Home grown vegetables helping to save a life

Speak to anyone who grows their own vegetables and they’ll usually talk about the satisfaction they get from growing their own vegies, the convenience of being able to pick it fresh whenever they want to, and some of the cost benefits they may have experienced.

But this past week and a half I have come to appreciate more than ever before the amazing health benefits of growing your own fresh vegies, particularly silver beet and beetroot which are both high in iron.

A friend of mine “Joe” has been in hospital fighting for his life after a virus which had attacked his heart left one of his heart valves practically destroyed and needing replacement. He’d been told by the doctors if they didn’t operate within the next 2 weeks he could die.

Unfortunately his haemoglobin level had dropped significantly and as he’s one of Jehovah’s Witnesses he couldn’t accept a blood transfusion which is what they normally give in that situation. And they can’t operate until they get his red blood cell count up to around 100. So suddenly my garden with a good crop of iron-producing fresh vegetables came to the rescue.

We filled a flask of freshly squeezed silver beet and beetroot juice (using the root and the leaves), mixed with 2 green apples, a whole lemon (without the zest) 2 carrots, a leaf of cabbage and a handful of parsley, then rushed it over to the hospital.

His wife and family got their own juicer and started giving him regular doses of freshly squeezed juice, high in iron, which has been steadily building up his red blood cell count.

We wish him well and are hoping for the best. 

Hang in there Joe!

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UPDATE (as at Jan 21, 2013)

After a rigorous routine of freshly squeezed juices, Joe's Haemoglobin level was built up from 56 to 113. It was a slow process but Joe was finally able to get the heart surgery he needed and is now on the road to recovery. He’s convinced the juices helped and is now a fresh juice convert.

Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers.

The Apple Tree

I’m not one for ‘flogging a dead horse’ when it comes to growing things in the garden. So the time finally arrived for me to admit defeat regarding my Black Doris Plum tree. I’ve been waiting about 7 or 8 years now and still no fruit – that’s long enough in my book.

So I decided it’s finally time to pull it out and try something else. I decided to try a Fuji apple.

My wife wasn’t so convinced that I should give up on the Black Doris so I compromised and told her I’d try it in a different spot – down in the bottom garden.

Most fruit trees like well drained soil so when I tested the hole with a bucket of water I could see that the clay in the bottom was going to be a problem. This is a typical problem with Auckland’s soil.

So I dug a drainage trench in a downhill direction from the hole and put a couple of inches of free draining pebbles in the bottom.

Finally the hole was ready to fill in again and to plant the new tree. I used a good quality garden mix with a bit of compost added to it to give it the best possible start, then I staked it firmly.

One of our neighbours has 2 apple trees growing on his property. They’re both different varieties and very hard to identify so I’m hoping they’ll work OK as pollinators for my new Fuji variety. Only time will tell.

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(Update: Jan 2, 2018)

This year my Apple tree has several fruit on, which is not that many so it’s a little disappointing.

I have noticed that when the tree starts putting forth it’s leaves and blossoming in the late spring the branches get this white fluffy stuff growing on them. When you rub it between your fingers it turns a red/brown colour so obviously some kind of very tiny insect infestation. The result of this is a 

dis-figurement of the surface of the branch. 

So far I have not sprayed the tree with any chemicals as I prefer not to if I can help it. The most I ever do is give it a squirt with a high pressure hose to get rid of the insects but they soon come back. So I'm thinking I may have no choice but to start spraying it, which I’ll probably do this year after it’s finished fruiting.

Baba’s Garden

One particular highlight of our trip to Japan was returning to my in-laws place after being away for 18 years. I’ve always found their place to be absolutely fascinating. The family home has been owned and lived in for several generations.

They live in the countryside so they have quite a large garden. My mother-in-law who we call Baba has always been a keen gardener but now that she’s in her 80’s she has not been able to care for her garden the way she used to. It was sad to see her garden looking so overgrown and uncared for.

So what better job to occupy myself with than to get stuck in and tidy up her garden. The challenge was: What could I do in the short time I was there?

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Some interesting aspects of the project were, finding all the tools I needed...

...helping my daughter to appreciate some of the joys of gardening...

...and finding ways of overcoming the language barrier...

This is me pictured with my brother-in-law Kazuharu, who was very grateful for my help tidying up his parents garden. He knew it needed doing but just didn’t know where to start. I was glad to be able to help.

Plus it seemed I even provided some entertainment to some of the locals – 

including the postman and a few nosey neighbours.

Watch the video I made about Cleaning up Baba's Garden

The Rice Harvest

Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan (where my wife’s family lives) is a rice growing region that has recently been designated as an Agricultural Heritage area because of its traditional methods of growing and harvesting rice, much of which is still done by hand. Most of it is grown on the valley plains but sometimes you can see rice paddys carved into hillsides, none so famous as this site known as 'Sen Maida' which translates as 'a thousand paddys' which we visited in Wajima.

I found my first visit to a genuine rice paddy 18 years ago to be a fascinating experience. On this recent visit I witnessed for the first time, the rice actually being harvested...

...and then hung out to dry on huge drying frames.

Those who truly appreciate quality rice believe these old natural methods are the best for preserving the natural flavour and goodness of the rice.

