Two weeks later

Ok, so it's been a while since I wrote an update, but we've been a little slower around here later...  More rest and planning and less working on the garden

Everything has another two weeks growth on it since I last posted, and we're definitely keen on our lasagna gardening now.  Who would have thought that such a lack of prep would give such a great result?  Sam's seedlings have turned into large, happy, healthy plants that need a minimum of watering and the garden itself needs hardly any weeding.  Even my tamarillo has grown a huge amount

 My most awaited treasure of the garden thus far is starting to show signs of fruiting.  It's a pepino (incredible Ruby variety) which I've potted on the front porch.  I've never eaten pepino before, but it looks like it'll be interesting to try.

The nasturtiums around various plants are just starting to get to a decent size, and the blooms are coming.

My seedlings will be split between our garden and this Friday's school fair.  The greenhouse has been working absolute wonders, even though I keep leaving it open overnight and broke one of the zips that close it (already)

The girls have been and started their garden.  We've decided to give them a spot on the porch to put pots and fill them with colourful flowers and some herbs and fruits.  This is the statice and straw flower seeds they planted a few weeks back, now as nice healthy seedlings

 My potatoes are taking off and now need to be packed higher with another tyre and some straw.  It's something I've never tried for potatoes before, but I understand you can get good results with straw in place of soil

The chooks have been clearing out the wandering jew from under our kiwifruit.  It's finally starting to look really good, and I'm working on some beneficial plants to put under the vine once the area is cleared

As for the kiwifruit vine itself, the branches are heavily laden with flowers, and there's a quiet buzz around the vine continuously, from our friendly neighbourhood bees, pollinating furiously

The first raspberries have started forming on one of our canes

One of my most looked-forward-to flowers has finally produced it's flower heads.  This is the heirloom "Cathy" sweet pea I bought seeds for and planted earlier in the year.   It's taken forever, and unfortunately, it looks like her companion "Heathcliff" hasn't come up at all, but hopefully the next lot I planted will come up.  The fragrance is gorgeous and wafts lightly past your nose when you enter our front door.  Next year, here's hoping I can cover the whole railing with them.

Sam has removed three of the four native trees we had in our front garden.  Lovely as they were, 20 metre tall trees that are messy just wouldn't cut it when they were next to the front door.  The sunlight in this garden has improved massively now, and we're working on filling the area with some brassicas and more herbs.  The kanuka and  two cabbage trees have been transplanted to the back yard, with the manuka to follow soon.  Hopefully they'll survive, but we'll replace them if we need to.

Other than that, we've sat down and planned out our next year worth of changes to the house and garden and are getting excited about the holiday time coming up, where we can put some plans into action!

Until next time, take care and enjoy yourselves,

Mama Fern