Tag Archives: Mark and Abbie Jury

Grow it Yourself: gherkins and cucumbers

Gherkins are a pickling cucumber. Cucumbers are actually a tropical plant so are not going to want to be planted out until temperatures have risen. By all means start them from seed now but keep the babies under cover for a few more weeks. But is it worth growing gherkins at home? Fresh, home pickled gherkins should always taste much better than those commercially produced but you have to be pretty passionate about them to want to grow them yourself. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking you will put in one plant because then you will get a few baby gherkins every few days whereas what you want is plenty of them all at once so you can start the pickling process. You probably need about five plants, each of which will take up a square metre, and then pull them out and compost them as soon as you have harvested sufficient quantities.

All the cucurbits are gross feeders (hungry plants) so they need rich, fertile soil in full sun with plenty of depth to get their roots well down. They also need plenty of water during the heat of summer but as they are prone to mildew and all sorts of nasty diseases including Fusarium wilt, you are best to direct water to the root zone and avoid wetting the foliage. Keep the sprinkler well away. You can train the runners over a frame or structure to reduce the amount of ground space required or you can just leave them to sprawl over the ground like pumpkins. Personally, I think it is worth making more effort with a few cucumber plants which will gently crop from January to early April, when salad veg are most in demand. I am particularly keen on the little Lebanese cucumber. But then I would say that because we have neighbours who adore pickled gherkins. We make land available, they grow them and pickle them and give us a jar or two.

Tikorangi Notes: Friday October 14, 2011

Feeding from both the veltheimia and the agapetes

Feeding from both the veltheimia and the agapetes

Latest Posts:

1) ‘Tis spring – must be rhododendron time. R. johnstoneanum “Ken Burns” in Plant Collector this week.
2) A call for more rigour and less fervour in Abbie’s column this week – what used to be called The Good Life (courtesy of Felicity Kendall and whover Briars – was it Richard?) but is now styled Green Urban Living.
3) Grow it Yourself – beetroot this week.
4) Tikorangi Diary and notes about half price clearance special on most magnolias.

Tikorangi Notes:
I was delighted by the sight of the little waxeye gathering nectar from the veltheimia flowers outside my office window. We often see them working the Agapetes serpens (which I describe as the waxeye bush, for its ability to feed the birds) but this is the first time I have seen one feeding on the veltheimia which looks better suited to humming birds because of its very long, tubular flowers. We do not have humming birds in this country which has always seemed a bit of a pity to me. We would gladly trade blackbirds and sparrows for humming birds.

Rain has not helped the garden preparation this week – our annual festival (now styled the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular) starts in a fortnight so the pressure is on. I did feel sorry for the tour group here on Wednesday when it was hosing down but at least it wasn’t windy or cold! The magnolia season is drawing to a close with only Serene looking picture perfect now. But the michelias (now also reclassified as magnolias) have a longer season. The first of Mark’s new series, Fairy Magnolia Blush, is looking particularly pink this year. Indubitably pink which, in the world of white michelias, is pretty remarkable. More rhododendrons open every day though the maddenii and nuttallii types are generally later flowering and won’t be doing much for another fortnight. The garden is open every day now and we are generally around for plant sales – sound the car horn if we do not appear because we will be in the garden.

Indubitably very pink this season - Fairy Magnolia Blush

Indubitably very pink this season - Fairy Magnolia Blush

Rhododendon johnstoneaum “Ken Burns”

Rhododendron johnstoneanum "Ken Burns"

Rhododendron johnstoneanum "Ken Burns"

October is the peak time for rhododendrons and while this group of plants has seen a considerable slide in popularity in recent years, there is delicious anticipation in watching buds fatten, show colour and then gradually open. We would not want to be without plenty of them in our garden and this week it is “Ken Burns” that is looking delightful. It is hard to describe the colour. I would call it honey buff, others describe it as champagne. The buds are buffy yellow with a pink flush and the fully open flowers fade out to a cream with a yellow throat. It is even lightly scented. The leaves are quite small and slightly hairy and the plant stays well furnished and compact to about 1.2 metres high and a similar width. But for those of us living in warmer parts of the country, one of the real stand-out features of “Ken Burns” is that it stays healthy and rarely gets affected by nasty thrips (which turn the leaves silver and weaken the plant) or by sun scorch.

