I have 1 ram, one wether (that's an ex ram and ready for the freezer), 5 ewes, 5 lambs, 2 geese 8 turkeys, 7 hens, two roosters and four cats. There's wife and a kid hanging round as well plus 3 other kids that belong to us, living somewhere else.

I like a good garden chat. I've downsized my garden over the last 4 years and now only have about 60 sq metres or so but I have twice that in fruit trees. 3 x plum, 1 apple, 2 x mandarin, 2 x lemon (why Smudge?), 4 x feijoa, 3 x peach, 2 x passionfruit and 4 x grape vines.

I planted the first stuff in my vegie garden today, runner beans and silverbeet seeds.

What you got?

I prefer vegies, not vegetable matter 

well done.

I read with envy gardening threads where you are growing avos, watermelons and subtropical fruit... 

Nice garden Mr Moritz, mine's not flash but it produces the goods

I've started sowing some pumpkin, kamokamo and maori potatoes.  My potato crops haven't done well in the past, but hopefully this year will be positive. 

We usually grow kale, silverbeet, spinach, beetroot, corn and rocket.  As well as strawberries and blueberries.  All I need now is a cubic metre of compost at my local landscape supplies to top up my garden beds.  

The dry 2020 really concerned me, so I built a rain barrel and irrigation system to keep my crops hydrated.  

I grew up on a very large family orchard.  We grew kiwifruit, avocados, watermelon, nashi pears and kumara.  Only the kiwifruit and avocados orchards remain.  I guess my garden-fix started early, but I hated working on the orchard when I was young .   

Going back to grow Chillies/Capsicums this yr.

   , i couldnt find a jealous emoji lol our asparagus popped its head out only to get a couple of nights at minus 4 and so it all withered and disappeared .
 

yip plant corn blocks as Lingee says but i would also add nitrogen fertilizer when it is up out of the ground [not at planting], if your soil is lacking fertility in general any NPK fert will do,  small doses but regularly and water in . 

Here is my list for this year:

Basil

Beetroot

Borage

Broccoli

Capsicum

Carrot

Cauliflower

Chive

Red Cabbage

Kale

Leek

Lettuce - Crisphead 

Mint

Red Onion

Radish

Sage

Spinach

Spring Onion

Cherry Tomato

Thyme

Tomato

Watercress

So this is my LITTE GARDEN effort for this year 

After many years of living in the Pacific and traveling finally got roots in NZ and have some space to spread my vege garden wings. Im sourcing all sorts of interesting seeds online, this years fun crops are going to be black tomato’s ( like the 8 pool ball). And bright blue peas. Heirlooms are great. 

In the orchard I’ve planted a peachcot which is a cross between apricot and peach. Avos are knocked back a bit buy the neighbour s cows that apparently don’t jump electric tape fences…till they do….

I’ve had veg gardens that provided 90% of my food before. Not hard work but lots of planning with succession planting every 2-4 weeks and self seeding etc. what gets n my tits when you have people going to food banks and claiming neglect by the community when some have state houses with amazing fertile large sections the gov gets mown for them. You could keep 4 families in veges and fruit from just one of the gorgeous sections.

Got a mate in a state house and anything I plant just grows to unseen by me abundance. He’s in Hamilton and gets one or two bunches of bananas each year which a small but tasty like ladies fingers var. his Citris which I prune for him can hardly hold their crops. Soil is amazing. His whole street is wood fence and lawn. Crazy   

Cheapest option and saves HEAPS of time . It's rewarding growing a garden in other ways though

Sounds like you're sorted then. I have better results growing from seed that I've kept or bought than those Little Garden things but they are sort of free and the germinate really well
 

The pros is Christmas time, if however you are a  turkey the cons are Christmas time   

A hint for sowing lawn seed .........................

Before sowing soak seed for 24 hrs in the yeasty sediment found in the bottom of bottles of home brew.

