… with a few pops of colour thrown in for good measure. It hasn’t been the easiest season so far, however if I stop focusing on what is making it a struggle and look at the big picture. Or take a closer look at the things that aren’t considered superstars of the summer garden, yet are there every year and faultlessly do their thing. On … Continue reading This post is bought to you by the colour green…
Sector 4 is all fruit so no planning needed there – all I have to do before the season changes is evict the aging three year old strawberries and replace them with their offspring runners to keep the production of delicious berries at an optimum. So that leaves the back row that forms sector 5. If you take the two raspberry beds (27 and 28) … Continue reading Garden Planning – the Final Push
The sun feels so warm against my face as I work in the garden and it feels so lovely. But the sharp breeze and the chill in the shade quickly reminds me winter isn’t all that far way. Normally I fight this seasonal change kicking and screaming from a state of denial. Not this year. I just want to put this whole sorry affair behind … Continue reading Butternutty
After weeks of frenzied activity I have awoken to a beautiful blue sky day that already has a bit of heat in it. It is going to be a glorious day. It will be a fabulous Boxing Day. Christmas, unfortunately didn’t start off so kind. It was grey, with a hint of misty rain (the kind of rain that is no good to man nor … Continue reading How the Garden made Christmas Special
There is nothing like having a garden group come to visit the garden to ensure it is in tip top condition for their arrival. So I have been working ever so hard to make the garden lovely. The grass was mowed, I tidied the greenhouse and the shed and I even tidied behind it, not that anyone looked, but they might have! I even incurred … Continue reading Looking Good
Our strange weather is continuing, lovely sunny days interrupted by brief but heavy rain drops. If you get your timing right, and keep one eye on the sky you can get some really productive gardening done in each short burst of sunshine. And when it’s raining – you can make muffins. I remade my pumpkin muffins again and they were really good…. Except for one … Continue reading Taking down the height.
As far as storms go – it has been quite sunny. There have been loads of rainbows, loads of strong winds and loads of that big fat raindrop rain, thunder and lightning and we got hail – loads of hail! Around 2:00pm the temperature dropped to 6°C but for the most part it was sunny. For some of my fellow kiwis, it is a bit … Continue reading A multiple choice heading: A) This is a strange storm; B) I gave the mice too much credit; C) The worst cake ever!
Good intentions of a day well spent in the garden have come to nothing yet again. Even my grand plans to go garden shopping and trawl up and down the aisles of the hardware store looking for mouse proof bits and bobs for my “anti-mouse seed protector device” version 2 had to be postponed. Life inside was the soft and warm option for me today. … Continue reading Foiled again!
Peas, peppers, pumpkins, peanuts and preparations and presents and a ‘P’eetroot. I need to apologise in advance as this is a little long but I have had a huge weekend in the garden. I now ache a little in all the usual places that hard work brings aches. I should be used to it by now, but doing a little moaning can still bring some … Continue reading This blog has been bought to you by the letter P
I’m sitting here listening to the sound of a steady, but not too heavy rain falling. It just seems a little odd. We have had very little rain since December and there are all these reports about how dry the summer was, breaking records all over the place. But I won’t bore you with details about the drought as I could go on forever because … Continue reading Normal is actually good, even if it means you may get wet!
