Kem Ormond and her impressive tomato harvest. Photo / Phil Thomsen
Kem Ormond and her impressive tomato harvest. Photo / Phil Thomsen
Kem Ormond is a features writer for NZME and The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s busy harvesting and also thinking about autumn planting.
OPINION
I know it is hard to think about autumn planting while you are knee-deep in relish, tomato soup and delicious table grapes, but now is the time to think about autumn and even our winter crops.
This way you will hopefully have plenty of vegetables to get you through till spring.
Some of the vegetables you will need to start thinking about are broad beans, direct sow these from April, broccoli and cauliflower, sow in trays this month ready to be planted out late March, or early April, leeks can be sown in trays now (they will be ready to plant out in March), silver beet can be directly sown now and spring onions can be sown now in seed trays ready to be planted out early March.
Remember, it is also time to give your soil a rest and replenish it with any green crops you may have planted like phacelia, leftover beetroot tops, unused silver beet, or even borage.
Just chop and drop and eventually dig it in, your soil will so appreciate it.
Also, rotate your autumn plantings to a new area in your garden to give your previous garden patch a well-earned rest.
In the meantime, there is still harvesting to be done.
My tomato crop has been a real success and this week I will be making tomato soup, having already made pasta sauce and relish.
The crop has been so heavy it will be nice to give away bags of tomatoes to friends with no vegetable garden.
One thing about making tomato soup; I like to add lemon juice to my recipe as it keeps the pH level at less than 4.6. and this creates an environment that nasty bugs find hard to grow in.
This is just something my mum taught me, and it has stuck.
The grapes are starting to turn colour which the blackbirds have already started to notice as well.
The vines had their final and last prune for the season over the weekend, letting the sunshine in to ripen them up.
I find it so annoying that some bunches seem to have some grapes ripe and some green.
With enough beetroot having been bottled, I will add some to my favourite roast vegetable salads, plus once again sharing around the neighbourhood.
Kem spent the weekend plaiting her onions. Photo / Phil Thomsen
I spent the weekend plaiting my onions so they can do their final drying, they are happily drying on the verandah, I have much respect for the gardeners who can tie up their onions in a neat bundle, but thanks to a few video tutorials that I watched, mine are still hanging!
The sunflowers are bursting with seed, and the little green finches are having a feast, which is the reason I plant them.
I am getting close to finally picking some fresh cobs from my sweetcorn which is later than usual this year.
Although I purchased fresh seed, when it came it looked a little dried and the germination rate was not good, so I had to replant.
My Luisa plum tree is laden, and I am looking forward to enjoying fresh plums in the coming week I will be picking big bunches of sage and oregano to dry and then put into jars ready for winter casseroles.
