Signs of Spring

When you walk into the gardens at the moment, stop for a moment at the entrance, and take a good sniff and you are sure to get the sweet smell of the violets growing under the trees.

There are other sign of spring's arrival. The garden plots are starting to take off and shape up as gardeners prepare for hopefully a good growing season ahead.  Here are some plots in the gardens that caught my eye...

Poppies and Beet

Tulip and coriander

Calendula and Calvolo Nero

Alyssum - a wonderful host plant for good predator insects

Garlic in the plots and community beds really going for it and well
insulated with the Unitec grounds leaf litter

A healthy section of lettuces in one of the community patches

The community patch of broad beans.

Broad beans are now flowering and the bumble bees and bees busy..soon we will see the pods form

Purple Broccoli - the broccoli patch is just about finished but I did find this
late runner but beautiful head - isn't it magic?

The chocolate red foliage of the beetroots look so glossy in the community patch

Last working day we weeded the onions and leek beds planted the previous work day  and planted the last of the onions.  Three rows of Maori potatoes were planted.  We are not planting early potatoes this year.

 

Portraits of our gardeners

A few weeks ago my daughter Tansy came to the gardens on a Sunday afternoon with her digital camera and film camera in the hope of capturing some of our gardeners for her One Shot - 100 Days Project.  The 100 Days Project is a challenge for anyone to create 100 images over 100 days following a theme or completion of a project. The photos here are black and white digital images to match the one shot she has taken on a film camera in black and white.  She will compare the two images once she gets the film processed.

I will start with my portrait with the question she asked "Whats the best advice you have been given... or want to give? " 

Jeannie Hayden

Occupation: Blogger / Gardener
Advice: "Always look for a diamond in the rough"

Shamus Mohally

Occupation: Primary School Student / Explorer

Advice: (to be added)

Sinead Mohally

Occupation: Midwife
Advice: "Don't go to sleep on a fight"

Markus Hofko

Occupation: Dad / Designer
Advice: "Get up with the sun, just do it"

Add caption

Karin Hofko

Occupation: Mum / Lecturer
Advice: "Don't think if... Think when... And be ready"
 

Liz Aitken

Occupation: Kitchen Category Manager - Mitre 10
Advice: "Listen"

Trevor Crosby

Occupation: Retired Entomologist
Advice: "Watch Wildtrack"

Bev Crosby

Occupation: Tutor of Dyslexics
Advice: "Just do it"

Peter Hayden

Occupation: Actor / Writer
Advice: "(Try to) live in the moment like dogs, trees and children"

For me it was really interesting to hear what people did and what advice they would give.  When we are at the gardens we normally just talk that... gardens.  I felt this small sample shows the diversity of people our garden has attracted. I would like to encourage Tansy to come again on a community work day so that we can all be introduced in a new way to our fellow gardeners. 

Tansy mentions that I am also taking up the challenge in posting images that could become a post on Jeannieskitchen.me blog.  You can take a look on this link:  Food Triggers - 100 Days Project

Anyone wanting a higher resolution copy of these photos just let me know by email on Jeanniehayden5@gmail.com and I will ask Tansy to send the image.

 

Winter Rain & Harvest

I enjoy going to the gardens after a fall of rain.  Everything looks fresh and you usually have the gardens to yourself.

Cabbage from the communal plot - simply perfect!

 

Rain drops captured on Russian Red Kale - one of the tastiest of the kales

 Majestic Red Stemmed beet in one the plots.

Once a rare Northland Puha species is thriving at the gardens thanks to
the care of Sarah who transplants the seedlings and keeps them weeded.  The animals at
Auckland Zoo really appreciate her efforts.

This decorative kale really shone after the rain

 The wet weather is giving everyone's broadbeans and garlic a good start.

I can't help but admire what one plot holder has organised for their broad beans.  Securely staked these beans will be protected from damaging winds that will turn up during the equinox.  Our plot's broad beans are more freestyle and will have to take their chances. 

The rain has also allowed silver beet, perpetual beet and kale to flourish.  I can't believe what great value these plants are...they just continue to produce.  We are proud of the fat and delicious fennel bulbs we started from seed in summer and have just harvested.

