A year in My Garden - #8

Old wisdom:

Flowers are said to be a good indicator of how the season is progressing and when it is safe to sow and plant.



"When the crocuses bloom, sow peppers and eggplant indoors.

When daffodils bloom, sow tomatoes, cabbage, and lettuce indoors.

When Lilies of the Valley bloom, plant tomatoes outside.

When Irises bloom, put peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant outdoors.

When peonies bloom, plant melons"



I wonder if there is more to that poem??



I'm sat at my computer in my room freezing my bits off..... We forgot to order the refills for the gas bottles we have at the house that runs the fire in the house ... That fire heats the whole house ..Though we do have an electric radiator at the opposite end of the house to keep the chill off the bedrooms and hall way at night..That radiator is now in the living room beside McDs chair ......



So here I am without heat but with a yellow "Winny the Poo" Blanket draped over my shoulders ...I did used to have a manly mexican blanket ..But thats now relegated to the seat cover of my chair ... I used to have a BigDogs Blanket...But McDs Daughter S took a shine to that ...Poor cold destitute flatting student that she is .... So I 'm here with my yellow "Poo" blanket a prezzy from McD whose humour knows no bounds ......



We are sposed to be in spring here ... It was announced September 1st was spring start !! But not tonight ... Actually not yesterday or the day before either ....We've had a freezing cold southerly hit us ..>Straight off the Antartic ...Cold Cold Cold... Then it all cleared late saturday afternoon Right after I had prepared the earth for raised vegetable bed number 4 ....





And then at the end of the 6 o'clock news - so 7pm really they announce there would be a frost over most of the country !!!



A FROST !!!



So there we are tucking the seedling in with old newspapers ..Guided by the light of a feeble tourch as we make our way up the slippery garden path through the trees to the top level of the garden ..>Covering new seedlings of carrot radish and pakchoi ....Covering the potatoes in their bucket/dustbin containers down in the yard .... and then hoping all will be well for our vegie babies....



The local weather station, just up the road from where we live says it's 8C at 11:30pm... I'll be surprised if it gets to freezing point now ..Plus being on the side of a hill there tends to be a reasonable air flow over the garden ..... .I hope so .... It will be a shame to see the potato leaves just opened, turn black ...





Border 1 has now recovered from the unbelieveably wet winter ... Some casualties, with some of the cabbages rotting at the stem.... But not that many ... so with a good number of plants at different stages of growth we are still looking forward to that first harvest ..... The leeks are still pencil thin but looking healthy enough . One plant lost. the rest, spinache, celery, silverbeet, all looking pretty good....





It certainly has been a wet winter. The wettest on record for wellington and many other sites around the country.... 167% more rain through the winter and 8 weekends in a row where it poured down....





So out of the 10/11 raised borders plus the fruit plants we wanted to plant out ..We've managed 4...Or will have by the end of the weekend .....



















But We have broadbeans growing nice and green, Garlic reaching for the sky along with Egyptian onions ...And Strawberries just coming into bud ...Though the plants are small still ....















So we have the start of a vegetable garden... I'll start sowing the tomatoes, curbits and capsicums etc in doors or under cover in readiness for a warmer soil in a few weeks .... It will happen ...just not tonight .....

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