I am creating a diary of my visits starting with my first visit on Friday 12th of December.
The plot certainly needs some feeding with organic material but all the plants that are growing are looking healthy. The tall plant in the centre of the picture is a swan plant Gomphocarpus physocarpus and is a species of milkweed originating from south east Africa. Most of the common names have been inspired from the swelling bladder-like seed capsules.
We had planted this swan plant after it had a season in a pot and I thought it wouldn't have survived. We bought it in the first place to encourage monarch butterflies into the garden.
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| Rather bizarre close up but you can see why In New Zealand the seed capsule has given the plant it's name "Swan Plant" - the long attachment to the stalk can look like the long neck of a swan. Outside of NZ it is called Balloon plant and Bishop's Balls! |
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| This photo was taken in winter and because it had been trimmed back months earlier it formed a tidy mound. The split frame also shows the close up of the leaves. |
I thought first job would be to trim the Vietnamese mint saving some of the parsley seed heads for new parsley plants in the future. Parsley has an umbel flower(shaped like an umbrella) so it's particularly good to let parsley flower. Umbel flowers are a favourite habitat for predator insects that will keep your destructive pests at bay.
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| Parsley Petroselinum crispum going to seed. |
Then I spotted the two Monarch chrysalis...
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| Like jewels the Monarch chrysalis or cocoons are very distinctive and often predated by wasps. |
Any trimming back will have to wait for the Monarchs to hatch. And on Sunday 14th of December they did.
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| Our friend Chris captured the Monarchs on camera on Sunday. |
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| This is a view of the garden plot from the back |
Maintenance for this plant is to keep it trimmed and it will keep producing. I find it often wants to send up flower shoots. I just break off the flowering stalks to keep the plant producing a good quantity of leaves.
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| A close up of a young Wild Italian Arugula |
At the bottom right corner I planted a Wild Italian Arugula Diplotaxis tenuifolia/muralis. This is a perennial rocket that has a stronger leaf structure than the softer annual rocket so it's particularly good on pizzas. As the annual rocket runs to seed very quickly, a perennial rocket is especially good to have in the garden for a year round supply of these spicy leaves. It too will send up long flower stems with the typical brassica cross shaped flower in a pretty yellow. I advised Rafe to pick the flowers for use in a salad but not to allow it to set seed as it's best if the plant concentrates on producing new leaves. This should eventually take over this corner of the garden.
Beside the Rocket I have planted a couple of left over Borlotto Fire Tongue beans Phaseolus vulgaris. These beans have been grown from Kings Seeds and are strong healthy plants that should grow to a height of 40 cm. They will be fun for Rafe to follow their progress and colourful fruiting and its good to have beans in the garden as nitrogen fixers.
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| A closer shot on the left side of the garden |
We also planted two mystery tomato plants that were leftovers from gardeners at our community garden but hopefully the three will produce a variety of fruit eventually. One of the seedlings is a little weak so I will seek out a seedling that may be a better option.
It was a drizzly soft day but Rafe remained enthusiastic despite the weather and had many questions. The heavy rain over the weekend will feed the soil with water. Rate is keen to start mulching with plant material from their chipper, some dried off lawn clippings and a small sprinkling of fresh grass clippings. This garden certainly needs more organic material in order to hold water. Otherwise it is going to be a daily task trying to keep water up to the plants. Each plant was planted with half a handful of Biofert with added trace elements and a handful of compost from a bag to give them a good start. The whole bed was sprinkled with Biofert and watered into the soil.
Next visit I plan to replace the weakest link in the tomato line with an identified tomato called "Gardeners Delight". It's an English favourite and can grow to 2 metres height and the tomatoes are tangy full flavoured large cherry tomatoes.
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| This tomato "Gardeners Delight" was a very successful tomato for fellow community gardener VJ so I took up the offer of his spare plants this year for Rafe's garden. |
Saturday 20 December
Rafe has been maintaining the garden well, particularly mulching with lawn clippings and some woody shredded materials.
