Cold comfort

Winter has arrived and with it the cold wind and rain. ?But cold weather can improve the taste of your vegetables.

Gardening & DIY: Ripe for the picking
You'll be coming to the end of your feijoas, depending on when your tree began to produce. The pulp can be scooped out and frozen to be used for muffins and cakes at a later date.

Get pavlova-baking to make use of all the passionfruit at the moment. To store passionfruit I scoop out the pulp and then freeze in iceblock trays. Aubergines are also in season as are kale, beetroot, broccoli and cabbages.

Figs, mandarins, rhubarb, lemon, grapes and new season apples are all available fresh from the garden this month.

Vegetable garden
Thin out any seed sown carrots, parsnips, lettuces or beetroot seedlings. There is no easy way to do this and I always find bare hands are better than gloves. Carefully pull any weeds and stunted plants to give the vigorous seedlings the room and sunlight they need. Use the pulled seedlings as microgreens in salads or stir-fries.

Mound up the soil around your developing leeks. This ensures that they grow a long, white and tender stem. A good trick is to slip an empty toilet roll or handy towel roll onto the plant and then mound up the soil around this. The cardboard roll prevents soil getting into the folds of the leek.

Asparagus plants can now be cut back to about 10 cm above the soil. Remove the ferny top growth without dislodging any of the red seeds. Add these cuttings to the compost. Side dress the asparagus with seaweed, straw or compost. I prefer to gather some storm-blown seaweed from the coast as this reminds the plants of their roots. They naturally grow as a seaside plant.

Herbs
The colder months are relished by the herbs coriander and parsley. No more bolting to seed for them for the next 4-5 months.

With your other herbs this is a good time to give them all a good haircut and put them to bed for the winter. You can save all the stem trimmings and gather them up and hang them in a garden, glasshouse or garden shed. Alternatively place in plastic bags, label and freeze to use in soups and casseroles over the winter months.

Fruit
Plant out strawberry plants as soon as they are available. Planting new strawberries in winter can increase plant vigour and thus produce more fruit in summer. Allow about six plants per family member. More if you have kids! Plant them in a sunny position. Add lots of fresh compost to the area and then mound up the soil and plant at the top. This raised aspect allows good drainage and air circulation.

Go to your local parks armed with a plastic bag and collect any fallen walnuts.

Urban Livestock

Which breeds are best??

There are many breeds of rabbits and of course any breed can be bred to produce meat for the family table. However there are several breeds that have been purposely bred to be more productive as meat rabbits as they grow fast and convert feed to protein quickly. These breeds include the New Zealand white, the Californian and the Rex.

The New Zealand white grows to between 4-6 kg and the Californian grows to around 4.5kg. Both these breeds are predominantly white with pink eyes. I choose to keep Rex's. Rex's do not grow to the size of these other breeds but their velvet like coats make up for this. They also come in an assortment of colours. All these breeds can be found from breeders around the country.

Worms
Your worms' activity will slow down over winter. Feed them less to avoid any bad smells. Cover the top level of your worm farm with an old piece of carpet to retain heat and moisture.

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