Pinepig's Virtual Garden

It's been a long spring and summer. The garden has been ticking by happily without me (for the most part), which is good because work and Life have kept me from spending much time out there.

I tried to harvest some potatoes last month but think I've mixed up the bag numbers and ended up harvesting a bag of Urenika that wasn't very big. I made up for that today by harvesting "#2", which I should have harvested last month. I estimate about 1 to 1 1/2 klos of Urenika, including 3 or 4 of at least 100 grams each! I planted the last 3 bags last month.

I planted some mustard & Phaecelia as cover crops for overwintering in the bag I dug up today. I think next year will be my last year with potatoes for a couple years. It will be my 3rd year in some bags & since I can't really keep track of which ones (last year I mixed the soil up together from different things, and this year can't remember what bags got fresh soil and what got older) I'll just use the bags for other crops. I want to give watermellons & squash a go and think the bags would be fine for them. I can also go for some chard in them, maybe some beans. I'll put some more compost in the bags, not much but a bit to help replace organic material, as I dig them up and get ready to plant the cover crops.

So for next year I'm looking at only growing
Kowiniwini - A round, light purple potato with indented white eyes and a waxy firm flesh. Great keeper.: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potato-kowiniwini

and

Paraketia - An old potato from the East Coast, and is still well known over there. Its growing habit is amazing, when you dig them up you see that the potatoes grow on long runners in the ground, like strings of potatoes in a line. They are oblong shaped, with round ends, they have purple skin, very shallow eyes and light cream flesh with purple streaking. They have a particularly good flavour, and are best boiled, steamed or in a hangi. : http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potato-paraketia


I've got both planted this time around but haven't really dug any up that are a decent size yet (a few small Kowiniwini and a tiny Paraketia).


My tomatoes are doing pretty darned well this year, they are getting pretty big and the fruit is good-sized and a decent amount, but most of it is still pretty green. I've eaten a few of the Mortgage Lifters, good sized and tasty of course.

The J Walsh I got from Koanga have been a surprise! I thought they were cherry tomatoes but they are bigger than an oblong egg! (For those of you in the US, you can get them here as they're rare in the US). Mine haven't ripened yet (one is getting close) but the neighbor picked his today and he and his sis looked thrilled as they each munched their way through the half they were given.

The White Cherry toms are tasty, I've had a few of them ripen. The Black Cherry toms haven't ripened yet, I'm looking forward to seeing how they taste.

My Big Rainbow toms plants didn't sprout well, but there is one plant that has managed to hang in there. It's much smaller than the other varieties but that means it will be a later cropper. I really like the Big Rainbows.

I'm thinking next year I should try these Yellow Stuffer toms.

I've tried to sprout the Golden Midget Watermelon, have finally managed to get one sprouted. It's late-season and if it hadn't been raining off and on today I would have given it a spray to get rid of some powdery mildew we usually get at this time of year.

The chard has done pretty well, I just need to pick it for us to eat now!

About bed time so I'm off. Happy growing.

I went out and planted some potatoes this afternoon. I can tell I've been sick: I was outside for just under an hour and I'm tired and stiff. I didn't do anything too heavy. I used the trovel to dig dirt out of 2 of the potato growing bags, mixed some of the dirt and compost together, planted the potatoes and covered them. I've given them both a bit of food, some snail pellets and watered them, as well as covering the 3 potatoes I planted about 3 weeks ago or so.

Today's plantings were: 4 "purple heart" and 4 urenika. I don't know what the purple heart will do as they were bought as eating potatoes and not seed potatoes, supposedly they aren't as good as seed if you do that. The urenika are Koanga's ones bought fresh this year but I think at the end of the season I'll save some for my own seeds next year.

The ones I did about 3 weeks ago were 2 unknown volunteers that sprouted up in another bag and one urenika.

