this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
12 points (92.9% liked)
Aotearoa / New Zealand
1658 readers
19 users here now
Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general
- For politics , please use !politics@lemmy.nz
- Shitposts, circlejerks, memes, and non-NZ topics belong in !offtopic@lemmy.nz
- If you need help using Lemmy.nz, go to !support@lemmy.nz
- NZ regional and special interest communities
Rules:
FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom
Banner image by Bernard Spragg
Got an idea for next month's banner?
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Just managed to prop up the swan plants that the storm knocked over. Hope it works!
You reminded me, I got some swan plants and they went in the ground a couple of days ago. Now we wait!
Also planted some tomatoes, a cucumber, and a capsicum.
Excellent! I thank you on behalf of butterflies. Monarchs are actually endangered these days so you're doing them a solid.
Capsicums are a great idea, they cost so much these days to buy at the supermarket. When I was a kid we could buy them by the crateload in summer.
Unfortunately only the migratory subspecies common in North America is endangered. I think we just have the plain old ones here that aren't endangered, so I'm not helping an endangered species. But I'm still helping the individual butterflies that visit to fulfil their hopes and dreams.
You can get them reasonably cheap when in season, usually less that $2 for a big one but only for a short time.
The trouble with trying to save money by growing your own veggies is they are always cheap in the stores when your own are ready. But no matter, having some colour in the garden is nice. Plus it's good showing the kids where food comes from.
That's so good to know our butterflies are not endangered after all. Some of the ones here are born deformed (I give them a couple of nice days being hand fed and then euthanise them - the humane way is to put them in a container in the fridge for a while and then the freezer btw). So I was a bit worried.
It's been a few years since capsicum here has come down to a price point I can really justify buying them except as a special treat, but my partner was able to grow some in pots from seeds of an old one last year!
I think kids learn a lot from gardening. How veges are "made", cause and effect, patience, and the role of luck and the weather...
Growing from seed is amazing! My mum has a capsicum plant (capsicum-like? it grows those little ones) that survived from last year and is fruiting. I couldn't believe it, at our place the frosts smash them.
Kids definitely enjoy it, and learning where food comes from is great. Plus you can teach them not to waste food because it took all that effort to grow, so we need to plan our meals and only make what we will eat, etc.
Sometimes when growing veggies I wonder how the commercial growers ever manage to get them so consistent (I try not to think too hard tough because the answer is probably some spray cocktail).