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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sunday morning chores

I planted garlic, cut the door in the cob oven and harvested the mountain cabbage tree seeds.
Amongst a dozen other enjoyable tasks.
Such as wheel-barrowing fresh seaweed and linseed-oiling my dried cow-pat.



4 comments:

Shunda barunda said...

Mountain cabbage tree is one plant I haven't grown yet, is it Cordyline indivisa or banksii?

Have you grown it before? I have been told that the seedlings are quite susceptible to damping off.

I have found a couple of hybrid forest/normal cabbage trees, like a big flax with a trunk!!

robertguyton said...

Indivisa. I have banksii also but it suffers from amnesia, and it seems there's no cure but to chuck it out :-)
I've grown a few indivisa and didn't notice any problem. My worry is that they'll have crossed with any of the 5 other varieties I've got growing here (Kermedec etc.) and will grow ragged. It's happened before here, but after a few years the resulting cabbage tree can become interesting, following a few years of doubt.
It would be best to collect seed from an area of natural toii, but I'm happy to wait and see what comes of these. The berries are a brilliant colour.

Anonymous said...

What do you do with the dry cabbage tree leaves Robert? I'm itching to find a good mulch or composting use (am using them for kindling at the moment). They say you can't do anything with them, but the odd one I've put in the worm farm disappears...

robertguyton said...

I'm thatching my lurkim with them, wildcrafty and that uses up quite a lot of them, with all the overlapping required.
As mulch and compost, they all disappear eventually, so long as there's enough fresh, 'green' material and some manure to fire it all up. I've got about 40 cabbage trees and have no problem with the leaves. Mostly, I let them lie where they fall, but in my forest garden, it matters not one whit.