Sanctuary Garden Diary

Happy New Year for 2018 Fellow Gardeners

With the Heroic garden festival imminent, several additional working bees have been scheduled so we can have the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua ready to showcase. Additionally, the festival will provide a perfect opportunity to promote the continuation of the gardens alongside any new development on the Unitec site.

Today's tasks...

The pots and trays ready for the 'washing up'

Meanwhile a crop of ying yang beans, being grown for the colouration of the bean seed (which resembles the ying yang symbol) is well established.

The sweetpeas are finished and are now ready to be removed

Our sign announcing the Heroic Garden Festival at the entrance

John cleans the protection cloth

Jackie weeds the Zinnia

The start of our plum harvest - these were available to share at the end of our working bee. However, the storm last week, which brought the welcome rain, meant the plums were blown off while still green and they're unlikely to ripen.

Jenni weeds the front garden Rengarenga lillies

Janet and Jan doing 'the dishes'

Weeding and mulching the paths was a big job for today

Carla rakes out the mulch...

David forms part of the mulch delivery team

Marita too

Bev weeds a path

With Pauline

Liz was hard at work again in the herb garden - here's her trug!

Our Leafcutter House in the herb garden.
This was one of the sponsor prizes received by Trevor for being a finalist for 'Gardener of the Year', and very soon we should have (non-stinging) leafcutter bees for the Sanctuary

Meanwhile our mara kumara garden is growing well

The tiraha mounds will be the first of the crop to be lifted.

These kumara will be gifted as koha.

Keni weeds the mara kumara plot

Our Maori potatoes are under cover and growing well. The cover is to stop the potatoes being affected by the potato/tomato psyllid - an insect pest that arrived in New Zealand around 2006 thereby posing a relatively new problem for all potato growers.

The kumara which will be lifted in May/June

And the gourds whose flowers open in the late afternoon
and evening, so they're not so visible in the mornings

Keni, (Pauline behind) Bev and John working around the kumara garden

Beautiful!

Sinead weeding the beans

with Kelly

Bill weeds the basil

Eva (all the way from Glenfield) weeds the Zinnia

Clara weeds the Puha with Jackie in the background

Deborah - dressed (colourfully) to garden

and her daughter Zigi and grandson Felix

Our crops of Florence Fennel

Lettuce

Zucchini

Cavolo Nero

Curly Kale

Rainbow Silverbeet (Chard)

and Basil - YUM!

Benedicte helps weed the beans

The 'Three Sisters' establishing well

The corn supports the beans and then pumpkins will be underplanted.

Seamus with Nala the dog, enjoy the shaded area

Chillies growing in an allotment garden

The mulch (that we are generously allowed to access) ingredients - collected and ready for processing

And finer materials

The variety of materials once chipped

And eventually the well aged mulch

Meanwhile, Helen our Hugelkulter is growing well in the food forest

The food forest is tranquil and shaded

Plenty of material is collected and stacked
ready for processing in our compost bins

The shadow of the papparazzi

A perfect day for our busy working bee

Louise

Timothe

Seamus and Benjamin

And their active transport - fantastic!

A great working bee

David finishes off the path mulching around the mara kumara garden

Carla - still raking out the mulch

Diana working

And at the end of the working bee,
the Rosemary hedge looking very smart and shipshape

The 'dishes' done

and the plums, prepared by Trevor, ready for sharing out

Jackie made date scones and served them with

freshly whipped cream and allotment plum jam - YUM!!

Jackie's Plum Jam

2 kgs Plums

7 cups sugar

1. 5 Cups water

Halve plums and add to preserving pan.

Cook until the plums are softened.

Add the sugar and boil for 15 minutes until at setting point.

Decant into steralized jars.

Enjoy.

And since it's Zucchini season again - here's the recipe again for the

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

The next Working Bee is on Sunday 21st Januray

- please bring a plate for a shared lunch.

Happy Gardening everyone and see you on Sunday.

Sunday was another clear and sunny day, making it feel more like the middle of Summer rather than the beginning of Summer.

It was also another Alberton Market day, held at the historic homestead.

Here is our stall with our beautiful Sanctuary Mahi Whenua banner, staffed by Birthe, Katya and Jen as their contribution to our working bee.

The lettuce and red cabbage were the first to sell out.

Our small but pefectly formed stall with Kale, Mint, Sweetpeas & baby Leeks.

Only a few leeks left.

As always, the Sweetpeas were very popular - "The scent of Summer"

Our colourful Kale and Cavolo Nero.

Big bunches of Mint.

Plus our postcards.

The view from our stall to historic Alberton across the lawn...

and down nto the rest of the market area.

The list of stall holders and events

Once packed-up and returned to the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua, it was easy to see ALL of the work the rest had achieved!

The weeded Mara Kumara Gardens.

Growing well despite the hot and dry weather.

Including the Maori potatoes next to our new Hügelkultur.

All of the huge piles of green matter have been processed into a new compost pile. And already the next load that is accumulating.

Looking ship shape.

The edges of the lawns have been trimmed.

It's great to see green grass right to the edges and not the horrible dead orange borders where poisonous sprays are used in most other places outside of the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua.

Our signs, connecting people through the gardens to the Oakley Creek walkway, are doing good business with lots of people enjoying the wayfinding.

Most of the communal garden area has now been cleared and once dug over, it will be ready for our Heroic Garden Festival plantings. All of the seedlings have been grown in the greenhouse and will be ready for planting out soon.