Purple cauliflower and marshmallow.

These were planted out onto the patch rather hurriedly... But they're in now. 

Seeds

Sewed seeds of:
Cabbage, Copenhagen market
Cauliflower, giant of Naples
Broccoli, premium green f1

Lettuce:
Red flame
Cos
Paris white cos
Green magninette

In the weekend

Brasica back yard

Moved from trays into the patch. The germination rates were terrible, but it isn't really spring yet so another experiment is needed before seeds are ditched.

Pics

Potatoes in the patch.


Brassica (broccoli and cauliflower) in the patch.


A small clump of garlic in the patch.

22 Cauliflower

There in the soil, down below, by the broccoli

Germination and Onions

The Copenhagen Market cabbage and All The Year Round cauliflower have started to germinate. The germination rates are low, the cauliflower rate is so low that the seeds are essentially non viable.

Also planted some Red Wing F1 and Italian Longkeeper onions in trays. According to the Tui NZ Vegetable Garden, you can plant onion seeds February - July.

Cauliflower Ears

I've (nearly) got cauliflowers comeing out of my ears. All the Cheddar Cauliflower (except 1) have already been turned into dinners, one of the white cauli was eaten over the last two days and now this one and 4 more like it coming over the next few days.

It also looks as though the carrots under the poly-tunnel are beginning to poke through the surface - or it might just be weeds. Its hard to tell because carrot shoots look like grass shoots!

Brassica Fantatisica

Spend the evening planting cauliflower (all the year round), cabbage (copenhagen market), and Kohlrabi (purple and green), into seed trays. In total 20 of each being 2 seed trays.

Rhubarb Crumble

2.8KG of rhubarb came out of the parch and into the kitchen. 800g went into rhubarb crumble (which was excellent) and 2KG was stewed and went into bottles. This is the first (non-jam) bottling endeavour for the patch and it seems to have worked well.

For Christmas dinner Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, and turnips. The cheddar yellow cauliflower is excellent both raw and cooked. The remains went into filo-parcels for dinner tonight. They, too, were good.

Tomatoes are starting to come, but the plants are yellowing. They need some tomato food.

Seed Seeds Seeds, on the grow

All three seed-trays were empty, and its summer. This was a sad state of affairs that needed resolving. The seed-trays were washed in hot water, then rinsed in hot tap water, then filled with black-magic seed mix.

Into the three trays went 20 each of:
Spinach (winter giant)
Spinach (bloomsdale)
Cauliflower (all the year around)
Cauliflower (violet sicilian)
Cabbage (copenhagen market)
Brocoli (italian Precore)

That a load of Brassica and a lot of spinach.

As its early summers its also time to get the cucurbits in. They are a lot larget than the tiny brassics so they go into individual pots rather then seed trays. Into 4 pots each went:

Pumpkins (harvest gold)
Squash (sunbeam)
Zucchini (blackjack)
Zucchini (blackbeauty)

In previous years the pumpkins have suffered mold and not produced fruit - perhaps this year will reverse the trend.

Putting the brassicas to bed

The brassica that were reaised in seed-trays did generally very well with the exception of the cauliflower. The got too big for the seed trays and so were transplanted to the vege-patch.

As a reminder, they were: Broccoli (Premium Green F1), Cabbage (Copenhagen Market), Cauliflower (All Year Round), Pak Choy (White Stem).

Also transplanted peas (from way back) from trays to the patch. They do well inside, and outside they are a centimeter or so in length.

Finally, found the orange chedar cauliflower at Bunnings in Dunedin. One tray of 6 went in beside the other brassica. Overall a good weekend for the vege-patch.

Patch Pix

Early days yet but there's life in them there patches. Front and Middle is Cauliflower and Broccoli planted in autumn. They survive the winter and have started to take off. With luck they'll go to flower (which is the part we eat). In the background is Spinach.

Those shoots between the brassica is the garlic. The first shoots sprung up a week or two ago - and there should be more to come. They're grown from left-over sprigs from last year's crop planted close to the shortest day. In the background (above) you'll notice a few little white markers... they're marking out the radish that didn't yet sprout.

