Green and Gold

Rudbekias in the front garden. Their display lasts for weeks. The only attention this garden gets is weeding when the weeds are nearly as high as your waist, I try and put some grass clippings on to slow down the weeds. Looking at the path entering the vege garden.
I was born in Aussie but the green and gold theme is purely by accident. Everything looks very lush after the recent rain. The sunflower by the fence is self seeded and probaly the tallest at about 9 or 10 feet. The beans to the left have done well up til the last week when they became infested with bugs. The Pumpkin in the middle has lovely big yellow flowers too and has set some good sized fruit, they are Austrian oil seed which have hulless seeds excellent for roasting and using in baking. Where I'm standing to take this photo I have put in a patch of broccoli and cauli, hopefully they'll survive the white cabbage butterflies and produce before winter, I lay down some beetroot flowers amonst them and hope the seed will germinate. Along the fence are cucumbers and tomatoes they are doing ok but have to compete for nutrients with the neighbours big trees. This evening I planted some corn plants I was given, it was just before dark that I put them in as the day was so hot. I pulled away all the sweet peas from the front fence, hopefully they have dropped plenty of seed for me. I'm trying to get weedy ground prepared to put in some more peas and some dwarf beans too, it may be too late for beans but I like to experiment for myself rather than rely on a book to tell me it's too late. Next week I'm looking foward to visiting the newly established Community Organic Gardens in Motueka,I can't wait.

Babies

We are going to have the pitter patter of little feet around her soon. The cat Bella had kittens two weeks ago and their eyes are just starting to open. I got home from Pokororo Fair the other day and went to look at them and they were gone! The cat was outside so I asked her "where are your kittens?" She gave me a very blank look and followed me to where they had been, another blank look and a meow. "Where are they?" I said. Then I started to panic, had the 5 year old girl put them in the bed? No. What if the dog got them? Oh no! "You're a stupid cat where are they?!" Thankfully the other half got home and calmly went round the house until he found them in another box under a bed. Thank goodness. So we are leaving her alone a bit she obviously doesn't like us picking up her babies all the time. Even more exciting is that Willow our little Jack Russel is expecting her first litter, I feel dreadful for her though as she looks so uncomfy already.

Tea tonight

A friend dropped me off some lovely fresh scallops for tea so I asked my 13 year old boy to go out to the garden and pick some things for a salad, I couldn't believe it when he came back and siad he couldn't find anything as he's a real salad lover. We went for a walk together and discovered we had plenty for a salad and some roast veges too. Although all the lettuces have gone to seed in the hot weather the Mesclun mix I scattered two weeks ago was just big enough to pick a few leaves, we found spring onions,beetroot, parsley and fennel as well as some really good sized parsnip to roast, I was particuraly pleased with them as they were self seeded. We got some gerkins too but will need to pick a few more before I can bottle them.
My moon calender says it's a good time to summer prune fruit trees so I'll finish them off tomorrow. I don't think the moon is right for transplanting but commonsense must prevail as the broccoli seedlings are drying out too much in their punnets, I'll try and get them in where the garlic came out. I'd like to get as many Autumn veges in as I can before the kids go back to school and the mornings and afternoons become crazy again.

Pokororo Fair

We're a hive of activity here this week, while I've been sewing my partner has been building this great table, I think it's destined for the Pokororo Fair if we don't get too attatched to it. It's pretty quiet on the gardening front, I ran out thismorning when it started to rain to plant carrot seed as it's a good time for root crops after the full moon. It is time for me to do a bit of maintenence in the garden, I'd be embarrased to publish a picture of it at the moment. My neighbour has bought people over to see which I don't mind but I'm kind of embarrased that it looks so weedy. Hopefully they're looking at the sunflowers which are out or all the fruit and veges and not the weedy bits. There is still a lovely gentle rain outside just what that carrot and leek seeds need, it will really refresh everything else too. Hoping to see all my gardening friends at Pokororo Fair this weekend.

Sew pretty

I'm so glad I had one girl out of four children. I love sewing for her and when I find a pattern that works really well I sew up a few extras for the market. Last week we set up a stall at the Wakefield craft Fair and it proved to be very exciting with lots of people making lovely comments about my garments. I've been back at the sewing machine again wizzing up more skirts. My daughter and her friend are willing models for me to get the elastic and length just right but then they usually say " I would really like one like this" and I end up giving away what I've just made. I'm loving making my leather and fabric bags and I have found that the local Spotlight store has a great deal on craft fabric at the moment where you buy one metre and get one free, I must say I'm a bit addicted and have been in every week since before Christmas. At least it's a healthy addiction!

