In the November Kitchen Garden.... Dwarf Beans

November is time for the bush or French beans and also the perennial climbing beans.  They do not like the cold so simply won’t germinate before the ground reaches the required temperature. If you happen to have climbing beans like Scarlet Runner planted at the back of your border, you will know that the time is right when they start poking their heads through the ground.

I really like dwarf beans and if you are starting out in the vege patch then this is a good choice for you.  Good for children too as easy to grow and fun to pick.  The seeds are a good size for small fingers plus you don’t need to climb them up anything so no special frames are needed. I also like to do at least 2 different colours – green ones and butter beans which look very pretty on the plate. A very versatile vegetable – great cold in salads or the usual way with your dinner.

The day before sowing you can take the seeds out and soak in a bowl –this should give you a bit of a head start.  Your soil should have been well nourished over winter with plenty of rotted manure or compost added. If not dig over well and add compost and blood and bone before planting. They do like to be fed well.

Make a trench about 2 cm deep and sow the seed about 10 cm apart. Cover with soil to a depth of 2 cm and water.  Do a double row – one of green and one of yellow. They should germinate fairly quickly and if you plant now you should be eating beans in the New Year.  If you have left over seeds then plant a few in pots. These are good to tuck in where others have not germinated of pop into any gaps in the garden.

When the pods are ready start picking and keep picking – they will keep producing beans if you keep harvesting them! The good thing is that you eat beans in many ways and can also freeze them. Cut off each end, slice to your preferred size and blanch for a minute or two in boiling water. Put straight into icy cold water to stop cooking. Drain and pop into serving size portions in a snap lock bag.

Sow another crop in after Christmas to keep the season extended. You can all sorts of gourmet or heirloom beans now and it’s fun to try new varieties or colours. Last year I grew a row of purple ones which looked fabulous on the vine but cooked to a bit of a lack luster colour.  Will try again and experiment with a nicer way to cook!  Look at some of the seed companies on line (like Kings Seeds) or check out the seed stand at your nearest garden centre.

How to take Rose Cuttings.

I have been following a facebook conversation with Honey and Spice

(www.honeyandspice.co.nz/) - a gorgeous little artisan soap company here in coastal Otago – about a beautiful striped rose that had flowered in her garden for the first time. I'm pretty sure the rose is one called "Scentimental" which I have grown from a cutting from my mother's plant.  The question was how to take rose cuttings so I thought I would put up a post about roses and how I take cuttings. 

Back last century I had a lovely rambling country garden north-west of Auckland and had a lot of old fashioned roses. Back then I could identify just about any of them but I have forgotten a lot in the meantime. I still love them and will be planting more on our property. Old fashioned roses do grow easily from cuttings and most actually prefer to grow on their own roots. Plus most are public domain so you won’t be breaking any laws if you take cuttings.  Many old roses would not have survived if we didn’t have enthusiasts like Toni Sylvester and Nancy Steen (among many) taking cuttings from cemeteries and old gardens.  Most modern roses you buy from shops are grafted onto suitable root stock. However it is fun to give it a go and so here’s what I do.

I take cuttings about the size of a pencil in February once the wood is semi-ripened.  Take half a dozen or so and cut the base on an angle and the top square. Trim the top to about a centimetre from a bud. I do use rooting hormone now but didn’t always. Some people use willow-steeped water and apparently you can use potatoes as well. Haven’t heard of that one but sounds like its worth a try!  I take several cuttings at a time because not only does the probability of success improve but some kind of chemical reaction takes place that increases the strike rate.  Maybe they share hormones. Dip the end in the rooting hormone and push into a pot of riversand cutting mix or you can use potting mix too. I then put a plastic shopping bag over the whole lot (to ensure the right humidity), put the pot into an icecream container, water it and leave it in a sheltered patch near the potting table. I have quite good success from that method. My mother used to stick them in the ground by the outdoor tap in a bit of shade and had good success with that. Nothing to lose so try it!

Striped roses have always been a favourite for me.  I love the old paintings with striped roses in and one of my favourite fabrics is a Sanderson print with roses just like that. There are a few classic old striped roses like Rosa Mundi and others. Scentimental is a more modern one which grows more like a pillar rose here in NZ. I have seen in climbing up a big shrub in a garden near here. 

