Aussie here I come! I’m off tomorrow to visit friends and family in Melbourne and I’m excited. And it just so happens that I’m having a one on one session with a fantastic photographer – Leanne Cole while I’m there too! How good is that!
I was particularly bad last week and didn’t do a post. Shameful of me – go stand in the naughty corner Julie! Truth was, it was rotten weather and I couldn’t get outdoors to take any pics.
The good news is, that the weather this weekend has been gorgeous, so we were outside pruning those olive trees. Time to open up the middle to let in the light, remove any crossed branches and generally give them a much needed haircut. We have done about 9 trees, which means we have about another 40 to go ..
It was time finally to say ‘goodbye’ to those fiery chilli plants, so habanero, cayenne and a Thai fire all were removed along with their summer neighbours. This bed was quickly replenished with composted horse poo and coffee grounds before more wonderful home-grown garlic was stuffed into the dirt. Bring it on!
As I’m tapping away on the laptop, I have a seriously wicked chilli concoction boiling away on the stove which I’m going to bottle very shortly .. one of those sauces that is not for the faint hearted!
It may have been a tad damp last weekend, but we still managed to wheel out our Briggs and Stratton chipper to mulch a rather large pile of fruit tree trimmings, corn & sunflower stalks. As I had dug out a massive old lavender bush from a raised bed (sorry bees), this needed chipping too. This is always a big job and often leads to the workers (hubby and I) having a few words on ‘how best to do things’ – know what I mean? Worth it though, and at last I have finally tucked in the garlic with some rather sweet smelling mulch!
Our new rooster Colin and his pals have settled in nicely although they are still looking over their shoulder at meal times waiting for the imminent attack from one of the old girls. And mentioning those chickens, as it is wintertime they are having their annual spell from egg laying.
The garden is looking fab, it may be winter but we are still enjoying lots of fresh produce – you just can’t beat growing and eating your own vege and better still when it is organic!
Thought I’d post a couple of pics taken over Queen’s birthday weekend at Karioitahi beach. Nice!
Happy gardening ..