More from the garden trenches.......

Well, I couldn't do much in the garden last weekend as my green bin full of weeds missed it's weekly collection. This weekend was a different story.

Saturday I put away a load of wood for Mr SFP as he was studying. We have had a particularly cold winter in Christchurch and had run out of wood for the log burner. As we were expecting a lot of wet weather this week I didn't want to get caught out. Very satisfying to see it stacked in the wood shed- made Mr SFP go and admire it. A little dark in the shed for a picture.

Sunday after Church I donned my gardening clothes, gumboots and rolled up my sleeves. I've decided to try and concentrate on one small area at a time. I'm in awe of gardeners who have every part of their gardens organised, utilised and neat and tidy. I have such a long way to go, but am looking at the small, rather than the big picture. I worked on the garden where we have 2 feijoa trees which are in front of my compost bins. They reward us with a fabulous crop each year for very little effort on my part.

Feijoa trees

I trimmed the trees away from the washing line and compost bins and mulched under them with pea straw- they look much tidier now. I mulched the foliage in my muncher- amazing how a wheelbarrow full of branches becomes a small basket full of goodness.

Compost bins- see the horse poo.

One job in the garden always seems to make another. I then needed to reorganise the compost bins so I could add the munchings. So I turned the middle one into the end one and covered it with pea straw and some weed mat. Mrs HMM needs some worms for her worm farm and I was happy to see there were hundreds of wiggling ones there. Told her we would have a worm hunt on Friday when she comes to craft. We have got a lot braver at handling worms since our first attempts. Started the new bin with the munchings and the horse poo collected earler in the year.

Chicken corner

My big news of the year is that we're seriously thinking about getting some chickens. Since having bantams and chickens growing up, I've always wanted to have some of my own. We have a HUGE convolvulus problem in this area which should be the vegetable garden. In the past few years it's gotten away from me to the point of despair. I've now decided to move the vegetable garden to an area without convolvulus which means this can be chook corner. Hope chickens enjoy eating convolvulous!! Next step is getting a friend to help us build an enclosure and chook house, I can't wait!!

Beans are up

I'm also excited that my beans are up. To date all are up, except for one. This is my first real attempt at seed raising and it's definitely given me confidence to keep going. It's still a miracle to me that you can plant seeds, raise plants and get food from them. I'm a true believer. Mrs HMM and I will be scouring seed catalogues for tomato seeds to plant in August.

Blueberry plant

I treated myself to a visit to the garden centre today- one of my favourite places to shop. Decided I would invest in another blueberry plant. I have one and harvested 2 blueberries last year. Hope to do better with another plant, maybe enough for a muffin this year.

Well that's my garden round up. I must admit I'm very excited about my new adventure. I go to sleep with gardening books next to the bed and gardening dreams.

TTFN Mrs SFP XXX

Oops it's been a while, sorry

Sorry, I know it's been a while since I last blogged. I seem to have gotten bogged down by life, Winter and reading other people's amazing blogs. Everybody else always seems to have a clear vision about what the purpose of their blog is. I haven't got to there yet. I guess to some point I want it to be about my journey to a more purposeful and sustainable lifestyle. I realise the planet is in big trouble and we all need to be responsible and reduce our carbon footprints. I've always wanted to have a proper grown up vegetable garden that helps supplement our families diet. So, to that end this in part will be a diary of my adventures in the backyard.

Welcome to my new follower Miriam from Make it Give It- let it Shine. I read your blog every day and it always leaves me feeling a little lighter :-).

It was a beautiful day here in Christchurch, New Zealand today. A little surprising for this time of the year, being Winter. I spent the morning doing some sewing on an order I need to get finished. After lunch I treated myself to a distraction and went to our local plant nursery. One of my favourite places to hang out after the library and Spotlight LOL. I was after some broad bean seedlings to replace the ones that the dogs had destroyed. Alas there were none to be had. So, I made do with some pretty rainbow silverbeet and some seed raising mix.

When I came home I made use of the empty toilet rolls I have been saving for the last few months and planted some broad bean seeds. Much more economical than buying seedlings

 

Planted broad bean seeds.

Each year I mean to plant my own seeds and I always procrastinate and the season passes me by. I grew up with a wonderful Dad who was a great gardener/handyman and nothing was ever a problem.......he just did it. Didn't think that he couldn't, didn't google it, look at You Tube, just did. So, from now on that will be my motto, just do it!! I often feel Dad's keeping an eye on me as I potter about the garden.

After that, I thought of a few more things I could do. I planted out my rainbow silverbeet in one of my raised beds and covered them with hoops and a bit of netting to stop the dogs, hopefully. I'm always very good at buying plants.......and never planting them. Not anymore.

Raised bed, neat and tidy. Potatoes in a tyre- left overs gone to seed.

I also had a weed out of some of the tyres I have filled with dirt and added some pretty pea straw. The rhubarb is starting to come away again and will benefit from the horse poo I added.