We planted a healthy tomato seedling called Good Gardener. You can see how well mulched the soil is.
We planted some of my basil seedlings and in the background is the netting set up to keep the birds from digging up small seedlings like these.
We also planted some small seedlings of cardinal beet (red stemmed beet) so not sure how they will survive with Rafe leaving for the holidays today. I look forward to my next visit to see how the vegetable patch has progressed, especially with the dry weather we have experienced this summer.
Friday January 30 2015
It's the first time I have returned to see Rafe's garden in 2015. Considering the amount of time that he has been away over the summer I was very pleased to see that most plants had survived the dry weather. The mulch Rafe put on the garden has certainly helped but the soil underneath is dry and crumbly and not holding any moisture, so his most important job now is to get water into the soil.
Friday January 30 2015
It's the first time I have returned to see Rafe's garden in 2015. Considering the amount of time that he has been away over the summer I was very pleased to see that most plants had survived the dry weather. The mulch Rafe put on the garden has certainly helped but the soil underneath is dry and crumbly and not holding any moisture, so his most important job now is to get water into the soil.
The tall plants, swan plants, are growing really well and now have lots of swan like seedpods as below.
The sorrel is looking very healthy despite the dry weather.
However we have only had one of our cardinal (red stemmed) beets survive. They were tiny seedlings so the odds of survival were always going to be low that without rain over Christmas.
Two basils are just surviving and haven't made much growth but water should remedy that. They weren't drooping - just not growing very fast.
The thyme is looking a little stressed by the telltale yellowing of leaves. I noticed the new growth is a better colour so it could mean that this plant needs feeding with some fertiliser or that it is just showing us how stressful a summer it has been for it. I suggested to Rafe he sprinkle some of the Pacific Biofert fertiliser I brought last time around the base of the thyme and water in.
The three tomato varieties are growing slowly with only a couple of fruit evident. The foliage is healthy looking and Rafe is going to put in some taller stakes. I showed him how to trim the lower leaves rather than to cut off at the stem to avoid any disease getting into the stalk of the tomato plant. It's important to let the sun access the fruit in order that the fruit ripen. Once watered these
plants should start producing more fruit. There shouldn't be any shortage of bees to pollinate the tomato flowers as there are two beehives on the property.
The Vietnamese Mint or Coriander was rather leggy and the leaves old which makes the plant not that edible, so I decided to give it a good haircut and hope that new growth will spring forth next time I visit ... as long as it gets a good watering. If it doesn't regrow in the centre then we will dig it up and just replant some of the new growth that's occurring around the edge of the plant. It does grow into a lovely mound shape that will give a nice form to the garden bed.
I also cut down the large parsley plant that was growing through the Vietnamese mint. All the seeds are ready to be distributed and Rafe is going to spread them in the lower garden where the sun isn't beating in all day. However, its very dry in that lower garden so he may have to ensure that it is kept watered over the summer for them to germinate.
The rocket is looking only a little larger than it did when we planted it but looking healthy.
We discussed what else to grow. He said he was happy to be giving tomatoes a first time try and would be keen for some more basil seedlings as he likes eating basil (yum don't we all?). I agreed to bring him some more basil seedlings and a piece of oregano. I think I will also try to strike a sage cutting. The Rosemary is growing well as is the mint in a separate container.
I also suggested for winter he might like to plant some perpetual beet (often referred to as spinach but it's really a beet). It's softer in texture than silver beet or the red or rainbow beet and can be used when recipes call for spinach.
Rafe will continue to mulch and I will bring some activated EM (Effective Microbes) to encourage more microbial life in the soil. To learn more about this magic potion visit: www.emnz.com
It was an overcast but lovely warm day when I arrived with my basil seedlings grown from seed planted on the 19th of January. Everything looked well except for the tomatoes. With only two fruit still green on two of the plants, I decided it was a waste of time trying to grow such hungry plants as tomatoes without first building up the soil to retain moisture and to be able to feed the fruit.
