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The broad bean seeds I planted a few months ago in the veggie garden at Struan Farm are flourishing to say the least. They have been in flower for awhile, are being helped by the bees. I'm starting to see little pods as the flowers shrivel up, always a good sign!
Looks like we will have a decent crop.
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We have Forget-Me-Nots all over the place at Struan Farm. They self-seed to such an extent that I find myself pulling them out as weeds! That being said, the delicate little blue flowers are quite lovely, and are starting to bloom right now.
I also planted a special native Chatham Island Forget-Me-Not at the front entrance, which is now blooming for the first time. The foliage is rather distinctive and makes it easy to identify. But I haven't seen these in flower before, so thought I'd share it with you:
My Victorian Flower Dictionary indicates that Forget-Me-Nots take their name from a German folk tale about a couple walking on the eve of their wedding. The woman admires some flowers by the side of a river. Her fiance stoops to pick them for her, and is swept away into the river, drowning. Before he is carried away by the waters he tosses her the flowers and cries 'Vergiss mein nicht.'
The flowers were used as simple expressions of love commonly during Victorian times. So it seems we've got a whole lotta love going on here at Struan Farm!
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One of our next projects is making a nice picnic spot down at the river at Struan Farm. We're thinking about a picnic table and BBQ area right here, between/under the two trees:
What do you think?
John recently took out a fence and gate in this area, which has really opened up the view to the river. This past weekend we picked up fallen branches and raked up some leaves to sow grass seed in bare areas.
It's a scenic spot next to the river, just down the track from Jim's Hut and the Ablution Block.
A work in progress....also got the grass seeds sown around the Ablution Block this weekend too!
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We've decided that the outdoor shower down near Jim's Hut at the river at Struan Farm probably does need a bit more privacy than currently exists. Jim's Hut is meant to be rustic accommodation for those more intrepid spirits; however, John and I asked ourselves if we would be comfortable showering there if it were a place we didn't know, and the answer was "no." It's just too exposed.
And so this weekend we've planted a natural hedge of Leptospernum "Wiri Linda" and "Kea," a flowering native commonly called "tea tree." We're expecting the sheep to nibble these while they are young, but they'll grow eventually and that won't be a problem.
Since it will take awhile for these to get established and provide a real screen, step two on this project will be the installation of wooden screens, probably two pieces of trellis on either end, to provide additional privacy but still allow the person showering to look out on the Mangaotaki River.
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The tulips and bluebells at Struan Farm's front entrance are now truly in full swing!
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Nephew Mike has been working away down at the river at Struan Farm, designing and building some steps from the track near Jim's Hut down to the outside shower area.
He's almost finished, has done a great job!
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Yes, I'm a woman who loves her veggies. And I've raved previously about the nutritional benefits of purple and red vegetables. But these deep purple carrots I found at New World Market in New Plymouth are AMAZING! They don't turn orange when cooked, and are as deep in colour as beets.
And so this week I went on the hunt. Contacted the store to try to find out the variety, with no follow up as yet. I also emailed Kings Seeds with a photograph, since they sell seeds to home gardeners. Gerard emailed back, telling me they are "Carrot Deep Purple," and only available via a commercial seed supplier called Premier Seeds in Auckland. The sales rep for our area, Ken, was kind enough to reply to my email query.
While they sometimes have sample packs of small quantities of seeds, unfortunately they are currently out of packs of Carrot Deep Purple. They do have smaller commercial packs of 25,000 seeds coming in shortly, and he advised me that this really isn't such a huge quantity of seeds as it sounds....that purple carrots don't have the same germination rates as their more modern genetically engineered orange cousins.
Thinking maybe I could share some with friends and family, hmmmm. I told him to let me know the cost when they get here, and I'll decide. In the meantime, would anyone want to share some? If so, let me know. You'd need to be here in NZ, and I'd deliver and/or post them to you for free. I'd probably weight the lot and then divide the price into grams/kgs, whatever....He said they'd last for awhile too, so no need to plant them all this season. Think about it!
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I've decided it's time to get the next wave of veggie seeds started in the glasshouse at Struan Farm. This includes zucchini ("Black Coral," "Romanesco," "Florence Ribbed"), pumpkins ("Musquee de Provence," "Marina di Chioggia"), spaghetti squash, watermelon ("Sweet As," an experiment), basil, and parsley (Italian, of course).
I'm learning about what is best sown direct, i.e., carrots, beets, beans, lettuces, corn, dill, coriander and chervil, vs. what can be started in seed trays or pots inside to get a jump on the season. The tomato seeds ("Black Cherry," "Black Krim," "Oxheart," "Sandy's Tomatoes," "Sweet 100," "Little Devils," and a few other heirlooms from veteran tomato grower Mr. V. in Dargaville) were started about three weeks ago and are growing into plants as we speak. At a certain point they will warrant their own blog post.
I've already planted beet ("Bulls Blood") and carrot ("Purple Dragon") seeds out in the garden, popped in the kale ("Cavolo Laciniato") this week. We've got another variety of kale growing that I'm using currently for smoothies and salads.
I'm rotating what is planted in our various troughs every year. May run into a brief issue with my flowering broadbeans, celery and garlic, which straddle the seasons, but will sort that out. I've already told John we could do with three more troughs! We're sticking the corn and pumpkins/watermelons into beds in the ground directly this year to have more room (fingers crossed on the rabbit front, I will wage war with the little buggers if they touch my garden).
That's the latest on the veggie front--stay tuned. p.s. I've got quinoa seeds. Not sure where and when I'm going to plant those just yet!
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Well, thought this might be the solution to the scrums at the back gate of Struan Farm, trying to feed five hungry lambs their bottles.
I should have known there are no easy answers. Even with John's help, only Rosie and Spanky could get the hang of drinking from the "lamb feeder." (In fact, Spanky pretty much drained the entire pot on his own!) Pip, Pepper and Ruby just refused to drink from it, even when prompted.
We tried for several days, but (for me) it turned out being more of a hassle to feed two on the feeder and three by bottle than five by bottle. Maybe next year with a new flock?
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