‘Veganic’ garden – that’s vegan and organic – prospers despite tricky season

Vegan and organic fruit and vegetable producer Sarah Oliver is harvesting the last of the tomatoes, chard, potatoes and eggplants, and has just finished with the apples and blueberries.

It’s a remarkable feat given it’s been a terrible summer in the garden – and finding the right balance between aesthetics, healthy soil and pest control.

Sarah credits her mulching and composting regime for continued success at her Waitetuna Valley farm near Raglan, where the mornings have just started getting crisp in the last three or four days.

“I must qualify, the eggplants and everything else are outside, but the tomatoes I’m harvesting are in a tunnel house. We have got some outdoor tomatoes that are ripening, and I just literally picked one before, but they’re cracking because of the weather. I’m assuming it’s the water that’s making them crack. The outdoor tomatoes have been a bit of a dead loss this summer. I think quite a lot of people have found that.

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“Luckily, I’ve done a lot of work mulching and building up my soil so that has helped.

“The beds that are well mulched, the health of the soil is better. And they’re also raised a bit, not because I have raised beds but because of the time that I’ve been gardening. I’ve got pathways between them and the built-up mulch means they’re about 10cm up, and I think that creates better drainage as well.

“I use a lot of grass mulch, some hay, I use anything I can get my hands on, but I do use a lot of grass for mulch. I scythe quite long grass and put that on. Yeah, we’re quite old-fashioned, we let some grass areas get quite long and then scythe that off and put that on. We’ve got a weed eater too, but I can never be bothered with the starting up and the petrol. The scythe is quite quick when we want to do some mulch.”

Sarah doesn’t use any chemicals or sprays as a registered organic grower, and as a vegan, she eschews all animal inputs not only in her diet but also her garden – no blood and bone, no manure, no sheep pellets – a method known in these circles as stockfree.

“When I’m making my compost I do a whole mixture of carbon and nitrogen material and actually use a lot of grass in my compost because when you use manure you’re just using grass that has gone through a cow’s stomach, so I just use the grass. I use my sickle hand thing or scythe and cut some grass a bit longer and put that in as a nitrogen and obviously all my spent crop, and I will carbon source anything that is dry. Things like stalks off flaxes, stalks off toi toi, anything that’s brown material I’ll use that.

“I don’t use cardboard, but I know people do. I don’t need to because I’ve got other things I can use and because I’m certified organic there’s often issues around using cardboard.

“My ratio of brown to green is basically I eye it. I know other people have strict ratios, but I just tend to go about 10cm each. Also, we use a little bit of ocean fertiliser that we sprinkle in there to give a nitrogen boost and get the microbes going. I’ll also use a sprinkling of soil that’s weed free in there as well to get everything activated and humming.

“I don’t collect seaweed because I find it’s a bit harder to do on the west coast beaches. So Ocean Organics or AgriSea I find are brilliant.”

Sarah has done a lot of brassica sowing in preparation for her autumn and winter gardens, which are sitting in the seedling shed and will be planted out in the next few weeks.

“I’ve got kale, cabbage, and broccoli, and I’m going to have another go at getting some more carrots in, like I’ve just sown some carrots recently, and they’ve just started coming up. It’s one thing I’m experimenting with seeing how late I can go with getting those in. I’ve put some broad beans in, and I’ll probably focus on cover crops and brassicas for my winter, and some peas.

“The broad beans I’ve put in directly. But I might start peas in trays this year because I had trouble with pūkeko pulling them out and slugs or mice – I’m not sure – but I might grow them a bit stronger this year before I put them out as an experiment.”

Sarah advises gardeners to leave seedlings in their trays in sheltered areas longer so that they grow stronger and healthier than what you would usually get from garden centres. This makes them more resilient to pests, disease and unkind weather.

Net barriers are her front line weapon against pests, such as white cabbage butterfly, which are still quite prevalent despite the cooling of the weather.

“The other thing I’ll do with a plant in a row that has been really attacked, I’ll just leave it there instead of ripping it out because what I find is the slugs and snails will often go for the weakest plant.”

Her other weapon is a lot of companion planting and leaving fields to grow their own natural flowers.

“I don’t do a lot of hand-picking of pests. I’ve been gardening here for 10 years and I use a lot of beneficial plantings and a lot of natives so the insects seem, well the nets and the balance are just right, touch wood.

“I always think that if I can leave an area of lawn growing long and if it turns to flower that is great. It just means there are more insects around, so I’m always trying to think of ways to encourage insects. It does mean that sometimes there’s a struggle with how messy things can get but that diversity of insect life is really important.”

Sow edible green manure crops

When vege beds sit empty over the cooler months, it’s an invitation for weeds to move in, and for the soil to wash out, which is why we sow cover crops in autumn. These living mulches fix nitrogen, prevent nutrient leaching, provide a habitat for insects and add organic matter when dug in ahead of spring. These multi-taskers can also provide food. Edible living mulches include broad beans (stir-fry the tops), mesclun, wild rocket, perennial arugula, kale and New Zealand spinach.

Forage for mushrooms

Wild field mushrooms start popping up in paddocks from now until June, but only harvest if you know exactly what you’re picking. The gills under the cap of an edible field mushroom will start off pale pink and slowly turn very dark chocolate brown. If the gills are white, don’t eat them. Any yellow colouring in the flesh cap or gills means they’re toxic.

A beginners guide to urban foraging.

Foraging for a feast.

Gardening by the moon

March 24-31. Plant vegetables that produce above ground, and fruit trees. Sow coriander seeds directly where they are to grow. The first quarter will appear on March 29.

Gardening by the maramataka

We are approaching ngahuru (autumn). Seed collection can begin in regions where plants show that maturity. The emphasis is on the harvest, especially root crops. Prepare your crops for hauhake (harvest) through reduced (or nil) irrigation, and clearing top growth for promoting skin quality. Prepare the storage facility too – a place free of pest or disease, with an ambient and settled temperature. This applies to both produce and seeds; they need to get through winter without negative impacts on their quality. At this time, we believe the sun (te Ra) is transitioning to his first wife, Hine-takurua – his wife of the cold winter months. The new moon falls on the night of the 21st, and the windy equinox period (Tamatea phase) from the 26th, lasting several days. Support vulnerable plants and crops. Following the Tamatea phase, begin to collect kākano (seed); the winds of Tāwhirimātea will have ensured they are dry enough for storage. Collect seeds of shorter-term crops at your leisure. Dr Nick Roskruge