The herbs all doing well. The Italian Arugula (rocket) looks healthy but still rather small in the far corner of the garden. The thyme in the foreground doing well, so too are the chives in one corner. The sorrel is some of the best sorrel I have seen with no sign of snail damage. The Rosemary is also growing strong. Herbs don't require such rich soils. I am propagating a Suffolk Marjoram to add to the happy herb band and will plant next visit.
The three basils already planted look healthy but have hardly grown in size from my last visit. I showed Rafe how to harvest the basil by taking out the top grouping of leaves so that the plant will branch out and give him more basil. I think these seedlings have fallen victim to a dry summer start with Rafe being away on their first weeks of life. Hopefully these seedlings var. "Sweet Genovese" will prove faster growers. I stressed Rafe will need to keep the water up with this being a raised bed and no rainfall to speak of plus a fine soil that drains really quickly.
Planting the new basil seedlings I really wetted the soil as it was pretty dry where the roots would be.
I also sprinkled a little Pacific Biofert into the trench before planting. The plants have strong roots and according to the Permaculture moon calendar this is a good time to plant leafy greens.
I think the soil will really benefit from an EM inoculation but I have to make sure the soil is wet enough for the microbes to survive. Manure would be great but in Ponsonby is not readily available but Rafe is keen to set up a Bokashi compost system which should attract worms into this garden.
Need to plant some alyssum as a place for beneficial insects like hopper flies and parasitic wasps. They need the flat flower heads to land on.
The red beet hasn't really grown that much and now is only about 20cm high but is looking healthy. I think the EM will assist in creating better root development which should help in the vigour of the plants. I also suggested he find any seaweed and spread over the garden or purchase a seaweed or fish fertiliser he could water onto the garden.
Chris, Rafe's Dad, was really keen on the Borlotto beans that aren't really flourishing as yet but they did have a harvest of four pods. I think this slow progress is due to the slow start to summer followed by extremely dry conditions. The soil definitely needs some feeding so we decided to follow the tomatoes with some broad beans. I will reduce the size of the Vietnamese Mint (that is coming back nicely from the heavy pruning) so that the stems of the Swan Plant will be used as a structure to keep the beans standing straight. Chris loves broad beans too so this is a good choice for the soil and the household. I should also be able to give them some lettuce seedlings when I next visit.
The plot at the bottom of the garden is extremely dry but the lemon balm has managed to survive and there are even new seedlings there. A couple of calendulas have also survived. I am going to try and find some flowers that will live in dry, semi shade conditions that are good for the bees. Foxgloves could be an option.
And my reward for the gardening advice was a precious jar of Chris's honey from the two hives on the property and a jar of Rafe's plum jam from the dark red plums at the bottom of the garden.
Sunday 29 March 2015
The rain of late has certainly helped things especially with a raised bed. I was to plant another aromatic herb and some winter salad plants. But first, the Swan Plant with its dried up seed pods, looked a little scruffy. I am more aware of the creatures living on plants these days after having completed a module at the organic horticulture course on pests and beneficial insects. And look what I found...
Ladybirds have found this a dry and now a safe place to live. Sometimes being tidy can be your undoing as a gardener because that untidiness could be a habitat for a beneficial bug.
The ladybird is a well known gardeners friend as they clean up a lot of the bad guys like aphids, psyllids and scale insects, but funnily enough it's often in their larval form that they can be most effective killers and these are not quite as recognisable as the cute spotty adults.
It just pays not to squash until you know what you are dealing with as that bug could be a helper.
The last of the tomato harvest took my attention admiring this ready to eat tomato that I think was one of the mystery plants I gave Rafe.
Once again I thought I would tidy up the foliage when I spied another creature.
At first I thought it was a cabbage white caterpillar but it was on a tomato plant and it had that line down the side and an arching position on the branch. I decided not to squash it until I least identify it...besides the tomato was on it's last legs anyway.