The urenikas are the longest-growing so if I get them in the ground sooner than later I'll have a larger crop (in size of potatoes). I've still got at least 6-8 more seeds so I'll pull them out in a week or so to start chiting for planting soon. I've also got some paraketia and kowiniwini chiting, they've been chiting for awhile and are basically fine to plant now but I'll give them a couple more weeks or so to space my crops out. Besides, I need to buy more potato bags.

I have 1 potato bag available but am going to take it next door to our neighbor and have her son plant his own potatoes. I already told him that when the weather gets a bit better & I feel better we'll plant some tomatoes. They don't have much room but we can put the potato bag and the tomato tub in a corner and he can learn to watch and water them. He's maybe 6? so just young enough to be interested but not yet old enough to take full responsibility. His mom always jokes with me about when am I opening my fruit and veg stand. I figure this way they can have some fresh veg too and he can get some experience growing, hopefully to inspire him for when he's older. It's the kind of background I had, helping some friends of the family plant things and care for them and harvest them.

I decided to take advantage of being off sick and the decent weather to put a couple tomato seeds in. I considered starting them indoors but the kitten seems to think anything is fair game, no matter where it is so best not go down that path. We just don't have room for them indoors in the few places that are kitten-proof.

Since I'm rotating the tomatoes out of the pots they have been in, I'm only putting maybe 6 (may stretch to 8?) plants in this year. I'll put in 2 Big Rainbow, 2 White Cherry and 2 Mortgage Lifter. I've planted 3 of each seed, I'm thinking about planting a couple more seeds in a month or 2, partly just in case these don't take but also partly because I want to pre-raise some funds for Relay for Life and wanted to do it with selling heirloom vege seedlings.

I'd also like to do an heirloom tomato tasting for the fundraiser but don't know if I'll have enough toms to do that this time around. Maybe another time.

The Snowball cauliflower is only good as a spring or autumn crop. I've got 4 that are maybe 6 or 7 inches high and one that is maybe 2 inches. The All Year Round cauli can be planted from spring through to autumn so I'll grow that and chard in the former tomato pots. I'll have some carrots too.

The potatoes are chiting and many have sprouted. I think I'm ok to start planting them out. I've got a couple bags I can use, 2 bags have the mustard plants breaking down in them so I can't use them for another 5 weeks or so.

I might put a jicama or 2 in this season again too. I'm still thinking and planning.

ETA: I thought this was a cool idea from Kings Seeds. Compact Vegetables for Small Households. It's 10 seedpacks for small spaces. They look like things the average household can put in a pot and grow. Clever!

I got out for a short scratch in the dirt today. So much to do, so little time and energy to do it. *Sigh* If you follow my other journal you'll know that I'm hoping to make a change at work which would leave me slightly less stressed, less depressed, more time and more energy to be able to garden. All those factors coupled with Life giving me a few kicks to get the depression in good and a very wet winter & very boggy and poor-condition lawn has meant I haven't done as much as I'd like by now out there. The good thing is that it's not yet spring so I'm not behind per se, just not quite up to date.

Today I transplanted 3 volunteer potatoes along with one of the Urenika I'd been chiting. I think I broke one of the transplants from it's main root so we'll see if it does anything or just dies (suspect the 2nd). The volunteers had come up in the old potato bags I'd planted some cauliflower in.

I'm thinking of transplanting the 2 or 3 caulis from the potato bags into the old tomato tubs because I'm going to need the bags in another month or so & the caulis are still maybe pinky-sized if that. The 4? 5? Snowball caulis from about 2 months ago are doing well, getting bigger but no heads yet.

Citrus season is starting to peeter out. The navel orange gave us one fruit this year, I think being moved around for the fence work didn't help, but this is the first year we had any fruit stay on the tree (it's about 5 years old now). The lime went gang-busters and is down to maybe half a dozen fruit left, but the lemon is starting to pick up the slack with some fruit. I might have to do a prune though, it's gotten big and not as much fruit this year as in years past. I've given it a citrus feed.

