Waikato International Community Gardening Project Update March 31st 2013

keep sowing, planting and watering

The drought in the Waikato is not over. Now is the most important time to get winter vegetables growing. Take time to plant and sow carrots, lettuce, silverbeet, broccoli, leeks, spring onions and spinach. Water twice a week until the rain comes :)

WIC gardeners sowing, planting and watering for a winter harvest

Harvest and store pumpkins

Check that the whole plant is dead and brown, and the pumpkin has a hard skin. You can leave pumpkins to dry for a few days on the ground outside, but check that rats and mice do not eat them. Pumpkins will keep for months in a cool dry place.

butternut pumpkins drying in the sun

Citrus will be fruiting soon

Many gardeners in Nawton planted fruit trees last year. Some of the mandarins, oranges and lemons have little fruit which will ripen this winter! Give each tree a bucket of water once a week, and pull out weeds

a well mulched mandarin tree with ripening fruit

Recipe - fruit muffins

These fruit muffins can be made with apples, feijoas, blueberries, persimmons, peaches..

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup oil

3/4 cup of  green top milk

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 1/2 cups fruit cut into even sized pieces

Preheat oven to 200°C
Mix the egg, milk and oil together. Add to the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl and mix until just combined and moistened. Don’t over mix or the muffins will be tough and not rise evenly.
Spoon into lined muffin tins. Bake for 15 – 18 minutes.

Peni with home grown blueberry muffins

Tree Crops Conference 2013

The 2013  Tree Crops Conference is in Hamilton on April 26th to 28th. There are field trips, workshops and speakers, all about growing your own fruit.

The Conference starts on April 26th with Apple Friday. Everyone is welcome (you do not have to be a NZTCA member). The admission fee is an entry into one of the apple competitions: apple juice, apple pie, apple strudel etc. through to a piece crafted from apple wood. Entries close on April 10th.

Kumara

Some gardeners have already harvested their kumara, while others are waiting until April. Kumara harvesting tips:

• Harvest before the first frost
• Harvest on a sunny day
• Harvest when the soil is dry
• Leave the kumara to dry and form a hard skin before you store them
  

  harvesting kumara in the Burmese Community Garden at Grandview

How to keep late beans and tomatoes producing

Some gardeners planted late tomatoes, peppers and beans. As the nights get colder, these summer vegetables will slow down and die. You can keep them warm, and producing for longer, by covering the plants with microclima cloth. No need to build a frame, just drape the cloth over your plants, it is very light and lets rain and air through

a row of beans and peppers covered with microclima cloth

You can buy microclima from garden shops. It will last for years if you look after it.

Happy Growing!

late beans starting to fruit at Grandview Community Garden