COMMUNITIES Piopio Fruit & Veg Stand

I'M SURE everyone has planted out their spring/summer veggie gardens by now and is starting to see those greenshoots if not flowers and fruit. While there might be a few people out there growing their own food to prepare for the apocalypse, most of us are optimists, with hope for and belief in the future. I know you’re committed to pinching those laterals on your heirloom tomatoes, re-tying and feeding them,plus protecting the heritage climbing beans from slugs and snails! Everyone has their preferred method for that, whether it be crushed eggshells, saucers of beer, fine metal/sand, copper tape, stalking them at night with a torch, or using those boxes of stuff you need to be careful about. And often the slugs and snails outsmart us regardless.

At our place I finally managed to get the rest of the kumara tipu, seed potatoes and pumpkins/butternuts planted out. So the major jobs in the veggie gardens are done for now; I’m 407 onto daily watering, lateral patrol and re-tying the tomatoes as they grow. Ido “sequential” plantings of dwarf green beans, zucchini and lettuces throughout summer to have fresh crops on a regular basis.

It’s looking to be a good season in the fruit orchard, with lots of plums, peaches, feijoas, figs and apples coming on the trees.
At the community stand we’re once again in seasonal transition. The annual heirloom tomato extravaganza is over and done with, phew. (PS: Still needing those pots back.) Lemons get us through this time of the year, along with fresh eggs,spinach, broccoli and seedling veggie plants and seeds. I need to remember to cut and contribute more rhubarb, which is wonderful with Piopio BerryOrchard strawberries. Yes, we’ll have goodies and decorations out for the Christmas parade. The stand will also get a seasonal tidy up so it looks respectable too.
Birdtalk Magazine December 2024 & January 2025