Two gardeners progress Late April, 2008 Autumn

Now that the pumpkins are harvested, Anne intends to do a bit more market gardening, during winter, raising leeks, spring onions, and soon, planting shallots, locally known as potato onions. The raspberries are being expanded to a second row. Notice the gorgeous kale and purple sprouting broccoli plants behind the small newly-transplanted raspberry canes.

The garden is sliding into winter mode The same bed, photos taken about a month apart. Above right to left are four rows of mustard, each a different variety, with rows of leaf lettuce between them. The light green leaves on the left side of the photo are lettucy Chinese cabbage. Where the last of the corn patch was, now some leek seedlings are getting established, and rows of rocket are coming up. Kale plants are behind. The ones behind the rocket were stunted by being in the corns shadow. The ones on the right hand side of the picture grew normally.

Swedes seem such beautiful plants. About four square metres of this bed will produce about 24 roots; in another month or so each will weigh in excess of one kg and then will stop growing fast awaiting harvest until September. We grow a local variety called the N.Z. Butter- swede. It is white-skinned, yellow fleshed and does not need stiff frosts to reduce the turnipy livestock-fodder taste of most swede varieties. I have produced my own seed for this variety through four generations now, with no reduction in size or vigour and with better uniformity.

To your left (and above) Ladies and Gentlemen, is an untidy pile of dry vegetation and some kitchen garbage (mostly dried out too). In two short hours it was turned into the compost heap you see above right. The pile was torn apart, restacked in layers 30 mm thick (12 inches), each layer watered well and sprinkled with a with thin covering of soil and complete organic fertilizer. Next spring, one turn to come, itll be potent finished compost. The small white boxes Might I point out in both photographs there are two white stryofoam boxes located atop a folding table alongside the fence. (go to next slide)

Anne sells our gardens surplus from these boxes, mostly to residents of the 60-house retirement village across that white fence. They stroll over, lean over the fence, open the boxes, select their vegetables and sometimes find a punnet of raspberries if theyre lucky. Our prices are somewhat less than charged at the nearby supermarket. The amount these sales brings in is still surprising us. The comments about how good our stuff tastes does not surprise usthats what COF does. Next spring we are going to do some more intentional market gardening on the quarter acre block we purchased. The soil on this block was first covered with a layer of poppy marc about 50 mm thick (2 inches). Then it was rotary cultivated, shallowly, wiping out the sod and hastening the poppy marcs decomposition. During winter wildlife fencing will be erected, paths laid out, beds dug. The surplus food from this block and the other two gardens adjoining our house will be sold; the income accounted for; the expenses recorded, and the results will make some indication of the potential productivity of a quarter acre urban farm.

CLOCKWISE: We erected a wind-break and privacy fence on the west boundary; the lounge room; view of property from the east (not our land and probably soon to have a house erected on it); view of property from the south.