I am sitting typing my blog in the dining room watching my chooks march happily out the open gate at the top of their paddock, into the olive grove. Someone has forgotten to shut the gate – Mr Bonner! It’s their dinner time so I should really go and grab some wheat and coax those tyrants back. Can’t help but smile as I know exactly where they will be headed given enough time and that’s to my vege garden of course!

Flora … my favourite chook. Lavender Sussex …

One of the Lavender Sussex has gone clucky. Every day at breakfast time,  I pick her up from the floor of the coop and plonk her down on the ground outside chook towers. Each and every morning she fluffs up those feathers and goes tearing off, squawking madly. Hysterical!

All my chooks are looking good .. they had their weekly garlic and apple cider vinegar yesterday. I mince the garlic, throw it into about 500ml of water and then measure out about 1 tbs of vinegar. This all goes into the feed bucket with an array of scraps and chook chow. They can smell the garlic and vinegar a mile away – not one of their favourite brekkies. Still, I know it is doing them good regardless of what it tastes like.

Nice .. nothing like a bit of lavender for the girl’s nest box.

Some of my seedlings are up! The buttercrunch lettuce was the first up – team work, busting their way out of the soil looking like a line of weight lifters. The beetroot is also up and the marigold and zinnias with some action happening in the Tommy Toe camp.  I just love it! Heat pad at night and the garden shed during the day to ensure that those little seedlings get plenty of light.

One, two, three LIFT!

Yes, I have had a beaut day, I also planted more seed namely the cucurbit family

• Pumpkin – Crown, Turban & Jack be Little (the latter is a miniature pumpkin – very very tasty)
• Zucchini –  Black Prince, Cocozelle and an heirloom variety unknown
• Cucumber – Long white wonder, Apple, Marketmore and Tendergreen

These seeds were all planted in their very own pots so with a bit of luck I won’t need to prick them out later.

I must be nuts – I’m juicing my peas too!

From the Fabaceae  family, those wonderful nitrogen fixers, I poked 9 dwarf bean seeds into an old ice-cream container with some holes in the base. Not sure of one of the varieties as they were kindly donated, but the other is an heirloom and a great producer called ‘Top Crop’ which I purchased from Running Brook Seeds.

So very tasty … Sicillian cauli

We are still eating broccoli and violet Sicillian cauli, plus beetroot, lettuce, peas, spring onions that look like they are on steroids, and a host of herbs. I’m juicing each day too, there is nothing in my vege garden that is safe! Ha ha

I nearly forgot – I poked about eight of my Whataroa spuds and about the same of another Maori variety into a raised box full of composted horse manure, chook poo, coffee grounds, woodash and lots of lovely compost (home made of course). I always over plant it’s a given. To finish my spud lasagna I covered the box with straw from the nest boxes. Nice! Pics next time …

We are still munching on our spring onions

Loving my garden … hope you are happy in yours!