Can't wait for some desserts using it. Confession- in all of the 16 or so years we have lived here, I have only cooked it up a couple of times. Bad person, just do it!!

Blueberry, blackberry, rhubarb and mint.

The 2 empty tyres will be for garlic, I know they should have been planted sooner, I guess I didn't "just do it", but I will tomorrow.

I have made progress here- I'm getting it ready for 2 raised beds.

The small back lawn doesn't look much different, but I have disposed of and mulched quite a bit here, believe me. The grass has died off, and was never very good anyway. With 2 dogs, there's not much chance of replanting a lawn. So I've decided to buy a couple more raised beds and turn it into a food productive area, how exciting!!

I've been totally inspired by Gavin's blog and philosphy over at "The Greening of Gavin". Wow, what an environmental super star. Reading his blog this afternoon prompted my visit to the garden centre. I just wanted to get something planted in the ground. I am reading my way through his blog from the start and eagerly awaiting new posts. Well worth adding Gavin to your list of blogs to visit.

Hopefully with the nicer weather, inspiring blogs and partner in crime in the garden Mrs HMM, I'll be blogging my garden revolution more regularly.

Mrs SFP XXX

Frugal firelighters

I would like to welcome Roz from squiltz- she is a fellow Cantabrian and has a delightful blog- well worth a read. Thank you Roz for stopping by.

Self sown Cabbage Tree which towers above our garage.

One of the most useful trees in our garden is our cabbage tree. It's hard to believe that this started as a self sown seedling and is now a majestic specimen. This tree is native to New Zealand. It's leaves are a bit of a nuisance to most people. They don't compost particularly well (sort of look like flax leaves) and they can't be put in our Council recycling green bins. However wind about 12 together and tie with a spare leaf and they make fabulous firelighters! Two with some newspaper get the fire going in no time at all. As we are heading into Winter a good fire is much appreciated.

I try and use the fire for other purposes as well- cooking on top, heating water and drying or airing washing in front of it. It really is the heart of our home.

Firelighters- something out of nothing.

Pumpkin seeds- future planting.

I made up a big pot of pumpkin soup the other day and in my new gardening frame of mind decided to dry the some of the seeds. I manage to grow pumpkins in the compost bins OK, so hopefully purposeful planting will go well. Which reminds me- there is a vine down the back which has deposited a pumpkin on the neighbour's shed roof. I must go and nab it, just not sure how to tell if it's ready. Friends grow pumpkins vertically up supports, so I think I might give that a go. Roll on Spring!! Off to watch New Zealand's hottest home baker, bye for now  Julie

Peastraw and Poo :-)

At the weekend I had 10 lovely bales of peastraw delivered, which dear Mr SFP barrowed down the back for me. This will go on my gardens once I have them clear again from the huge logs still littering them. I'll also use it to build up my second raised bed and put some of it in the compost bins.

Peastraw waiting to be deployed.

Yesterday Mum and I visited her oldest friend whom she's know since her school days and we picked up a load of horse poo. Mum only has a small car, but we managed to pack a few bags in. For the price of a yummy pineapple and date loaf (baked by Mum) and a bag of feijoas (provided by me) it was a worthwhile trade. This will eventually make its way around the rhubarb and into the compost bin. Dad used to hang it in a bag in water and make liquid fertiliser, but I don't have that strong a stomach.

Horse Poo

I also worked on my raised beds- one I cleared of old tomato plants and courgette plants ready to be planted. The other I needed to move a load of bricks before shifting it into place. The bricks will be used in paths in my future potager garden. It was a bit of a mission, but I got there in the end. The ever useful Mr SFP managed to hammer the posts into the rock hard ground- no mean feat! Now it just needs lots of soil and compost to fill it up. It's amazing how much one of these takes. Still a couple of trees to come down around the fenceline to eliminate shade. This will have to wait as we have NOWHERE to put any more garden waste/logs. I'm so excited about my future gardening exploits.

Cleared raised bed awaiting planting.

New raised bed awaiting a ton of soil.

I managed some time to myself before the boys got home from school to work on the May Christmas decoration challenge. Mrs HMM will be pleased. I'm making good progress, but it really needs to be done in the daylight. Sorry about the picture- took it in the twilight.

Frosty Snowman- progress on May make.

New Zealand Master Chef is on tonight, so I will be sitting down and watching it and taping River Cottage on the other channel. I don't watch very much TV, but these are must sees! Have a nice evening......Julie

Timber..............

This weekend saw a very busy working bee Saturday morning. Four men including Mr SFP all toting chainsaws and attitude. The culprits were 2 enormous silver birches and a liquid amber at the front of our property. They were here when I moved in 18 or so years ago and have just continued to grow. They were close to the power lines and with the recent earthquakes in Christchurch, we thought it safer to take them down. I am not a fan of chopping down trees at the best of times, but had to see the sense in the proposal. Plus we were seriously lacking in natural light in our 2 front bedrooms- not any more!!

One tree already down- left hand corner.

