Visit Otago Bay Laura and Frank 2022

Visit Otago Bay Laura and Frank 2022

We visited Laura and Frank in 2018, a couple of years after they bought their property. It was high time for a re-visit and on a Sunday morning, with rain threatening, a happy group of gardeners gathered in Otago Bay for an enjoyable morning.

A lot of Laura and Frank's plans for a productive garden have come to pass, some are still a work in progress and some have been abandoned.

Here is Laura (with dog Rusty) talking to the group before we headed off on our tour of the food garden sections of their property.

Masks were back in vogue, with the latest Covid wave sweeping the country and the world. It did not dampen any spirits though, and we all happily followed Frank to the vegie patch.

Frank's ever expanding, north facing sunny vegetable beds currently have a large patch of raspberries among other things. Quite a few crops from last season have been allowed to remain and bolt into flower. The flowers provide welcome food for the bees. The apiary is cleverly situated next to the vegie patch.  

 

Many of us were surprised - and dare I say slightly envious- by the very minimal amount of protection Laura and Frank have provided against any marauding wildlife. The one thing they do have is a very low electrified wire around the vegie area, which runs on a battery and a small solar panel. It does stop their dog Rusty (who loves strawberries) - he touched it once, got a shock, and now walks around the enclosed area.  

Rabbits do the same. So, in other words, it works because animals don't, when they meet it the first time, jump over it, but touch it, and then stay away from the area - such well behaved wild life! And maybe it helps that there is a lot of food around in the area and the grazing pressure is just not high enough to cause disaster. They did have their pea plants eaten to the ground. They were eaten, Laura thinks, by bush hens.

Next to the vegetable area is the large orchard with more than 40 fruit trees of all kinds.

The trees have been in for a few years now and many are starting to crop nicely, providing Laura and Frank with plenty of fruit for the year, even allowing for sharing some with wildlife. People were discussing various ways of beating curly leaf, aphids and other pests. 

Frank discussing his new grape bushes

Laura dislikes using chemicals because many of them are harmful to bees and other beneficial insects. She watched for the ladybird bugs to arrive and take care of most of the aphids.

Ladybird bug eating aphids

The newest addition is a mini vineyard and mini beds for individual tomato plants, each with its own dripper. It's looking good, promising lots of passata as well as a nice Otago vintage in the future!

The corflute sleeves around the grape vines encourage the young plants to grow up towards the light, thereby forming a nice straight stem. Frank monitored them, and occasionally lifted up a sleeve to remove lateral growth on these stems.

The garlic bed is doing well, despite some rust on the leaves. The wet spring weather has made for ideal conditions for rust this year.

The Cape Gooseberry does not seem to care about some competition from grass and weeds; it continues to thrive and fruits prolifically. 

Red currants are already full of fruit, not long now before they start to turn red.

A thornless blackberry in full bloom.

Peaches looking very promising.

Laura is already picking strawberries every few days. She picked almost a kilo yesterday.

Next to the vegetable area is the chook run, where Griffin rules over his hens, who provide Laura and Frank with tasty eggs.

Frank has a compost setup in three sections, built out of pallets.

Initially Laura and Frank had their vegetable garden near the house. They have now abandoned this area. It has turned out to be too shady, and also suffers from wildlife more. The theory is that is it much more sheltered and protected, so possums, pademelons, rabbits etc feel safe from predators while they browse on the vegetables. The new area is much more open and the animals feel too exposed there. 

Nevertheless, the abandoned area still has a nice crop of artichokes each year, while the two large olive trees behind them seem to alternate in giving a big crop; one has more one year, the other tree fruits prolifically the next. What a great deal!

Nearby, the skirrit is doing well and rhubarb are powering ahead. They don't mind a bit of shade and rhubarb leaves are poisonous to most animals.

skirrit

rhubarb

The existing large greenhouse is mostly used for raising seedlings early in the year. Frank is still pondering how to use all that extra space to best effect.

The produce table as usual, had lots of goodies on it that were snapped up quickly by gardeners, keen to try something new. We all enjoyed morning tea and lots more chatting to round off an enjoyable morning, just as the rain began to drip a little more persistently.

Many thanks to Laura and Frank for a fun morning and for opening their garden at very short notice indeed and providing us all with inspiration and ideas for our own gardens.