I just love all the green we see around but boy has it gotten warm. The previous weekend wasn't conducive to a lot of gardening with all the rain, however during the sunny spells I managed to get new trellising up for my tomatoes and start tying them up.

Can I let you in on a secret from last year? I started tying up my tomatoes and completely gave up. Work got busy and during the weekends I had no energy. So I let them sprawl across the garden and grass; much to the lawnmower man’s disgust. It was one of the funnest (I know that's not quite a word, but still) garden years. It was like a big treasure hunt to find my tomatoes. I didn't trim or tie up laterals. It was a mere free-for-all all. And it was great! I got over 20kg of tomatoes out of 6 or so plants. The Albenga Oxheart was the greatest surprise with some tomatoes reaching over 600gm each. Every couple of days, I'd go wading into the "patch" and find as many ripe tomatoes as possible. Those tomatoes went into 17 jars of passata, 12 jars of salsa, 6 or so of tomato chilli jam and a few large cubes of tomato paste in the freezer. I only have a small garden, but it still amazes me how much I get out of it.

I know I am going to get a few haters for this, but in the wild, this is what would happen. I understand many people would trim the bottom leave and whip off the laterals to help with airflow, diseases, etc, but if you look at the commercial gardens of Watties (drive past in summer out the back of Hastings), and you will see tomatoes sprawling on the ground. I think it matters if you are grading and selling them. But in the home garden probably matters less in some ways. Mine are always more for cooking anyway. I’m the only one who eats them raw, unless I give some away.  

This year though, it's a little different. I have popped some plastic trellis up (because I am renting), and am tying my tomatoes up. Aside from taking the lower branches and lower laterals off, I am going to let the tomatoes do their own thing again tying them up as I go.

While tomatoes are a big part of gardening in summer, don’t forget the other delicious vegetables available. Keep planting out your filler plants around your garden such as beetroot, carrots, spring onions, spinach, lettuces, and brassicas like kale (though these may need covering now with the white butterfly out). If you haven’t got zucchini, corn, capsicum and eggplant out now, I’d do so now. Corn and Zucchini you can keep sowing/planting until February.

So what have I been eating out of my garden this week – Plenty of silverbeet ( I chop up finely adding it to coleslaw), kale, spring onions, broccoli and herbs. Herbs I’ve already harvested for winter use have been oregano, rosemary, parsley (before it bolts), peppermint, mint and calendula. I’ve dried the herbs and flower petals storing them in a clean dry glass jar out of direct sunlight. My garlic is starting to bulb up, and I am excited about the harvest this year after awful harvests since I’ve moved to Cambridge. I’ve got a plan for garlic for 2025, which I will share in 2025 after my trials over the past couple of years.

What have I done in my garden this week – I’ve planted more basil (you can never have enough, and pesto freezes so well), two more tomato plants, capsicum, three cucumbers (mini me – now sold out but still have another Lebanese available). I’ve repotted my strawflowers and echinacea to plant out later this month,  I’ve left the broad beans in out the back as they are still producing well. The ones in the front garden I have chopped off at soil height, leaving the roots in (good for nitrogen fixing), and have tied them up hanging upside down in the garage for seeds. I’ve pulled my first round of lettuces as they are bolting, and my broccoli. I’ve started mulching more pea straw around the garden – this is important as we head into the dryer part of the year (again The Staw Warehouse is the best place for it). I’ve kept trenching my scraps into the garden to give the worm farm a break. The worm farm has had a feed of dried leaves this week. They love it! I keep a box beside the worm farm to add whenever I add scraps to them. My beans as part of the “three sister” method are up (happy dance).

I am pretty excited about them as they are called Indian Hannah beans (Hannah Freeman preserved a bean traditionally grown by her Lenape people as part of the Three Sisters companion planting technique. The bean was named "Indian Hannah" in her honour.) – great for green bean eating when young, and drying for winter use. This year, beans are like the new tomatoes for me. I’ve been a big fan of Mangere Pole for years (a NZ variety coming out of the market gardens before the housing sprawl started in South Auckland). They are amazing for their productivity, producing kilograms for me each year. They slow a little in January, but if you give them a feed, they come away again and we keep eating them until March/April. I’ve also sown American Pea Bean, and Brown Dutch Bean. I thought the Dutch bean was a dwarf, however I have since read, that over the years and because of open pollination, they now climb. So I planted those in the wrong place and will have to live with it for the season. I have two more varieties to sow; once I find some more space I will (haha).

One of my favourite bean recipes is a simple sauteed bean with lemon, almonds and parsley.

Here’s the link: https://dish.co.nz/recipes/green-beans-with-almonds-parsley-lemon/.  I love it with new potatoes and a roast lamb.

Finally, we have one more Open Day on the 14th & 15th December. We are open 10am to 2pm. https://www.facebook.com/events/1163511402171407. All our seedlings are $4 each. We have grape, passionfruit, rhubarb and blueberries available too. You can also purchase online via our website www.lovegroweat.co.nz

We are also loading our workshops for 2025. Our first one up is Cultivating Creativity and Harmony: Journaling Inspired by Gardening. It’s a six-session journey that blends journaling with the healing power of nature.

Together, we’ll:
 Unlock your creative potential.
 Process emotions and find balance.
 Draw inspiration from gardening to foster your personal and creative growth.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1938164956691894/1938164970025226

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If you don't know me, Hi! I'm Rebecca from Love Grow Eat. I love gardening, and you will often spot me in my dressing gown watering my plants in the morning, admiring my plum and peach tree or covered in dirt after a day in the garden. I'm a qualified organic gardener, with a passion for growing delicious and nutritious fruit and vegetables right in our own backyards. I offer a range of gardening services from maintenance and planting, to a full garden refresh or a consultation. I also teach my gardening knowledge to others through our workshops or 1:1 garden coaching. Get in touch via our website www.lovegroweat.co.nz