Happy Antipodean Spring You Guys!

[Olive]

Harvested our first feed of asparagus this week. Picking and eating the odd spear raw as I pass the bed is one of my gardening treats

Wonderful, I'm so envious.   We've never had any success growing asparagus (have just started a new bed but it will take a few years) and every birthday (coming up soon) I hope for a huge plateful with Lewis Road butter.   There is decent rain expected here next week so I remain optimistic that there might be some for sale at a roadside stall.  Failing that I'll have to resort to the supermarket at $9 per droopy 5 stalk bunch.

[harm_less]

Harvested our first feed of asparagus this week. Picking and eating the odd spear raw as I pass the bed is one of my gardening treats

Wonderful, I'm so envious.   We've never had any success growing asparagus (have just started a new bed but it will take a few years) and every birthday (coming up soon) I hope for a huge plateful with Lewis Road butter.   There is decent rain expected here next week so I remain optimistic that there might be some for sale at a roadside stall.  Failing that I'll have to resort to the supermarket at $9 per droopy 5 stalk bunch.

Our bed was established about 5 years back. The standout ones are the Pacific Purple variety. More vigourous growth than our green Mary Washingtons and sweeter, particularly eaten raw. The purples are ridiculously large now with 25mm diameter, 400mm long spears at times. You could virtually use them for self defence.

[Kenj]

Wonderful, I'm so envious.   We've never had any success growing asparagus (have just started a new bed but it will take a few years) and every birthday (coming up soon) I hope for a huge plateful with Lewis Road butter.   There is decent rain expected here next week so I remain optimistic that there might be some for sale at a roadside stall.  Failing that I'll have to resort to the supermarket at $9 per droopy 5 stalk bunch.

Our bed was established about 5 years back. The standout ones are the Pacific Purple variety. More vigourous growth than our green Mary Washingtons and sweeter, particularly eaten raw. The purples are ridiculously large now with 25mm diameter, 400mm long spears at times. You could virtually use them for self defence.

21/09/2023    Police investigate stabbing. Weapon thought to be Asparagus spear?

22/09/2023   Asparagus stabbing case..... weapon thought to have been eaten smothered in Lewis Road butter!

[king1]

23/09/2023 Police consider issuing Asparagus batons to all front line staff

[Kenj]

23/09/2023    Police consider issuing Asparagus batons to all front line staff

[R2x1]

A beautiful spring morning here with brilliant sunshine on top of the clouds, going by the colours of the bits we can currently see. There were a few diminutive blue patches earlier, but all the clouds coming out to sunbathe put paid to that.  No wind though, and it is 17.4C outside. The early bit was so pleasant, I expect the Gov't to confiscate the best part of our days any old tick of the clock.  They're good at ruining things.
I like mornings when the speed of light finally overhauls the speed of dark, much better than those stupid evenings.
It's rather like worshiping the moon rather than the sun. The moon at least has the decency to sometimes shine at night, unlike the sun which only ever shines in the daytime, especially on bright days just when we least need it

No Asparagus or Lotto prizes yet sighted. A watch is being maintained. (Clean & oil, short strap please.)

[Kenj]

The speed of light never beats the speed of dark!

When light gets to wherever it is speeding to. it finds that dark has, once again, beaten it and is just waiting for light to turn up.

[SueDonim]

And yes! My lotus has put its head up so I know it is acclimatising. The water temp has definitely risen in the past week. Having never grown these before I shall watch out for black aphids and avoid any suggestion of sprays. Any other helpful hints would be welcomed - I have aquatic feeder spikes or balls on my shopping list for next week, or slow release to make my own if the local Hammer hasn't got them... I am really looking forward to that pot putting on a performance!

It sounds like you have passed the first hurdle - keeping the growing tip undamaged. So long as it can grow around a round pot it will be now be fine and by the time you want to re-pot in a couple of years there will be plenty of growing tips for insurance.

Water temperature isn't any problem - frost in winter is fine. From now onwards you want as much sun and air heat as you can get promote flowers from about Christmas through to March.

I used to use the Jobes water lily spikes but Mitre 10 no longer have them. I buy other water garden tablets when I see them, or tomato spikes. The key thing is to feed heaps but without too much nitrogen. One thing I have learned is that Google searching can be misleading as a lot of information is about growing the rhizomes for food which have different requirements from optimising the flowers that we want.

Hopefully you will get some flowers this summer. Don't lose heart if you have to wait a year. The plant is fascinating and the flowers a treasure. Good luck.

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Our bed was established about 5 years back. The standout ones are the Pacific Purple variety. More vigourous growth than our green Mary Washingtons and sweeter, particularly eaten raw. The purples are ridiculously large now with 25mm diameter, 400mm long spears at times. You could virtually use them for self defence.

