Garden Pics

Here's the shade I built for the carrots this morning - an old sheet hooked over 4 garden stakes. I've since added thick rubber bands around the tops of the stakes in case of wind.

In the foreground is a self-seeded tomato growing in the next bed and in the background are the asparagus. Nestled between the fence and the shade are some leeks and spring onions.

Here's the horseradish, growing quite strongly, with some flowering yarrow behind and rue to the right at the front.

The carrots are flowering too, in a bed with some kale.

In between the rows of maize, I've planted Lazy Housewife climbing beans, which are using the corn to climb. Well, some of them are and some are sort of creeping on the ground. Also in this bed are a few self-seeded tomatoes growing well.


I like to plant nasturtium near the edge of a bed - it helps to keep the pests and diseases at bay. This one is consorting with a dandelion near the lettuces which have bolted.


Some baby button squash.

The bergamot is in flower, too.
A bee getting nectar from an asparagus flower. Notice the yellowy-orange substance on her legs? Courtesy of the button squash and zucchini, I think, that grow nearby.

Bees coming and going from the bottom of the hive. It is actually more busy than this, but they are hard to photograph.

Sleeping on the job - what more can I say? And before you start thinking that must be a very narrow path - it is about 40cm (16"); it's just a very large cat!






Hope you enjoyed your visit.

love and light
naturewitch

This Weekend in the Garden

I didn't get done anywhere near what I had wanted, but the snow peas are now weeded, hilled and mulched, with a few parsnip seeds and carrot seeds planted to keep them company. I also managed to put some wire between the stakes we put in a little while ago, so they now have a trellis to climb as they grow.

Excitement set in last week as I noticed that the purple asparagus seed I planted a few weeks ago has mostly germinated. Today I counted 44 baby asparagus plants, out of 65 seeds sown. Given they are just emerging (the tallest one would only be about 15mm high), I'm hoping for more little asparagus babies over the next few weeks.

Didn't do quite so well on the artichoke front. To date, only three seedlings have appeared, but there's still time for more. The seed was over a year out of date, so I'll try some fresh seed and see how that goes. Meanwhile, in other parts of the garden, the artichokes are growing well, so I'm sure we'll have heaps of artichokes to eat later in the season.

Wandering around, I noticed a couple of leafy green plants in one of the beds. Unfortunately, when sowing the seed I didn't label it, so was not so sure what it was. It looks like spinach, but maybe it's some sort of turnip? A quick feel underground reveals no tuber; a quick munch reveals spinach. Wish I could remember what type it was; I think it was something a bit different. The leaves are thicker than usual, but just as yummy. It's now three hours later and I haven't dropped off my perch, so I'm guessing it's OK.

The potatoes I planted about a month ago when I was planting the kiwi fruit have now made an appearance. They get a bit of protection where they are, so I'm hoping they will be OK if we get any late frosts.

Checking on the carrots led to three lovely long ones being pulled up and grated for lunch, alongside one of our winter lettuces. The beets are coming on and I must start pulling up some of the larger baby beets to thin the rows out for the others.

Apart from all that, the deciduous herbs are starting to wake up, with one of the comfrey plants, a French tarragon and some of the mints sporting green leaves again. It won't be long now before spring really will have sprung!

love and light
naturewitch

Delightful Day in the Garden

I cannot be cooped up for too long, so I've found the past couple of weeks or so very frustrating, as I've recuperated from my horrible lurgy. However, this morning dawned beautifully fine and feeling somewhat recovered, I headed for the garden.

The first delight that greeted me was a lovely buzz coming from our early flowering peach - about two dozen bees were already at work, drinking the lovely peach flower nectar. I tried to take a photo, but alas it didn't come out very well. Actually, this peach tree was one I bought from someone at the local farmers' markets. It was supposed to be a yellow fleshed bottling peach, but turned out to be a white fleshed eating peach. It has some of the best peaches I have ever eaten, so the mix up is long forgiven. Can't wait for the new crop.

Another delight was discovering some little waxy potatoes in an area I was preparing for kiwi fruit. I had planted potatoes in this area the summer before last and apparently, a few have continued to grow. They made a lovely warm potato salad for lunch, accompanied by fresh herbs, baby beets, carrots and winter lettuce, all from our garden - not bad for the middle of winter!

While I worked in the garden today, I was serenaded by a local family of magpies. The song from Australian magpies is indeed unique and is especially beautiful on a Sunday for some reason. I found a lovely fat scarab beetle larva while digging and threw it to one of the magpies who then watched me keenly for the rest of the day, awaiting further treats. No more fat grubs, unfortunately, but the family did come down and dine from our compost heap, as well as checking over my diggings.

During the day, I was also talking to my neighbour and saying that I wanted to get some bees. Apparently, he has had the same thoughts, so a hive in the back yard should not present any problems. I just have to source one now.

And at the end of this gorgeous day was a chat with my sister, a lovely hot shower and dinner with my darling man. Hope your day was just as great.

love and light
naturewitch