Sanctuary working Bee- Sunday December 13, 2015.

After an impending wet morning, thankfully the forecasts were proven to be mistimed and we enjoyed another productive working bee without recourse to raincoats. Front of mind was the potato harvest - always an eagerly anticipated event.

All hands to the forks - Abbie and Brendan in the foreground, Sarah (obscured) and John and Jackie.

Sarah and Christine filling up the wheelbarrow.

Sarah clearing the potato tops to the compost.

Trevor and Christine digging the first row of our potato harvest.

Trevor and Christine still digging...

John digging the Uenuku Maori potato - the first of three varieties.



Jackie and Marita hauling some of the potato harvest to the shed.


Sarah sorting the potatoes to be kept as seed potatoes for next year's crop. Approximately 25% are reserved off for this.


Valiantly keeping up with the incoming green material is Robbie and David who completely turned and then filled the compost bins. Seen working hard in the background of the potato diggers.


Shonaugh and Mike removed the last of the Broad beans.

Meanwhile, back at the shed Mort, Ainsley, Helen, Birthe and Karine processed the cardboard boxes for mulching the food forest. A dedicated team of workers who removed all of the plastic and flattened them out for....

Bev (unstoppably still working even during her photocall), Aaron, Clement and VJ who reclaimed the overgrown area under the Almond trees, before moving into the food forest proper.

Clement and Benedictine removing the bagged noxious weeds and laying the mulch in the food forest.

Benedictine with yet another load.


And what a fantastic result. The Sanctuary garden looking like the beautiful inner city haven it is.

Meanwhile Rose and her friend Dot who came along to lend a hand, dig out docks.


Helen proudly displays the magnificent cauliflower!



Some unofficial working bees will be organised as in the glasshouse, the corn and pumpkins are ready for planting out. They will go where the potatoes were and will be joined by beans - collectively known as the 'Three Sisters'.



Purple Lambsquarter is sprouting up everywhere in the garden.
Lambsquarters is a wild edible weed perfect for green smoothies and packed with nutrition. It is also called wild spinach, pigweed or goosefoot. It has a mild chlorophyll flavor. Lambsquarters is a relative of swiss chard and beets; all in the chenopodium family. Make the most of this nutritious vegetable in a simple green smoothy;

Lambsquarters Tropical Green Smoothie 

Blend well:

1/2 cup fresh pineapple - chopped

1 large handful Lambsquarters

1 handful of Mint

3/4 cups water - or coconut water

1 Tsp Lemon juice

OR

Steam lightly and eat as a cooked vegetable. 

Also delicious wilted into a stir-fry

New potatoes
Soak and wash - there's no need to peel them.  Boil for 20 minutes, or until a fork pierces them easily.  Drain.  Add butter, or for a Vegan option use  a good quality, cold pressed oil (Olive or Flaxseed).  Add chopped fresh herbs - parsley or mint.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
YUM!

 

Farewells and Welcome Summer

I had been away from the gardens for a couple of weeks returning at the end of October. I couldn't get over how the ground had dried out in that time - the abundance of cabbage trees in flowers also indicating it will be a long hot summer.   The colour palate of the flowers has changed from the predominant yellow and orange of the calendulas of winter to the pinks, reds and purples of summer, like these Cornflowers in varying shades.

Now there's plenty for the bees and other pollinating insects to harvest and it's lovely seeing the bright colours of summer appearing in the plots. 

Red soldier poppies, calendula and bronze fennel in Rosie's garden and in the background are the broad beans
ready for harvest on 29 October.

Meanwhile in my plot everything had gone mad.  I had left the radish to keep producing it's pale pink flowers and crunchy seed capsules for harvesting in salads. 

But ten days away and they just took over the plot.

The garden tells us it's time for summer crops like beans and lettuce, with the winter greens 

rather beautifully changing shapes in an effort to flower and seed. 

I particularly liked the radicchio  in Jen's plot and its shape shifting to become a cone.  Radicchio is a member of the chicory family that is revered in Italy and throughout Europe as a fresh, zesty addition to salads, pastas, and pizzas.

