[Pete & Sheila]

When we come to NZ we would like to have a vegatable plot and it would be good to here from other gardeners to know what they grow and at the differant seasons.

[wilson182]

I've got/have had a couple of crops of Broccoli, Cauliflower, silverbeet, onions and carrots. Also I have spring onion, lettuce and tomato's (lost my first batch of toms to a late frost in early spring:wah ) Plus I have two capsicums and a chilli plant (but I think they are later in the summer)

I planted some leeks from seed but only two have come up, they will be late/late summer and I want to try and get some brussels (I think they are winter).

This is my first time for having a veggie garden, so I am pretty much learning as I go along. (any tips gratefully received)

[kowhai]

Hi. Im a keen gardener. What part of the country will you be living in?There' s quite a bit of regional difference.
In the Bay of Plenty, Im currently enjoying a good harvest of strawberries, blueberries, beans ( peas finished a couple of weeks ago ) , rhubarb, tomatoes, lettuce,basil, oregano etc. My passionfruit will be ready in a couple of months, grapes in April, feijoas in May. The olive trees are heavy croppers - but I don't harvest the fruit. Also have a couple of good cropping lemon trees. Flower wise , I have sweetpeas, roses , geraniums and star jasmine. Im sure others will let you know what they are growing in other parts of the country.

[jubjub]

Hubby currently has several chilli plants and tomato plants that are just groaning with fruit...

any ideas what to do with hundreds of chillies????

[Pete & Sheila]

We will be in New Plymouth hopefully before much longer.
I like the sound of growing Chilli plants. I could live on currie i also like lots of chilli's on a burger and put chilli in stews as well.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Hubby currently has several chilli plants and tomato plants that are just groaning with fruit...

any ideas what to do with hundreds of chillies????

You could make some sweet chilli relish/pickle or jam...i'm sure there are plenty of of other forumites who might help you eat it ;)

Or you could dry the chillies (and make pretend sun-dried tomatos)...either fan oven at 120 degrees for few hours or one of those dehydrator things....they have them in K-mart at the moment!

[Moorf]

any ideas what to do with hundreds of chillies????

Make chilli jam :nice1 yummmmmmm

Currently, in inland Canterbury the veggies we're currently growing include red & white onions, 2 types runner bean, peas, beetroot, broccoli, spring onions, lettuces, capsicums (behind glass), tomatoes, artichokes, aubergine (not doing too well :( ) and garlic. Oh, and lots of herbs and fruit.

[Sam B]

We've got lettuce, rocket, runner beans, french beans, parsley, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, beetroot, carrots, courgettes, plums, lemons, grapes, very small hard peaches, apples. Everthing happens earlier, bigger and better. no need for greenhouse. In Waikato.

[Pete & Sheila]

Good to here there seems to be a good intrest in gardening there. Having a large garden there is going to be one of the big pluses for us coming to NZ.
My OH would love to grow some runner beans and some rhubarb.

[Smiler]

Hmmmmmmmmm veg patch isn't doing so well since I left OH in charge while I was away :mad:

This year I've got pea's (yum) 3 different sorts of courgette's, gerkhins, butternut squash, carrots, brocolli, beets, tomatoes (which are doing much better than last years) red and white onions, herbs, salad mix, rocket, potatos , strawberries, sweetcorn, something ate all the leeks, chilli's and capsicums. :(

We've also got walnuts, clementines, olives, plums, apples, pears, nashi pears, lemons, grapefruit, figs, and the landlord swears we've got 4 prolifically fruiting fejoa trees, but there was no fruit last year or this.

We didn't have much success with runner beans last year so didn't bother again.

Our soil here is so warm and lovely, it's a pleasure to go out and garden. :raebanana

[sizzlingbadger]

Just had a large crop of potatoes, around 11kg :raebanana

At the moment artichokes are nearly ready, got 5 at the moment and another lot just behind. So much rhubarb I'm running out of ideas and lots of herbs.

Just had the last of the celery and spinach before Christmas. We've got two raised vegie beds and use mushroom compost mixed in with horse manure :nice1

It's amazing just how much you can grow here, we'll be looking at getting some more vegies in soon. The fruit trees have pretty much died off though way too dry for them.

[Pete & Sheila]

What is it like there for garden pests such as slugs

[benandclare]

Slugs and snails abound here I'm afraid:mad:

[jackie m]

Apricots just finished my neighbours loved me as we don't eat them. At the moment I have Olives,self seeded spring onions from the last crop :D carrots,peas,strawberries,cucumber & 2 fejoa which have flowered but no fruit as of yet.
Only had a few slugs & snails not as many as the Uk or they just don't like sandy soil maybe:D
Jackie

[Smiler]

Just had a large crop of potatoes, around 11kg :raebanana

At the moment artichokes are nearly ready, got 5 at the moment and another lot just behind. So much rhubarb I'm running out of ideas and lots of herbs.

Just had the last of the celery and spinach before Christmas. We've got two raised vegie beds and use mushroom compost mixed in with horse manure :nice1

It's amazing just how much you can grow here, we'll be looking at getting some more vegies in soon. The fruit trees have pretty much died off though way too dry for them.

Sizz how do you store your potato's, or don't they last long? :D

Yum artichokes,I'll try those next year.

[sizzlingbadger]

Don't last that long :roll With 5 of us to feed we'll be through them in a month ! ! Although if you need to store them we've been told a dry, dark place. We tend to use paper bags or sacks are another option.

Forgot the olive trees, ours are doing really well providing the birds don't take all the fruit :) Looking into what we can do with them either just store and eat as they are or make them into olive oil, yum.

[Questor]

We've currently got:
courgettes/zucchini (lots - need to remember to harvest or they turn into marrows. Got at least 10kg off the 2(!) plants so far)
Tomatoes (cherries doing really well, some of the cultivated hybrids less so - we'll try heirlooms next year)
Runner Beans that look like they've been there for a while - massive roots, and we've got kilos per week off them
Romanesco broccoli coming, just started to heart.
Just harvested red and white onions, got at least 35/40
Peas finished a couple of weeks back, as someone said earlier
Celeriac planted about 6 weeks ago, won't be ready for a while
Garlic will be ready soon
Chilean Guava plant I planted in Spring, probably won't fruit for a while, but they're very tasty
Got a few leeks probably about ready
Parsley and coriander did really well over winter and spring - kinda bolted to seed in summer though
Bought some heirloom aubergines and cucumbers a month or so ago, seem to be doing well so far.

I can highly recommend the Awapuni seedlings - you can find em in Pak n'Save and New World as well as some garden centres - they're the ones you see wrapped in newspaper - most of my successes have come from them, and they're only $3. AND you always get more than they say in the packet. The onions we had said "minimum 24 plants". We got over 40, too many for us to use, we had to give em away!

Also, Ginny at Ginny's Herbs (http://www.ginnysherbs.com/index.html) has lots of old heirloom varieties. Not much at the minute because of the time of year, but there will be loads in autumn.