Savouring summer

The promise of summer is one of fresh delicious organic vegetables picked straight from your own garden. It's the season to reap the rewards for the hard work you put in over spring. It makes it all worthwhile as does the knowledge that you are providing nutritious low cost food for yourself and whānau.

After a very cold winter and a cool spring here in Ōtautahi, where we had occasional warm periods punctuated by cold southerlies and the risk of frost, the warmth of the summer season is a welcome relief (I hope). My eternal optimism for planting potatoes early backfired and the crop suffered mild frost damage. I decided not to take any further risks with my early potatoes and covered them with a tarpaulin every night when the temperature threatened to go below two degrees.

The cold weather finally wore me down and I decided to purchase a new tunnel house. After investigating my options, I chose a tunnel house design from Real Steel Building. They were helpful in discussing what I needed and coming up with a solution and size that would be most sustainable for my garden in the long term. I decided upon a 6.3m by 2.2m design with a double-skinned polycarbonate cladding which fits into my garden nicely.

Left: The tunnel house, outside and inside; right: beefsteak tomatoes.

In the short time that I have been growing vegetables in it, the growth has been phenomenal (see photos). If these vegetables had been grown outside they would have struggled to grow and would have probably been killed off by the late frosts. The size of the tunnel house is big enough to divide it up into four zones: one for tomatoes and basil; the second for capsicums and chillies; the third for cucumbers and aubergines; and the fourth for early vegetables like beans and zucchini. I decided to space the tomato, capsicum and chilli plants so that I can grow other crops around them.

For the early season I have planted lettuces and carrots in among them. They will be followed by rock melons that grow along the ground. Arranging the plants in different zones avoids the hassle of having to replace the soil every year, which I had to do with my old, much smaller glasshouse. My wife has also managed to sneak a few plants in there as well, like a lime tree, lemongrass and some herbs, which I guess is a small price to pay for a happy marriage! I used the left-over polycarbonate from my new tunnel house to repair my old glasshouse, which will now be used to grow water melons.

A gardener's key jobs in the summer months revolve around succession planting, weeding and watering. It is important to leave space for planting new lots of vegetables over the summer months so that they do not all come on at once. This avoids a glut that goes to waste or ends up as fodder for the chickens or the compost heap. This is particularly the case with fast-growing vegetables like lettuce, spring onions, radishes, beans, beetroot and carrots.

With lettuce I normally buy five or six varieties and mix all the seeds into a bowl and sow a new line every two weeks. This way I have a variety of lettuce coming up at the same time and as they grow, I thin them out and leave behind the ones I want to grow to maturity. In this way I also have a supply of lettuce from those that I thin out and do not have to wait until all the plants become big enough to harvest.


Zucchini.

Keeping on top of the weeds is crucial at this time of the year and I usually find it is easiest to do this either in the early morning or evening out of the full blaze of the sun. The trick with watering is deciding how often to water and how much is needed for good growth.

Water is a precious resource that should not be wasted. Organic gardening methods help by building up the water-holding capacity of soil through compost, mulches and green crops that add carbon and humus to the soil. The best times to water are in the early morning or late evening. This needs to be done to the extent that it allows the water to totally soak the soil, but you don't end up with a pool of water sitting on top of the soil.

Depending on the type of soil an average garden should have a good soak once a week, but may need more depending on the weather. Too much watering can lead to crop damage while too little water stunts growth and makes the plants susceptible to pests and disease.

January and February are also the months to start planting winter crops. The main varieties to plant now if you want them ready for a feast at Matariki are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, silverbeet, leeks and spinach (and swedes if you are in Murihiku and want to hold onto the Ranfurly Shield!).

Another bonus of having a tunnel house is salad material can still be grown during the colder seasons and provide tasty treats during winter. In my view, they are a worthwhile investment.

HEI MAHI MāRA
A beginner's
guide to
growing
organic veg
nā
TREMANE BARR

Tremane Barr is Ngāi Tahu/Kāti Mahaki. He has been gardening organically for more than 20 years. He currently works as a storeman and a part-time contractor helping to develop a pounamu resource management plan for Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio.

Book Competition

For the next issue, TE KARAKA has one copy of Yates Garden Fresh Cookbook, companion to Yates Garden Guide. Simply answer how many zones are in Tremane Barr's tunnel house and email the answer to tekaraka@ngaitahu.iwi.nz
or write it on the back of an envelope and address it to: Te Karaka, PO Box 13-046, Christchurch 8141.

The winner of the Yates Young Gardener by Janice Marriott and The NZ Vegetable Gardener by Sally Cameron is Tara Ginsberg. Congratulations.

Inside Issue 45

SEARCH FOR CALM WATERS

THROUGH THE TREES

MEETING TŪTOKO

ULVA'S ISLAND

ARM STRONG

COUNTRY EXPEDITION

HAVE YIKE, WILL TRAVEL

 

Issue #45 Published Dec 2009
© Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu