A Year In My Garden - Spring

It's been a while since I've written about the garden..I have actually been working hard. With pickaxe and shovel I'm digging into the side of the hill that is my plot of land and extending the vegetable garden. I'm putting in new raised borders. About 5 of them in toal adding up to about 50 square feet.  Doesn't sound much when you say it like that ..But it's taking A large effort to carve my way though either dense wet clay or near rock shale like clay depending what part I'm working on......This then will take me up to some 230 square feet of raised borders dedicated to growing food ..., I must look up what is the minimum area for say 2 people to supply their vegetable needs .....We have way more ...But then we can afford the luxury of growing way more tomatoes And I've aready planted 20 or so potatoes into a border ...That plus the 'dustbin' potatoes and purple Maori potatoes and Yams And we'll not need to buy any of them until the next winter....If they grow of course ....    











Do you all 'chit' or sprout your potatoes before planting them?? I do it ....Because my dad dit it and the "elders say you must. But I don;t see the point in it ...After all, where we grew potatoes last year and missed some they have sprouted abd are already a foot high !!! no Chitting needed for them!!  Even deep down in the depths of the compost bin they still manage to strike and sprout healthfully forth skywards....



















Anyway, not only am I building borders but I've sorted out the pathways between them. This past year we put up with roughly hewn pathays that had bumps and holes in them and soil and weeds and grass galore....So I've cut them out properly, dug in and built steps and retaining walls and started to lay weed matting and bark on top.....It will look a lot better :O).. Even Sis-in-law K on her recent visit was drawn into helping and laying weed matting for us :O)  We'll send down some chutney later on in thanks..:O) Whether she likes chutney or not !!! :O) 



















 But overall the veggie garden will always look "Wonky" as it slopes in far too many ways and directions....But I can handle Wonky :O) we'll get a pile of junk ornaments and decorate the place as well to add some je ne sais pas. I'm also planting up pots with various herbs ....I'm shoced at the prices they charge in the shops for a small sprig of say sage or mint !!!!!!   They Grows Like Weeds !!!! I cannot kill the stuff off in the veggie plot ....mint of 2-3 varieties has been growing up there since before I moved in.....It just grows ..Loves being mis-treated ...The ideal plant really I guess....

 

























I've plans to do more over the next 12 months around the outskirts and look at utilising the clay bank in someway. Also want to clear fallen clay/soil from the base of the band which I think will be enough space for gooseberry and black/red current bushes....On the other side are 'Scrub" bushes and ferns. I will cut them down and remove them. Room then for dwarf fruit trees ...probably in 1/2 wine barrels ....Apples, plum, damson and the like ....



I've also planted Fejoa bushes in barrels in the front yard ...Oh and a pomegranite bush, dwarf nectarine, and a fruiting cherry tree in a corner beside the front gate. Where Cola's ashes are but we wont dwell on that ....She would be happy though as we burried her favourite "Bad" food , sheep pellets with her and promised all deads cicadas will be placed there for her ...She loved them...Ate them alive or dead with a bottomless hunger.......



   









  

And now it's seed sowing time. Some direct into the borders others in cardboard or peat pots or seed trays and the  warm yellow room of the house will become a nursery for a few weeks ..............Spring has sprung and it won't wait for me ....dammit......Work work work work work..........What would I have have done if I had a paid job as well !!!!



And thats just the vegie garden!!!!!



I've also cleaned up the stone paths in the front as well as the front yard and dug the round border and planted some standard roses that were not happy in other places around the garden, and fed all the roses with rotted manures and started weeding the borders and cleaned up the paths at the back and planted 1/2 a dozen gooseberry and black current  bushes in tubs and  planted other tubs and not to mention the housework and the cooking and when will it all be done !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:O)  busy busy busy ...