        Then  :-

Your lawn will come up "Half cut" 

Turkeys are easy enough to keep, but they are messy as. They need lots of room which makes them hard to contain. They cost a lot in food. I have 8 at the moment, 2 of them gobblers and they chomp through a 20kg bag of pellets. I supplement that with bread and dog roll. The gobbler are amusing to watch and yeah, great at Xmas. Mine weigh around 7kg dressed. I kill them, pluck & gut them, hang overnight in the chiller then  soak them in a brine for 24hrs - they just fit inside a 20 litre bucket. If you don't have a chiller you can soak them in a plastic bag in a 70 litre chilly bin with ice.

I cook them using a recipe from Annabel Langbein more or less but I rub them with bacon fat instead of butter. They are really tasty and not dry at all.

We have about 25 acres, only run 4 steers to keep the grass down so we can manage dry summers. We share the farm with two rag doll cats, dog, ring neck parrot and a budgie who all think it is their farm and we are just here to act as their servants.   

Not a very good gardener

My cabbages ended up about the size of an indoor bowling ball!

Yep I use urea...

I also have about 50 swan plants and have just sown around 100 seeds.

To me the biggest problem with a lot of garden stuff is the cost of doing it. I don't have raised gardens because of that. The downside is the time spent weeding, it's extreme but it gets me outside. I guess most of us hate being cooped up. I love fishing - obviously, love gardening and messing about on my lifestyle block. Also hunting - if you can call it that but I get probably 6 or so half shares in fallow deer each year for the freezer, I can't imagine a life without being a hunter/gatherer/provider

Me too, love shooting them. Young rabbits are tasty. Have yet to try possum but one day I will

Smudge I used to have weeds in garden but as Kieth mentioned deep mulch reduces. Smudge in one of your beds try lasagna style. To start put down a layer of cardboard tape staples etc removed. If you have big sheets from bed, furniture bike shop etc I get a trailer load free every  6 months. Hose down to make wet and pliable and plant through cardboard or move layer of cardboard around plants. A couple of layers is ok but don’t leave any cracks. Put a 3 inch layer of green lawn clippings.  You are done - no weeds again just wait till harvest and go fishing. This locks in moisture and warmth. No chemical ferts need added, nature takes it from there. The soil comes to life. Cardboard breaks down after 2=3 months worms feed on decaying cardboard and lawn clippings. After harvest. I chop and drop what’s left. Leave roots in ground just cut at ground level they add to the living on site compost system you have started. Add a layer of compost about inch add cardboard layer plant add grass clipping and repeat each year. Never weed again soil explodes into a miracle plant anything media. Hardly water never add nitrogen or any other ferts as it kills natural macros and micros and makes your garden dependant on the chemical companies making those products. My last garden, each month I’d do a garden walk around bored as no weeds and plants going insane just wait till harvest or forage pickings for the table. Interestingly I got to 18 layers over time and if I put that on at one time it would have been higher than me but the soil stayed the same height as when I started.  Worms grow thick and drag the top layer and pull it down up to a foot deep feeding the plants, the old plant roots left decay and leave food and channels for the new plants roots to follow and encourage deep rooting so little watering required over hot spells. You get a feel when the garden is in a sweet spot my indicator crop was broad beans that grew over 2m heigh and cropped hard. It was a beautiful thing.

I have a new garden started which was work but over halfway there now. Garden edging adds slugs earwigs etc to garden as they are perfect hiding places. I do use edging on slopes but avoid. Wood chip paths over thick cardboard or wool carpet re used. Pest and diseases generally go for the sickest plants so a healthy organic garden reduces issues. Kieth interesting how you beat your disease issue pretty much same strategy, make your soil healthy and plants will be too. 

Being oldish, I wouldnt bend down to the ground, so made raised garden beds 75cm high - beds 2m across I can stand and reach over to the centres,

When a contractor was concreting a new parking area, I got him to dump the soil in the beds - left 25cm at the top; bought soil to fill right up. 