It's a pest not a treasure. It's a green looper caterpillar Chrysodexis eriosoma - a mature green looper I had terrible trouble at Paget Street growing geraniums due to this fellow. The young guys punch holes in the leaves and I read today geraniums are one of the host plants the Green Looper enjoys. I would painstakingly pick them off my hole ridden geraniums. These caterpillars can also be found on dahlias, salvias, cineraria and plants/weeds in the nightshade family...hence the tomato plant. By the time they get to this size caterpillar they can be devastating to a plant not just making small windows in the leaves but devouring main leaf veins. The adult moths are silver and about 20mm long and you can see them flying in dull days or at dusk often sipping nectar from flowers.
An excellent reference guide to all the pests in your garden is Rob Lucas's "Managing Pests and Diseases - A Handbook for New Zealand Gardeners". It's unfortunately out of print but I'm on the hunt for a copy.
It was time to plant. I had a three Endives Cichorium endivia aka Escarole. Its a curly leafy green that grows well in cooler conditions with a hint of bitter flavours. The bitterness is diminished if the plants are blanched once they get to the rosette stage for 2-4 weeks before harvest. (Blanching not in the cooking sense of the word but covering over so that their won't be any photosynthesising of the leaves and they will whiten. Another way of blanching is to tie together the outer leaves so that the inner leaves miss out on light). Endive is not the taste everyone likes but they are packed with nutrients including vitamin A and C - both really needed in winter.
I also had three Red Mizuna seedlings I grew from seeds from a friend who said it was a great salad plant to have in the garden and if we let it seed then it should keep on popping up. It's lacy decorative leaf is a good colour addition to autumn and winter salads and has that mustard bite that a lot of brassicas have.
The red mizuna is planted close to the Rosemary and the endive replaces a parsley plant that had gone to seed and was dying. The parsley I cut and dropped back onto the soil and spread the seeds around in the hope that new seedlings will pop up soon.
Notice the brown material around the seedlings? I was really pleased to see that Rafe had taken my advice and mulched with some seaweed. The other pleasing discovery was a worm.
Last time there was no sign of a worm in this plot but his regular addition of organic material in the form of mulch from their shredder, the seaweed and now the rain has made it the sort of place that a worm likes to hang out in. You can see that the organic matter is adding texture to the soil.
In the centre along the back of the garden I planted a cutting I took a month ago of Suffolk Marjoram. I brought this up with me from Dunedin and it will grow to produce at least 30cm in height when flowering with dainty purple flowers. The herb is useful in the kitchen and the flowers are important to beneficial insects that will protect this patch and of course the bees will love it. The few blooms of the Italian Arugala (Rocket) are the only flowers for the bees at this time of the year to gather nectar in this plot and it was buzzing with activity. We need to introduce more flowers to this patch and I am hoping the calendula that is struggling a little takes off after this rain. I did have to cut back 50% of the flowers though to encourage new fresh growth of the Arugala for picking. It's a perennial but all the same wants to flower to increase it's number.
I had placed the upturned pot in the plot to see if I could catch any slugs and snails but upon lifting up I discovered first a dead monarch caterpillar and beyond it a spider frozen just looking at me. I gently returned the pot because a spider is a good hunter to have in your garden. Unfortunately predators do not know what caterpillars we do want in our garden and those we don't. Either side of the pot I planted two Musselburgh leeks leftover from my planting.
The Vietnamese Mint/Coriander has recovered well from my harsh pruning last month. I was doing some tidying around the edges when I spied a couple of Monarch caterpillars that had survived the spider web. Funny to see them both on this plant and no in the swan plant.
I can't get over how slowly the beet is growing. Beet does need quite a fertile soil but this seedling is look healthy enough - its just not thriving. Same with the basil when I compare to what is happening in my garden plot at the Community Gardens.
Rafe needs to nip out the top set of leaves on all the basil plants to encourage more growth. Hopefully it will remain warm enough for a few more weeks for the basil to carry on.
