Mushrooms

Hi everyone, hope you are all well rested and looking forward to our last term together (and camp too!) I must admit it feels a bit strange not coming to camp with you, but I will come out for a day to say hello and check out the exciting things you will be doing.

In the first 4 weeks of this term we will be following a technology production process. We will hopefully tackle some of the issues we have identified in our school and look at the process we can use to improve these things.

Anyway, I have not spent nearly enough time in the garden this holidays, I think my belly is getting too big to cope with too much bending and digging and lifting and all of those actions! My strawberries are flowering well, and my raspberry canes have gone crazy. My cherry and blueberries had more flowers than leaves, but have now lost most of their flowers in the high winds we've had. My poor lemon tree has not managed to pull through the "Francky attack" despite fertilising and composting and giving it Epsom Salts, I think it's a goner. My spinach and celery are taking off, and I have a few stronger looking radishes now.

Finally my tomato seeds have germinated! They nearly got flooded out in the heavy rain but they love the warmth in their little green house.

I have heard that snails and slugs like beer! I half emptied two bottles and put them in the garden. I read that they fall in and drown. They have mainly kept off my tender sweet seedlings so far, but I think that's thanks to the Blitzem pellets.

MUSHROOMS - did you watch Sunrise on TV3 last Thursday? Lynda who edits the NZ Gardener magazine gave the two presenters a Mushroom Starter kit. It all comes in a box with the "seeds" which are called spawn. It takes two weeks and then you can have loads of button mushies to eat. If you like mushrooms show Mum and Dad this website http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~mushspor/  you can buy the kits on this site.

They have a variety like field mushrooms and Shitake. The Shitake grow on logs, I really like eating those ones but not sure if I could grow them. I might invest in a button mushroom kit. They are nice to marinade, and have with steak of course!

See you all back at school.