Even though the bought soil appeared friable, after a years consolidation it was too hard. So I added 50mm of sand on top and dug in to the top 15cm. This is now a joy to work - easy to dig and easy to remove weeds. 

I add lime every two years - and Blood & Bone fertiliser yearly or twice yearly if I double crop. This supplies Nitrogen and Phosporus slowly over about 6 months - but not Potassium. I couldnt find any organic fertilizer to supply enough potassium,  apply Potassium Sulphate for that.

As the area is small (20 squ Metres), I run it hard; double cropping mostly. Results are generally very good.

I dont grow many different things - Brocolli, Spinach (both perpetual kinds), corn, onions, potatoes, butter beans.

I am starting growing spuds. Tried first in autumn March to winter - they did poorly, the spuds not forming properly (dark translucent inside). I suspect too dry; due drought. I could not water due to water shortage regulations. 

As our temperatures are relatively high, Ive planted new crop early in July - they have emerged and growing well.

I tried buying some seed potatoes, but as they are ridiculously expensive, I am just using eating spuds from the supermarket. I hope to avoid fungal disease, as our rainfall is pretty low. 

Its fun - second though to fishing.   

Beautnol rubber is another option, can glue the seams together with Ados so would be a lot more water tight.

We use TPO for a lot of pool liners these days as well as a roofing membrane. Its thermo-welded together, bullet proof. Not cheap though.

Your biggest problem is gonna be filtration. Like as you said it will be a festering swamp in no time. 

My current clients have opted for a fresh water pool- No chems what so ever,  The water has to be pumped through huge sponges in a tank to filter it. Apparently planting a lot of water Lillys etc around the edges helps keeps water clean.

I brought some Jersey Bennes online a couple of weeks back ( choose to grow only J/Bs & Cliffs Kidney ) from Nichols Garden Center in Dunedin ( well priced & next day delivery, rang to commend them on their service ) also noted the warehouse have stocks in if you are in L3 can order & collect ... more expensive than Nichols tho.

Hey Rex for what it is worth there is a plant raising enterprise on the Old Albany Hwy that regularly discard their plant raising soil afyer using only once & is a small mountain of it that you can have a full trailer full loaded via a front end loader for only about $40.

It is ultra friable & has plenty of residual nutrient to suit home gardens for 3 yrs or more befor having to boost it.

Well I'll be buggered I never knew you could grow swans from seed, thought they came from eggs, you really are a clever bugga Smudge 

Suggest you try Nichols Garden online service ( Dunedin ) ... good prices & quality products along with next day delivery.

A fortnight or more ago I planted my bean seeds namely 4 varieties each of dwarf & runners.

Since then have been in anticipation of seeing seedings emerge but to date nada !

Finally in desperation I dug up a couple of the seeds about 15 mins ago & was somewhat relieved to find the seeds have sprouted the beginnings of stalks about 25 mm long & are also developing a root structure but given the time they have been in the ground would have expected them to be more advanced.

Admittedly the weather of late here in Jaffaland has been wet, cold &  windy so maybe that is the reason but raises the question of should they be left alone or dug out & replaced as have read that if they are slow to develop then the plants are likely to lack vigor.

Have noticed beans can react rather strangely at times in various localities eg My runner beans one year planted in Auckland had been making satisfactory progress but were well away from picking or for that matter even flowering. Therefore during a visit to Greymouth was staggered to find folk down there were already picking theirs.

I would have thought the Greymouth climate would have made growing a lot of vegs down there marginal, let alone have them thrive!  

  

Yeah I had the same problem initially with the bloody blackbirds, thrushes & mynas digging up the seeds ... hanging tinsel etc. that worked short term but finally all that was achieved ultimately was to create a pseudo premature xmas decoration.

Could not buy any netting due to the lockdown so had to resort to scouring the property for bits & pieces which are serving the purpose in the time being but am apprehensive re having to lift them once the seedlings begin to emerge ... whenever that might be.

I plant my corn seeds in seed trays and then plant out when they are about 75mm high. Planted the first of them in the trays about a week ago.

