What we laughingly call a (Veggie) garden (1)

This is a shot from a walk we did over the weekend .. .Along the south coast of the North island ... Would have been great if it wasn't for the gale force wind carrying grit off the beach ... Like being shot with a machine gun .... Painful .... Hair full of stones after it

It’s been a busy time recently. I’m Now back into the work routine, and I’m certainly missing the freedom and outdoor life of the 4 months I was not working.





 

 

 

The vegetable garden and garden as a whole has not had a good time of it through spring and now into summer weatherwise. This past two weeks we’ve had maybe 3 days of good weather. The rest of the time we’ve had fluctuations from just cloudy to cold southerly winds and rain to warm northerlies (Gale force at times) and high humidity and cloud so low we were almost touching it…..

 





 

The new beds have been fully utilised. We are now growing a small patch of sweetcorn which seem to be growing very well, along with what was sposed to be dwarf ‘bush beans’ but have decided otherwise and are now growing skywards over tree branches I put there not realigning how high they would get… It’s one of the hazards of buying heirloom seeds from collectors. You can never be 100% you receive what you order… but that’s part of the fun of it ……I guess…Courgette plants, after a slow pained start are now having to have their leaves trimmed back as they have established them selves and rooted in…and taking over… They are now flowering daily but with few male flowers which is annoying…. I’m growing one golden courgette.. There is a recipe doing the rounds where you can make sweet ‘lemon Curd’ with them. So I thought we’d try it ……. As usual we’ve planted too many courgette plants so will be giving away or composting the harvest in another months time …. By rights we could sow more seed and have them fruiting well into the autumn ….I’m convinced we will have a late summer and warmer, settled autumn ….But I think we will have had our fill by then so wont bother…..    

 

 



 

That said we’ve had some ‘composted’ seeds grow in various places …. Can’t say for sure what they are but may well let them grow on …Be they pumpkin or marrow etc …. Tomato seeds have also sprouted and from great depths for a tomato seed. We have clumps of tomato seedling dotted about the borders ……….Whilst preferring some sense of order in my borders, I’ve still left one from each clump to grow on. It’s a sad indictment on our gardening skills that these rogue plants are like weeds growing healthier and stronger than the seedlings we’ve cared for and mollycoddled these past few months protecting them from cold and wind and rain…. Next year I will throw half the seeds direct into the outside soil and let them get on with it.