Elderflower Champagne and Rhubarb Champagne

About a month ago after a day's hard work in the vege patch, I found a leftover bottle of last year's batch of Elderflower bubbly.  After a suitable chilling time it was opened and found to be very delicious. There was a bit of a fight over who was going to have the last little drop. My friend Jim who is a cider maker said it was surprising that it was still nice - he would have expected it to be off by then.  Anyway - it was delicious. Elderflower is such a refreshing, light and summery drink and now is the time to get some made in time for Christmas. I posted this recipe last year it's worth a re-post 

For people who don't have access to elderflowers we can certainly try sending you some - email me if you want a package. 

Elderflower Champagne

For this recipe you will need 7 large Elderflower heads –about the size of a lunch plate or saucer, a clean plastic bucket and some bottles. Start with recycled small sized fizzy drink bottles and lids.  (750ml or less) 

Dissolve 500g sugar in 2 litres of hot water in your clean plastic bucket.

Add 2 and a half litres of cold water.

Add 2 tablespoons of white or cider vinegar plus the juice of 2 lemons.

Add flowers

Leave in a covered container for 24 hours. The timing is important – try to be exact.

After the 24 hours is up, strain and bottle.  

Put into plastic or glass drink bottles that you have saved.  750mls or less preferable.

Leave in a cool dark place for 6 weeks.

Chill before serving. Enjoy.

Rhubarb Champagne

In a bucket dissolve 1 kg of sugar in 2 litres boiling water.

Add 1 kg finely chopped rhubarb, 2 roughly chopped lemons (peels, pips and all)

Add 175 mls apple cider vinegar.

Top up with 4 litres cold water.

Cover bucket with a clean tea towel or lid and stand for 3 days stirring from time to time.

Strain through muslin cloth.

You can add colour if you want but I found the soft pink colour rather nice. Beetroot would be the most natural colour to add.   

Pour into clean plastic bottles  and seal. Chill before opening.

This recipe smells gorgeous with the lemons added. 

Garden Notes for the Family Vegetable Garden in November.

November

Get planting!

November is a great month in the backyard vege patch. The soil will be warming nicely and all the work you put into your beds over winter and spring will be well much appreciated by your seedling plants. Just about everything can go in now that it has warmed up.

Beans can go in this month. If you are a new gardener, then dwarf beans are a good option. Get a packet of dwarf butter beans and dwarf green beens and sow a couple of rows. They are easy to harvest with a long picking season if you keep picking them. And the mix of yellow and green on the plate is very pretty. If you sow a row every couple of weeks then you can extend the season out.

Tomatoes, courgettes, capsicums, pumpkins, - all the heat loving veges can go out this month. Here in the south it is always a good idea to make sure they go in the warmest spot in the garden or even in a plastic house if you have one.  For the children especially, plant a patch of sweetcorn and a patch of sunflowers. Sweetcorn does best in groups rather than rows as this helps with wind pollination. Sunflowers – aside from looking stunning in the garden and all the seed they provide – are a valuable carbon building crop.  In autumn chop the stalks up and dig into the garden.

The hedgerows are starting to flower now with elderflower – the perfect summer drink. It’s easy to make a batch of elderflower champagne for Christmas and I have the recipe on my blog for those who don’t have it. Rhubarb is also coming into its own. Keep any seed heads pulled off and keep picking. You can make a nice drink from rhubarb too!

Jobs for this Month

Sow:  All leafy green salad veges such as lettuces plus winter veges such as cabbage, cauli, broccoli etc. Beans can be sown direct 15 cm apart and 5 cm deep. Sow beetroot seed about 1 cm deep. Carrots. Sweet corn 15cm apart groups to aid wind pollination. Main crop potatoes.

Plant: Plant out seedlings you have been growing indoors in pots as weather warms and days get longer. Onions, pumpkins, tomatoes, capsicums, courgettes, celery.

Cultivate: Keep weeds at bay by hoeing or hand weeding. Mulch. If your early potatoes are up you can mound up now and mulch with straw.

Harvest: Broad beans, asparagus, lettuces, silverbeet and lots more.

Fertilise: Keep the liquid fertilizer up to your garlic bulbs as they will be putting on some size underground now.

October in the backyard vegetable garden.

Thank goodness for Silverbeet - it kept us going through the cool spring gap between winter and summer veges!  And this rainbow chard provided delicious colour as well. 

