Well, that was a surprise!

After months and months of a relatively normal existence, we find ourselves once again in lockdown.  I trust that our country is doing the right thing to keep us safe as Delta attempts to darken our door. 

In the meantime, here I am stuck in my most favourite place in the world – my home and garden beside the sea.  I got an inkling something was going down yesterday and decided to top up my seed starting and garden supplies and some essentials I can use for the windbreak behind the dome to stop the eddies.  I was going to make this a permanent wooden structure but given the situation, who knows how long it will take to be able to order wood again, so I went with the more temporary windbreak fabric.  It should be fine for this season and will buy me some time to build a permanent structure ready for next year.    So, on my ‘to-do’ list this is a big tick, even if it looks a little different than I thought.

I did get seeds started on Monday, but it is mostly brassica and leafy greens as is still too cold and too soon for tomatoes.  As I write this the thermometer in the garden tells me it is only 10°C.  This is also a big tick on the ‘to-do’ list of shame.

The dome is also clean and tidy, I wouldn’t have started new season seeds in a mess – it would just seem wrong.  But I didn’t find my linseed oil so went out and bought a new bottle, so the shelves have been treated and don’t look so tired and thirsty as they did before.   Oh how I took for granted the ability to just go out and buy something because I couldn’t find where I put the one I had at home. 

The red currant has been planted, a row of carrots has been sown and the rhubarb rescued, which makes me feel good.  But there is still a lot of guilt over the other plants still languishing in pots that could stretch their roots out in real soil if I gave them little more than an hour of my time. 

By some kind of miracle there was a gap in the cold wet winter weather, and I had a few hours of sunny spring like conditions and was able to get a section of the brick path laid.  It felt like such an achievement but to be able to tick off the list I need to find time to do at least one more section.  This project has a timeline attached to it.

The cover crops still need to come down and the gutter still needs to go back up.  With the lockdown Hubby the Un-Gardener found himself at a loose end because his workload seemed to dry up.  So, I sent him out to work in the garden.  But set him to clearing the overhanging lupins in the driveway.  The gutter is a two person job and I’d prefer to supervise helping take the cover crop down – or at the very least show him what to do.  But I wasn’t able to spare the time as my computer gardening has taken on more of an urgency right now – I’m not sure if it is because of lockdown or a coincidence, but either way I do love computer gardening – especially if it is cold and miserable outside. 

One of the cool things that kept me at my keyboard is my annual Countdown to Spring giveaway.  From Sunday 22^nd September there are only 10 days until the start of spring, and I have managed to gather together a wonderful array of prizes to give out each day from Sunday until spring starts on my Sarah the Gardener Facebook page.   It was very fortuitous that I stopped by the good people at Yates NZ and Gardena NZ yesterday to collect their contributions to the prizes.  A day later and we wouldn’t be able to go ahead with the giveaway without the prizes.   Sadly, this is only open to kiwis living in New Zealand, but the timing couldn’t be better to bring some joy in the midst of a lockdown. 

So as the week progresses, I hope to bring the cover crops down and put the gutter up and get all my computer gardening done, so I can create a new list for next week and get even more stuff done in my attempt to become spring ready in time for spring.

Come again soon – lockdown changes nothing in my garden.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)