Its close relation the Endive resides in my plot and now resembles a Xmas tree - quite a transformation from a large lettuce like form all through winter.  

Endive - conical shape centre of picture.

I kept one endive to go to seed so that Bev and Trevor could plant them again next autumn.  The Endive harvested whole was an excellent seller at the Grey Lynn market all through winter.

But the demand for kale is never ending at the market so Bev planted  a second crop with some of each variety in one of the community areas.  And there is a new one this time...Dutch Red Kale.  

Dutch Red Kale

I tried a little. If you eat it raw it will keep its colour but, a little like beans,  when cooked it returns to dark green. For the market one week I made a bouquet of all our different varieties and the red is certainly eye-catching when contrasted with the dark brooding green of Cavolo Nero.

What about these perfect cabbages in Ramesh's(or perhaps it's Davids) plot. 

Parsley, especially the Italian variety, just wants to run to seed at this time of the year.  You can stall this by keeping cutting it but what a gift visually it is when it does flower, not only for us but for the many predator insects that rely on small flowers and good umbell landing pads like parsley.

Italian Parsley in flower - Oct 29

And what a treat to see two of the herbs we planted last year to flower in their second year. 

Soapwort Saponaria - as the name suggests it is used as a soap alternative.

There are a lot of varieties of soapwort and this variety has the tiniest delicate flowers - about the size and look of the blue forget-me-not.  The one I grew years ago has flowers a couple of centimetres across.

The second herb we have been waiting to see flower is Valarian that we struggled to grow from seed in the glasshouse last winter, put on great foliage last summer and last week rewarded us with it's first flowering of delicate palest pink flowers. If you ever want any identification of the plants in the herb garden, Liz who works plots nearby is the one who can help you.  Actually the herb garden looks at its best before the full heat of summer so take some time to wander through before Christmas. Thanks to the hard work of Liz the herb garden is looking magnificient in its second year of establishment - there is hardly an opportunity to spot earth in this garden - its so full of herbs. I noticed that the Marshmallow plants are looking very healthy this year so look out too for their delicate blooms this summer.

Another success story in the gardens has been the passionfruit that Bev planted last year. It has more than met expectations to cover our sitting shelter area that VJ and Clement built for us to deal with the hot summer temperatures.   

Trevor harvesting the Loquats before the birds do.

On the day I returned I discovered Trevor harvesting Loquats to share out with the community gardeners.

I was given a few to try and  I made Loquat jelly and it turned out amber in colour.  I also used some in an apple crumble and it gave the crumble a real lift. Its an ideal jelly as it is related to the Japonica, originating in Japan.

Bev said I could pot up a seedling that I discovered while weeding the asparagus patch and I was going to plant it in our flat's garden, but now I'm going to take it down to Dunedin with me.

Yes, just like the winter greens, it's time for me too to say farewell. Peter and I have purchased 50 acres on the Otago Peninsula. 

From one corner of our land looking down to the Otago Harbour and our
house has a red roof. You can't see by this photo but our house is in the township
of Portobello. It may not have the choice of Ponsonby but we can still walk down
the road and get a coffee or a beer.

Taking part in the life of Sanctuary Community Garden has been one of the best introductions I could have to Auckland and thank you Nigel and Jane for introducing us to the gardens in the first place in 2013. I have learnt an enormous amount from my plot neighbour John who always plants things at the right time, studied organic horticulture with Sinead for a year, got wise planting advice and philosophy from Sarah and Richard, observed and learn't about using plant design from Liz, learnt how to harvest and sell at the Grey Lynn market, enjoyed sharing produce, seeds and laughs with Clement and VJ. ..and partook in the best shared lunches I have ever encountered. It's true people who garden also appreciate good food. 

My final thanks must go to Bev and Trevor who tirelessly work to create an exceptional and special place of sanctuary in the middle of Auckland city.

Photo of 2015 potato crop taken 16 November.

I will leave you with a view of the fine potato crop - those flowering on the left are 3 rows of Maori potato varieties and the remaining rows are early potatoes that will be ready for Christmas.

