NB: This is a sponsored post with the good people from GARDENA NZ, who have generously made this project possible. Over the winter I have had a few side hustles going on beyond the realm of my garden that have occupied huge swathes of my time. This has left me with very little to say about my garden. Aside from ticking over with the restoration … Continue reading An Irrigation Intervention
Knowing the garden has good access to water is one of those things that takes a weight off my mind for the season ahead. The water tanks are in a good place going into summer. They aren’t completely full; I think we have more storage capacity than our small roof can capture. Maybe we should have moved a bigger house onto the land! But I … Continue reading This is turning out to be a strange season
(A paid post with the good people from GARDENA NZ) The thing I love about the garden is there is always something new to do or discover. But the knock on effect of this is there are some things that were once new to you that you just wouldn’t be without. And one of those things is irrigation. The garden is big and to water … Continue reading Sorting out the watering
What a difference a day can make. It has been a typical spring week with dramatically horrible days hounded with strong winds, rain coming in sideways and a drop in temperature that can make us believe we are back in the depths of winter – almost but not quite, but after a few warm hopeful days a temperature plunge can call for a little melodrama. … Continue reading Getting Stuff Done
After the drama of the Great Water Escape over Christmas when we lost over 30,000 litres overnight thanks to a tap fiddler, I’ve made a few changes. The leak wasn’t intentional as the tap didn’t immediately gush with water and needed the pump by the tank to activate before flowing so it was impossible to know if it was on or off. There was no … Continue reading Waterwise
Well I did it, I grabbed a spade and pushed it into the sand, not just once but repeatedly. At the first metre of trench I celebrated. ‘This isn’t so bad.’ I may have even done a happy dance. I laid the 13mm irrigation poly pipe down the bottom of the trench, removed the click-on joiner & bug cap, that was connected to the length … Continue reading Digging
As exciting as 2018 was, I’m not all that keen to repeat it. I think you should probably limit the number of dramatic upheavals in a lifetime. Now we have found this beautiful spot and put in all this hard work to get to this point, I am happy to make the call… “this is it.” This will be the place you will find me … Continue reading Looking forward
I’ve cut it fine, but it is still technically October and I have just planted my tomatoes in the garden. This is so much more than the usual tomato planting session that happens every spring. This one is special and holds such significance for me. Last season I had to walk away from my lovingly nurtured tomato plants before the fruit had even thought about … Continue reading There ARE tomatoes in October!
The seeds were sown the other day, more than a few weeks beyond when I would have normally sown them. But I’m not worried because not only is their bed not ready, it hasn’t been filled or even built because I’m still umming an erring as to its location. This delay has a knock on effect for the irrigation of the rhubarb, globe artichokes and … Continue reading But what about the pumpkins?
It has been a massive weekend. The long Labour Weekend did not disappoint. The weather was fabulous, and the family were well aware that this weekend is the pinnacle of the gardening calendar and gardening is what is done, for the entire weekend. And they daren’t argue with me because they know well enough I’ll pull the “It’s my birthday” card and they have to … Continue reading Happy tired
