December all the way through to about April.
I have some time next week, so will clear a little of the mulch out of the way and side-dress with compost.
A little bit of background
With Spring starting to roll around, ever so slowly roll round, I popped out into the garden and took a few snaps of the Manor.
Here’s the peach tree. A few blossoms there, which is a big improvement on last year.
I put this raised bed in last year for the berries. We have red and blackcurrants, and some less-than successful blueberries. i might let them go a bit wild this year, and next year we should have some much bigger bushes to take fruit from.
The bed itself is a relatively claggy soil dragged up from another part of the site, I I’ve been digging holes and burying bokashi in there. I should darken the whole lot up nicely over time.
Here’s the jury rigged wind break I put together for what will hopefully become the tomato bed. We had some pretty big winds over the past couple of days and it’s still standing, so I should be able to get some tomatoes into the ground this weekend if the weather permits.
And the only real pride and joy, the garlic patch. It’s coming along nicely. To the left is a concrete platform that shelters from the wind, to the left a small trellis doing the same. I’ve mulched with cocoa husks, and put a fair dose of wood ash onto it.
I just this week used the last bulb of garlic from last year, and this crop should be much larger. My theory is that anything that grows underground should be OK up here in Newlands…
Extreme gardening
If there is anything more crushing than the on-going failures associated with gardening the Northern Suburbs, I’ve yet to find it.
You pour your heart and soul into projects destroyed overnight by gigantic slugs, a raised bed that became a smorgasbord for the wee nasties, or you love a plant until it roots properly, only for the next big gale force wind to destroy it.
Welcome to Wellington, the graveyard of many a home improvement project.
In North Facing, Che and Kimberley will document our on-going battles with the elements at Newlands Manor and Helston Heights, two fixer-upper homes. You’ll see blood and tears, epic battles against wind and rain, colossal victories in the face of overwhelming odds.
Until one of us gives in and just buys a stinking great glasshouse in the last great ‘EFF OFF” to Tawhirimatea
