Valerie's Page

With the recent rain, the veggies gardens are really coming to life this year with promising growth and some produce already being harvested.

In the tuckshop area, we planted some lettuces, which are already being used for tuckshop. Some education was needed to make sure that the whole lettuce hearts weren't plucked out altogether and only leaves were harvested to ensure continuous supply. As it were the first lettuces were going to seeds already with the heat. Experience learned,…

Well, it has been a hot and dry summer. The garden beds were really dry but quite a few things survived. Luckily for us, the rain arrived right on cue. A little drizzle here, another downpour there and before you know it the garden will be brimming with life again. No time to lose. This year we are starting bright and early with greens and tomatoes for the tuckshop.…

Front bed 1: Apparently it was time to pull out the winter veggies. Well, my broccoli and cauliflower hadn’t even grown past the seedling stage. It seems that my chickens knew about it and scratched and ate them anyway. We got one good crop from the beans and that was the end of it. Nasturtiums had popped up in the lawn and were promptly relocated. The native bees just love them, as do I. Last weekend being full moon, it was a good day to fertilise. I spread my open bottom compost and some…

We went away to see my folks. Whilst we did have a house sitter, we did not have a garden sitter. So, how bad did it get? Well, I did not have much hope to find anything alive by the time I come back, so I had set up the bed with some hardy plants and had fully intended to plant green manure. How did I go, I hear you saying. 

Well, the front garden looked something like this. it wasn't long before hubby grabbed the lawnmower and filled the 3 compost bins.…