I love asparagus too - buy it all season. DH's family used to grow their own but when we tried a plant some time ago we gave it about 3or 4 years with no meaningful result so decided the space could be better used. We now have a second vege garden area so it might we worth trying again.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I have kept planted tropical aquariums for decades so am hoping that experience will feed through into the lotus pot. Lotuses in aquascaped tanks are glorious things, I have even managed to flower a couple of those, but they are very different from the sacred lotus I have been tempted by for a long time. I remember a dear friend from TM days who told me not to do it, lol, based on her commercial water garden owning days. She said the 'bloody things grew like weeds'! I suspect though mine in the two nice big chinese style pots on my north facing deck won't prove to be a serious threat to my equilibrium. And they will help me fight off my growing temptation to start another aquarium!

[SueDonim]

I have kept planted tropical aquariums for decades so am hoping that experience will feed through into the lotus pot. Lotuses in aquascaped tanks are glorious things, I have even managed to flower a couple of those, but they are very different from the sacred lotus I have been tempted by for a long time. I remember a dear friend from TM days who told me not to do it, lol, based on her commercial water garden owning days. She said the 'bloody things grew like weeds'! I suspect though mine in the two nice big chinese style pots on my north facing deck won't prove to be a serious threat to my equilibrium. And they will help me fight off my growing temptation to start another aquarium!

I think the plant you grew in the aquarium was likely a "tiger lotus" which is Nymphaea zenkeri, a waterlily closely related to the cultivars we grow in ponds. It goes into the tropical tank because it doesn't tolerate low temperatures outside. I had one a long time ago but unfortunately didn't get any flowers.

Your new lotus is Nelumbo nucifera. And yes, it does grow like a weed if let loose, but controlled in a pot or garden pond is no bother. Certainly a lot easier to manage than an aquarium. If you really wanted some fish, you could put some white cloud mountain minnows in, or even a paradise fish, but the water could get too hot for either of them.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Yes, I thought of that, to keep the skeeties down, but I think it could be problematical, and attract kingfishers - the felines would love that!

And yes, red and green tigers in my tanks, glorious leaves. And excellent money spinners once established. Like a lot of my tank residents they paid for themselves and some.

I see nucifera advertised on TM by some sellers as the bowl lotus, but while I would love one of those tiny marvels in the indoor water garden bowl, I think the sellers are a little optimistic about their real size!

[SueDonim]

Yes, I thought of that, to keep the skeeties down, but I think it could be problematical, and attract kingfishers - the felines would love that!

And yes, red and green tigers in my tanks, glorious leaves. And excellent money spinners once established. Like a lot of my tank residents they paid for themselves and some.

I see nucifera advertised on TM  by some sellers as the bowl lotus, but while I would love one of those tiny marvels in the indoor water garden bowl, I think the sellers are a little optimistic about their real size!

The concept of bowl lotus is that it's a miniature cultivar small enough to be in a bowl on an indoor table (which as far as I know wouldn't flower without direct sun). I once asked someone on ebay about the bowl lotus seeds they were selling and they said just grow them in a small container to keep them small. I didn't think that was quite right and ended up buying some seeds from within NZ. One of those was labelled "bowl lotus" and the plant that grew is at least half the size of a full-size plant. It definitely wouldn't fit into a little bowl.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Yes, I suspect nucifera would be a challenge to bonsai, lol...

I did buy seeds a few years back. Scarified them, got them to shoot both leaf and root in a glass with regular water changes, popped them into an aquarium to grow on while I prepped an outdoor set up, and came back to find them swathed in a bio film cloud that the fishes were demolishing with glee. They didn't survive.

So this time I paid for the root! Lessons we learn...

[Wildfern]

I picked up baby leeks at the fruit shop a while back, boy they were tasty! Almost worth putting in a couple of pots just to harvest early. And my kalanchoes are doing well too - they are a treasure at just the right time of year. I soaked my elderberry cuttings overnight and potted them up this morning. One of the thicker one had a root bud showing that I swear wasn't there yesterday when I popped it into the water garden, but maybe it's just my optimism. The seller did say these were eager to grow, so I hope they take off and adjust to being Aucklanders, it's a bit different from their usual haunt.

And yes! My lotus has put its head up so I know it is acclimatising. The water temp has definitely risen in the past week. Having never grown these before I shall watch out for black aphids and avoid any suggestion of sprays. Any other helpful hints would be welcomed - I have aquatic feeder spikes or balls on my shopping list for next week, or slow release to make my own if the local Hammer hasn't got them... I am really looking forward to that pot putting on a performance!

Homegrown leeks are the best and I agree, nice and sweet especially when young and tender.

