I have my hand on a white bush marrow from the garden. I think it's time for some more sweet potato and pumpkin soup. Yum!
Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Just showing off!
I can't believe we got a sweet potato out of our patch, and what's more, it's HUGE! :)
I have my hand on a white bush marrow from the garden. I think it's time for some more sweet potato and pumpkin soup. Yum!
I have my hand on a white bush marrow from the garden. I think it's time for some more sweet potato and pumpkin soup. Yum!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Coping in the heat
There are a few things in the garden that seem to be coping well this summer. The tomatoes that are not in full sun are doing wonderful. The ones that are in full sun are burning and looking a bit sad. Still, the fruit seems ok so far! Looking forward to them ripening!
The white bush marrow is doing pretty well, but does like a regular water. We've never grown or eaten marrow before and it's starting to flower! (I assume it looks like pumpkins, since they're members of the same family.)
There are two marrow planted in this garden bed and another two in the first bed (the ex-linseed bed).
This sweet potato is very tough! I'm thrilled that they're doing so well! I wonder if the season will be long enough to get tubers from them?
Not that I'm looking forward to the weather to come. Almost everything else in the garden is looking very sad, and the next few days will probably see the end to quite a few plants. Crossing fingers for the worms! I'll be sure to give them extra water.
The expected weather over the next four days:
Friday 38°C / 100.4°F
Saturday 39°C / 102.2°F
Sunday 39°C / 102.2°F
Monday 42°C / 107.6°F
So, if you don't hear from me, I'll be hiding! :)
Ouch!
The white bush marrow is doing pretty well, but does like a regular water. We've never grown or eaten marrow before and it's starting to flower! (I assume it looks like pumpkins, since they're members of the same family.)
There are two marrow planted in this garden bed and another two in the first bed (the ex-linseed bed).
This sweet potato is very tough! I'm thrilled that they're doing so well! I wonder if the season will be long enough to get tubers from them?
Not that I'm looking forward to the weather to come. Almost everything else in the garden is looking very sad, and the next few days will probably see the end to quite a few plants. Crossing fingers for the worms! I'll be sure to give them extra water.
The expected weather over the next four days:
Friday 38°C / 100.4°F
Saturday 39°C / 102.2°F
Sunday 39°C / 102.2°F
Monday 42°C / 107.6°F
So, if you don't hear from me, I'll be hiding! :)
Ouch!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Sweet potato
Sweet potato seems to sprout pretty easily in our dark room. We use the dark room for bulk food storage - since we have no pantry! We've had these two sweet potato in the dark room for around 6 or more months now. We've pulled most of the shoots off these two, and they're starting to re-shoot again already.
We planted the shoots into the ground horizontally, then covered them with a juice container with the bottom cut out. Hopefully the earwigs stay away from these!
Last night, one of the sweet potato finally made an appearance! Hooray!
Sweet potato generally grows in tropical or sub-tropical areas, so being in a temperate area, we're not expecting to harvest much at all - if any. It's really an experiment at this stage. :)
I'll let you know how it goes, of course!
We planted the shoots into the ground horizontally, then covered them with a juice container with the bottom cut out. Hopefully the earwigs stay away from these!
Last night, one of the sweet potato finally made an appearance! Hooray!
Sweet potato generally grows in tropical or sub-tropical areas, so being in a temperate area, we're not expecting to harvest much at all - if any. It's really an experiment at this stage. :)
I'll let you know how it goes, of course!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Hooray for rain!
I'm not complaining about the rain - even though it found its way in through the roof this morning and we had buckets in a few different locations in the kitchen. I'm happy because the garden was desperate for the drink, and the water tanks are once again full to overflowing. :)
We had 32.4mm (1.27") of rain overnight! Most of it fell this morning, thankfully for the stove and floor! :)
Yesterday Marty and I set up the greywater system for the bathroom. Last year we used the shower water by plugging the bath while we showered (we have a shower over bath arrangement), and bucketed the water out to the trees. It was hard work and the water splashed as we carted it through the kitchen.
This year should be a lot easier! Funny thing though, when we purchased the plumbing parts, the sales person said "You know we're on Stage 1, right?".. that means we can use town water for watering plants and so-on. Yes, we're lucky to have had the water restrictions eased, but I know it won't stay like that for long! Besides that, it just feels like a waste of perfectly good shower water going down the drain.
I think we're getting quite good at plumbing! We're getting a lot of experience, anyway! ;) The water comes from the bath on the right of the picture and heads down to the drain.. but there is a gate valve that can be closed so that the water is then forced into the purple tubes going towards the apple tree. We plumbed in the bathroom sink, too, which made the whole thing a lot neater than it use to be anyway. Bonus! :)
(The hole in the wall has been like that since we moved in - we'll fix that someday!)
The apple tree is getting the benefit of the excess water at the moment, but we still have to shorten the purple pipe - as it's taking the scenic route around the yard before it gets there! Since Marty and I aren't feeling 100% today, it'll be a job for another day.
We weren't expecting any apples this year because we only have one planted, but it turns out we have a neighbour with an apple tree! Being it's first year in the ground, we'll be happy if just this one becomes ripe.