The very helpful friends were on the spot at 8.00am ready to risk life and limb- although I think they all had fun. They belong to our Church and always very willing if you need a hand. My job was to feed them which I did with date scones and soup and buns. Everything was down by 1.00 pm. What an amazing days work!!

Hard to believe how big they were!

Now we "just" have to hire a grunty wood chipper and chip all the branches- good for the garden and chop the enormous logs for the fire next Winter. I think the work is just beginning LOL.

Hard at it.

We have 2 huge piles like this to put through the chipper.

After- seems like a different house.

I have to do a double take when I pull up to our house now because it now looks totally different. Next step will be to turn the garden at the front from a shade garden to something else. Always something to do............

A busy weekend in the garden

I have been very inspired by a fellow Cantabrian with a gorgeous garden blog- Ruth at Deep into the Darkness Peering (see link at sidebar). So much so that I rolled up my sleves and spent 3 days in the garden. My aim is to grow plants from seed- preferably heirloom and feed the family. With tomatoes currently $7.99 a kg at the local supermarket this just makes good sense!!

I was so inspired I purchased a plastic glasshouse which was delivered on Tuesday- can't wait to get it up and running. Tomatoes in Christchurch have been very disappointing over the last couple of years- only ripening at the very end of the season. Hopefully this will make a difference. Plus with somes shelves I'll be able to start my seedlings, saving more money.

My new baby- can't wait to get it put together.

I'm also getting 10 bales of pea straw delivered on Saturday and I'll be off to a friends to get some free horse poo. I've taken some before photos of my rather overgrown and unloved garden, hopefully this will be a visual diary of my progress. I've had a go in the past at planting and it didn't "take". I feel more positive with all the amazing self sufficiency and frugal blogs out there, so watch this space!!

Aerial view over black and red currents to raised bed.

Aerial view of raised bed and sad end of season tomato plants.

Rosie dog and nectarine tree on left.

Compost tumbler and cabbage trees now removed.

Raised bed- has had work done on it, so I'll be able to take an after picture.

2 Feijoa trees and convolvulus patch. This needs to be cleared as it is the biggest useful bit I have.

Mint plant, rhubarb, nectarine tree and 2 grape vines.

Strawberry patch- never done well as it's too shady. I have chopped a tree down and may relocate patch.

I have some good features in the garden already- 2 lemon trees, 4 feijoa trees, 3 apple trees, golden peach tree, nectarine tree, 2 pear trees, 2 grapevines, black and red currants and a couple of other productive plants. I have always made compost- I have a 3 bin system, tumbler and small black compost container. A worm farm, one raised bed and now a fabulous greenhouse. What more could a girl want? So......this will be the year of the garden. Over Winter I will get the trees cut down that shade the garden and clear the weeds- I also have a horrible convovulus problem. Come Spring I'll be ready to go.

Wish me luck and I'll be back with progress pictures soon. 

The week that was.......

Well, I thought I was going to be organised this week. I took the pictures and planned what I wanted to share, but got side tracked by life and other people's blogs.

So here is just a general "round up" of some of the things that happened.

Monday is my opshop day. Not as much treasure to be found as in the past, but I did pick up these cute wee tops which will be "repurposed" into designer clothes for dolls.

Old clothes to be repurposed into cute designer clothes for dolls.

I discovered over ripened bananas in the fruit bowl. The family won't eat them like this, but will if made into a yummy cake, complete with chocolate icing. Sorry, no picture of the cake iced, it went too quickly!

Life gives you squidgy bananas.....make banana cake!

Necessities from Spotlight.

Tuesday necessitated a trip to Spotlight, with a list which always must be added to. I needed threads to start our May challenge on Friday and new fabric.

The first 2 of our 4 feijoa trees are producing a bountiful harvest. They are youngest son's favourite fruit- he would sit under the tree with a spoon if he could. They seem to be an acquired taste- I just love the smell, taste and texture. Other family members don't fancy them at all. They are always a pleasant surprise at this time of the year when the garden is starting to shut up shop.

Thank you feijoa tree.

Thursday bought belated birthday celebrations from my lovely workmates- I was away from work last Thursday for my actual birthday. Lovely morning tea spread plus beautiful flowers to bring home- gerberas and roses.

Friday afternoon after work is Mrs HMM's and my time to catch up and do a little crafting. We critique Project Runway and New Zealand's Hottest Home baker. Of course we both think we can sew and bake better than both programmes. I am still working on this little Debbie Mumm cross stitch in funky colours. I am a particular fan of her style- especially the black and white chequer board patterns and borders she uses.

A work in progress.

This will need to be put aside very soon to take up the May challenge which is:

Frosty Blue- May challenge.

Now Mrs HMM didn't think this looked too bad, but I've studied it closely. It looks equally as challenging as Harriet did........we shall see. I think this will be a during the day project in very bright light!! Watch this space........

I hope to post tomorrow about my exciting new garden adventures....we shall see about this too.