Heidi and Abby at Tenderfoot

On Friday (21 Oct) Heidi and I went along to garden in the afternoon. We saw Jen and had a bit of a chat with her before getting into the gardening. I planted parsley while Heidi slept and then I removed a lot of mulch from the edge of the plot as the slugs love to hang out in it during the day. I had always wondered where they hid, but after Alex showed me last time, I was keen to uncover them and get them away from our little plants. Some of the silverbeet seedlings I planted last time had been munched but only a few and I plan to replant them next time we go as it started pouring with rain so I quickly packed us up.

A grey, cold day at Tenderfoot

Today Abby, Heidi, Zoe and I made a visit to the Tenderfoot plot, despite unappealing weather. Abby was delighted to see that her lettuce seedlings were surviving and thriving! I was less delighted to see how many of my cabbage/broccoli seedlings had been eaten, but at least roughly half of them were still there. The garlic has also germinated, and some of the peas/beans are starting to show as well- exciting! And in section 1, something (radishes? parsnips?) has germinated too.

Abby planted more silverbeet seedlings alongside the potatoes, and I planted some carrots, radishes and mizuna in section 1. We also took away some mulch from the plot, which was hiding many fat, juicy slugs! We actually smushed a few of them too, in retribution for all the lost seedlings. But mostly the slugs just got sent to Slug Heaven, the big mulch pile.

By then our respective babies had had enough and we packed up and headed for home!

Just a friendly reminder too that we need to plant our garden according to the rotation plan, e.g. salad greens/carrots etc in section 1, tomatoes (I think?) in section 2, etc etc. There's usually a copy of the plan in the shed if you need one while you're at the plot.

A rainy morning at Tenderfoot

Zoe and I attended the co-ordinator's meeting this morning at Wai-Ora. Not much to report, other than the shared BBQ lunch coming up - Thursday 20th October at noon. It would be great if some of our group could make it. Zoe and I will be away in Kerikeri, unfortunately.

There is going to be a scarecrow competition in November - so if you have any funky ideas, feel free to start creating something for our plot!

After the meeting we attempted to do a bit of gardening, but it started to rain a lot. So unfortunately I left the plot looking a little messy- I was going to plant some rows of carrots and radishes and salad greens, but had to run for cover and left the prepared soil covered with bird netting. Sorry it looks pretty scrappy. Hopefully Zoe and I will be back on Wednesday to finish that job and tidy up the plot!

Getting a bit fancy....

So, I have finally figured out how to make a post (thanks Amy).

My last visit to the plot I planted some beans and made Teepees for them, I had a bit of time (and creativity) up my sleeve so made some nice corsetry on it, looks a bit weird but at least ours is a bit different to the others.

I will be heading out tomorrow to help Amy squash slugs and perhaps replace some of the cabbages/brocolli as they took quite a hit with the snow.

Anyway girlies, its going to be nice to meet up and enjoy scrummy meals from our harvest come summer.

Sharon

Grr Slugs!

Opps sorry for being a bit late posting this! On Tuesday Sharon and I went to visit the lovely Tenderfoot. Sharon planted carrots, radishes and parsnips and after discovering the slugs had eaten EVERY last trace of my broccoli plants from last week, I planted more!! I also planted a few silverbeet plants. It will be good to plant a new lots of those kind of plants every week, so we will have a continual crop.

The lettuces from last week were looking great! Still no sign of my peas or beans yet, but hopefully as the weather warms up, it we will see some action :)

I won't be able to make it this week, as my schedule is full and crazy with end-of-term busy-ness, but I can't wait to get back next week!

Alex, that photo of Zoe sitting in the middle of the row is so cute!

A sunny, busy morning at the Tenderfoot plot...

On Wednesday (21st Sept), Zoe and I made our first visit to Wai-Ora as we've been away in Australia for the past two weeks. It was a sunny, beautiful morning and there were lots of people out working in their gardens. Peeto, the English language school, was having a gardening morning with about 20 people working on their plots. Other groups were out too, enjoying the nice weather. We met Jenny, who showed us around and helped us to find plants, tools and seeds.

In between nappy changes and feeding, we sowed carrots, parsnips and a row of peas. Unfortunately it sounds like we may have doubled up on what had previously been planted. Oh well- more carrots etc for all!

We also planted cabbage seedlings in section 6 - let's hope they survive the slugs! We covered all the newly planted areas with bird netting and gave the seedlings a little water.

Lots of lettuces

Heidi and I went to the plot this afternoon - finally managed to get out of the house! I planted two half rows of lettuces in Section 1 while Heidi kicked on her blanket and tried to eat the grass :-). Three different kinds of lettuce. Jen showed me the seaweed concentrate fertiliser and how to make it up. It was one small measuring cup to one watering can of water which was enough for the 20 lettuces. She said that it helped the plants to get the most from the nutrients already present in the soil. I would have liked to sow carrots and beetroot as well but Heidi was not so keen, so after covering the seedlings with netting to protect against the birds, we signed out and went home.