If you don’t want to use sprays for aphids you could drown them with the hose or just squish them. We get them so bad here in spring. They do damage to my roses. I make my own spray but you have to spray several times a week.

All the best with your elderberry cuttings. They grow wild down here. Such a magical plant

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Harvested our first feed of asparagus this week. Picking and eating the odd spear raw as I pass the bed is one of my gardening treats

Yum sounds so good!!!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I picked up baby leeks at the fruit shop a while back, boy they were tasty! Almost worth putting in a couple of pots just to harvest early. And my kalanchoes are doing well too - they are a treasure at just the right time of year. I soaked my elderberry cuttings overnight and potted them up this morning. One of the thicker one had a root bud showing that I swear wasn't there yesterday when I popped it into the water garden, but maybe it's just my optimism. The seller did say these were eager to grow, so I hope they take off and adjust to being Aucklanders, it's a bit different from their usual haunt.

And yes! My lotus has put its head up so I know it is acclimatising. The water temp has definitely risen in the past week. Having never grown these before I shall watch out for black aphids and avoid any suggestion of sprays. Any other helpful hints would be welcomed - I have aquatic feeder spikes or balls on my shopping list for next week, or slow release to make my own if the local Hammer hasn't got them... I am really looking forward to that pot putting on a performance!

Homegrown leeks are the best and I agree, nice and sweet especially when young and tender.

If you don’t want to use sprays for aphids you could drown them with the hose or just squish them. We get them so bad here in spring. They do damage to my roses. I make my own spray but you have to spray several times a week.

All the best with your elderberry cuttings. They grow wild down here. Such a magical plant

---

Harvested our first feed of asparagus this week. Picking and eating the odd spear raw as I pass the bed is one of my gardening treats

Yum sounds so good!!!

If I see those aphids on my lotus I shall adopt ladybirds and give them waterwings... 

[SueDonim]

I have kept planted tropical aquariums for decades ...

I know that this is going further ff topic, but today I was reminded of this book https://dianawalstad.com/aquariums/. Back in my serious fish-keeping days the first edition was my bible. It created quite a big following in the US (Google Walstad method) but never caught on here. It should have.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

All my tanks were Walstads, lol. Really because it is the plants that drew me to the hobby in the first place. I just got an email from a seller who is sending me some aquatic plants to say she is including some duckweed with my plants 'for your lotus pot', lol. Diana Walstad certainly shook up the aquarium world with her ideas but the science was there. I follow a UK aquarist by the name of MDFishtanks on youtube and his videos are both entertaining and an education. It helps that he is really fun to watch, the man has that kind of charisma. Much more fun than America's fatherfish who also promotes the dirted tanks, his though having the deep sandbed cap on top. His method is the one I'm experimenting with in the 23litre that just found its way to my place. I will have that set up by early next week, and a tiger lotus on its way to go in it.

Fool that I am, lol...

[SueDonim]

All my tanks were Walstads, lol. Really because it is the plants that drew me to the hobby in the first place. I just got an email from a seller who is sending me some aquatic plants to say she is including some duckweed with my plants 'for your lotus pot', lol. Diana Walstad certainly shook up the aquarium world with her ideas but the science was there. I follow a UK aquarist by the name of MDFishtanks on youtube and his videos are both entertaining and an education. It helps that he is really fun to watch, the man has that kind of charisma. Much more fun than America's fatherfish who also promotes the dirted tanks, his though having the deep sandbed cap on top. His method is the one I'm experimenting with in the 23litre that just found its way to my place. I will have that set up by early next week, and a tiger lotus on its way to go in it.

Fool that I am, lol...

Definitely no fool. You are the first person I've "met" who knew about Walstad prior to me explaining it. Yay!! I must have a look for MDFishtanks.

I have duckweed in my lotuses but clean it off as much as I can. It's a plant that once you have it will never be gone and if I could do it all over again it would never have found its way on to our property (although in the main pond the goldfish eat enough to keep it under control). In the lotus containers it shades the water and keeps it cooler which is the opposite of what I want in spring/summer to encourage flowering. Although if you were going to put some minnows in it would help keep them cool in summer, but then you wouldn't see them - the cycle goes around.

Best of luck with the 23litre. That will be greatl for a tiger lotus. And did you know that you can plant spathiphyllums under water? They can also make a great centre piece in a tank. They do need a bit of a rest out of the water now and again though.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I have had fun this morning! And this is very early in the process...

These files are too big to load here, and I have no idea how to make them smaller so thank goodness for TradeMe...


https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/...908537.jpg

Btw, there was a youtuber who made an aquarium with a lot of floating plants and he placed a floating plastic ring in it so he had a viewing window, it was very effective for ringfencing his salvinias. I like floaters because they absorb a lot of nasties...