The citric-acid free tree is a surprise. I was ready to put it on freecycle but gave one of the fruits a try. I'm glad I did. It wasn't sour and odd tasting like the one last year. This one was juicy and interesting. It's kind of sweet, no tang from the citric acid, and has a unique taste. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea but was really nice with my coconut Greek yoghurt (new Eziyo flavour, yum!) & some fresh pineapple this morning.

I pruned most the roses today. I missed one I forgot to move back to the fence so will do that when the ground is drier (it's a heavy pot) and I haven't pruned the Indian Ruby ones I took cuttings off of a few years ago.

To do still:

1) Dig mustard into potato bags and tubs in next week or 2 so can break down before planting
2) move above rose: move potato bag(s) against the fence and put there, shift bags near citrus
3), finish pruning
4) move cauli's into tubs
5) dig up dirt by apple tree pot and berries for x2 tomatoes & put down compost
6) get chicken wire and create tasteful barrier fence along path for dahlias
7) figure out when/where to plant beans, chard, carrots, spinach, melons, pumpkins, jicama (2 each of last 3 items)
8) start tomatoes and jicama indoors around Sept
9) re-lay irrigation (from fence move), replace sprinklers as necessary (get plugs, more sprinkler attachment thingies)
10) transplant 2 or 3 Broadway rose cuttings that took (no later than Sept)
11) Check berries - trim if necessary
12) general backyard weeding & tidying; mow lawn & reseed when drier

There's more, I know there is. Just can't think of what it is right now.

I took pictures today of the garden as it is right now but am going to go rest so may be awhile still. I got several fungii, one kind of cool one growing on a piece of deadwood. I also got a couple of the camelia flowering right now. We've got a really nice formal double red one called Takanini and a simple pink-white single with a beautiful scent called Sugar and Spice (I think of it as the fairy tree because the flowers look like little fairy bell-lights).

Lots of wet days recently so here are some links for you.

Tui is one of the brands I use in the garden regularly. Their potato food did a great job with the potatoes last year, I use their Quash brand non-toxic snail bait, had good results with their Vege Growing Mix....

I get a regular update from them. They had a link to some of the common insects today. I knew most of these, although didn't know what the adult wood borer looked like. I liked that they commented at the start of the post about how bugs can be both beneficial and a nuisance, that you can't just tag a bug as "good" or "bad".

The local Garden.co.nz that sends me updates also sent a short blurb about how to help bees in the urban environment. There's even a link in the article to Trees for Bees. While this is aimed at the NZ environment, it's something for everyone to consider, planting trees and flowers to help bees. Without bees we won't have honey. We won't have flowers. We won't have vegetables, nuts or fruit. And given that bees also pollinate clover, alfalfa and other feed grains, if we don't have bees we don't have beef or lamb or chicken either! We need bees!

Here's a question for you: what kind of gloves do you use in the garden, how long do they last, and do you do anything to take care of them?

I've always used leather gloves. They keep the rose thorns out, they are sturdy and usually last a full year, usually 2. I end up ripping through one of the fingers or cutting them by that time. And they stiffen up because I do a lot of gardening in the wet and mud and don't know how to take care of them properly.

Last year I used cloth gloves that had a rubber coating on the whole hand (not just the little rubber dots). They lasted until recently. They weren't as long-wearing as leather, but were waterproof (until I dunked the whole thing in and ended up soaking the cloth cuffs a few weeks ago), tough, stood up to most rose thorns, and best of all because of the rubber coating I could grab weeds and pull most of them out. They gave a better grip than the leather ones did.

I debated when I replaced them but did end up going with another leather pair. I didn't splurge on the $60 leather with long cuffs up most my arm rose-gloves I've had before, just the standard soft calf skin.

So tell me, what are your favourite types of gloves to use in the garden? How long do they last? What do you think are the pros and cons of different types? Do you do anything special to care for your gloves?

