Saturday, September 7, 2013

Trying to...

I have been wanting to return to the garden since Peter was born, but he's not an easy baby. Not like my first. He's struggled with wind so sleeps very lightly. It's not uncommon for me to spend most of the day with him. Because of this, much of my attempts at gardening look like...


Luffa sponges get recycled back into the ground


Half finished projects...like strawberry plants waiting to go into the ground. I have a wonderful little area which I've been planting in this year. It's kind of an experiment. I would love to share more, but it's so very slow in the making. It's a small area, incorporating an old wheelbarrow (and a few concrete blocks) nestled into the side of a slope.


Attempting to create a better micro-climate


The wheelbarrow is planted with herbs which are growing really well. I love having fresh parsley and chives in my scrambled eggs again. Herbs tend to shoot to seed very quickly for me, as it gets too hot here. But utilising the slope and a few spindly trees, it does manage quite a bit of shade during the day.

I look forward to sharing the success of this particular area, and hopefully when Peter is a few months older (fingers crossed) I'll have more time to do it. I know this season of baby raising will pass soon enough and I'll get to enjoy the garden full-time then.


4 comments:

  1. Love the wheelbarrow planter. I think that the only herb I have a hard time keeping going in heat is cilantro. My flat leaf parsely doesn't mind it so much and chives just keep going no matter what. But we are in an area that has heat waves, not consistent heat so I suppose that is the main issue.
    I am hoping young Peter will enjoy the summer more than the last few months. Can David not give you a chance to garden on weekends for an hour or so by taking the baby? I am sure he can (and has) but is that enough time for you to do anything?

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  2. I agree, the flat leaf parsley is the last to bolt to seed here so it's one of the hardier ones. Rosemary loves the heat too. I'm finding my lemon balm is quite rugged so long as its roots aren't cooking in the direct sun.

    Unfortunately for my garden time, David is presently committed to building a carnival float to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr Who! He's had to do fundraising to get money for it, so it's been going on for months now. With less than two weeks for the carnival, he's even less available. It's been crazy! But he's promised once it's all finished, we'll get stuck into the garden again. I'm looking forward to that. I call it my Christmas present, lol.

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  3. Wow! A Dr. Who float?!!! I know you will take photos of this one and share right?
    I understand the time issue. Actually Chris, if we do stay here, I am pretty much going to scale back on the garden in favor of a more permaculture approach-more trees and perennials.
    I'm to old and will be too busy very soon to deal with the annual garden. I love to actually be out there but to take a break sounds nice to me right now so I hope you enjoy it even if you miss being out there.

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    Replies
    1. Have recently shared the pics of the float. ;)

      If you can get trees and perennials to grow, it's a matter of planting your annuals once and letting them self seed every year. I've had marigolds which sprung up after the flood (must have come from the houses above) and they've self seeded every year since, whenever the rains set in.

      Eventually the whole system fills itself out. The downside, is that the garden looks pretty awful until it does. But it does cut down on the amount of work you have to do.

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