I have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about when to plant out the tomatoes, and I decided that Thursday was the big day, since we were expecting some rain Friday and this weekend. They're looking happy this morning! They're planted in the front garden next to Spartagus the Asparagus.
I pulled out the old peas and snow peas and cleared the area of pea-straw. The earwigs ran in every direction! Yuck! I'll leave the mulch off for a while and see if I can discourage them from that area while the beans and sweet potato are trying to get a start. Wish them luck!!
The corn is looking healthy, and the two surviving bean plants are happy as well. There are 3 earwig traps by the beans and 2 by the corn. It's making a difference!
This is how the earwig traps are done! No, it's not an advert for Nuttelex, haha. The holes are cut all around like this, and oil is filled till the bottom of the holes. The earwigs go inside (they love used cooking oil!) and drown. They seem to drown faster in oil than in water.. although the one drowned on the top of the container there probably wouldn't agree!
The potatoes are doing really well. The Saphire potatoes are very healthy - we're hoping for a good crop this year! The Russet Burbank potatoes have finally stopped being eaten by earwigs long enough to recover. I think they'll be ok after all!
Oh, that's the feijoa in the picture there, too. It's happy and growing. We hardly take any notice of it, because it just doesn't seem to need much attention. It seems a hardy and happy little tree so far - but I still try and keep it that way with a good layer of compost.
The lemon tree nearby is looking lush and healthy, thankful for the plumbing we did last year to get our sink rinse-water to it. No lemons as yet, although there was one flower, it fell off in the strong winds. :( Hopefully next year!
Down the back in our "pond", we lost two of the three plants back there, and I mentioned that I threw in some sunflower seeds as a desperate measure.. Well, the sunflowers have germinated! We don't really water them, either. It'll be interesting to see what happens, and especially if they all get to flower, it will be a show and a half!
Until next time!
We had 32.4mm (1.27") of rain overnight! Most of it fell this morning, thankfully for the stove and floor! :)
Yesterday Marty and I set up the greywater system for the bathroom. Last year we used the shower water by plugging the bath while we showered (we have a shower over bath arrangement), and bucketed the water out to the trees. It was hard work and the water splashed as we carted it through the kitchen.
This year should be a lot easier! Funny thing though, when we purchased the plumbing parts, the sales person said "You know we're on Stage 1, right?".. that means we can use town water for watering plants and so-on. Yes, we're lucky to have had the water restrictions eased, but I know it won't stay like that for long! Besides that, it just feels like a waste of perfectly good shower water going down the drain.
I think we're getting quite good at plumbing! We're getting a lot of experience, anyway! ;) The water comes from the bath on the right of the picture and heads down to the drain.. but there is a gate valve that can be closed so that the water is then forced into the purple tubes going towards the apple tree. We plumbed in the bathroom sink, too, which made the whole thing a lot neater than it use to be anyway. Bonus! :)
(The hole in the wall has been like that since we moved in - we'll fix that someday!)
The apple tree is getting the benefit of the excess water at the moment, but we still have to shorten the purple pipe - as it's taking the scenic route around the yard before it gets there! Since Marty and I aren't feeling 100% today, it'll be a job for another day.
We weren't expecting any apples this year because we only have one planted, but it turns out we have a neighbour with an apple tree! Being it's first year in the ground, we'll be happy if just this one becomes ripe.
I have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about when to plant out the tomatoes, and I decided that Thursday was the big day, since we were expecting some rain Friday and this weekend. They're looking happy this morning! They're planted in the front garden next to Spartagus the Asparagus.
I pulled out the old peas and snow peas and cleared the area of pea-straw. The earwigs ran in every direction! Yuck! I'll leave the mulch off for a while and see if I can discourage them from that area while the beans and sweet potato are trying to get a start. Wish them luck!!
The corn is looking healthy, and the two surviving bean plants are happy as well. There are 3 earwig traps by the beans and 2 by the corn. It's making a difference!
This is how the earwig traps are done! No, it's not an advert for Nuttelex, haha. The holes are cut all around like this, and oil is filled till the bottom of the holes. The earwigs go inside (they love used cooking oil!) and drown. They seem to drown faster in oil than in water.. although the one drowned on the top of the container there probably wouldn't agree!
The potatoes are doing really well. The Saphire potatoes are very healthy - we're hoping for a good crop this year! The Russet Burbank potatoes have finally stopped being eaten by earwigs long enough to recover. I think they'll be ok after all!
Oh, that's the feijoa in the picture there, too. It's happy and growing. We hardly take any notice of it, because it just doesn't seem to need much attention. It seems a hardy and happy little tree so far - but I still try and keep it that way with a good layer of compost.
The lemon tree nearby is looking lush and healthy, thankful for the plumbing we did last year to get our sink rinse-water to it. No lemons as yet, although there was one flower, it fell off in the strong winds. :( Hopefully next year!
Down the back in our "pond", we lost two of the three plants back there, and I mentioned that I threw in some sunflower seeds as a desperate measure.. Well, the sunflowers have germinated! We don't really water them, either. It'll be interesting to see what happens, and especially if they all get to flower, it will be a show and a half!
Until next time!
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