It didn't rain today so I got out for a couple hours to wander around the saturated garden and try to shift some of the pots back after the new fence went in. I can't shift the stuff on the lawn yet, the lawn is completely soaked and already churned up from me having to go out and move the pots away the first time. I've tried to seed the lawn but the seeds I put in last weekend aren't taking in 2 of the big areas and I don't want to churn it up even more.

I did shift things around outside the backdoor, moved 3 camellias onto the ledge by the bbq, moved the dwarf nectarine and peach into opposite corners of that area. The nectarine now sits where the larger 'dwarf' peach was, which will shift to a back corner so it can spread a little more (once the lawn dries a bit more). I also shifted the old tomato pots back to their old spot. 1 has miner's lettuce (and I've got tiny little miner's lettuce sprouts!), 2 (3?) have cover crops in them, one has rainbow chard I planted last weekend. I shifted the amber carrots bin that never seemed to have grown so I replanted some more seeds today, hopefully they'll go. I'm hit and miss with carrot growing and I wonder if it's either how I sow them (too deep?), slugs, or that I'm too impatient and they need longer.

I also planted some more cauliflower today: 4 of the year-round variety and 5 of the snowball. The approx 7 or 8 snowball caulis that I rescued from the broken growbag are still going well. I lost 1 or 2, but the remaining 7 or 8 are fine.

I pulled up the solitary jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus) plant last weekend and cut it up and ate (most of it, I forgot about the rest in the back of the fridge & don't know if it's any good anymore). It wasn't as sweet as I remembered, probably growing conditions, but other than that I loved it and want to plant another one or 2 next spring.

Here are some pictures of the process!

Here's the plant:



The edible part, the root, mostly uncovered. All vegetation above the top of the soil is poisonous.



Uncovered:





And washed:



Here's what it looks like when you start to peel it. The skin is pretty easy to peel, usually you start it with a knife and peel it off in strips.



I diced it up and squeezed some fresh lime from the garden into it. It was nice on it's own, and it would have been even better in a salad with Ranch dressing :) (Next year!!).

The article I saw last weekend about moss terrariums inspired me & I had an idea but had to wait until this weekend to be able to do it. I've been looking forward to taking the time to do this one. I've got another idea but it need the just-right glass vessel and I'll have more pre-work to do to create one element in it so that will be on hold. (PS--I need to take a couple picts of the ones I did last weekend still!).

And part of me feels that I won't be able to pull it off as well as I imagine so why bother?? I will ignore that thought for now, since I do need the right vessel for it I can't start it anyway. I'll cross the self-doubt bridge when I do find something (and something affordable).

When I was looking for links for the last post about terrariums I came across a bunch of Etsy listings for terrariums, and for little tiny things people make to put in terrariums. That got me thinking about the Fimo we have and about what kinds of things I could make to put in my terrariums.....

So the moss terrarium I made today.

I used a small glass container. It's original use was to hold some purple lavender fluid to make the house smell nice. It eventually all evaporated so I pulled the wick out and washed it. We had been using it for a bud vase.

I put in a tiny bit of base pebbles, then a tiny bit of charcoal and dirt. It's a very squat container so I tried to not use too much of those. I scraped some of the moss from a few different places on the wood borders out back. I didn't want to take all the moss from one spot so tried a few different to allow the other parts to eventually grow back. I also didn't cover the whole surface of my terrarium with the moss. It will grow and naturally cover the dirt, and again I didn't want to take too much from outside.

And then I made some Fimo mushrooms. (Those are pebbles from our old fish tank gravel.)



Tiny ones.



And I put them into the terrarium. Thanks to C for holding it and giving you an idea of scale for the terrarium.





It's hard to see but you can kind of make out the fairy ring I put them in.



I even made a broken mushroom and put that in. I always see at least one of the mushrooms has been kicked over. I don't know if it is because of their size (at least palm-sized when they open flat, and bigger) making them obvious for kids or the fact that they are poisonous and some doo-gooder thinks it is ok to kill them. So here's my nod to their sacrifices. It's only fitting, don't you think??



