Who still has a vegetable garden?

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Niel

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#751177 26-Jan-2013 14:43

We are now getting a box of fresh locally sourced fruit and vegetables every 2 weeks delivered for about the same price as what we pay in the shops, but much better quality and direct from the farm. We are also doing the landscaping at our new home and this will include a few raised beds and wine barrels. We also have a very old rose which we seldom trim and occasionally spray. This is the good old variety which smells great and it has survived a few years of abuse. It is not that hard if you have the right plants, issue is sourcing them.

You can never have enough Volvos!

count58

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#756892 7-Feb-2013 12:48

Hi there,

No you are not the only one who grows your own fruit and vege as my Nana grows her own as well as a few other people i know. However i want to start my own vege garden as i have two little kids so my costs each week are quite high and to save some money would be great for me. Maybe you could give me some tips on how to do my own??? as a i would have to build my own vege patch first before i could put anything in it as i want a portable one thats not going to be hard to take down and put back up when we have to move from current address. I also have no idea what you can grow this time of year.

Thanks, and good luck with your fruit and vege :)

timmmay

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#756893 7-Feb-2013 12:50

Get the book "square foot gardening" from your local library, or amazon.

Goosey

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#756899 7-Feb-2013 12:59

Plated truss tomatos in black bags, spuds (magically appeared from last season) in black bags and capscicum.
Tried telegraph cucumber but that didnt want to grow and it dissapeared !

I use a small amount of tui tomato food and nitrophosika on the other plants.

count58

11 posts

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#757288 8-Feb-2013 13:00

mmmmmm yummy yummy tomatos haha. They advertise that tui tomato stuff all the time i wondered if it was any good. Maybe you can answer that question. I would love to do my own garden and have fresh spuds,tomatos,lettuce,cucumber,carrots,kumera,pumpkin,parsnips,chives,parsley and all sorts of other fruits and veges but unfortunately i dont know what part of the year things like to grow and what dont so if anyone could give me any ideas on how to do everything it would be very much aqppreciated and id be greatful :)

RileyB

247 posts

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#759966 12-Feb-2013 11:11

Moved into a new flat recently and was pleasantly surprised to find a roughly 1.5mx10m garden full of potatoes.

count58

11 posts

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#761652 13-Feb-2013 12:05

Hi RileyB, What a great surprise to find out, that'll save you some money :) Do you plan on growing any other vegetables or fruits? Id love my own garden so i could pull out fresh veges for tea each night but sadly i dont have one and i had thought about making my own but even that can be a bit costly especially when you have children :) Happy eating.

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SepticSceptic

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#761746 13-Feb-2013 14:09

count58: i dont know what part of the year things like to grow and what dont so if anyone could give me any ideas on how to do everything it would be very much aqppreciated and id be greatful :)

Bit late for tomatoes, pumpkin, etc, but beans, lettuces / mescalins are still good to start. This is assuming Auckland-ish climes, not deep Southland where frosts are early .. but in Northland you can still start tomato, corn as the growing season is a few weeks longer than further down the Islands

Good time to start brassicas ( Cabbage, brocolli, etc) so they get a good start before the cold sets in. Start about 1 or 2 each per week/fortnight.
Silverbeet
Spuds

Get yourself a Yates/ Palmers etc NZ garden book - it has climate specific regions for NZ, and what you can plant when and where.
Palmers and Plant Barn also have web sites to assist.

RileyB

247 posts

Master Geek

#761762 13-Feb-2013 14:30

count58: Hi RileyB, What a great surprise to find out, that'll save you some money :) Do you plan on growing any other vegetables or fruits? Id love my own garden so i could pull out fresh veges for tea each night but sadly i dont have one and i had thought about making my own but even that can be a bit costly especially when you have children :) Happy eating.

I've only cleared about two meters along so far. Once I get round to clearing some more I'd like to look at planting some more.

Cheers for the tip about the book, will see if I can get my hands on one. (Live in Dunedin BTW).

count58

11 posts

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#762088 14-Feb-2013 09:36

Hi SepticSceptic, i might just have to go and get myself the book so i can learn when to plant things and what i can plant certain times of the year as i live in Christchurch where its been known to get a shake and wake from Mother Nature herself :) Thanks for the tip, have a nice day

Linuxluver

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#770773 26-Feb-2013 22:21

My neighbour has a full-blown veggie garden.

We had one for the past two years, but then we got 6 hens and they jumped into it and made a huge mess. Instead, we have grown herbs and tomatoes on our deck...and for the past couple of months we have had 2-3 ripe tomatoes each day.....with a nice big crop (about 100-120 of them, various varieties) all coming ripe in the past 2-3 days.

We have lime trees and lemon trees and a plum tree and a grapefruit tree....and the 6 hens lay about 120-140 eggs / month for the $25 worth of feed they eat monthly. That works out about 18 cents / egg ($2.20-ish / dozen) for free range eggs laid by our own chooks....and their manure fertilises the lawn and the chicken-poopy sawdust in the hen house is regularly re-cycled into the flower beds.

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SepticSceptic

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#770947 27-Feb-2013 10:55

Linuxluver:

We had one for the past two years, but then we got 6 hens and they jumped into it and made a huge mess..

AHh yeah, damn chickens - they certainly do make a mess of vegie gardens - eat all the good stuff !!! First tried to mesh off the vegie garden, which sort of worked, unless I forgot to put the mesh up again after watering / picking ... next day - everything stripped !!!

So we have fenced the chickens in to their own large run - no more rampant chicken raids, nor poop all over the place. Poop not too bad in summer, but in winter ends up being tracked thru the hoise .. ecchhh ...

But the chooks were useful in keeping the roach and snail population in check .... and by joves, have you ever see them attacking a 10 inch centipede ? - holy heck, they smash em to bits !!! And then wolf down the entire twitching remains. And also great for eating crickets - used to have a "train" of chickens behind the lawn mower whilst mowing - chickens darting all over the place scoffing down disturbed crickets and other bugs ... though too many crickets makes the eggs taste a bit funny ...

:-)

ToPGuNZ

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#802678 20-Apr-2013 09:56

Hi, my 5 yr old has joined the school garden club. Any idea what these are? She brought them home a few days ago and are growing very quickly. Are they climbers, beans?

keewee01

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#802695 20-Apr-2013 10:33

ToPGuNZ: Hi, my 5 yr old has joined the school garden club. Any idea what these are? She brought them home a few days ago and are growing very quickly. Are they climbers, beans?

Might be beans - that is what they'd usually use as they grow quickly

tdgeek

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#802699 20-Apr-2013 10:40

Saw a thing on the Home shows that wife watches. Growing tomatoes upside down. Hang a tray, normal way up, with the young plants hanging from holes in bottom. Soil etc in tray. Funky and space saving

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