So here is a snapshot of the garden at the end of March - the sorrel is going crazy (just at corner of left frame), the thyme I trimmed to keep compact and the pot of mint beside the plot I also trimmed back to encourage new leafy growth. Rafe just needs to continue to add organic matter to add texture and biodiversity to the soil life and plants will respond.
I then ventured down to the bottom of the garden to the plot that we are trying to propagate bee loving plants for the beehive just a few metres away. The lemon balm hedge is starting to take off and the calendulas are managing to hold on. Oxalis is thriving and I have just learnt about the life cycle of oxalis. I will need to think on how we can tackle this weed. But the sight of the first of the fallen feijoa's took my attention away from gardening to the kitchen. Gardening does have its rewards.
The sorrel is looking very healthy despite the dry weather.
Two basils are just surviving and haven't made much growth but water should remedy that. They weren't drooping - just not growing very fast.
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| This is the biggest of the two basils that have survived. (unfortunately the mulch is in focus and not the basil...but perhaps that goes to show that the mulch has allowed the basil to survive - just being there has reduced the amount of moisture evaporation from the soil). |
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| The yellowing of older leaves means that the thyme is missing a mineral or is simply under stress. |
The thyme is looking a little stressed by the telltale yellowing of leaves. I noticed the new growth is a better colour so it could mean that this plant needs feeding with some fertiliser or that it is just showing us how stressful a summer it has been for it. I suggested to Rafe he sprinkle some of the Pacific Biofert fertiliser I brought last time around the base of the thyme and water in.
 |
| Three tomatoes - 2 unknown and one Good Gardener tomato all from VJ's seed growing at Sanctuary Community Garden |
The three tomato varieties are growing slowly with only a couple of fruit evident. The foliage is healthy looking and Rafe is going to put in some taller stakes. I showed him how to trim the lower leaves rather than to cut off at the stem to avoid any disease getting into the stalk of the tomato plant. It's important to let the sun access the fruit in order that the fruit ripen. Once watered these
plants should start producing more fruit. There shouldn't be any shortage of bees to pollinate the tomato flowers as there are two beehives on the property.
 |
| Vietnamese Mint after a tough pruning. |
The Vietnamese Mint or Coriander was rather leggy and the leaves old which makes the plant not that edible, so I decided to give it a good haircut and hope that new growth will spring forth next time I visit ... as long as it gets a good watering. If it doesn't regrow in the centre then we will dig it up and just replant some of the new growth that's occurring around the edge of the plant. It does grow into a lovely mound shape that will give a nice form to the garden bed.
I also cut down the large parsley plant that was growing through the Vietnamese mint. All the seeds are ready to be distributed and Rafe is going to spread them in the lower garden where the sun isn't beating in all day. However, its very dry in that lower garden so he may have to ensure that it is kept watered over the summer for them to germinate.
The rocket is looking only a little larger than it did when we planted it but looking healthy.
We discussed what else to grow. He said he was happy to be giving tomatoes a first time try and would be keen for some more basil seedlings as he likes eating basil (yum don't we all?). I agreed to bring him some more basil seedlings and a piece of oregano. I think I will also try to strike a sage cutting. The Rosemary is growing well as is the mint in a separate container.
I also suggested for winter he might like to plant some perpetual beet (often referred to as spinach but it's really a beet). It's softer in texture than silver beet or the red or rainbow beet and can be used when recipes call for spinach.
Rafe will continue to mulch and I will bring some activated EM (Effective Microbes) to encourage more microbial life in the soil. To learn more about this magic potion visit: www.emnz.com
Friday 20 February 2015
The herbs all doing well. The Italian Arugula (rocket) looks healthy but still rather small in the far corner of the garden. The thyme in the foreground doing well, so too are the chives in one corner. The sorrel is some of the best sorrel I have seen with no sign of snail damage. The Rosemary is also growing strong. Herbs don't require such rich soils. I am propagating a Suffolk Marjoram to add to the happy herb band and will plant next visit.
