Yesterday was a beautiful winter’s day in Auckland, one of those that makes you smile and crave to get outdoors in the garden (today’s not too bad either!).
Winter magic at our place
Nothing like a walk on the beach in the morning, followed by the morning coffee. It was the perfect day to sling the camera over the shoulder, grab some pics of the sun glistening on the water and lose my telephoto lens cap. Another one lost at the beach!
Muriwai beach
The garden is looking rather good too. Broad beans have shoved aside the dirt and the garlic which was only planted about 10 days ago, is already shooting skywards with vigour. Love the stuff!
I opted not to plant red or Egyptian walking onions this year – I have always been a creature of habit, so it’s good to break a few rules.
Well in saying that I learnt a nasty lesson with my brassicas. They are usually planted in April and this year they went into the dirt much later. Why? I have no idea. As they were late the pesky white butterflies had flitted off for winter so there was no need to erect the cloche to protect them. The truth is, the cloche actually keeps the confines warmer encouraging seedling growth and also offers some protection against the gastropods – think slugs and snails.
Mentioning the bane of my life – the slimeys have decided that they are having an alcohol free year, so they are avoiding my beer traps. I would never use any form of bought snail bait as we are organic and the majority of these are toxic, so I resort to the hand picking method. Out at night with the torch grabbing the suckers while they are busy dining, and then dropping them into the beer whether they like it or not. Or course I have tried an array of other things – coffee grounds, seaweed, diatomaceous earth, wood ash and wool stuffed around the edge of the raised bed and not to keep the soil warm either. Apparently they have an aversion to climbing over the wool.
Oh and for all those that love rhubarb, at long last I have finally planted one … it is sitting very happily in the garden in our backyard (the one near the chook paddock). It got stuffed into a hole with loads of homemade compost – the best stuff ever!
Collin’s offspring …
Feeding the wildlife
Our beautiful old boy Lenny …
Happy gardening!