Week in Retrospect 2019 – Week 2 (7 Sept – 13 Sept)

Full steam ahead with my garden diary / inspiration blog. If you've missed the beginning, feel free to check out the Introduction, and last week's first edition - Week 1.

It was propagation week this past week according to the Lunar Planting Calendar, so I did loads and loads of sowing! It was a good de-cluttering exercise too – I planted most of my really old seed, ones I got or saved as far back as 2014! We’ll have to wait and see what comes up, and if they don’t, it’s no real loss, because it unburdened a bit of my seed stash, and I can make space for more new and interesting (fresher) seeds.

This led to me perusing many a seed catalog, and not only the ones available in New Zealand… Oh my! There’s some really stunning herbs and vegetables out there in the world – Blue Keyes Tomato (go Google it!) and Black Thai TQ Chilli has stolen my heart this week! Not to even speak of the chillies… pumpkins… eggplants…

But while there’s import restrictions on seeds, and I’m not quite set up to be an importer (yet), I had to make do with local suppliers, and even though I have thousands of seeds in my seed collection, of course, I still found quite a few things I’d like...

The violas and pansies are looking simply delightful! I’ve grown a selection of violas all around the edge of my early spring garden bed (the one with peas, lettuces, broad beans and some kale). Miya and Leia (my daughters) have had endless fun picking them for fairy salads, for food parcels for the guinea pigs and bunnies, edible bits for themselves, and as “nature paint”. They even hammered a few flower designs on paper.

I’m very excited by all the buds on my fruit trees (except the plum – I hope it is not going to feature as a “problem” in one of my blogs…). I am learning so much about the different stages and types of buds on apples and pears. A tip - don’t search for “Apple bud” on Google… it comes back with some kind of in-ear headphones for Apple devices. And on the same note, if you search anything “blackberry”, make sure you qualify it with adding “plant” to the search terms!

Roses… I’m very saddened by the fact that, of the six Matthew’s roses I bought for my new home, only the Cappucino is thriving… Heaven Scent is to all my knowledge dead, as is Sweet Dreams. Veilchenblau has one or two little red buds which I’m hoping will actually eventually become proper growing bits, and the same with Kiwi. Felicia isn’t dead, but she’s sure not thriving either… I really don’t understand it as they are planted in the exact same way and in the same garden bed as two roses I got from the clearance section at Mitre10 (Jubilee Celebration and Spiced Coffee) and three Warehouse barerooted roses (barely a stick when I bougth them) – Scent to Remember, Roayal Dane, and Pascali, as well three roses I brought with from Stanmore Bay (My Mum, Scentimental and Blackberry Nip…

I’ve never had issues with their roses before, but as they have been treated the same as all the others, and are the only ones not thriving, I’m wondering if I should write them an email?

What did I sow? Um… everything? No! But nearly!

I sowed: coreopsis, cosmos, marigold, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes, chillies, basil (all sorts of different basil!), coriander, rocket, snapdragons, mugwort, foxglove, hollyhock, parsley, dill, fennel, motherwort, scabiosa, honeywort, aquilegia, shiso, salad burnet, nasturtium, viola, echinacea, delphinium, corn cockle, queen anne’s lace, borage, asters, aremian basketflower, cleome, forget-me-not, echinops, larkspur, liatris, sunflower, orlaya, phacelia, autumn sage (white flowering and salmon flowering), goldenrod, moth mullein, zinnia, poppies, viscaria, cucumbers, chives, chervil, orach, strawberry spinach, savory, feverfew, Tansy, thyme, fenugreek, anise hyssop, marshmallow, cornflower, catmint, bee balm, costmary, eggplant, chicory, endive, … and possibly even more!