That probably explains why some of Japan’s best Sake (rice wine) is produced in the Ishikawa region. There are some 36 Sake-making companies in Ishikawa, most of which have been handed down through several generations, the oldest of which dates back to 1716.

A Visit to Kenrokuen Garden

We spent the last couple of weeks in Japan visiting family. While we were there we went to visit one of the 3 most famous gardens in Japan known as Kenrokuen. It is situated in Kanazawa, which is the largest city in Ishikawa prefecture where my wife’s parents live, which is on the west coast of Japan’s main Island of Honshu (north of Osaka).

From what I understand the garden was first established in the 1600’s. It was a private garden belonging to a Japanese Lord and was first opened to the public in 1874. However the garden was only designated as a National Site of Scenic Beauty as recently as 1922, and a National Site of Special Scenic Beauty as recently as 1985 which put it in the top 3 in Japan, and deservedly so. 

I’ve been inspired in many ways by the Japanese approach to gardening which I first came to appreciate when I visited Japan for the first time back in 1990. The first thing you notice is that the Japanese are meticulous in their attention to detail and no effort is spared when it comes to maintaining things of beauty, even sweeping moss off the pebbles on the floor of a meandering stream (as pictured below).

I’ve tried to incorporate into my own garden the various ideas I’ve gleaned from my observations in Japan.

These are a few of the fundamental observations I’ve made of Japanese gardens:

1. They pay special attention to detail when trimming hedges and pruning trees. They’re not afraid of severe pruning where necessary. Even towering pine trees do not escape the attention of the meticulous Japanese gardener.
2. They make sure that all the gardens features are clearly defined including trees, shrubs, pathways, and other landscaping features, including water features and garden ornaments.
3. They make good use of a variety of materials including stone, brick, and timber - even bamboo and ceramic tiles.
4. They keep the design of any landscaping elements as simple as possible.
5. They make the best possible use of every last inch of space.

This is the second time I’ve visited the Kenrokuen garden. Last time I visited was springtime 18 years ago so there was a lot more colour and flowers to be seen compared to this Autumn visit. But even without the blooms and the colours there was beauty to be found in the rich tapestry of form, texture and the majestic vistas they produce, even if only in various shades of green.

Last time we came here my daughter was only 5 years old. She doesn’t remember our visit all those years ago so it was a completely new experience for her this time, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve been hoping my love of gardening will rub off on her eventually.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring arrived early this year. 

These photos were taken August 24th. The plum blossoms usually signal the beginning of spring which arrived about a week earlier than normal. It was especially heartening to see the plum tree blossoms being visited by all sorts of insects including bees, bumblebees and butterflies. 

Last year most of the blossoms got turned to mush when a heavy downpour of rain came before they’d been pollenated, which resulted in a very small crop. This year I reckon every single flower got pollenated as the weather and insect visitation was almost perfect for an entire week.

I was so delighted at this first sign of spring I felt a video would be the best way to capture it, as the still photos just didn’t do it justice. They couldn’t possibly capture the sound of bees buzzing or the birds chirping in the surrounding trees. 

I found this video is best enjoyed at night with the volume turned up.

Enjoy...

Pergola Doubles as Winter Greenhouse

When I first built the pergola I intentionally chose the sunniest spot in the garden, so it would be a nice place to sit over the summer, in the shade of the grape vine. However the paved area never gets used for outdoor living over the cooler months and it seemed a pity to let all that sunshine go to waste. So one thing I decided to try this year was to turn the pergola into a makeshift greenhouse. I didn’t want to spend too much money and I wanted to keep it as simple as possible as it would only be temporary until the grapes come on again later in the spring.

So using a couple of garden boxes I knocked together a couple of years ago, I got them all planted out with garden mix and seedlings. Then I got a 10 metre roll of clear polythene and a few lengths of timber to make up the greenhouse.

Using the timber in pairs I sandwiched the polythene in between and nailed the pair of them together whilst laid out on the ground. This would serve as a weight and a means of attaching it to something solid. I did this on one end first then draped the polythene over top of the pergola.

Then pulling it tight I was able to establish the correct length and then attached a couple more bits of timber with the polythene sandwiched between them and nailed together. Then using the same method I covered up the southern end (that’s the cold end for us here in NZ) as shown below.

I decided to grow Pak choy and Brocolli. Pak Choy are frost tender. Brocolli is a bit more hardy but it would be an interesting experiment to see the difference between these and some that I just planted in the ground as normal.
A few weeks later and the Pak Choy were all finished and the brocolli were coming on beautifully with little flower heads beginning to form. The brocolli inside the greenhouse were about 3 times the size of the ones growing in the garden. So you can imagine my distress when my wife reported that something disastrous had happened in the garden...

We suddenly had some gale force winds which whipped through the garden and half of the brocollis got completely snapped off in the wind.

I hate it when that happens!

It seems this part of the garden is more exposed to the wind than where I would normally grow Brocollis and other winter vegetables.

Anyway, I haven't given up on the idea completely. What this initial test proved was just how much better things can grow in a greenhouse environment and in a spot where there's more sun. I just need to commit to spending a bit more time and money using more robust materials and construction methods. You can be sure I'll do a post about it when that happens.