Wednesday 26 March 2014

Hello, it is 2014...

Hi there 

I started working full time during October and was putting in some really long hours up until Christmas - boy does that have a huge impact on everything. As a result of that the gardens got a little neglected. That doesn't mean to say that I haven't been enjoying them at all though over our summer, it does mean that they haven't been as productive as they could have been.

Frangipani flowering - we have never had so many flowers on one stalk before, quite remarkable as this plant got quite a bit of damage when transported to Tauranga from Whangarei last year.

The rhubarb plant that was in earlier photos - well I have harvested two lots of stalks from that plant and it has developed more crowns. I know you shouldn't harvest during the first year however I had no choice - it was absolutely huge. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the plant before the harvesting as I didn't have my camera with me.

The stalks were a lot greener than I thought they should be and googled whether or not they were safe to eat as I didn't want to make my family sick. In warmer temperatures the stalks don't go as red as I remember and we have enjoyed the cooked rhubarb for breakfasts and I still have some in the freezer as there was so much of it. The rhubarb being greener in no way impacted on the flavour.

Here are some photos that I took back in spring showing the trees in blossom. Such a fantastic sight. These are taken at the community garden where I have a plot.




It is nice remembering these photos as summer has now passed and we are definitely seeing signs of autumn. We are still having nice sunny days but the evenings and mornings are definitely crisper.

Until next time, happy gardening everyone.