First Harvest
There's something so satisfying about seeing your plans come to life. When a garden bed goes from new planting, to everyting growing and filling out. You see the vision you had for the space more or less becoming a reality.
This is what my perennial strawberry/herb bed looked like this week:
And the stawberry side view:
I placed the potted dill in this spot, as I plan to let it go to seed. The flowers its flowers are good for attracting beneficial insects. I placed a pot of flowering corriander nearby for the same reason.
My intuitive spacing of the silverbeet was more or less correct. The borage in the centre of this garden has started a monster growth spurt, which is more or less what I was expecting. I've already trimmed the outter leaves twice to keep it from sprawling too much. I wasn't sure I was going to continue growing borage in the veggie garden; if given enough nutrients it can really take up a lot of space. But I read in several articles that it is particularly good to grow with strawberries, so I settled on just one plant in the middle of the bed.
The herbs are getting plenty of sun and are all looking happy. However, I made a mistake in my assessment of the sun profile for the shady side of the bed. As the sun has gotten higher in the sky on its way toward Summer, the strawberries are getting more shade from that avocado tree than anticipated. Will this turn out to be a poor choie of location for them? I'll just have to wait and see. If they don't do well here, I can find a better spot for them next year. And I can think of plenty of perennial veggies and self-seeding herbs that would do well in such a shadded spot.
The above pictures are, in fact, what the garden bed looked like earlier this week. Wednesday night we had a lot of wind come up - a very real issue for any gardener in and around Wellington, New Zealand. The gusts were strong enough to snap the stems on the biggest silverbeen leaves. This was okay as I caught it straight away and the siverbeet needed harvesting anyway. This just gave me the kick in the pants to take care of it right away.
I harvest my silverbeet pick-and-come-again. This means I take the larger outside leaves, and always leave a few smaller leaves still growing in the centre. Harvested this way, I have found that silverbeet will last nine months in my garden, if kept well watered. This was the first harvest in my little garden (a few snips of herbs here and there notwithstanding). The first harvest of the season, too, which is always a joyful occasion. And here is why I love rainbow silverbeet:
It's cheerful colours make it that much more fun to grow. The range of my silverbeet is pinks, streaky pink and white, and one yellow; a full range of rainbows would also include orange and white stemmed.
I made a simple dish of steamed silverbeet, including those beautiful stems. Throw them in a few minutes before the leaves, and they go tender and tasty. I tossed them with olive oil, vinegar, salt, and lemon. Most of our silverbeet goes in soups and casseroles, but I was excited about this first harvest, and wanted to eat it up right away.
A love of cooking and eating fresh and tasty food is an integral part of my love of veggie gardening. Cooking my first bit of harvested veggies in the new house is one more step in settling into the new garden - and our new home.
This is what my perennial strawberry/herb bed looked like this week:
And the stawberry side view:
I placed the potted dill in this spot, as I plan to let it go to seed. The flowers its flowers are good for attracting beneficial insects. I placed a pot of flowering corriander nearby for the same reason.
My intuitive spacing of the silverbeet was more or less correct. The borage in the centre of this garden has started a monster growth spurt, which is more or less what I was expecting. I've already trimmed the outter leaves twice to keep it from sprawling too much. I wasn't sure I was going to continue growing borage in the veggie garden; if given enough nutrients it can really take up a lot of space. But I read in several articles that it is particularly good to grow with strawberries, so I settled on just one plant in the middle of the bed.
The herbs are getting plenty of sun and are all looking happy. However, I made a mistake in my assessment of the sun profile for the shady side of the bed. As the sun has gotten higher in the sky on its way toward Summer, the strawberries are getting more shade from that avocado tree than anticipated. Will this turn out to be a poor choie of location for them? I'll just have to wait and see. If they don't do well here, I can find a better spot for them next year. And I can think of plenty of perennial veggies and self-seeding herbs that would do well in such a shadded spot.
The above pictures are, in fact, what the garden bed looked like earlier this week. Wednesday night we had a lot of wind come up - a very real issue for any gardener in and around Wellington, New Zealand. The gusts were strong enough to snap the stems on the biggest silverbeen leaves. This was okay as I caught it straight away and the siverbeet needed harvesting anyway. This just gave me the kick in the pants to take care of it right away.
I harvest my silverbeet pick-and-come-again. This means I take the larger outside leaves, and always leave a few smaller leaves still growing in the centre. Harvested this way, I have found that silverbeet will last nine months in my garden, if kept well watered. This was the first harvest in my little garden (a few snips of herbs here and there notwithstanding). The first harvest of the season, too, which is always a joyful occasion. And here is why I love rainbow silverbeet:
It's cheerful colours make it that much more fun to grow. The range of my silverbeet is pinks, streaky pink and white, and one yellow; a full range of rainbows would also include orange and white stemmed.
I made a simple dish of steamed silverbeet, including those beautiful stems. Throw them in a few minutes before the leaves, and they go tender and tasty. I tossed them with olive oil, vinegar, salt, and lemon. Most of our silverbeet goes in soups and casseroles, but I was excited about this first harvest, and wanted to eat it up right away.
A love of cooking and eating fresh and tasty food is an integral part of my love of veggie gardening. Cooking my first bit of harvested veggies in the new house is one more step in settling into the new garden - and our new home.
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