Wow , your birds are more aggressive than the ones down here. Mind you I have to take my seeding trays inside each night to beat the frost and yesterday they never came out of my shed as it snowed for a couple of hours 

For all those who have a bit of space only requirement.

There is a ancient gardening method that comes from American Indians and South America. It’s genius as it’s companion planting on a small scale that provides its own support, cover, nitrogen fixing etc…

It’s called the THREE SISTERS planting. Very simple.

On its smallest scale. You create a small mound and plant one corn seed, one pumpkin seed and one climbing bean seed. This challenge allows just one planting or multiples of these if you have the space.

The corn grows fastest and becomes a stake for the climbing bean and shades the Pumpkin. Pumpkin does weed control via shade, keeps moisture in and creates mulch. They all require different nutrients and feed each other and share 3 layers of light. 

Ive heard about it for years and never tried. This year is the year. Feel free to join and we can compare pics as they grow and crop.

The challenge for gardeners has been laid down.👊👋

May be wrong but pink coating on some seeds is not a poison as we know it but a preservative to prevent deterioration ... very much doubt

if any poisonous additives would be allowed or in the unlikely event they were then surely they would require clear warnings to the affect!

It sounds great but pumpkins use so much water. I have had a few goes at growing giant pumpkins and I'd easily give those things 10 litres or more a day. On tank water that's a real issue. On the other hand though not every sweetcorn and bean plant needs its own pumpkin . Interesting idea.

Maybe resorting to lead poisoning via your slug gun might be worth trying.

Must say the birds have been an unprecedented problem this season even to pecking away at the mandarins still on the tree ... something that has never happened before. 

Mattoo that’s encouraging I might do a few and see how it goes. Mulch, compost to bring life into your soil is everything. 

Ps I’ve done 2 sisters before …

They are a major hassle up here - I've found the early fruit is the worst affected. Towards the end of feijoa season the ducks & pukeko have cleaned up the early windfall, & the remaining fruit is mostly grub free. Same seems to apply to the citrus. 

Ironically it's probably us home orchardists who are are allowing it to survive & spread. Commercial monoculture orchards can deal with it - by spraying at appropriate times of the year I guess. In our back yards it just hops from species to species as the seasons progress. Even has a go at macadamias ffs. 

Hallelujha & praise be to the garden gods.

All of a sudden after a long wait the potatoes have broken thru & growing at a frantic pace.

Not only but also the beans have begun to sprout thru as well ... admittedly would hardly rival Jacks' bean stalk but gratifying nonetheless.

All that remains to do now is to prevent the birds from pecking out the shoots & seeds.

Was beginning to doubt the old adage " All good things come to they that wait " but have now been reconverted to believer status.  

Gazza, I had that same feeling a couple weeks ago. I thought the spuds may have rotten with all this constant rain then I saw a few soil lumps …was that something emerging…. 2 days later boom up they started popping. Sadly Jersey beanies maybe 60% success….so have a few places for fast growing radishes and lettuces in the gaps.

I have just planted the 3 trays with corn Blackbirds cleaned out a few days ago and netting now over place. Another level of satisfaction…ups and downs and very healthy 

Yes some of the corn plants I trans plant had 3 leaves but foot long roots I had to kneed out. I’ll see how they go 

Yes birds are awesome and to be encouraged in my garden too even blackbirds once the plants get passed seedling stage. Wasps are rubbish to native insects but great in the garden. Hardly get white butterfly now. Once had to use butterfly nets to protect brassicas amounts clouds of white butterflies 

I have 3 IBC containers set up, 2 for my garden and one for my fruit trees. Ohhh yeah I have around 100 swan plants also. OK I'm a butterfly geek .Fruit trees? A red guava, a yellow guava, a pink guava - no fruit yet, a meyer lemon, 2 x mandarin, a grapefruit, an orange, a Louisa plum, a black Doris plum, a Christmas plum and a white fleshed peach x 3. Ohhh and about 5 grape vines.

What am i missing?