Home grown Galangal in hydroponic unit

We grew this galangal in a hydroponic unit - the kind that just slowly drips the solution into the pots - it grew so well that when we moved it and forgot about it it still kept on growing without the solution  and we had to cut it all out of the pot in a tangled mass - no need to use solution on galangal it will grow easily anywhere  but if you want to get it off to a head start in colder weather then hydroponics would be a great way to go as it comes from the tropics and doesn't like the cold. 

We have grown basil, mint and parsley and chives successfully in old yogurt containers with the hydroponic solution and the plants produced all winter long on a sunny window sill.  

Rivervalley Garden - moving a garden and why would you want to ?

We have just moved from an established garden (Rivervalley Garden)  to a brand new one with nothing in it.   Garden helpers came in pretty handy and human became supervisor !

The garden has grown everything we needed for three years so the next one needs to be set up real quick. 

We didn't want to leave our barrels full of well rotted compost or the other full barrel of comfrey "tea" so ended up decanting them into old milk bottle containers to move to the new place and moved the barrels over and poured them back in at the new place.  

Compost was also well rotted down and ready to use  - well no point in leaving it there was it ?  this has been bagged up and moved over too and is now layering the hay garden - still bemoaning fact that we had to leave at least a third that wasn't ready ! 

Start of one of  the new hay garden - layers of  animal manure, compost, and hay  and just several rhubarb plants have been put in.  My nettles are still in the bag we transported them in and are doing so well we might just leave them there for a while.  


Established hay garden starting to grow and produce 

Companion planting link

http://www.kings.co.nz/Growing+Guides/Companion+Planting+Chart.html

Organic Homegrown Butternuts - rich and full of flavor

These butternuts practically grew themselves - I just added some seeds to a pile of compost that was left in a small heap after moving it someplace and up they came - prolifically too, we have eaten quite a few of them before I remembered to photograph them.  They were all very sweet and had  a much richer flavor than shop bought ones and I didn't do much extra to them - no extra feeding, not extra watering and we had a long dry summer with hardly any rain.  
Save the seeds of any pumpkins and butternuts or squash that that you have enjoyed eating for next season as they grow so easily if they are open pollinated or heirloom seeds. 
Get your seed from a reputable organic source to be absolutely sure you are getting heirloom seeds and not some hybrid mix.