Dahlia Orders
Hello friends,
My dahlia orders from Garden Post and Bulbs Direct arrived a couple of weeks ago, and they had to go into the ground immediately. Thanks to the back garden makeover, there was space for lots of pretty dahlias, and I was able to purchase some of the dahlias that have been on my wish list for a while.
My new dahlia varieties that have arrived so far are:
- Anemone Dahlias: Fenna Baij, Totally Tangarine, Mambo, and The Phantom
- Decorative Dahlias: Dutch Pearl, Creme De Cassis, Missis Miley, Silver Years, Lady Liberty
- Ball Dahlias: Brown Sugar, Wizard of Oz
- Dinner Plate Dahlias: Cafe Au Lait Royal, Pinkie Swear
They arrived on a snow day, so I had to plant the dahlias between snow showers, while the sun was out. Some of the dahlias were already showing decent growth in new sprouts.
Luckily, Patches, the neighbour's cat was there to keep me company during the whole process. They love hanging out in our back garden, and often follow me around to see what I'm up to.
I had so many dahlias arriving that I had to make a list of current varieties, and those arriving, along with other details, so I could plan a good mix of colours throughout our garden.
There's still a dahlia order from Mount Mera to arrive, and once that's done, all my dahlias will be in place for the summer. I can't wait for them to start coming up in November, and to start photographing and enjoying them over summer.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Harvesting and Drying Alma Paprika
Hello friends,
This is our second year growing alma paprika plants. It's really satisfying to sow them as little tiny seeds, see them grow up into seedlings, and then onto big pepper plants with red peppers that you can dry into mild paprika.
The process for growing alma paprika plants is pretty much the same as any other capsicums or chillies. The seeds need to be sown in late winter, at the same time as tomatoes, and they need consistent steady heat in order to germinate. At that time of the year we have them sitting in the dining room where we have the fire going each day. Within a couple of weeks they germinate, and slowly over a couple of months they grow into seedlings which need to be potted on.
I move the alma paprika seedlings into the glasshouse in early October, and once it gets to Labour weekend, it's time to plant them into the ground in the glasshouse. Over the next few months they get bigger, and need staking, and at around Christmas they begin to flower. The rounded alma paprika fruits begin to grow, and then it's a wait over late summer and early autumn for the growing fruits to begin to change colour to a bright red hue.
Once the alma paprika fruit has turned red, it's finally time to pick them. I cut them off the plant using a pair of secateurs, and then take them into the kitchen to begin processing them.
After chopping them in half, cutting off the stalks, and removing all the seeds, I slice the alma paprika fruit into thin slices and lay them out on a tray.
Then they go straight into the dehydrator at 35˚C, and I dry them until the slices are bone dry and brittle, ready for turning into paprika powder.
After a quick whizz in our spice grinder, the paprika powder is ready to use in cooking. The spice is tasty and mild, and works great in a number of dishes. The whole process is really easy, and satisfying, so it's now yet another yearly thing for me to do in the garden and kitchen.
Do you have any yearly tasks you enjoy? There's great satisfaction in accomplishing them when it means you have tasty food over the cold winter season.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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My 2023 Garlic Harvest
Hello friends,
According to one of last year's blog posts, I sowed my garlic bulbs for this season on Friday the 2nd of June 2023. Apparently, at that time I planted 60 Printanor bulbs, and in my naive state back then, claimed that we hadn't had any problem with garlic rust in all the years since we returned to Dunedin, so I wasn't worried about it happening at all.
Well it turns out I was really wrong about this. Normally, the humidity in Dunedin in spring usually isn't too bad, but unfortunately in mid-December 2023 the tell tale signs of garlic rust began appearing on my garlic plants after a period of rainy, humid days. I was devastated to say the least, but it was only a few weeks until the garlic harvest, so I prayed for lots of dry and sunny weather, and hoped my garlic plants had already formed decent bulbs while I waited impatiently for harvest day.
A couple of days after Christmas, my garlic plants were ready to harvest. It was a gray, drizzly day, but hubby and I got to work, and began lifting all the garlic bulbs. It wasn't the biggest garlic bulb haul in the world, but it was good enough for us. I had been hoping for lots of large bulbs, so I could swap some of our harvest for other things like apples and pears etc in autumn, but due to their smallish size, we ended up only with enough to last us for the year.
After a quick spray with water to clean off all the dirt, we made the decision to harvest the garlic then and there. Garlic plants with rust don't tend to keep very long while stored dry and whole, so we harvested the garlic bulbs and froze the cloves in our chest freezer. When we cook with garlic we just use the cloves, or we dehydrate the garlic to get flakes and powder.
The thing about growing underground vegetable crops is that you're not entirely sure what the harvest will be like until you dig them up. It's really just a case of making do with what you get, and then planning accordingly. If gardening life was predictable all the time, it would probably be boring...but I still would've loved to have a bigger harvest. So instead, I'll just have to buy autumnal fruit the normal way, at the supermarket.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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It's Christmas Time, The Blackcurrant Harvest Has Begun
Hello friends,
Christmas is closing in on us, and the biggest way I can tell is that our blackcurrant harvest has begun.
When we moved into our home in October 2019, we noticed that we had a big blackcurrant bush in the back yard, and every year around Christmas since then it has supplied us, and the local bird population, with a huge harvest of blackcurrants.
The harvest has started early this year, after I spotted some overripe blackcurrants splattered on the ground in front of the bush over the weekend. So I grabbed a container and started picking.
It wasn't long before I'd picked a whole container worth of juicy ripe blackcurrants. After a good wash to remove any detritus and bugs, I placed them in an ice cream container for freezing. I tend to bulk freeze blackcurrants, and then bring them out in autumn to process them into other stuff. The first black currant harvest was 475 grams, so I think it'll be a good harvest over the next month.
The harvest is usually so bountiful, that between us and the birds, there is still a lot of blackcurrants left on the bush, so this year I plan to pick more than what we need for the year, freeze it away, and then use them to swap for other produce in our local produce swap Facebook group. We don't have space for apple or pear trees, so it's a good way for us to have access to other fruit in autumn.
This is the last blog post for 2023. Hubby and I go on holiday this Friday, and after a rough year health wise, I really need a good break to rest and recuperate over the Christmas break. I still plan on taking photos and videos for the blog over that time, and will begin posting again sometime in January.
I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and New Year break.
Have a wonderful day.
Julie-Ann
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Dehydrating All The Herbs
Hello friends,
It's finally the time of the year when the dehydrator is working full time, and there's currently a bunch of herbs drying in the dehydrator.
First up is coriander, which is currently on it's second harvest for the season.
Next we have dill, which has also been harvested for the second time this season.
I've also just harvested celery for cutting for the first time this season, and I'm hoping to turn it into celery salt.
And also, there's finally enough basil to start dehydrating. I've just did the first harvest, and there was enough for both making a small amount of pesto, and also for some to dry.
And finally, I've just harvested lemon balm for the first time ever. It's used a lot in the teas I often drink, so I'm hoping to make some for myself.
Have you got harvests coming on? I love early summer in the garden, it's full of so much potential.
Have a wonderful day.
Julie-Ann
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