5.7.09

Cold wet garden

July in our cold, wet, frosty garden is not yielding much to eat. A lot of the brassicas I planted are getting frosted, which means I should concentrate on getting a bit more shelter established. If I forage around I can find: coriander, calendula, leeks, lettuce, brussel sprouts, spring onions, mizuna, mustard, fennel seeds, silver beet, beetroot, celery, corn salad, nettle, pumpkins and carrots. Though many of the greens have been nibbled by a chook or burnt by the frost . Lucky the bach has a good mandarin tree and I have some good stores saved.



After months of little enthusiasm I got motivated to plant more garlic and shallots this week. I also felt sorry for the roosters I am fattening, because the weather is so cold I've given them the glasshouse to scratch around in. They will fertilise and clear it for me since I didn't manage to get a crop in there. I'm spoilt to also have the small tunnel house which has mesculen mix, peas and brassicas growing slowly but surely for spring. Not sure why I'm getting a ground moss in there this year though.

It's too wet for pruning, and too cold for planting seeds here at the moment. The snow is down quite low on the mountain, we've got the fire roaring but I think we should take up the Government's offer of subsidising some under floor insulation.

5 comments:

Pom Pom said...

Hello, Gillybean!
My husband is visiting New Zealand this week (after a stop for a few days in Australia) and he packed his outdoorsy clothes. I'm glad he did after reading your post! Stay warm! I love your blog!

Ruth @ Camellia Rose said...

I've had enough of this cold, wet, miserable winter! We were all set to get the underfloor insulation etc in, had a quote and everything, and then the government introduced that new scheme. So we were put back on the waiting list to get a new quote. Doesn't look like we'll be getting that insulation any time soon...

Christy said...

thanks for the seaweed mulch tip. have a doozy of a storm bearing down on us at the moment, which will hopefully throw up some on the beach :)

Kim said...

It's so strange seeing your winter images while the sun shines over here, that's the thing when you connect with people from the other side of the globe. When it's cold and wet here, I'll be relying on your summer pictures to cheer me up!

Jodi said...

Its been a while Gilly, I hope you have made it through to Spring alright. Our countires have both taken quiet the battering these past few weeks. Thinking of you x