...and the peas are all over the place along the trelise (yellow circles), and growing, and the carrots seem to germinate well, too (red circles)! Can you feel my excitement? (gee, I must be really old, if some germinating peas and carrots get me all hyped up! You should see the window sill at home, full of tomato, capsicum (that is bell peppers for you yanks and canucks), and basil plants - ready to be separated and planted out at the bach as well - yahoo!
Planting Spree
I went up for a few days on my own, and during the week, so that I can get away from work (physically) and get some work done without (much) interruption. When I arrived I saw all the cutlings Mike left for us. Tomas and Andrew also gave us 3 agaves, so I had lots to plant!
the tiny and delicate blueberry flowers
tulip
I thought these were daffodils, but now I think they are yellow tulips that have a red fringe...
this is the purple tulip from the last blog - we missed the nicest stage....*sob*
the cape gooseberry was flowering and getting fruit all winter. But the fruit always fell off (still in their "cape" - you can see one below the flower) before they were ripe...
last fall I just left some pots with old and dry tomato plants outside.
I was to plant new stuff in these pots in spring. This time I noticed that the
old dry plant wasn't dead at all, and started sprouting!
the pile of cutlings from Mike (the "compensation" for the cow damage)
In my gardening books (ok, I am a nerd!) I read repeatedly that mulching is very important, and that the mulch keeps the soil moist much longer. Since in summer we always have the problem of not being able to water daily, I thought it was a good idea to get some mulch. And I found this amazing product: Coconut palm mulch! It comes in very heavily compressed handy small blocks. You soak the blocks in water and get quite a large amount of mulch! Well, I was intrigued to see how it worked, and I love it!
the block in the wheel barrow
30 minutes later...
this was the very first planterbox I built.
The cows ate the agaves, but left the palm in the middle alone. Now replanted...
...and finished with mulch!
the medium sized yucca
the small yucca
and the large yucca (left). The yucca on the right was the one that had
the left arm broken off by the cows (you can see the stump)
our favourite garden. The stuff in there grows very well, and became a bit "jungle" like - until the cows got hold of it. But I planted new stuff, and I am sure it will grow quickly as well!
one of the two large agaves we got new
I put mulch around the strawberries as well - more to not have the fruit rot in moist soil.
I also put a bird net over them...
if you enlarge this photo you can see the peas sprouting (yellow circles). I am so excited about my peas, and can't wait to see them grow and harvest fresh peas - YUM!
the bed-veggie-garden now with the birdnet. So far all veggies have been doing well!
I noticed that I never really took any photos from this angle, so here are a couple...
If you read older blogs you know that my water lily didn't do well at all. First, the flowers were eaten off, and then the leaves died off one after the other. There was nothing left. I was too lazy to take the pot out of the pond, and suddenly there are a bunch of new leaves coming - yahoo! Let's hope they'll do better this year...
the revived water lily and Huey, Dewey and Louie
this was one of the first palms we planted last year. I just took this photo to see how it compares to last year. Well, click here to see how it looked when we planted it. And thank god the cows didn't like that one!!!
the blue sky looks peaceful. But it was very stormy, with gale force winds! You can see how the yuccas, grasses and flaxes are being battered by wind!
I have been looking for an option to buy a bladder for the spa pool for ages. I found it on an American website of the spa manufacturer, but they won't ship overseas, and they didn't list dealers. So I gave up for a while, but searched again a couple of weeks ago, and found a dealer in Ozzie. I e-mailed them and asked if they'd ship to NZ, and they sure did. So I ordered it and put it on right away. Apparently it makes a huge difference, and saves a lot of power. Can't wait to see our next power bill, haha!
I also always wanted to take a shot of the view from the spa pool. Can you imagine the feeling of soaking in the nice spa pool, and having this amazing view? And at night with stars and moon above you? Awww, it is true bliss!!!
How much dirt fits into one bed?
We went up after Neil's job Saturday night, and had all Sunday in Hukatere. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun. Neil emptied the entire bach and gave it a huge spring clean! I was being creative, and built planter "boxes". Number one was an old bed. I added planks around it, fitted it with thick garbage bags as liners, and then shoveled dirt... and shoveled and shoveled..... and shoveled! You have no idea how much dirt goes into a frickin' single bed!!! Once done, I planted spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions and sowed peas and carrots. Can't wait to get up again and see how they are doing! Oh, and after Neil had taken the pics, I added a net all over the box, so that the bloody possums stay out (as well as birds).
the new meaning of a flower"bed"
looks a bit shabby, but Neil wants to paint it some time
yes, the garbage bag is not a beauty either - there will be another bed slat coming across...
Timber is actually quite pricey, and I thought of an alternative way of building planter boxes. The bed was one option (we still have an old unused queen size bed in the shed - that might be next, haha), but at Mitre 10 I saw car boot liners which could do the trick well. So I just got a couple of those, and 8 wooden pins and it works well. I only did one so far, and planted strawberries and onions in it. I haven't put a net over those yet, so I hope they are still alive when I go up next ;-)
Spring is here!
I was up last weekend, and despite all the rain, I had some nice sunny spells, and it was spring-like. Well, Monday was the first day of spring, and it showed!
The first of our pumpkins has grown too tall for the small window-sill greenhouse, so I took it up and planted it...
pumpkin - still in the "travel"cup...
the lavender is beautiful already!
the first tulip...
the first daffodil...
white wine
red wine
blueberries
the result of the endless rain - perfect mushroom growing conditions...
The whole ground was covered in these slimy mushrooms. When you walk it makes squeaky noises - yuk!
Some of the agaves have survived the cow attack (see last blog), and are slowly growing back. Most of them, however, have died :(
When I went to our shed I noticed a small hole in the door. I was wondering how that got in there, and thought we must have left something sharp/pointy lying on the deck, and when the wind blew open the door it got punctured.
But when I opened the door, I also saw the big scratch on the cabinet inside, and it looked very much as if a bullet has scraped along it. I looked around, and rest assured, there was the bullet on the floor! I couldn't believe it! Since it was only one hole, and at the bottom of the door, it certainly didn't look like vandalism. Our neighbour goes possum hunting a lot, and we caught him on our land before. I am convinced he went up, targeted a possum that went behind the shed, shot and missed. And we are left with a hole in the shed. How insane is that! First cows, now bullets (different neighbours though) - what will be next?
the cabinet inside
the hole in the door from the inside
open door: Hole on the left...
And the bullet! Looks weird. It's about 8mm long
On the way home I stopped at the police station in Maungaturoto (the closest to Hukatere), but nobody was there. I will try to get there next time we go up, and see what they suggest...
hail storm
We will go back up tonight after Neil's job - can't wait to get there again and see the progress of the plants, sow and plant more plants (veggies and flowers), and enjoy being out of town :)
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