A prolific fruit and vegetable farmer turns the rain to his advantage

Permaculture pioneer Trish Allen is in the midst of a harvest, spreading and preparing her beds for spring planting, despite the topsy-turvy weather that has plagued gardeners this year. And somehow, the rain has helped, making the fruit plump and juicy.

Permaculture uses horticulture and agriculture – without pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. It integrates the garden with its surroundings (including the house) to create a lifestyle that has a greater impact on the environment and encourages beneficial insects.

Trish has been picking mandarins, lemons and bananas from the 50 fruit trees she planted on her quarter acre plot in Matakana. “I have fences, I have 15 feijoas on one side, down the border, I have seven olives on the other side as a fence, and then I have about 20 bananas in a patch of the other border and then others are near the section, but I have used the edges through the walls.

“I’m looking out my window right now and I can see three big bananas. They’re good bunches, but maybe a month away from ripening. They have lady’s fingers and misi luki bananas and they say they grew because of all the rain.

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“I wouldn’t mind covering them with bags, but they are doing well. As soon as one banana turns yellow, I cut it and bring it inside, otherwise the birds will enter it. Then they wake up next week.

If I have somewhere to hang them I stay, like on a clothesline, otherwise I just rest them somewhere.

Trish reaps the pawpaw. “These are not your typical tropicals, they’re subtropical, and they’re smaller, and not as sweet as tropical ones. They’re very yellow and very citrusy, a bit like babaco except they’re smaller.”

On the vegetable side, Trish is already harvesting cabbage, broad beans and lettuce and doesn’t have to buy vegetables. “Well, maybe once a year I have to buy them, but mostly I find vegetables in my garden or in the village garden. I also get what I want from the local Green Swap every Friday. “

He delivered more than 140kg of fruit, including apples, pears, bananas, feijoas, persimmons, grapes and tomatoes to his hometown during the 2020 lockdown. When Auckland’s lockdown started again in 2021, it wasn’t fruit season, but his vegetable garden was full of winter crops, so he shared with them.

But Trish’s garden – like that of many Aucklanders – took a big hit in the summer. He said: “The strong wind blew many things away.” And the tomato crop was very poor which is understandable because tomatoes don’t like a lot of water.

His garden survived, and he is now planting seedlings of coriander, kale, lettuce, onion, silverbeet, rocket and spinach. “The seeds were sown in my little glass house, and they are ready to come out now. This is the best time for the soil, it has not yet started to get too cold, but it is getting very cold.”

Is it a seed? “I’m putting the peas in, I just put in my last beans, and I just finished planting the garlic.”

Trish warns against farming in the rain and rain and complains about the lack of hours of sunlight.

“My vegetable beds are well ventilated, so things are growing well, but you don’t want to work on rainy days. You have to sleep 24 hours before you start working in your beds, or you just shorten them.” And you will cover yourself with mud and carry mud inside.

When it comes to pests, there are always slugs and snails to deal with. “I go check for slugs a couple of times a week and put a light on and get rid of them. And I use beer traps but actually my garden isn’t too bad. I would have expected it to be worse with the amount of rain we’ve had. My cabbages and my broccoli are looking great. .”

In the next few weeks he will be working on his land.

“I’ll add a little manure to my beds and on a good day, not when it rains, on a good day I’ll put it down gently.” The compost is to feed the leaves in the winter and prepare the rest for planting in the spring.

“I will also be sowing other seeds. I’ll be planting beetroot and maybe some cabbage, broccoli, and putting them in my little glass house.

“But this will probably be my last crop of brassicas that I’ll be doing because I don’t grow cabbage and broccoli in the summer because of the white butterflies, but the ones I’m planting now, they’ll be ready by summer.”

Trish was a finalist for the 2021 Gardener of the Year and encourages people to nominate gardeners who are helping their community and surrounding communities.

“The prizes were amazing, I didn’t know, I got all these amazing prizes. I got $250 worth of Kings seeds. It meant I could give away seeds for our garden. They all got used, and I could spread them around. And I had a beautiful drill that was nice, lovely. .”

Click here to find out how to choose the Gardener of the Year 2023, and a list of the best prizes to win $1000.

Cultivation is the moon

July 1-2: Fertility continues. Plant and plant vegetable crops. July 3: Full moon. July 3-6: Harvest, weed and turn the compost pile.

Cultivation is a calendar

The official celebration of Matariki is on July 14 for the period that runs from 11 to 14. On the west coast of the North Island, the focus is Puanga – traditionally three days later than Matariki, and it is understood to be July 14 this year. Matariki and Puanga celebrate past cropping successes while thinking and planning (not doing) for the next season. The full moon on the 3rd will be very cold so protect your vulnerable plants. Perennial plants will go into moe hōtoke (hibernation) – use this for maintenance and pruning as the plants will be protected underground. Prune your fruit trees and tidy up the garden. Remember that many plants need freezing to help them mature and produce flowers (cane fruits) to support their needs as much as possible: cut before the 31st full moon and full moon. Dr. Nick Roskruge