If you go to the gardens on a Saturday you are sure to see Liz there.  Liz has been very generous with her time working to develop the community herb garden.

I took a photo of a wonderful looking cauliflower that she had just harvested and was off home to make a long awaited cauliflower cheese.  As gardeners we nurture a plant from seed or transplanted seedling to harvest so when we take our produce home to the kitchen we enjoy it so much more than the cauli or fennel we buy from a store or market. 

Ramesh's coriander - just splendid

I envy Ramesh's thick row of coriander and I need to get some growing hints because my row of coriander has come to nothing.  That's the great thing about belonging to the Sanctuary Community Garden there is always someone who knows a whole lot more than you do and is willing to share their knowledge.

Winter Vegetable Beauties

Curly Kale thriving in a quite a few plots

June and Queens Birthday weekend and the communal spaces and individual plots looked splendid with winter crops ready to harvest.  These photos were all taken on Monday 2nd of  June and show just how productive the gardens are at the start of winter.

John has a splendid crop of fennel bulbs. These
were planted in January and ready for harvest now.

A fine example of Savoy Cabbage

The cabbages in the communal patch were planted out as seedlings in early March and in just 3 months are ready to harvest.

Kohlrabi - a really strange looking vegetable 

At our shared lunch today at the gardens we enjoyed a pickled vegetable salad made with fine strips of Kohlrabi and carrot.  It has been described by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as a vegetable with a "radishy, water chestnutty crunch".

Cavolo nero - Italian Black Cabbage

They say the greener the vegetable the better it is for you - in that case Cavolo Nero's long wrinkled leaves are a healthy choice in this plot.  It grows like this in it's first year and then if left next year will grow quite tree like.

Most decorative standing about one metre high Cavolo Nero plant with a bit of age.

A kale you would normally find in a flower garden because of it's stunning colour patterning.

The cauliflowers growing in the communal area were also planted out as seedlings in March.

This year we grew orange and purple cauliflowers.

The red cabbages planted at the same time are taking a little longer to mature but are looking a picture all the same.

A Vegetable History of a Plot

In the garden shed there is a board where the dates of planting and harvesting are recorded for each of our communal garden plots.  In 2013 first broad beans were planted and harvested in spring, followed by a large area of pumpkins that I have recorded with my camera.

A Pumpkins Life over 6 months...

Pumpkins fascinate me and are a vegetable that seems to grow incredibly fast and big but at the same time takes a long time to get to harvest.  Last work day the stored pumpkins were shared out and you appreciate a pumpkin so much more when you follow its growth over 6 months.

The seeds were sown in spring 2013, starting life in the greenhouse.  The greenhouse environment kept them warm and watered and out of harms way of those playful pukekos.  It's great to discover a Pukeko in the gardens but each time you wonder just what damage they have done to our carefully planted seedlings.

Pumpkin seedlings before Christmas

The young pumpkin seedlings were planted out late November . The broad bean plants were strip harvested and the stalks cut down to about 20 cm above the earth.  They were left to rot down so that the soil would benefit from those nitrogen nodules you can easily see growing on the broad bean roots. By January when this photo was taken the stalks had broken down and the little seedlings had started to grow.

Pumpkins -  middle of January 2014

Once January and the summer heat was here the pumpkins took off...

Early February

 A second patch of pumpkins were grown in the fenced off area that will eventually house the plastic house.  In another area on and near a wire fence Trevor grew the official pumpkin variety Marina di Chioggia originating from the Adriatic coast of Italy for the Auckland Community Gardens Pumpkin Growing Competition.  On this day in February Trevor was showing me how well two of the pumpkins were growing.

The next day they were gone..stolen.   No stopping those pumpkins ...when they find a good fertile spot. The winning pumpkin of the competition was grown here hidden from the thieves by some protective weeds.

I particularly enjoyed watching the pumpkin's growing on the wire fence.

Meanwhile, more vegetables in the Cucurbit Family were being grown...

The plot holders grew an assortment of pumpkin, squash, courgette and scallopini and here are some that caught my eye over the growing season past.

What's Next for the communal plot?

 Well it's been given a well deserved rest.  This plot is going to be kept as a no dig garden area and has been well covered with leaves to keep weed growth down and to create a perfect growing medium for the next vegetable that will be planted here.