Jeannie Hayden

www.Jeannieskitchen.me

A Blooming Defense

At Sanctuary Community gardens we use flowers instead of chemical warfare on unwanted pests in our vegetable plots.  By providing food, habitat and shelter for beneficial bugs we create an army of predators able to keep those unwanted bugs under control.

Poppy (Sept 2015)

To keep our beneficial army in good numbers we have to provide enough flowers to have something blooming every month of the year.

Calendula officinalis with small endemic Hoverfly Melanostoma fasciatum  (Sept 2015)

I was lucky enough to photograph one of the most desirable biological helpers in the veggie patch the Hoverfly as it landed on a calendula. Calendulas are one of the best flowers to have in your garden because they will flower for most months of the year, and have been especially noticeable over the winter months in our gardens when there is little else flowering.

Dombeya

There was some diversity of flowers over the winter around the margins of our gardens. Dombeya originates in Africa and in its homeland it flowers in autumn, but here it blooms over winter.

Buttercup Tree -Senna corymbosa  (May 2015)

The Buttercup tree also features in our tree surround and is not only a handy legume but it flowers from late summer and over winter.  Bees really enjoy this large shrub and while bees aren't predators they are the top pollinators.

This gardeners plot is producing chilis alongside flowers (April 2015)

We do boost the number of the flowers in the gardens by having areas that we plant out just in flowers

This is good for bees - a one stop shop - but most of the beneficial insects are not as good flyers and do not fly the distances a bee does, so we encourage everyone to plant flowers in their own plots to have the best chance of protection against bugs that will devour vegetables. 

Cosmos growing beside bulb fennel allowed to go to seed

.

Predator bugs like some of the many parasitic wasp species in New Zealand are tiny and the most important flowers to offer them are those with umbel heads like the fennel, wild carrot, wild parsnip, yarrow, bishops flower, and alyssum. These heads are excellent landing pads for not such good flyers and they contain small flowers small bugs can easily collect nectar from.

Amaranthus (April 2015)

Red amaranth produces towers of crimson throughout the garden from late summer until autumn. The small flowers are ideal for predator bugs.

Chrysanthemum

This stunning show of pink flowers of a chrysanthemum were making a show at the end of April on the edge of a gardeners plot. Asters, Golden Rod and chrysanthemums are good for late autumn flowering.

This stunning sunflower was still in bloom in June believe it or not!

Mexican Marigold Tagetes

These small yellow dots of sunshine bloom from late summer and are still flowering and we have plants of this shrub in the herb garden and in the carpark.  A good flower to have near your vegetable garden.

Pineapple Sage Salvia elegans

Pineapple Sage is a herb that not only provides a sweet flower to add to salads but will flower over winter and is in full show in early spring. 

Rocket Eruca sativa in flower 

 Early spring in the garden is a similar situation to the Auckland housing market, demand outstripping supply, so valuable extra flowers can be utilised by increased numbers of beneficial bugs if gardeners just delay taking out their winter brassicas like this patch of rocket in a gardeners plot.

Cavil Nero (Tuscan kale) when left to flower looks a little like a xmas tree.

The gardens are changing from a colour pallet of mainly yellow of the calendulas to include the colours of summer...a lovely time to be in the garden.

Ice plant daisies in Jan's plot

This is a super flower for bees and we have Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) growing in our plots.

Abutilon is flowering now in our tree margins in orange and red. You can eat the blooms.

Kowhai

Tui and Kowhai (Oct 2015)

Tui's can be heard and seen around our garden margin feasting on the kowhai that is blooming really well this year

Just had to include Liz's beautiful tulips (Oct 2015)

Poppies among the Cavolo Nero in Rosie's plot (Sept 2015)

Damson plum is one of the later fruiting plums and has now just come out in blossom.  It's always good to see blossom on fruit trees as a promise of summer fruits ahead and fruit trees really benefit from having an army of beneficial predator bugs living near by.

On a recent posting on my Jeannie's Kitchen blog featured the gardens when I made a salad in the garden including flowers and weeds in the mix.