It is all very dramatic in my garden. Actually it’s not that dramatic. Just as I was getting on top of everything and feeling on top of the world, I had a bit of a reality check.
When you have delightful school age kids they bring home all sorts of lovely things – artwork, certificates, permission slips, friends and they are all very welcome. But they also bring home disease! One of my precious little monkeys brought home a lovely tummy bug that decided I would be a great place to hang out at for at least a week! Thanks kids!
So while I was lying on my sick bed, giving no thought of the garden, not that I didn’t want to, but there was just no energy to spare, my garden decided to go wild! Without my daily love and care, it took off and exploded with unchecked growth. This is mostly good, however – for yet another year I won’t be having nice straight tomatoes with all its laterals kept in control!
All this flamboyant growth was mostly down to the great big gobs of rain that were thrown down from heaven in the last couple of days and I have to say I was so pleased to see them. Before I became ill I had given three quarters of my garden a deep watering, however I hadn’t got to my pumpkins and I was ever so worried about them wilting and drying out, but I just didn’t have the will to do anything about it.
So while I now feel mostly human again, I’m still a little sluggish and aren’t my usual self bounding from one gardening activity to another, staying on top of every intricate little detail – well actually that is a bit of an exaggeration. I bound from activity to activity, but more to try and keep up with the garden. I don’t think I have ever been on top of it!
The best way to show you what has happened is with a wee gallery slideshow…
Come again soon – I need to whip this lot back into shape!
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Lovely to see things growing on your blog while our garden sleeps! I hope you feel better. Nothing worse than being sick with so much to do.
Hi Virginia. A gentle day in the sunny warm garden yesterday has taken care of the more urgent jobs, and now I just need to do a bit of a list of what else needs doing and work my way through it. Luckily the garden is in that stage where it is only growing, without too much frantic harvesting, although the zucchini are just starting to fatten up – I see the beginnings of a glut!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Awesome and inspiring. I need to get me some passionfruit methinks… something else to add to the list and there is light at the end of the study tunnel. I managed to knock out most of our assessments in a day so I should be finished all of them by Sunday…a whole weekend day off! Then I can spend the next week getting utterly filthy out in the garden and enjoying every single minute of it 🙂 Cheers for sharing your gorgeous veggie and fruit futures. Make raspberry and white chocolate muffins…you won’t regret it 🙂
Hi Fran. Fresh passion fruit is amazing! I looked in the cupboard and didn’t have any white chocolate chips. Somehow all my chocolate chips disappear between baking sessions, despite everyone knowing that I believe putting chocolate chips into every cake, cookie and muffin is compulsory! So we gorged on the raspberries with fresh yoghurt and strawberries. There will be more raspberries again tomorrow! I picked the retail equivalent of $28!!! So white chocolate chips are on the shopping list and the raspberries are ripening again. We will have those muffins!
Cheers Sarah : o )
I am drooling just thinking of those muffins! I plan on a raspberry harvest next year and must get hold of some canes. I do have the white chockie chips though, we bought 10 packets of them when they were $1 at a local shop and I have to think up ideas for how to use them but it isn’t hard to be honest, they are nice just out of the packet (Steve says…I don’t eat them ). We always had a passionfruit vine when we were kids and indulged ourselves like crazy as they were always great sprawling entities that regularly threatened the neighbours but the neighbours didn’t care as they got plenty for themselves. We also ate heaps of figs and loquats as they both grow like topsy in Western Australia (my home state 🙂 ). It was like entering a whole new world coming to Tassie and I felt a bit surreal for a while there. Let us know how those muffins turn out. I am drooling just thinking about them. I found a really healthy fantastic looking delicious muffin recipe the other day on Pinterest. If you would like to have a go at making them here they are and you could use your raspberries and white chockie chips in them and feel saintly for eating them :)…
http://chowdivine.com/guilt-free-grain-free-almond-blueberry-muffins
Glad you’re feeling better, kids eh? Your wee slideshow looks great although I’m not too sure about the black tomato!
Christine
Hi Christine. I’m also glad I’m feeling better. I haven’t had a tummy bug like that in ages! The child in question bounced back so easily!
The Indego Rose Tomato is new to NZ this year, and I have read reports on the internet that it tastes a little boring – but it should make a salad look cool! We shall see!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Sorry you’ve been under the weather, Sarah. Stomach bugs are the worst. They really sap your energy. I’m glad the garden continued on. Don’t worry about the tomatoes. You’ve an enormous garden to manage. I don’t know how you do it all.
What do you do with Gooseberries? They’re really interesting to look at. I don’t think I’ve seen one before.
Hi Alys. It was a pretty nasty bug, but I am feeling pretty much back to my normal self but am conscious of not overdoing things.
I’m not sure how I manage such a large garden! I have divided it into four sectors and each one should get some kind of attention during the week and aside from harvesting this is usually all it needs once it gets going.
I’m also not sure about the gooseberries as I haven’t really had a proper harvest yet, but they taste nice – from what I remember – sort of sweet and tart at the same time. They are an English thing so there should be loads of recipes online. I like filling my garden with weird things!
Cheers Sarah : o )
I’m glad you’ve recovered. That sort of thing is all encompassing and quite draining.
You sound super organized in the garden and I know you plan all year. Setting up and growing in a green house is such a good idea, too. If plants fail, you have back ups. Further, my guess is you have fewer critters digging up starts. They tend to like the seeds more (in my experience) thought the squirrels also like the tender shoots of young pumpkins.
I hope you’re fully enjoying your garden now, and the lovely warmer weather. I hope the nasties are behind you for the season.
Alys
AWESOME!!! I hope you are feeling better now!
Hi Sarah
I hope you’re feeling much better now. My heart sinks when I hear news of a tummy bug in school because you know it’s only a matter of time before it comes a calling.