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| Basils - in the foreground the new basils just planted and in the background one of the 3 basils planted 20 December. |
The three basils already planted look healthy but have hardly grown in size from my last visit. I showed Rafe how to harvest the basil by taking out the top grouping of leaves so that the plant will branch out and give him more basil. I think these seedlings have fallen victim to a dry summer start with Rafe being away on their first weeks of life. Hopefully these seedlings var. "Sweet Genovese" will prove faster growers. I stressed Rafe will need to keep the water up with this being a raised bed and no rainfall to speak of plus a fine soil that drains really quickly.
Planting the new basil seedlings I really wetted the soil as it was pretty dry where the roots would be.
I also sprinkled a little Pacific Biofert into the trench before planting. The plants have strong roots and according to the Permaculture moon calendar this is a good time to plant leafy greens.
 |
| I left the parsley in the centre in the hope that it will self seed and to utilise it's tap root to bring up nutrients from lower soil. |
Need to plant some alyssum as a place for beneficial insects like hopper flies and parasitic wasps. They need the flat flower heads to land on.
The red beet hasn't really grown that much and now is only about 20cm high but is looking healthy. I think the EM will assist in creating better root development which should help in the vigour of the plants. I also suggested he find any seaweed and spread over the garden or purchase a seaweed or fish fertiliser he could water onto the garden.
 |
| Italian Borlotto Beans that when you open up is pearly white with red small marks - looks like a sweet really. |
The plot at the bottom of the garden is extremely dry but the lemon balm has managed to survive and there are even new seedlings there. A couple of calendulas have also survived. I am going to try and find some flowers that will live in dry, semi shade conditions that are good for the bees. Foxgloves could be an option.
And my reward for the gardening advice was a precious jar of Chris's honey from the two hives on the property and a jar of Rafe's plum jam from the dark red plums at the bottom of the garden.
Sunday 29 March 2015
The rain of late has certainly helped things especially with a raised bed. I was to plant another aromatic herb and some winter salad plants. But first, the Swan Plant with its dried up seed pods, looked a little scruffy. I am more aware of the creatures living on plants these days after having completed a module at the organic horticulture course on pests and beneficial insects. And look what I found...
Ladybirds have found this a dry and now a safe place to live. Sometimes being tidy can be your undoing as a gardener because that untidiness could be a habitat for a beneficial bug.
 |
| This is the 11 spot ladybird Coccinella undecimpunctata |
The ladybird is a well known gardeners friend as they clean up a lot of the bad guys like aphids, psyllids and scale insects, but funnily enough it's often in their larval form that they can be most effective killers and these are not quite as recognisable as the cute spotty adults.
 |
| Younger form of 11 spot larvae |
It just pays not to squash until you know what you are dealing with as that bug could be a helper.
 |
| This larval install of the 11 spot ladybird is starting to look for like the adult form. Images from www.eakringbirds.com |
The last of the tomato harvest took my attention admiring this ready to eat tomato that I think was one of the mystery plants I gave Rafe.
Once again I thought I would tidy up the foliage when I spied another creature.
At first I thought it was a cabbage white caterpillar but it was on a tomato plant and it had that line down the side and an arching position on the branch. I decided not to squash it until I least identify it...besides the tomato was on it's last legs anyway.
It's a pest not a treasure. It's a green looper caterpillar Chrysodexis eriosoma - a mature green looper I had terrible trouble at Paget Street growing geraniums due to this fellow. The young guys punch holes in the leaves and I read today geraniums are one of the host plants the Green Looper enjoys. I would painstakingly pick them off my hole ridden geraniums. These caterpillars can also be found on dahlias, salvias, cineraria and plants/weeds in the nightshade family...hence the tomato plant. By the time they get to this size caterpillar they can be devastating to a plant not just making small windows in the leaves but devouring main leaf veins. The adult moths are silver and about 20mm long and you can see them flying in dull days or at dusk often sipping nectar from flowers.
