Sun, clouds and seagull. Muriwai beach

The trials and tribulations of gardening! Oh boy …

Now that’s what you call a ‘lean’ – coriander seedlings

Seedlings as you can imagine need light to grow. So in their quest for such they will bend in rather odd angles and grow spindly in the process. As I have learnt previously, Andrew’s man shed which is filled with blokey things like tractors and spades and stuff is the perfect place to pop the seed tray during the day. Lots of sun, in fact it can become a bit of a sauna at times. Anyway last Tuesday I moved the seeds through into the room, removed the rack from the top of the tray and closed the adjoining door to the garage, sadly I didn’t see the gap under the roller door. Have you guessed it yet? The gap was just large enough for a cat to squeeze underneath. A cat on a mission of course. Needless to say the seed tray regardless of its residents was used as a kitty toilet.

Oh dear me! I was devastated … at least half of the tray was flattened, labels had toppled and lots of seedlings had been stomped into the dirt.The cat was long gone, would you hang around? I did manage to prick out some of those seedlings and have since sown more. Truth is, I don’t know why I go to all the trouble as it would be so much easier to go down to the local nursery and buy them, but then I’d miss out on all the fun of growing them wouldn’t I?

Dwarf beans …

In saying that, my bean seedlings are all up – splendid looking specimens too.  Love the way they bust through the soil. Plus a couple of the cucs are also poking their heads through still wearing their seed covering which looks for the world like a hat! I’ve moved a box with about 8 punnets through into our kitchen / dining room too. Now that’s dedication for you. We have an expanse of glass in both these areas … so these lucky seeds are literally ‘soaking up the sun’. Get growing I say!

I’m juicing each and every day now, anything and everything. That’s the spirit. I’ve even been contemplating juicing garlic and chilli. We are still munching on cauli, broccoli, peas and loving loads of fresh parsley, oregano, mint & coriander. There is something special about ‘growing your own’.

Loving the garden in spring.

I need to fertilise the gardens again too, but will only use my seaweed brew rather than the comfrey tea which is high in nitrogen and quite frankly, with spring here the last thing you need to do is promote leaf growth .. the weather is doing a fine job of that.  No action in the spud box either – but will slosh in some fert to get the ‘show on the road’.

Spring is always a super time of year in the garden. Fruit trees are covered in blossom, our flower beds are coming to life and suddenly there is colour in the garden, lovely. That pear branch that I tied to a plakky milk bottle is starting to bend also – which means I won’t need to snip this branch off now. Brilliant!

Solitary lime ..

To finish up our week – Rikki came around to check on his bees and to split the hives. This is a bit of a process and one worthy of donning his suit. He did suggest that I pop one on too. Are you kidding?

Our lovely pooch Dan.

Happy gardening …