Tuesday 29 September 2015

Tilt your head to the right side please!

Before I start, two apologies.
Firstly,
It's been a while, I know, but as you will see here, I have been rather busy elsewhere.
Sorry!
And secondly.
 He took some of the following pictures and saved them, try as I might, I cannot get them to sit up nicely. Hence the need to tip your head to the right. 
Sorry!
*
It was a public holiday here in South Canterbury New Zealand yesterday. (Monday)
So the weekend was go, go, go in the garden.
I had a good tidy up and pulled plenty of weeds.
 And got to get up close and personal with some wonderful flora.
I love the Helebores or winter roses.
I knew them as Christmas roses back on the Isle of Man as they flower at midwinter/Christmas time.
 My crop of brassicas that have been in all winter are now starting to produce.
 My broccoli are tennis ball sized.
No sign of a tennis ball in the Cauliflower though.
And would you just look at this cherry tree.
Beautiful.
Now for the sideways photos!
After the weeding it was time for planting.
In went the lemon tree.
 I have spent almost a year digging over and weeding this patch in preparation for planting. I was hoping to have some raised beds, but got impatient, so made up these little plots with timber reclaimed from another cleared area.
On Monday I finally put in plants.
Leeks, Spring onions, cauli, broccoli, beetroot and spinach.
 Another small bed will be going in this coming weekend, to the left of it. (Or the top in this picture!!)
Plenty of room for some tomatoes against the fence, some beans and some squash.
I'm really looking forward to harvesting my own home grown vegges.
 The planting trend continued in the greenhouse.
The beets at the end have been there all winter, in fact we harvested some yesterday and ate them with dinner. The flavour was not as strong as I expected. We were told today that beets grown in a green house are not as nice as those grown out doors.
Newly planted are tomatoes, capsicums, chillis, basil and a second batch of spring onions.
While I was pulling weeds, and putting in veggie plots, he was destroying.
There was a ratty old pergola here and a raised bed.
Now they are both gone. His next task will be to take out an old wooden arch and another small raised bed, in preparation for removing this daisy, dandelion and weed patch er turf and laying a lovely new lawn.
We're getting there!
One day we will have a lovely garden.
I'm discovering lots of new growth popping up all over the place, some of it I recognise and some is new to me. I'll share pictures as we move through the year.
*
Crafty wise I have been doing a little cross stitch, but not much else.
I have threads to bury on the white quilt I was using as a practice piece in my frame, before I practice on it some more.
I have plans and ideas and of course the Christmas quilt is still whispering to me......
I gifted the caramel stars quilt to a colleague.
She likes it and wondered how she would keep her dogs off it!
*
Time to go sit with my cross stitch.

4 comments:

pollyanna said...

Your garden will look marvelous as it grows out. And I love the title of your blog...how frustrating it can be to not be able to turn those photos! But you have the right answer...post them and we can work for the beauty :) Love your little broccoli :)

Ali Honey said...

Hellebores are one of my favourites too.
Our gardens are doing similar things. My broccoli got no bigger than tennis balls but I am now getting side shots as I leave the plants in for a while. One of 6 caulis has been eaten - yummy it was too...the other 5 are way behind. It was the one on the sunniest end of the row is the only reason for it to be first that I could think of. Better not to have 6 ready at once anyway.

Janice said...

Hi Lou. I'm finally getting around to commenting on some blogs. You certainly have been busy over the last little while, with your crochet, patchwork and now quilting. Some very lucky friends and colleagues, you have. It must be great to see new plants popping up in the garden as you experience your first spring there. I can't believe how much work you have both done in the last 10 months. I too love hellebores. I will have to get some established once we move into our new house...whenever that may be... The weather is just ideal for being outside now. We hope to plant the first of our veges this weekend.

QuiltSue said...

You've got ots of crops to look forward to soon then.