The garden is coming along nicely, but don’t feel like I am in a position to stand back and look at it as a whole. It just overwhelms me with what still needs to be done. But taking the time to catch a breath and look into the finer details always makes me wonder at the marvel of nature that is going on in my garden.
You can never get close enough to soil to see what is going on. It looks like a lovely soft friable tilth In this image. You can see the difference between the moist soil and the soil that has been touched by the wind and is drying out. You can make out the lumps and bumps of the organic material and the granules of the inorganic earth from rock origins. But what you can’t see is so much more – the earthworms below the surface, the relationship between microorganisms in communities more densely populated that our busiest cities, all with vastly different jobs to do. This isn’t a dead substance you put living plants into as a growing medium, but an entity very much alive in its own right.How can you not Love this beauty in the midst of a Misty green background. It brings something ethereal to the garden, like a host of floating angels dancing and watching protectively over my endeavors.The intense pea tendrils of the Novella Pea variety always amazes me. They look so delicate, but are very strong. On close inspection each intricate little tangle could form a blown up piece of art that would look fabulous on my living room wall!I always get a small buzz of excitement when I see the onions begin to bulb up. It seems to happen so quickly. They have been all stalk and leaf for months and then in the blink of an eye these gorgeous voluptuous curves begin to take shape.Most seedlings start as soft and delicate, and the same can be said for the pumpkin seedlings, but the little hairs that line the stalks aren’t as benign as they may seem. They are like the fuzzy across the lip of a preteen boy, but given enough time will become as prickly as a 5 o’Clock shadow on a weary businessman’s face. Not bad enough to spike you like a thistle, but abrasive enough to be wary of when you brush passed to check how your pumpkins are growing.On close inspection it would seem strawberries are shiny and the seeds appear to keep them tight like one of those buttoned down Chesterfield sofas.Bundled together in a tight ball, closely hiding the brilliant soon to be purple hairy flower, the artichoke always amazes me. It it such a strong architectural plant with its bold features. But I do wonder, who was it who decided that it would be a food. It is such hard work to extract such a small amount of edible content from the base of the globe. Having said that – dipped in melted butter and lemon juice the effort does seem worth while. But then again – lashings of melted butter can make anything taste good!As much as I know corn prefers to be sown directly into the garden, circumstances beyond my control this season meant it was just better to start them indoors. This brought them up to eye level and made it easy to watch them begin to reach up out of the soil on their way to becoming a mighty and tall feature in my summer garden. The way the corn grows – pushing the new growth out of the centre of the stalk reminds me of – I’m not sure if it happen to you – it could just be a ‘me’ thing, but sometimes when you have a roll of something – like baking paper, the middle begins to protrude out the end and it is impossible to poke it back in. Even the slightest touch makes the centre poke out more and before you know it it is twice as long as the original roll. And then the kids start using it as an imaginary light saber…. actually I think this might be a ‘me’ thing that just happens in our house and reminds me of how corn grows.The lavender flowers are beginning to burst forward. Blowing about in the wind they look like a multi headed medusa ready to create stone features in my garden.These dense green berries will continue to grow on and ripen in to almost translucent jewels of the deepest red. Almost too beautiful to eat.Fennel is a magnificent plant – it starts with a solid fleshy bulb at the base of the plant and to hold one in you hand can feel as weighty as a cricket ball. But allowed to grow beyond this stage you get a tall, majestic fernery being, with the buds of something even more spectacular, tightly packed like fireworks about to explode in a delightful yellow starburst, contrasting with perfection against the lime green of the soft foliage.This tangled knot of white roots is the result of months of care. My kumara has been balanced over a jar of water for what seems like an age as I waited for roots and shoots to grow. Then each sweet potato shoot was carefully removed and placed in their own jar of water and slowly and surely, individual plants began to form as the roots appeared from the base of the shoots and grew to fill the jar. Now I have to find the time to plant them out, and then hope for the perfect conditions for a perfect harvest.
Come again soon – all going well there will be some kind of did-dah grand reveal moment… well as close as we can get, as a garden is never in a state of complete done.
Not only is there so much going in the soil that you can not see, many plants have entire ecosystems going on. I used to tell my clients that they don’t want to know what is going on in the canopies of their valley oaks! There are little insects getting eaten by bigger insects getting eaten by spiders getting eaten by birds. I would tell them that when they inquired about spraying for a particular type of insect, and explain that, although it would take care of the immediate problem, it will throw the ecology off.
Have you ever grown choko?
I did try eating them once and didn’t fun them that inspiring so I haven’t given them a place in my garden. : o)
Not only is there so much going in the soil that you can not see, many plants have entire ecosystems going on. I used to tell my clients that they don’t want to know what is going on in the canopies of their valley oaks! There are little insects getting eaten by bigger insects getting eaten by spiders getting eaten by birds. I would tell them that when they inquired about spraying for a particular type of insect, and explain that, although it would take care of the immediate problem, it will throw the ecology off.
We try so hard to bend our gardens to our will – often ignoring the fact it has a purpose of its own! : o)