Summer Bounty
Goodness gracious, a few days of rain and my container garden has gone crazy! I have already harvested several tomatoes and two courgettes. have discovered a baby aubergine (eggplant), plus baby fruit on. my capsicum. The courgette plant is huge, – photo – with more babies ripening. The rock melon is taking over its bed so much that I have had to stake it to protect the aubergine palnt at the other side of the bed. My Lebanese cucumder has sprouted many babies so I have staked it as well. All my plants, including the coriander which is 2 or 3 feet tall, have been staked and I noticed this morning that one bunch of the coriander flowers is turning to seed. Yay, I use coriander a lot in my curries and spiced food.
Took a couple more photos as all the beds are overflowing with produce. My son in law visited yesterday and took som photos for me as the camera on my iphone is on the blink, the photo above is of my giant Courgette plant, left, rampant Rock Melon, centre and Aubergine, right, which has a baby already growing.
On this one is Coriander, left, Tomato and Basil, next to it, with a laden Lebanese Cucumber to the right of that. The Coriander has already begun going to seed and the Tomato has given me several offerings so farI also have a sunflower growing happily, about 2 feet so far, so will have seeds eventually 🙂Â
My Hydroponic section will have to wait till the Autumn while I prepare the ground for the containers I will need and to purchase the containers themselves. I will be driving up to my nearest city (Whangarei) which has a Hydroponic shop where hopefully, I will be able to find out all I need to prepare as I am still determined to build something that will work. At a budget price also, although the cost of living her in New Zealand is beginning to fall a little, things are still expensive and so one needs to budget for things that you don’t buy every day.
My daughter gave me a good, super easy recipe the other day to use up some of my veggies, tomato and eggplant, when they are ripe. I’m not growing mushrooms so will have to buy them, but it means that’s all I will have to purchase. It’s just a nice veggie mix to go with whatever else you’re cooking and will go with pretty much everything, and I can assure you is really yummy.
Ingredients
1 Egg plant
about a dozen mushrooms
2 tomatoes.
Directions
Chop all veg to similar size, then fry in a little oil until tender. Add preferred seasonings for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking.
Put the amount you want for this meal into a bowl, then separate the rest into meal size lots and freeze for next time.
Told you it was easy peasy and tasty. Enjoy.
On another subject, or slightly.
I am quite excited – again 🙂 -, as I have begun researching costs etc., for my hydroponic garden and have discovered a tunnel house and a walk in greenhouse within cooee of my budget. As the greenhouse is about $100 cheaper the the tunnel, I will go with that as soon as the funds are there, which will give me more to spend on the other items I will need.Â
So, a bit scary, but I have just placed the greenhouse in my cart for when the funds are therre. Then I made the mistake of looking for what else I will need. I discovered I can purchase a Solar Drip Irrigation kit, also close to my current budget, which I think might mean I can use it in the greenhouse. Will have to do a bit more research on these things, but thankfully there is a hydroponic garden centre just about an hour away, so I will be off there as soon as I can.
Boy, excitement again bringing memories of when I had my very first hydroponic plants in the dining room of my house in Otago several years ago in another part of the country. There are so many things I’ll be a bit like me let loose in a book shop before I got hooked on gardens 🙂
If you have things that set you off, let me know I love hearing about the things that make my friends happy, especially my new friends. So email me on hilary@affordablehydrogreens@gmail.com or gosportgal@gmail.com.Â