Going to seed

At this time of the season- end of summer here in New Zealand there is often a feeling of things coming to an end as the veges and the flowers in the garden come to the end of their life and start going to seed.
However in that end is a new beginning. Seed for the next  year or season.
In my garden lots of the veg are making seed. Some of it will be collected and saved and some will be allowed to drop in the garden and come up wherever and whenever the opportunity is to its liking.

The seed in this summer squash will probably be ready to harvest in a few weeks as soon as the outer skin becomes hard.
Left in the garden it may even self seed next summer.

The basil seed will need to be saved until it warms up again next summer. In a few weeks as the seed matures I can start collecting it.

 I don't bother to save the seed from the calendula. It is happy to drop the seed and start to produce seedlings no matter the season. There always seem to be calendula flowers in odd corners and on the paths.

This pea is ready to drop its seed on the ground and will probably sprout and grow quite happily all winter. If the birds don't discover the seeds first that is.

 Beans on the other hand will need to be saved as they mature and dry on the vine. They can be saved and eaten as dried beans over the winter. It is just a matter of not eating all the seed and saving some to start again next spring.

The amaranth is looking beautiful right now. In a few weeks I'll harvest it and use the seeds in my bread. Some of the seed will be saved for next year.

With the recent heat and dry spell most of my lettuce has gone to seed. Some of it can be harvested in a few weeks, but the plants can also be left in the garden and they will happily self seed around the garden providing baby lettuce over the winter months and into the next spring.

This parsley will also self seed and provide a perpetual parsley patch in the garden with little or no work.

This year I won't be saving so much of the seed as we are leaving New Zealand, but I will leave the seeding plants in the garden to provide the new owners with a variety of self sown veges and flowers.

Return to Canada

A few days ago we arrived back in Canada. After my sudden departure last September, with no time to get the garden organised for winter, I was a little worried about what shape it would be in now that we are so far into the summer here.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that it fared much better than expected. There are lots of weeds of course, but the flowers are blooming, and as I weeded the vege garden yesterday, I discovered lots of self seeded veges. A bonus for letting them all go to seed in the fall.

I was excited to find a couple of dozen lettuces of various types hidden amongst the undergrowth. Some are ready to eat, and others are only babies. I couldn't have planned the staggered growing better myself.
Also there are sugar snap peas and sno peas ready to eat, and lots of parsley scattered through out the garden.

 

 

The rhubarb is looking pretty healthy and it looks like we'll be getting lots of apples again this summer.

The flowers are looking great, and seem to have not suffered by the lack of cutting back last fall.

 

 

I am busy starting a bunch of seeds to fill in the gaps. It may be too late for some, but on the other hand if we have a nice warm fall this year, I may think I was pretty smart to have gone to the effort.