A cow adventure

You can take the girl to the country, but you can't take the city out of the girl.

On a recent trip to collect bees, the bee field was also a cow field. Boy are those guys/girls(?) inquisitive!

They started by rocking the ute, bumping and pushing and nudging.

Not forgetting to lick the windows. Smelly breath too. Didn't lose interest until chased away. I suppose its fairly boring being a cow?

Potting up Thyme Cuttings

Those lovely vigorous thyme cuttings were starting to grow quite quickly, but I didn't think they were big enough for putting straight into the stone garden yet. Although I was concerned the roots would all start to inter-tangle. So I have potted them up into little pots. I'll let them get a bit bigger, then plant out.

And while I was doing that, some of the new crop of pineapple sage were ready to move up into pots too. This growing something from nothing could become quite addictive.

Raising seeds inside

My lovely gardening friend Barbara gave me a big selection of her seeds for this year. To give them the best start in early spring, she suggested leaving the seed tray on top of the fridge. Which would have been a good idea, if my fridge was clutter free. So instead I've put them next to my desk, which is always reliably warm as I sit there too. The food cover is to stop one of my cats from deciding it is a perfect cat litter tray.

And under the cover, still quite tiny, I have lettuces, capsicums and chillis, basil, and cucumber. When they get a bit bigger I'll put the whole tray outside to harden them off, so they don't kark it straight in the garden. Or I think that is the theory. I did actually put a couple of the cucumbers straight into the garden - the holes you can see here - but one of them didn't make it, so maybe the theory is right?

Baby Vegetables

 

All my vegetable plants, in the ground, ready steady grow!

 

Heavenly Orange Blossom

This must be one of my most favourite smells in the garden - orange blossom. This orange tree, having produced a huge crop of sweet, pip-free, largeish fruit all winter, but paced so I could pick one a day until they were done, is now making an enormous quantity of flowers, hopefully for next year's crop. But quite honestly, worth it for the flowers alone.



Growing Broad Beans

 

My broad beans are growing. I'm not convinced that I put them in at the right time of year, but I guess if they are growing all is well. Although the ones at the front of the pic have rather yellow leaves. These are the ones that face the prevailing winds, so maybe they are a bit dry? Or maybe I need better soil, its mostly pea straw here with a thin smattering of compost. I haven't built up this part of the vegetable planter, because of wanting to get SOMETHING in as quickly as possible. Impatience much!

 

How to Make Thyme Cuttings

 

The other day I went to the Running Brook Seeds stall at Clevedon markets, looking for some creeping thyme seeds. And the lovely lady there, who didn't have any thyme seeds for me, suggested making small cuttings and bunging them in the ground. Well, here I have done it, in the middle of winter no less, and every single one has taken. Plus all the little scraps from the bits I stripped off the stems. Growing like crazy now too, they will be ready to plant around my stone garden soon.

Strawberry Plants

 

You know it is nearly summer when the strawberry plants have fruit on them. These ones are still quite small and green, but they have promise of deliciousness. If the birds don't find them first.

 

How to lay paving

 

The first half of paving we laid was constrained by the retaining walls. But here on the 2nd half the paving just runs off into the garden and lawn. So we are concreting the edge 3 rows in, with a layer of concrete on the ground, then a layer of plaster sticking the pavers down. The pavers in the middle section will just be laid on sand and gap7.

 

 

 

 

Shade Plants

 

Here in the back corner of my garden, around the pear tree, it gets morning sun, but is in shade for the rest of the day. So, what to plant? I've chosen 3 hydrangeas, a gardenia at the front, and some daisies (chrysanthemums). And right on the edge of the pic, a new Alberic Barbier climbing rose.



Summer Flowers

I love annuals, but can't usually be bothered with all the care and weeding that goes with them. So, solution: put them in containers! The weeds are not going to get out of control, and I can see them easily from my kitchen window.

Gravel Slide

Question: How do you get a trailer load of fine gravel down 2 flights of stairs?

Answer: Build a ramp.

But...if you have new paving at the bottom, you won't want it all to land on the tiles. So, reusing a bag from the scoria is a good idea.

Oiling Bee Hive Boxes

At this time of year, in spring, all the bees start multiplying like mad. So they need bigger houses to accommodate all the extra family. So many new boxes are required. Here they are, not quite made yet.

And once they have been made they need to be preserved in some way, so they can withstand the weather better. Often you see beehives painted in some lurid colour that looks like the cheap leftovers from the local paint shop (or all beekeepers are a bit colour blind?).

But these boxes are going to be dipped in hot linseed oil for preservation.

The oil comes in huge drums. And it is being added to the heating trough.

 Which is then heated up, the boxes added 6 at a time and left to soak, then fished out.

 Dripping on the side for a while...

 And isn't this just a beautiful sight? Golden and oiled, waiting for new homes.

Trees for Bees

It was a big potting weekend, moving some of the manuka trees on into bigger pots. Here is some of what I started with

 I used 2 sizes of new bags, some of the seedlings had become quite big. Although when I had worked down to the smaller ones, they were not so desperately needing moving on up, as their roots were not filling the old bags yet.

And here they all are, repotted. Still got quite a few left on the table, but it is only half covered now, and all the chairs are free.

reusing excavated soil

The top soil that was dug out of the soon-to-be paving area lived in a mound for a couple of weeks, while I decided where to move yet another pile of dirt from A to B to C. In the end I decided to put it on top of the planters to fill them up a bit more. I had pea straw and a thin layer of compost on the planters, but they were only half full.

Some plants, like root vegetables, and potatoes and basically anything that doesn't want too many leafy green bits, needs something more than just compost, which will encourage all the leafy-ness at the expense of other things.

Paving Progress

We are laying pavers! So totally exciting. Actual visible forward progress, in a very tangible way. These are laid on a thin layer of rough concrete which covers the wet clay, then fine stones, then a thin layer of sand. Looks absolutely gorgeous too.