Summer colour and bounty

The recently planted and still in progress claret garden is coming along well, the Japanese maple is doing well now that there is some protection from wind and the mix of red and deep red/rust coloured perennials such as chocolate cosmos and Echinacea are mixing together beautifully.

The dahlias are doing well also.

and the potager has a great crop of eggplant, basil, corn...

nasturtians (i have a plan for pickled nasturtian seeds but in the mean time the small leaves and flowers are wonderful in garden salads)...

and cucumbers on our cucumber frame.

Water Chestnut Experiment

Was inspired to try growing water chestnuts for myself by recent trip to China, where timed with the moon festival, a rather alien looking vegetable was sold by street vendors on nearly every corner.  

 

I was served this delicacy at a small rural restaurant just outside Wuhan where I discovered it was a type of water chestnut - the water caltrop or horned water chestnut.  

This version had a hard outer shell that had to be cracked open with ones teeth - so i've opted to grow the common water chestnut Eleocharis dulcis which is an aquatic sedge with edible corms which have a soft brown skin that can be peeled and then they are ready for eating.

Water chestnuts are grown in a similar way to rice in Asia - within flooded paddy field type situations - so by all accounts an old bathtub with 10cm of flooded water at top over a good quality rich soil will be perfect.  So, old baths put to good use - I like that kind of up-cycling!

Then the corms arrived with new shoots in the post - nothing better than receiving tiny parcels of life through NZ Post wrapped up in a box - best mail ever to open!!

Once unwrapped you can see last years corms that the small plants have started to re-sprout from.

So, in the bath they go and we'll see what happens over the coming months - apparently 6 per bath will be plenty and they are supposed to grow like crazy - here's hoping we'll have fresh water chestnuts in autumn to stir fry!

 

They have pride of place next to the bath dedicated to my nettle crop - which is doing particularly well so far this spring.

Papery poppies

Planted 12 seedling poppies in spring and in early summer was rewarded with the most gloriously decadent display of blousey, papery flowers.  I've always lamented not being able to grow paeonies in our climate - but these divine poppies would give the best paeony a run for their money!

One of the delights of these plants is that at every era of their lifespan they provide a interesting and beautiful displays - leaves are a buttery green colour and then the opening buds are a delight in themselves, with a burst of colour seeping out between the split calyx.

Then the flowers themselves - a troupe of ballerinas in pink toned tutu's dancing through the garden.

and last, but by no means least - the gorgeous seed heads - who gradually dry out and open up little holes at their top to release (in their own mini pepper shaker) the tiny black seeds we all love on our daily loaves (i've collected millions this year and we will be having our very own poppy seed loaf!

I wasn't sure how long the flowers would last in a vase - but I put together a potager bouquet for my mother in law's 60th and the flowers lasted for quite a few days before dropping their petals.

What a lovely result the bouquet ended up being - who needs a florist when you have a vege patch - poppies, artichoke leaves and rocket flowers - fabulous...

Aubergine

The aubergines have been very successful this year and have produced a number of large glossy purple/black fruits.  I love the idea that they (including tomatoes, potatoes & capsicum) are all from the nightshade or Solanaceae family and potentially so dangerous with their vast and interesting mix of alkaloid properties!  Which reminds me of a wonderful book that I discovered recently by Amy Stewart - Wicked Plants, The weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities.  This is a book which explores the realm of poisonous and deadly plants and the science, history and folklore surrounding them - it's a fascinating read with lovely ink illustrations reminiscent of old botanical texts but with a modern twist.

There are a number of famous gardens which highlight these types of plants - the most famous being that at Alnwick in England.  I rather like the idea of a garden of plant 'prisoners'.