Community Garden Newsletter
After several years of trying to produce respectable kumaras we have finally succeeded!
Well, perhaps the “we” is a bit of an exaggeration …we have been most ably assisted by Roberta, The Kumara Queen. The secret is definitely in the build up of the plot, and freshly grown kumara tipu: these are the shoots grown from a ‘mother’ kumara that has been placed in a box of sawdust and fine topsoil and kept warm and damp to encourage shooting, through the winter months. The shoots then planted in a well-prepared plot and nurtured with warmth and water.(Aided with the excitement and encouragement that only gardeners can provide).
The day of the first dig was tremendous, a small corner of the patch, about 2 feet square produced the kumara illustrated. There are more to come , so check out the Larder: you just need to ask at the intercom for entry to the Medical Centre and let them know that you want to check the Larder.
Apart from the excitement of the kumara, we have been cleaning up the last of the summer crops, which brings quite a lot of composting effort, with heavy roots and weeds to the earth piles and clipping leaves etc into the compost that we hope will break down more quickly for use over the winter months.
Brassica plots have been well turned with horse pooh and cabbage ,cauli’s, brussel sprouts and broccoli planted and netted. Hopefully we are just about free of the dreaded white butterfly. A couple of plots that have worked extremely hard through summer have been well turned and planted with mustard seed for the winter.
Jerusalem artichokes are ready for harvesting, and seem to have extended themselves, yet again. This time they have decided to invade the pumpkin patch…Grrrr! We still have managed a few pumpkin, but now have plans to develop a new pumpkin patch a bit further down the plot and leave the artichokes to drift with the wind!
The beautiful Autumn weather is perfect for settling in a winter garden… a wee bit more rain would be welcome. Enjoy your own garden or come and join ours.
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