I had always thought that this is just a superior selection of the species R. johnstoneanum (which is as it occurs in the wild – raising species from seed gives variation within the seedlings), but it appears that there is a school of thought that it may be a natural hybrid (in other words, R. johnstoneaum crossed with something else unknown). The story goes that the original plant was growing in the garden of Mr Ken Burns who lived near Timaru and it was nearly lost when a bullock leaned too heavily on the fence and inflicted major damage on it. Somebody salvaged the plant and named it for Mr Burns. It is not at all the done thing to name plants after oneself. Since then, all plants bearing this name have been propagated by cutting which keeps the plant true to name. To raise it from seed would be to give rise to more seedling variation so it would no longer be “Ken Burns”.

Grow it Yourself – beetroot

Beetroot is enjoying something of a renaissance these days. It has gone beyond the large tinned slices which made sandwiches and hamburgers soggy, as it has progressed past being grated and set in vinegar flavoured jelly. These days you are more likely to find baby beet, golf ball sized, served with fresh curd cheese and toasted fresh walnuts in upmarket lunch dishes or flavoured with balsamic vinegar and roasted. The good news is that it is a root crop which is dead easy to grow at home and fresh young beet will always taste sweeter and more delicious than woody old things you may have tried in the past.

Being a root crop, it likes well drained, friable soils which are not too rich in nitrogen. Usual practice is to sow it in a spot where you previously grew a green, leafy crop. The seed is usually sown directly into the ground. Cover them with about 2cm of soil. As they germinates, go through and thin the crop – these thinnings are delicious and often found in salad mixes. Essentially you want to reduce the crop to allow about 10cm spacings between each plant to give them room to develop the tubers. Do not expect good crops if you miss the thinning process. They take about two to three months to mature. This is not a time specific crop. You can sow any time between early spring to mid autumn (about September to April), though you may find the summer crops bolt to seed too readily, especially if the soils are dry. Chief Veg Grower here advises that he prefers to keep to spring and autumn sowing because there are plenty of other more time sensitive crops to fill the garden in summer. Root crops appreciate plenty of moisture to develop juicy roots. Left too long in the ground, they will become large, old and woody. It is better to harvest them, remove the leaves and store in cool conditions – this will probably have to be the fridge in summer. With the rise in popularity, there is now a whole range of different varieties available with variation in both shape and colour, even a cerise and white candy ringed version.

Tikorangi Diary Thursday 13 October, 2011

Mark's meconopsis available again

Mark's meconopsis available again

As we hurtle into spring, the pressure is on to get the garden all groomed up and ready for our annual garden festival at the end of the month. This means we are around most of the time so plant sales are not restricted to just Fridays and Saturdays. If you come in and can’t find anyone, please sound your car horn. We have Eftpos available (but not credit cards).

Half price on most magnolias (while stocks last). This includes Vulcan, Burgundy Star and Black Tulip but not Felix Jury (which is in short supply). It is nearing the end of the season – the plants would be happier in your garden than in our nursery. There are about a dozen Magnolia grandiflora “Little Gem” left at the bargain basement price of $12 (but the Camellia Jury’s Yellow have gone). Magnolias are listed under Plant Sales on our website but not with sale prices – halve them. This offer includes good plants of Fairy Magnolia Blush – if you have been planning a hedge of them, now is your chance to do it at a very reasonable price.

The very curious Arisaema sikkokianum

The very curious Arisaema sikkokianum

In the treasures line, we have some of Mark’s meconopis for sale – blue Himalayan poppies. These plants are already in their second year and show more perennial tendencies than usual in our climate (though not guaranteed perennial – it would pay to gather the seed this year as well). And we have good plants of Arisaema speciosum (great for woodland carpets) and the curious, showy but more difficult Arisaema sikkokianum.

No mail order, sorry. Personal customers only.