So that's what I did today. I should have done some housework or something 'productive' but it's been a hell of a week. They seem to get worse, or stay as bad as the previous one, and I hit a low point so felt the need to do something for my soul. I hope it inspires you.

Managed to get out into the garden today. The back fence is finally up and now I get to figure out where I want to put everything and re-lay the drip/irrigation hoses and such.

I mowed the back lawn, pulled our little electric hover mower out & gave it a go. It was a real chore. It's always challenging at the best of times due to the slope, but given that the back is muddy and the fence work threw up a bunch of clay in some areas means that it was darn near treacherous at times. It's done for now. Once I finish moving plants around I'll give the rest of it a mow. I've only moved a few plants at the moment, too tired and sore to tackle them all. Also, I want to re-think the garden lay out and maybe plan a bit better.

I had a small tragedy though. Remember the big grow bag I had the potatoes in over the summer? I had to shift it away from the old fence. The darned thing has about 120-160 litres of soil in it (about 3 1/2 to 4 large bags of soil). The potatoes are long-since pulled up of course; a couple weeks ago I planted Snowball cauliflower, last week I planted the other cauliflower (the name of which escapes me at the moment). The jicama is still in there and going strong. I'm not sure for how long, it's getting chilly & it's a tropical plant. I dug around and there is a root larger than fist-sized, maybe about 2-fist sized. I covered it back up and will leave it a big longer. There's also an orphaned spinach plant there too.

I was trying to tug the large beast-bag back into place against the fence. Between an already very-sore back and slippery grass/mud/clay surface I was struggling. It moved a tiny bit and when I grabbed another corner to try that one it ripped. D: One whole corner has ripped away. It's still holding soil for now, but not sure how long. I've transplanted the Snowballs into a couple pots. I'll wait for the other cauli's to come up and will replant them, harvest the jicama and shift the soil into some old soil bags and a potato bag I've got in the shed.

Bummer. I was hoping to use it for a while longer, it has a good flat surface that does well with leafy things like spinach and chard, deep things like carrots and potatoes and jicama. And I figured it would be fine for a couple tomato plants too. I need to think about if I want to have another one next season or go for several smaller pots.

So far I've put the ficus in the square wood container back against the fence by the lemon tree, and the Apricot Scentasia and Deep Secret roses back between the feijoa and the lemon tree (interesting that one of the words the spell check brings up for feijoa is fellatio?!). I shifted a few of the ex-tomato pots back by the fence, still have to shift a couple more back there. I think I'm going to take the larger peach tree and put it in the far back corner near where the grow bag used to be. While I love the convenience of having it by the back door, it's gotten too big for the little paved space by the bbq. I'll keep the dwarf peach and nectarines in that area though. I need to put some of the camelias back along the fence. But I think I'm going to shift some of the dahlias back to the fence with some of the roses, and put the grow bag replacement (whatever that ends up being) on the side along the cement path. The dahlias always get large and unruly, stick over the path and get in the way. If I keep lower growing pots and stuff there, shift the dahlias, roses and citrus to behind them that might be better for the neighbors.

I have offered 3 of the Indian Ruby roses to our behind-fence neighbor. I need to ask him if would like them soon. I think the builder still needs to cut the tops off the fence to make it all even but after that. I'll find out if he wants them in pots or to be planted in the ground. He & his wife are elderly, and I know he has health problems so I'll offer to put them in the ground for them if they want. I need to put the citrus-acid free orange tree on Freecycle too. I don't like the taste and it might as well go to someone who will be able to take care of it and enjoy it. I don't like just pulling plants out and letting them die but need to be more realistic about what I've got in the garden to be able to take care of and enjoy them.

