Category: Gardening

While I was at work this week my seeds in their toilet rolls also got to work growing in the laundry. Half my peas and beans have germinated in 7 days and the rest should be popping out tomorrow. However the bean seeds I planted outside have not yet germinated so it will be interesting to see the difference in germination rates between inside and outside. I am a minimal effort new gardener – all the books and articles I read about growing seed talked about plastic covers etc to raise the heat etc – I just put a piece of newspaper over the top of the toilet rolls, seems to have done the trick? Our household ‘created’ three toilet rolls this week so I will plant seeds in these tomorrow. Our home is slowly starting to represent a greenhouse as my various growing projects take off. Male puss approves – he has taken a liking to lying on the table next to the parsley pots. The next part of the experiment will involve growing the seedlings a bit bigger in the toilet rolls and then planting the whole toilet roll outside.

Inspired by last weekend’s planting I continued my gardening today. I purchased dwarf bush baby bean plant seeds during the week and planted some up today in a few old 99c buckets. I also dropped some seeds off to my mother- in- law as I know she loves stir fries and these beans are perfect for that. They have a 55 day maturity period so they will be ready before Xmas. I then popped over to my mums for an hour to plant some of the lovely new carpet rose ‘Amber’ for her and some perennial fillers around the garden. Her veges and herbs that I planted last week are doing well. Mum mentioned that her church group have started up a community garden so that they can put fresh veges into food boxes for those who are struggling and also to inspire church members to start growing their own little plots. So this afternoon I potted up some bean and pea seeds into toilet paper rolls so I can donate some seedlings to the community garden in a few weeks. The theory is that you can just plant the toilet rolls straight into the soil once the seedlings have germinated so I thought I’d give it a go – will be strictly trial and error! I’ve decided that every time we ‘produce’ a toilet roll I’m going to plant a seed of some sort– it will be a good way to remind me to keep a constant seeding programme. 

I looked out this morning and there were my peas with their heads just poking out of the soil for the first time. five tips for perfect peas : the kitchen garden. My mother – in – law, 20 mins down the road, doesn’t get our frosts so her peas are only a couple of weeks away from being able to be eaten. We also picked up a tomato plant going free this morning from the in-laws so I’ve just potted that up in another old pot I found in the garage. Next on our list for growing are lettuces as we spend a lot of money on lettuce from the supermarket and really only need a few leaves at a time with there only being two of us as the furry ones aren’t partial to vegetables. I’ve heard that rocket is easy to grow so may give that a go as well.

I found a nz gardening site last week – it has lots of good practical gardening information and has a forum where you can post gardening questions for others to answer. It has lots of contributions from people on the site regarding their particular garden projects  http://www.mygarden.co.nz/

I finally planted my first lot of peas yesterday – Greenfeast. I’ve been waiting a bit as we are still getting frosts in our area – hubby has been a bit frustrated with having to de-ice the car each morning as winter has technically finished. As we still don’t have any useable land at the moment I went for planting the pea seeds in a big plastic pot I found in the garage. I’m going to grow some seedlings in toilet roll tubes as well – I can take those around to people to plant into their gardens in a few weeks time if they work out (can then also get free peas off people later). Seemingly you should sow pea seeds every month through spring to ensure a continuous supply. I woke up this morning hoping that my peas had miraculously grown overnight! I’m not the most patient of gardeners – it’s going to be a long wait………

I knew I wasn’t imagining it – NIWA have issued its national climate outlook predicting that spring will arrive early this year for NZ. I think it’s time to start trying growing my peas soon. Good old Prof Walker reckons he starts his first crop in early August RNZIH – Horticulture Pages – Growing Peas. Lots of other good advice can be found on bestgardening.com Vegetables – Peas and Mangetout. I dropped around to my mother-in-laws this morning and her peas are already over 10cm tall so it’s inspired me to get going!

With renovating our house the outside of our property is still pretty close to a construction site so there is little chance of growing anything at the moment. I decided to get motivated yesterday though and create a herb garden inside the house in our dining area which is an absolute sun trap. I refrained from going out and buying pretty new containers – scrounged around for old plastic pots in the shed and ice cream containers. Hopefully my first indoor growing endeavour will be successfulJ

Last Saturday’s Dominion Post had an interesting article regarding making seed pots out of newspaper rolled around a glass and then folded in at the bottom. Once the seedlings have grown ready to be put out in the garden the whole newspaper seed pot can just be put straight into the ground minimising the risk of transplanting shock. I guess toilet roll holders could be used as well for growing seeds. Of course you need a warm area to grow seeds in. A gardener on a TV segment the other day shared that she grows her seeds in the back of her hatchback in winter! My laundry is the warmest place in the house at the moment so I might see about setting up a little sort of greenhouse there. Perhaps I could create some plant gifts over the next few months.