I’m not really big on New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I’m undisciplined and they never seem to happen. Hence ‘I must post more regularly in 2017’ is off to a rotten start!
How is your garden growing? Our summer is up and down like a yoyo. It started out with gusto and then it seemed as though someone flicked the switch and it disappeared. Mind you … it is a gorgeous summer’s day so I’m feeling guilty grumbling. Did I say we need rain?
My zucchini sad to say are slow out of the gate. We have only eaten two, can you believe it? My toms look ridiculous – spindly, scraggy things with fruit that seems to rot rather than ripen, so much for the baking soda spray. All is not bad though, we have beans for Africa, gorgeous tasty dwarf and runner beans, loads of cucumbers, spuds (yet to be dug up), lettuce, beetroot, herbs and more herbs and lots of gorgeous flowers to admire and gloat over.
Hubby dug up our self seeded elephant garlic (I shan’t tell the vampires it isn’t the real stuff) which resides next to a garden bed tucked in conveniently near our forest. The reality is, this garden is a fair distance from the house which makes TLC hard to administer to the local residents; yacon and a solitary pumpkin which screams for water.
Reflections at Frog Pond Farm
We had such a wet winter, followed by a damp windy spring, so it’s not surprising that our orchard is out of sorts. The peach crop is much smaller than previous years, the quince tree has only a handful of fruit and rusty leaves, a pear tree has forgotten to fruit at all and my pathetic attempt at spraying the apple tree with neem oil hasn’t worked, so there are still woolly aphids and lots of the suckers. The plums are disappointing too … with the exception of the Damson which is smothered! More jams and jellies are on the way.
Life is grand isn’t it? I have promised myself this year to get out more often with my camera. I often feel as though you will get bored with my pics as they are often much of a muchness.
As happens when you live in the country .. you help your neighbours, the sense of community here is strong. So it was all hands on deck the other afternoon to haul in hay bales for a great gal Karen. 620 odd bales were transported down hills and safely ensconced in her barn which would have been heaving at the seams. There is nothing like the smell of fresh hay .. which I dutifully shared with my chickens, stuffing the sweet smelling stuff into their nest boxes.
Did I tell you about our latest acquisitions? We now have four new Coronation Sussex chickens. The youngsters are about 17 weeks old now and were purchased as hens. In saying that, it looks much like those chooks aren’t going to be devoid of a man in their lives after all! I suspect the old girls might be in for a bit of a surprise – get my drift 😀
Oh and some beach shots … just because I can!
Beach reflections
Muriwai Beach
High and dry at Sandspit beach
Happy gardening