I did some terrarium work today too, nothing big and I don't have picts right now so maybe later. I transplanted a yellow variegated thyme into a small wine glass type thing. It's been in the same herb pot for a year or so, I originally got it to put into a glass. It looks semi-bonsai because the main stalk is built up a bit but the side shoots need more help. Hopefully this will give it a better boost. I also put our dendrobium kingianum orchid into an apothecary's jar. It isn't a huge jar, but I figure it should be good enough. The orchid loves to be root-bound & has flowered at least once in it's smaller pot so it won't be a hardship to be in the jar. Most of the leaves are sticking out on it, so neither of what I did today are a true "terrarium" as neither are sealed. Pictures to come eventually.

Dinner time, C picked up a prepackaged uncooked hunk of beef. It is one you put in the oven in the little bag, all seasoned and stuff. It is about 800g but was marked down to about $9NZ so a decent price. I put half a butternut squash, a parsnip, cauliflower, broccoli & mushrooms in a roast bag in the slow cooker and put the meat on top. I hope it all turns out. Our neighbor in #1 knocked on the door a bit ago, she gave us some home made chocolate cake so we have cake and ice cream for desert. :) I share my lemons, limes & feijoas with 2 of our neighbors (the 3rd I'm too shy). The neighbor in #1 shares the odd bit of desert, Malaysian-Indian sweets and bit of curry or noodles with us. Her son is the one who helped me plant the mustard and has taken to me, he's got the potential to be a keen gardener if he wants. I figure maybe around spring I'll use one of my old plastic trough planters and put some some lettuce or something in it, maybe cheat and buy a few cheap strawberry plants and he can help plant them up and then put it in his backyard for him to enjoy and water and stuff, with his own little watering can. They don't have much room at all for a garden but something like that wouldn't take much room up and would be perfect for him to be interested in and play with.

ETA: Here's what the back fence and general area used to look like in August. Also has the picture of me inside the grow bag.

And meant to say that the Zygopetalum & one of the Dendrobium orchids are blooming again. One plant has 2 flower spikes on it and is huge with I think 6 flowers each, one has only one spike with maybe 4 flowers. They have a nice scent, but more musky than just flowery like a rose. Here are some picts of both from last year's flowering. A few of the camelias have started flowering too.

I put some orders in at Koanga today. Because of how the site works I had to put in 3 different orders. I had to order my Tioga Strawberries as one order because they ship in April. I had to order my potatoes as a 2nd order because they ship in June. I had to then order my misc seeds as a 3rd order because they aren't considered "backorders" (so hopefully will ship soon). I asked a friend of ours if she wanted to order some stuff too so my order is for us and her.

Here's what we got (prices in NZ$):

Tioga Strawberries $10.00 -- $16.00 ttl, ordered 27/3/11; to be shipped April
http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/strawberry-early-tioga

Potatoes= – ordered 27/3/11 Delivery appx 6/2011
Urenika $10: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potato-urenika
Paraketia $10 (share with Trudie): http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potatoes-paraketia
Kowiniwini $10 (great keeper): http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potato-kowiniwini
For Trudie: Arran Banner Potatoes $10.00: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/backorders/potato-arran-banner
Subtotal: $40.00
Standard shipping: $8.50
Order total: $48.50


For me:
Miner’s lettuce $3.80: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/miners-lettuce
Mustard Cover Crop $3.50 (share with Trudie): http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/carbon-compost-crops/mustard
Amber Carrot $3.50: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/amber-carrot
Ruby Chard $3.80: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/ruby-chard

For Trudie:
Green Apple Cucumber $3.50 http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/green-apple-cucumber
Black Roma Tomato $3.80 http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/black-roma-tomato
Subtotal: $22.20
Standard shipping: $4.00
Donation: $0.00
Total: $26.20

Future orders:
?Order late-winter for spring:
Amish Melons $3.80: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/amish-melon
Oats: $3.80 (maybe as future cover crop--helps with calcium): http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/carbon-compost-crops/oats-hulless
Pakistani Purple Carrot: http://www.koanga.org.nz/shop/seeds/pakistani-carrot (must be spring planted)

Kumara—must be ordered by Oct; not sure which one to get yet & will ask Trudie and a coworker if he wants to order some too.