October is probably one of the busiest months of the year for the garden especially towards the end of the month with Labour weekend being the great traditional NZ planting weekend. If you are into sowing seeds then most things can be sown this month provided you have a warm place to start off the more tender ones such as tomatoes etc.  As you sow your first lot of seeds, kick off your succession planting cycle by purchasing some punnets of well grown plants from your local garden centre or store and get them into the ground.   

Succession planting is the practice of staggering your sowing or planting over the growing season. We do this for a number of reasons, but mainly so that you don’t have your crops all ripening at once. You want to avoid that in the family vegetable garden especially with crops you can’t store or preserve.  A good rule of thumb is to sow or plant every 4-5 weeks or so.  If you have raised plants in trays, sow the next lot of seed the same day you plant out your seedlings.

My garden is now well into it’s Year 2 on the crop rotation plan. For me this means I have broad beans sown last season in Bed 1 and broad beans sown this season in Bed 2 – so there is a little bit of a cross over going on!  Not for long though as I have planted green leafy veges in gaps in Bed 1 and will be planting as soon as the beans have finished harvesting. The silverbeet, lettuces and brassicas will all be very happy with the nitrogen fixed by all those legumes.  Keep sowing peas and you can now get in your French beans and runner beans. Look out for last year’s perennial runner beans coming up in their permanent spot. A sure sign of time to plant. Scarlett runners do best when sown in double rows 20cm apart with 15 cm between plants. They will grow very tall 2-3m.  Get dwarf and main crop beans in now too.  If you have not already limed the beds then add a bit of lime now. 

Pototoes – just keep planting if you have the room. A row of early potatoes for summer is better than none!  Seed potatoes are still available in the shops.  Sow carrots, beetroot and parsnip in friable soil.  Liquid feed garlic, onions, leeks etc. 

Labour Weekend is the traditional time for planting out tomatoes and its friends, capsicum, basil, chillies, auburgine, courgettes etc.  Very exciting. There have been plants in the shops since mid September though which seems early, particularly for the south. So if warm enough, get these plants in and keep up the water and liquid feed.

Jobs for this Month

Sow: Peas, beetroot, swedes, turnips,  lettuce, carrots, parsnips, parsley, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauli, leeks, silverbeet.

Sow under cover in a warm space: tomatoes, capsicum, pumpkin, courgettes, cucumber, celery, sweet corn, beans

Plant: Punnets of brassicas, celery, peas, leeks, silverbeet, lettuce, potatoes, asparagus.

Cultivate: Keep any weeds at bay with regular hoeing and mulching. Liquid feed growing plants at least fortnightly especially your garlic crop.

Harvest: Broad beans, silverbeet, asparagus, lettuce etc

September in the Family Vegetable Garden

September.

September can actually be a bit of a hard month for those wanting to eat all year round from the garden. You are coming to the end of the winter stores of root crops and about to sow and plant the new season’s crops.  Mind you I still have plenty of preserved blackboy peaches and jams etc, but the promise of spring makes us think of delicious tender new season produce – and we have had enough of those hearty soups, baked or mashed potatoes and casseroles that got us through winter. We want something a little lighter (including our hips) and fresher but perhaps are not quite ready for full on salads.  Risottos and pastas sound good. Asparagus if you are growing it or lucky enough to have a grower nearby is the star and we look forward to our first taste. Young broad beans and peas also go well in risottos.

Hopefully you will have got a head start on the sowing in August but you can start or keep sowing many veges from now. This does not include beans though – still too cold. Same with curcubits  such ascourgette/zucchini, pumpkins and cucumbers at least in the south.  If  it is warm or you have a hothouse then by all means start sowing seed. Planting in pots or trays gives you a bit more control over direct sowing but some seeds are better sown direct. Carrots, parsnips, beetroot can all go in direct. Remember to harden off your indoor sown plants well though before putting them out into the garden.  Start by putting outside during the day in a sheltered spot and bringing back inside at night.

Now that you are feeling more like being out in the garden – so will the weeds. If you can keep on top of them now, they won’t get on top of you later.  Old sayings like “prevention is better than a cure” or “a stitch in time save nine” have real meaning in the garden.  A weekly going over the beds with a hoe or by hand will not take long and will also be very satisfying.  If you leave the weeds however, and they take hold then the fun goes out if of it all and growing becomes a chore.  This applies especially if you are a young gardener – keep the joy going by keeping up the weeding and hoeing!  I just made that up but I think it works!