Tuesday, January 5, 2010

My urban garden

One advantages of being settled in Dunedin this year is that I can spend some time playing in my garden. As I have said before, I do not have much room in my garden so I have spent the last few weeks experimenting with growing flowers and vegetables in pots and bags.

What I have tried to do is use pots for growing flowers, and plant vegetables in the flower beds. My hubby isn't too impressed because he says the place looks untidy, but hopefully he'll change his mind when we have fresh veggies for tea.

I am growing strawberries, potatoes (in bags), cucumber, marrow, rhubarb, silver beet, cabbage and broccoli.
I also have some tomatoes growing, but they have been badly affected by some very cold wind we have been endearing over the last few weeks. So I have had to rescue them, put them in pots and keep them indoors for the time being.

I'm not saving money by doing this because I have had to buy a lot of pots, compost and potting mix. But what I'll try to do next year is grow my plants from seed instead of buying them as plants from the garden center.

Needing advice
I have just found some Maori potatoes and yams sprouting in the bottom of my potato bucket and am thinking of trying to grow them too. Any advice of the best way to do this?

3 comments:

Leigh Blackall said...

Go see Kim Thomas down in horticulture.

Generally, potatoes need loose mounded rich organic soil. If your soild is clay, I suggest mixing in some sand and organic matter including pea straw.. or get a bag of mix, lay it on its side, stab a hole in it and plant your potato straight in there. Drain holes and wait to harvest.

Jean Jacoby said...

Isn't the best thing about holidays the way you can get in touch with the basics again? My kids picked a plate-load of strawberries out of my vege patch today.
I subscribed to NZ Gardener online and their free weekly newsletter has been a wealth of info for a 'Seffrican'. Send an email to getgrowing@nzgardener.co.nz
to get on their list. (I bet they'd love to see your bag garden too!)

Sarah Stewart said...

@Leigh Thanks for that advice. I've got my potatoes sorted - I just wondered if I needed to do anything different for Maori potatoes. I think I'll drop them into bags in the same way & see what happens.

@Jean Thanks for the link - I have looked for info about Maori potatoes everywhere but haven't really found anything. cheers