Kia hora te manno
Kia whakapapa paumamu te moana
Kia tere te Karohirohi

May the calm be widespread
May the sea glisten like the greenstone
And may the glimmer of summer dance across your pathways

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

At long last I have learned how to grow great vegetables

This year I am so thrilled with the vegetable garden, as it is the best, since we built it about four years ago.
So lush and lovely
Peas, bush beans, zucchini, swiss chard, kale, strawberries,and flowers all share a place in this raised bed.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, lettuce, broccoli, and flowers are happy here in this raised bed.
These lettuce plants have been feeding us for three weeks

The strawberries are ripening faster than we can eat them.
Lettuce, bush beans, a self sown tomato plant, and self sown onions are sharing the recycled tire.
This is the first time I have had broccoli grow to harvest stage. In the past it was puny and did not form heads. The kale is producing almost faster than we can use it.


Almost ready to harvest

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Well earned R&R coming up

A few more photos to hold you until I return from a few days sitting beside Bank's Lakes WA. I really need a few days of rest as I feel worn out, and who knows how I will feel after my first ever visit to a chiropractor this morning. I have had a couple of falls within the last couple of years and since then have had pain in my left leg. Exrays have shown no bone damage, but as I fell backwards and both times came down on my behind, I am thinking perhaps I have a pinched nerve.Well we will see, if nothing else the good company of friends, a glass or two, or perhaps three and doing nothing unless I have too will be enjoyed to the fullest.

The two ripe beauties did not make it outside the garden fence yummy!

Scarlet runner beans

A PVC pipe about a foot long, with holes drilled along bottom edge, and sunk in the raised beds.
A easy way to compost, as the worms enter through the holes, consume the veggie scraps which have been place inside the pipe, and distribute the goodness throughout the raised bed.

So many blueberries to look forward to

I like to plant flowers with the veggies in the raised beds, also add flowers in pots here and there.

The straw is doing a good job of keeping weeds at bay and conserving moisture.

A few pot brightening up a corner.

Monday, June 03, 2013

Better late than never

Sorry I have not been posting lately, but I have had a rather busy schedule. Yesterday I spent a lot of time in the veggie garden,and this year I couldn't be more pleased with the growth. We have had a very wet Spring so the plants have responded well, I also have experimented with adding new amendments to the soil in the raised beds.



Through the garden fence

Kale and cabbage in the rear, scarlet runner beans on the left



bush beans

Best lettuce I have ever grown

strawberries ripening

The tomatoes have flowers. This one is Early girl