Back from New Zealand. Everything did fine while I was gone. The tomatoes are growing like weeds behind the frost cloth. I will leave it on for another couple of weeks. Broccoli did not get picked and seeded out. I needed to pull it anyhow to plant beans. I ran out of Derby seed and finished with Maxibel. I planned to pull the mustard greens but cut them back to the stalk instead and planted Butterfruit Bi-Color corn around them. I can probably get one more picking before the corn is up. Also planted some Sweet G-90 corn in another area. I used to grow it exclusively, but have experimented with some other varieties recently. I have not had very good luck with the supersweet varieties and I really like to more corny types better anyhow. Also planted 2 gator pepper plant which I started from seed at the same time as the tomatoes.
New Zealanders are avid gardeners and we found a strong emphasis on fresh, locally grown produce. In fact, we saw hardly any imported produce, except bananas and the like. I was surprised to see fields of what turned out to be what they called turnips (actually rutabagas or swedes as they are called in the UK) and Swiss chard (which they call silver beets). They use these crops for winter grazing. The sheep eat the tops and the cattle are then turned in to eat the turnip roots. Sweet potatoes (called kumara) are on every menu.