Brassica Germination

Planted 4 kinds of brassicas into one of the seed trays: Broccoli (Premium Green F1), Cabbage (Copenhagen Market), Cauliflower (All Year Round), Pak Choy (White Stem). The "plan" is to compare the seeds with the seedlings.

The Kohlrabu have germinated with nearly all peeking up out of the soil. Both the emerald and purple varieties have gerninated well.

The onions are showing signs of germination, but some are rotting. They get a white mold on them. I suspect that the seeds germinate then some mold sets in and they turn into little mold balls. None-the-less, it looks like enough will be successful to result in a first-round ready for planting in a week or two.

Purple Cauli

Dunner during week. Purple Cauliflowers loose their colour when you cook them. Didn't expect to see cauliflowers forming at this time of year - they are more frequently seen in the vege patch in November. There are 2 white cauli on their way and a green one too. This year there's no rabbit to eat them all.

Lynda Hallinan's Cauliflowers...

This week's "get growing" email form Lynda Hallinan has the usual ten things to do this weekend. Number seven is to plant cauliflower. Nothing to write home about, except that Lynda has got her hands on some Cheddar Cauliflower. I saw a seedling of this a few years and have searched Dunedin (and the Internet) many times since, but never seen another seedling. Lynda's came from the "Zealandia" range but, as to be expected, a search of the Internet gets me no closer to finding one. Perhaps the solution is to write to Lynda and ask where she got it from.

Putting the Brassica to Bed

Time to transplant from the seed trays into the garden. 10 Brussel Sprout plants (3 rows) and 6 purple cauliflower (2 rows) went into the freshly dug over beds. The beds were not composted because after spending a day digging them over the energy to sift compost through a seive was missing. From that seed tray none (that' right, none) of the green cauliflower germinated, all the brussel sprouts germinated and all except one (or was it two) of the purple cauli germinated.

To my total surprise another pumpkin germinated. After however many weeks it has been they were about to get written off as a disaster. There are now 2 pumpkin and 1 giant pumpkin desperately awaiting transplanting into the vege patch.

Brassica

Filled the last seed tray with brassica:
15 brussel sprouts
10 purple cauliflower
15 green cauliflower
all seeds are from last year. the sprouts from Watkins and the others from Kaiotes.

started to dig over the last part of the patch. there are 4 living cauliflower plants so they have been left in place.

Last Night's Dinner (and Tonight Too)

Cauliflower for dinner yesterday, today, and tomorrow too. The first for the season measured 21cm on the longet edge (see photo). These things grow quite well in Dunedin. Be careful not to leave them too long because they flower and go spindley.

Onionesque

The onion and leeks in the planter were moved into the patch. Rows of 6 spring onions, 9 onions, 8 red onions, and 8 leeks were taken from the planter and put into the area dug-over last weekend.

Lettuce (cos) and 2 rows of spinach were planted from seed directly into beds by the onions.

3 Purple cauliflower and 5 brussel sprouts were transplanted into the brassica beds. No luck (at all) with green cauliflower. It looks like green cauliflowers from Kaiotes are bad.

New squash planting. 5 zucchini (Watkins), 2 squash (Yates) and 4 pumpkin (Watkins). Addiionally a seedling tray (2 rows each) of Purple Cauliflower, Green Cauliflower, Romanesco Broccoli, and one row each of Cailiflower and Brussel Sprouts

Organic fertaliser for the first time too.

Plantings

Seedlings into the garden seeds into some pots.

The cauliflowers and broccoli in the planting chamber went into the garden. The Romanesco, purple cauliflowers, and white cauliflowers did ok. It remainds unclear whether the green even sprouted. There new lot from a week ago are in potting mix so if anything sprouts its clear what it is.

New into the sprouting chamber are 10 each of: Leek, Red Onion, Onion, and Spring Onion. New into plastic trays went 8 each of: Yellow Corn, White Corn, and Brussel Sprouts.

Brussel Sprouts (Watkins) sprout 7-10 days, harvest 16-18 weeks.

Oh, and tons of peas (that expire in 2007) in the front garden just because there was space there to put them.