Good Garlic

The lovely hot summer days have been great for harvesting garlic. I've been digging about 30 bulbs every few days and lying them in the sun to dry. Then I clean them by giving them a rub and sometimes taking off the outer layers. I save the biggest for my own seed and plait the rest for the market, it's not as hard as it looks and anyone who can french plait hair can plait garlic.

Summer bounty

Thank goodness the Christmas rush is over, I think I spent the week before Christmas shut inside making presents. Every couple of hours I'd pop out to the garden for a walk around to refresh myself, sometimes I'd walk past a spot that needed weeding so badly I'd take a bit of time off to do so but despite that it's going to take awhile to catch up. I did however get all my Christmas presents finished including the homespun jersey which I finished sewing up at 11pm Christmas eve. Boxing Day was fabulous my brother set the net at the beach on Christmas night and we got up really early to haul it in. We didn't get the snapper that we were after but got about 20 huge paddle crabs, a rig and plenty of seaweed which I bought home for the garden, the asparagus bed will get it I think. We're spoilt for choice in the garden now, I picked 2lb of raspberries last night and have accumulated about 1lb of red currants to be made into jelly. The plum tree is providing it's usual abundance and when the kids get home from holiday they can pick a few bucketfuls to sell at the gate and for me to make sauce out of. I have dug a wee bit of garlic it's looking ok but could do with a few more weeks I think. I'm trying to find a balance between sewing for the Pokororo Fair and catching up with the garden. It's pretty important to start getting the brassicas in for autumn too.

covercrops

I'm really pleased with the cover crops I put in this year, they are much nicer than bare dirt or weeds. I put in radishes, buckwheat and phacelia which is as a santuary for predatory insects. I checked it out today and I saw plenty of bees, small hoverflies and ladybugs. I have left the buckwheat to go to seed instead of digging it in as I'm keen to find out how to use it in the kitchen. The radish seed is also destined for the kitchen as a seed to sprout. I'm waiting for a free day to sew some more seeds as I want to get the autumn brassicas into the ground I've had great spring broccoli this year and aim to have a better selection available for winter. I wish I could get carrots to grow as well as the broccoli, the germination has been sparodic this spring and I've only got a small patch in the glasshouse keeping us going, any tips would be appreciated. I've tried planting just after the full moon but that hasn't been any better. Here is a sneak peek of the jersey I'm working on, it is homespun wool and the gold colour is achieved from dying with onion skins. As it is a Christmas present I better get on with it.

Sewing instead

Not much happening in my garden, with the full moon I've been reluctant to sew any seeds and the kiwifruit orchard behind us has the beehives in so the garden is full of bees, which is great for the pollination of grapefruit and raspberries but quite a hazard when walking past them or weeding. So with a market this weekend I've been whizzing up these bags.

Getting inspired

I love visiting other peoples gardens and this week I've been lucky to visit two good friends gardens, one which I keep well up to date with and another for the first time. My friend gave me a quick tour after a garage sale on saturday morning and I was amazed how much her garden had grown in a week, she has fabulous looking organic raspberries grown in her own compost and horse poo. They are well netted as she has more of a bird problem than we do. We also speculated on the peach tree which she grew from seed, she was expecting a "blackboy" but it is looking alot like a "golden queen" with no sign of leaf curl which they seem notorious for. Garden talk got me inspired to come home and feed my plants with liquid manure and put down this carpet to suppress the weeds. I also got around to potting up some lemongrass, I got the seed from www.kingsseeds.co.nz . My other friend has some fabulous mature fruit trees and the biggest goseberry bush I have ever seen, I wish I had taken my camera. Seing these trees made me come home quite excited about how mine will look in a few more years. I'd been aiming to enter some veges into the local A and P show on Sunday but had to stay home and catch up with some chores and make leather booties for a Christmas Fair next weekend. Today I managed to get five more pairs cut out so hopefully I can drag myself away from the garden to finish them before Sunday. This afternoon I did sneak out and do some weeding, I planted the last watermelon plant and some more sugar snap peas. The first raspberries are ready this week and we're eating our own broccoli, lettuce, beetroot, potatoes,peas, spring onions and strawberries. I can't wait for the tomatoes and cucumbers to be ready. I need to have another go at planting carrots this week and might sow some more brassica seeds and leeks. I have squashed alot of stink bugs in the garden but the ladybirds are taking care of the aphids quite well.