An excellent reference guide to all the pests in your garden is Rob Lucas's "Managing Pests and Diseases - A Handbook for New Zealand Gardeners". It's unfortunately out of print but I'm on the hunt for a copy.
It was time to plant. I had a three Endives Cichorium endivia aka Escarole. Its a curly leafy green that grows well in cooler conditions with a hint of bitter flavours. The bitterness is diminished if the plants are blanched once they get to the rosette stage for 2-4 weeks before harvest. (Blanching not in the cooking sense of the word but covering over so that their won't be any photosynthesising of the leaves and they will whiten. Another way of blanching is to tie together the outer leaves so that the inner leaves miss out on light). Endive is not the taste everyone likes but they are packed with nutrients including vitamin A and C - both really needed in winter.
I also had three Red Mizuna seedlings I grew from seeds from a friend who said it was a great salad plant to have in the garden and if we let it seed then it should keep on popping up. It's lacy decorative leaf is a good colour addition to autumn and winter salads and has that mustard bite that a lot of brassicas have.
 |
| This split screen shows left the Endive, and right centre of picture one of the red mizuna. |
Notice the brown material around the seedlings? I was really pleased to see that Rafe had taken my advice and mulched with some seaweed. The other pleasing discovery was a worm.
Last time there was no sign of a worm in this plot but his regular addition of organic material in the form of mulch from their shredder, the seaweed and now the rain has made it the sort of place that a worm likes to hang out in. You can see that the organic matter is adding texture to the soil.
In the centre along the back of the garden I planted a cutting I took a month ago of Suffolk Marjoram. I brought this up with me from Dunedin and it will grow to produce at least 30cm in height when flowering with dainty purple flowers. The herb is useful in the kitchen and the flowers are important to beneficial insects that will protect this patch and of course the bees will love it. The few blooms of the Italian Arugala (Rocket) are the only flowers for the bees at this time of the year to gather nectar in this plot and it was buzzing with activity. We need to introduce more flowers to this patch and I am hoping the calendula that is struggling a little takes off after this rain. I did have to cut back 50% of the flowers though to encourage new fresh growth of the Arugala for picking. It's a perennial but all the same wants to flower to increase it's number.
I had placed the upturned pot in the plot to see if I could catch any slugs and snails but upon lifting up I discovered first a dead monarch caterpillar and beyond it a spider frozen just looking at me. I gently returned the pot because a spider is a good hunter to have in your garden. Unfortunately predators do not know what caterpillars we do want in our garden and those we don't. Either side of the pot I planted two Musselburgh leeks leftover from my planting.
The Vietnamese Mint/Coriander has recovered well from my harsh pruning last month. I was doing some tidying around the edges when I spied a couple of Monarch caterpillars that had survived the spider web. Funny to see them both on this plant and no in the swan plant.
 |
| Cardinal Beet in the background and Sweet Basil in the foreground |
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| Here are the Cardinal Beet and basil planted at the same time as in the Paget Street plot at my Community garden plot. |
Rafe needs to nip out the top set of leaves on all the basil plants to encourage more growth. Hopefully it will remain warm enough for a few more weeks for the basil to carry on.
So here is a snapshot of the garden at the end of March - the sorrel is going crazy (just at corner of left frame), the thyme I trimmed to keep compact and the pot of mint beside the plot I also trimmed back to encourage new leafy growth. Rafe just needs to continue to add organic matter to add texture and biodiversity to the soil life and plants will respond.
I then ventured down to the bottom of the garden to the plot that we are trying to propagate bee loving plants for the beehive just a few metres away. The lemon balm hedge is starting to take off and the calendulas are managing to hold on. Oxalis is thriving and I have just learnt about the life cycle of oxalis. I will need to think on how we can tackle this weed. But the sight of the first of the fallen feijoa's took my attention away from gardening to the kitchen. Gardening does have its rewards.
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