I've got enough tomato seeds for next year and think I'm fine on the mini carrots. I'll use some of my Phaecelia for cover crops this winter (thanks to bluemeridian for copying some pages on cover crops for me)!

I did a tiny bit of maintenance in the garden today. Not much, didn't have much time & am pretty sore from the fall I took yesterday. I cut down all but 1 of the tomato plants. I still need to put compost in the pots & plant some Phaecelia and mustard (when the mustard gets here). I also harvested about 8 or 10 feijoas. We bought some at the store yesterday, before I realised some were ready to be picked, and about the same amount cost $6NZ. Ours are bigger though. :) I don't usually eat the feijoas. I like them when they are soft, really ripe. C likes them hard and a bit tart. Since they are one of the few fruits she really goes for I let her nom as many as she wants and I share some with our neighbors. I'll eat a few too though.

I need to get out and get the lawn in the back mowed. I need to seriously consider a different stake system for the tomatoes & dahlias next year and fix the irrigation. I'll also need to think about netting the berries. And a big thing to do this season through to next year is boost the fertiliser and organic matter in all my pots. I've got 4 bags of compost I picked up on sale a few weeks ago so this will go towards that, as well as into the hole out front I need to dig to put C's hibiscus in.

Potatoes still going along. The plant parts of the remaining bags have mostly died down. I've harvested 2 full Red Rascal bags and about 1/4 or so of the 3rd Red Rascal, as well as about 1/2 the large grow bag that had about 7 Urenika seeds in it. There's still one Urenika bag too that I haven't started. I harvested a bunch of potatoes to take to a friend's house for dinner last night, pulled up 9, about 800gr (about 1 pound 8oz) of Urenikas (with the largest being about 275gr, or 8.5 oz if I hadn't broken it in 2 when I pulled it out). I pulled up about 10, about 600 grams (1 pound 7 oz) of Red Rascals, with the largest being about 100grams or roughly 4 oz).

But a bad news thing, I noticed the dwarf mandarin had a bunch of dying leaves on it. I'd given everything a drink but haven't quite gotten around to fixing some of the areas that aren't getting enough water so thought it was that. Grabbed a bunch of fish tank water and poured it in the pot, only to realise the rest of the leaves looked find. I checked the stem and found the tell-tale sawdust sign of borer. D: I pruned back below the hole but could still see the borer hole in the wood so cut back hard to the main stem....

And saw borer into the main stem. I had a piece of wire but the wood was soft further down than I could reach. So the tree is basically a write off. If it wasn't in the main stem, or if the stem was much bigger I think I'd have a chance of it surviving. But borer is almost impossible to treat, especially in the main trunk of a small tree. It's got fruit on it and the plant is doing ok for right now so I'll leave it and replace it in maybe a year. It's about 5 or 6 years old and was just really starting to produce decently :(

I planted some dwarf Burgundy beans about a week or 2 ago in the one of the harvested potato bags. Today I planted some Kaiapoi Pink Seeded Bush Beans that C got free for getting me my gift membership at Koanga in the other harvested potato bag. I figure it will get me a jump on rotating my crops and put some nitrogen into the soil.

I've been busy with house chores and especially the Relay for Life stuff. It's been eating most of my time and energy so I haven't had as much online or garden time. I really need to get out and walk more before the Relay on 5 & 6 March, I don't have as much time to get ready as I wanted but between the heat and running around doing everything else I haven't made as much time for it as I'd like.

Oh well, bed time. The next few days at work are going to be hell due to staffing issues (vacation leave was approved for 2, then we had mandatory training come along and get shifted several times so we're down 1/2 the team). We'll get through somehow but I better go try to get some sleep. Especially since I haven't been doing that well with sleeping lately.