14 October 2012

Remember the ginger farm?

When we visited the ginger farm, we bought a few kilograms of fresh ginger (that we actually dug up ourselves - can't get fresher than that).  We got advice from Michael and Kate who grow the ginger and they said we had until the end of September to get our act together.  So on the last weekend of the month (of course), I did.

Michael advised us to mound the soil up and improve it.  This patch had just been closed off from the chickens, so they've been busy fertilising it as well.  Then I cut and planted to ginger and we are looking forward to the green shoots popping up.  Michael says one of the best parts of growing ginger is to walk down the rows and smell the lemon scent of the leaves.  Can't wait.

You can see in the patch next door that the corn is coming along.  Unfortunately, a few of the larger stalks were blown over on Thursday when we had massive winds come through.  I've propped them back up and given them a nice, deep water, so we'll see how we go.
On the other side of the ginger patch, I let some pumpkin vines alone when I pulled up the rest of it to put the corn in.  It died back but not out and now has a fabulous head start on the season.  To my great surprise, I've already seen lots of little pumpkins.  Last season, the pumpkin vines didn't produce female flowers (which gives you the pumpkin) until right at the end of the season.  Thankfully, I didn't pull up the vines on the swales either, and they are also putting on some growth.  So hopefully we'll get more than twelve pumpkins this year.  I saved hundreds of seeds as well and have planted about 30 out in the greenhouse, so we just might be rolling in pumpkins next year.
And in the patch on the other side to the ginger (patch 2) are the green zebra tomato cuttings that we took off the monster in the aquaponics system.  I've just given them a hair cut and they are growing well and fruiting.  So maybe we'll eat green tomatoes all summer and pumpkin all winter.  Ah well, could be worse.....

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