Dehydrating Citrus Rind for Making Citrus Peel
Hello friends,
It's Christmas Cake making season again, so it's once again time to dehydrate our own citrus rinds for making citrus peel.
The process is very easy, all you need to do is to use your potato peeler to take off thin layers of citrus rind (I used lemons and limes from our trees), and then pop them into a dehydrator.
Luckily our dehydrator has a citrus peel calculator on the top, so I set the dehydrator to 55˚C and dried the rind for 4 hours.
When the rind was very dry, and snapped when bent in half, the citrus peel was ready to store.
Hubby made my Grandad Bob's Christmas Cake last weekend, and added the citrus peel to the recipe. I can't wait to try the cake out this Christmas, but you can too if you follow the recipe I posted in a blog post from last year.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Dahlias and Summer Bulbs
Hello friends,
Yes, I bought more dahlias, and no, I'm not ashamed of it. Mount Mera Botanical in Dunedin recently released some of the wish list dahlias that I missed out on earlier this year, so I whipped out my credit card and bought three more varieties, Bacardi, Fairway Pilot, and Iced Tea.
I planted them straight out into the garden, with Iced Tea in the front garden, and Bacardi and Fairway Pilot in the back garden.
I was also looking for shade loving plants for the darker parts of the garden, and saw an email from Bulbs Direct selling Polygonatum multiflorum plants. I invested in three of them and planted them out straight away. I'm impatiently waiting for them to sprout.
And while I was ordering from Bulbs Direct, I also bought a bunch of new Gladioli varieties to pop in various parts of the front and back garden. I'm hoping they'll really make a nice splash of colour in the garden over summer.
And with that I think my bulb and dahlia buying for the year will be over. With the back garden redesign over winter, it was a busy buying time over winter and spring. I don't plan on buying any more bulbs until next autumn when I purchase some ranunculus to fill out the back garden. I've really come to appreciate their colours later in spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
Planting Out Hardy Annuals and Hostas
Hello friends,
The glasshouse is super full at the moment with all the seedlings growing in preparation for planting out into the garden. I recently began planting out some of the hardier annuals when I ran out of potting containers to grow more seeds.
First up was my collection of different Keith Hammett sweet peas. I basically planted them wherever I found vertical growing space for them.
Next up was to plant out my three Calendula varieties, Calendula officinalis, Calendula Sunset Tones, and Calendula Strawberry Blonde. I already have a lot of Calendula officinalis growing in the front garden, so I planted those out in the back garden that has just been redesigned. I then planted the Sunset Tones and Strawberry Blonde varieties in both the front and back gardens. Eventually they'll all breed with one another and set seed, and I'll have heaps of different coloured Calendula everywhere.
And lastly, I went to a local garden center and bought two hostas that were in the back garden redesign plan. I bought the varieties Purple Heart and Sleeping Beauty for underneath the deciduous magnolia tree.
It's already been a couple of weeks, and both hostas are already growing strongly after some protection from slugs and snails.
We've had a frost already this week, and one more is possible, so the rest of the seedlings will have to wait until next week at least.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
Sowing Seed Potatoes
Hello friends,
I've recently sown two of our potato varieties into the vegetable garden. At this time of the year I plant Rocket and Jersey Benne potato varieties, and that way we'll have new potatoes ready for Christmas day eating.
I dug two deep trenches side by side, with the Rocket on the right,and the Jersey Benne on the left. This way the Rocket and Jersey Benny potatoes both get good light, and don't fight for sunlight. Rocket potatoes only need 60 days before they're ready to harvest, and they grow quite fast. Jersey Benne on the other hand require 60 - 90 days before they are ready to harvest.
In a couple of week's I'll plant the rest of my potato varieties into the garden, Ilam Hardy and Haylo. They have longer days until harvest, and will be ready to be dug up in January. We use these varieties for roast potatoes, and for making gnocchi.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
Floret Dahlia and Zinnia Sowing
Hello friends,
A couple of weeks ago I sowed my zinnia and dahlia seeds from Floret, that I purchased from Emerden in New Zealand. And yes, if you may have noticed, I ended up ordering a third zinnia variety from Floret, their Unicorn Mix.
I sowed all the seeds in dome propagating trays, along with dahlia varieties including seeds from my favorite Lucky Number dahlia growing in my garden, and also two Keith Hammett dahlia varieties (NZ dahlia breeder), NZ Gardener mix (from the NZ gardener magazine), and also Dahlia Beeline II. I'm considering crossing the Keith Hammett and Floret dahlias to see if I can come up with a new amazing variety.
The seedlings all popped up super quick while living in our warm dining room, and within a couple of weeks they were ready to be potted on into bigger individual pots with potting mix. The seed sowing strike rate was higher than advertised on the packets, so I'm really happy with the investment.
They're now safely growing in my glass house, and are covered in frost cloth each night for protection. I can't wait for when they get big enough to plant out in the garden.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
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