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| The gooseberry and I |
The days of very hot weather have worked their magic on all of the seeds I sowed during this first quarter of the month. I've got spinach, peas and beans, corn, corn salad and lettuces galore, plus tray after tray of this and that from unnamed packets, jars and tins - who knows what they will become, but they've got their heads above the soil surface now, and they're going for gold in the humid atmosphere. The wind's come up now though, and the seedlings I've transplanted out into the wild world are getting a bit of a working over, but that's only natural and they'll be the better for it, if they survive intact. I don't generally like to grow anything in a pot, but I've made an exception for a single Cape gooseberry that sits resplendent in a large glazed terracotta pot at the eastern end of the tunnel house. I spoil it terribly, feeding it specially warmed draughts of liquid feed brewed from comfrey. It's positively glowing with good health, as they say, and will soon be growling, 'Feed me!' and sending out writhing tendrils that will lie innocently at ankle-level...
Between afternoon tea and dinner, I swept my sickle around beneath the plum trees and laid to rest vast expanses of cow parsley, alexanders and cock'sfoot, all of which will dry to a herb-straw on which I might lie, should I need a rest on Christmas day. I ought to wear a glove on my sickle hand - occasionally I strike a cut-stem and puncture my palm, or, as I did a couple of days ago, hook into a blackberry vine, embedding a thorn or three. Unfortunately, the thorn I collected then, slid under the side of my thumb nail and remains safe from the probing needle, while at the same time, firing-up my immune system and it's hot-redness and pus response. Probably more than you needed to know. I'll probe on.
12 comments:
It's all natives for me Robert, cabbage trees, flax, taupata, by the hundreds.
Almost ready for Kowhai sowing (mid-late Jan) and my pet project of re-establishing northern rata will be boosted by a heavy flowering this year. I am hoping Southern rata will follow suit.
The desecration of my favourite rata spot will ensure I sow twice as much seed as usual!!
I have been thinking of Riverton and our trip this time last year, we had such a great time.
There is so much more to life than politics and the division it brings, we need to be united by the legends of our land.
I should mention that my brother does a good deal of the seed sowing (just in case he reads this blog! :) )
Sow, Shunda - that's what you've been up to!
Good to hear. I had some luck after collecting soil from beneath a wineberry in order to sprout the seed that had fallen into it. Sitting in the tunnel house and receiving regular watering, seedlings sprouted by the score, but not wineberry! Tiny versions of a nearby native, name unknown, poked their little heads up and now I'm pricking out merrily. The parent tree is one I bought from a Nelson nursery 13 years ago and have not seen elsewhere. No seedlings grew beneath the parent, ever, so I'm getting ideas about other trees and their potential. I'll take a photo. Maybe you could identify it for me.
RG, you have got me Green - with envy. We're struggling to establish a garden in a VERY exposed site.
The snow over winter may have assisted keeping the pests down, but the wind in spring was so severe it was snapping stems and uprooting whole plants. Apart from the wind it has been a very good spring growing season, the best since we've been there I think.
Ouch on the hand. Have you considered upgrading to a small scythe to keep your hands out of the way? I've used my Grandfathers original occasionally that he used to harvest with. Great fun and it keeps your hands clear of damage - just have to watch your ankles!
Paranormal
para - I sympathise with you and your wind issues - shelter is everything!
As to the scythe, I have several, including a new Austrian super-scythe that cuts like a hot knife through butter, but so closely planted is my jungle, that I'd be forever snicking good things off at the base. My sickle allows me to be at the level where I can see stuff and not fell it. The prickle seems to be settling in, going deeper probably, getting into my blood stream and heading toward my heart :-) (Do needles really do that? Drift with the bloodstream, or as that something my needle-averse mother told me to make me put the needles away after I'd used them, rather than leave them lying on the carpet?)
The season here, btw, has been a cracker, though it's very dry presently.
About a decade ago, we enlarged our existing deck, working around our gorgeous cabbage-tree. Since then we have a love-hate relationship with it..those fronds..what a pain..apparently the lawn-mower doesn't like them, and the mulcher just copes.
Paranormal..can empathise with wind issues living atop a Wellington hill!
Suz, rake them up, tie into bundles (with one of the strips) and once dry use as kindling for your fire.
Thanks Shunda, my man has done that during winter, and they do work quite well as kindling...hope the kids you're educating are enjoying the process...good on you for passing on your knowledge.
Suz, great kindling as Shunda says, but don't let them anywhere near the mower, and check the mulcher bearings. The fronds are lethal on bearings - which I found out the hard - and expensive - way. They mince into very thin but hard string and work their way in to hidden places and quietly and efficiently munt the bearing.
RULE - pick up ALL fronds BEFORE mowing/mulching.
I'm surprised they don't just blow away on one of your Wellington zephyrs, Suz!
Fred's 'bearing' comment is true too. No problem for me though - my sickle is bearing-free.
But 'fronds'?
I'd have said 'leaves'. Nga rau ti kouka. Huruhuru ranei.
Fred.. you so right...even one or two screws up our mower/mulcher.
Fronds/leaves regardless, little buggers whatever they're called, but my favourite, aesthetically pleasing native, well worth the trouble :)
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