Today we removed the top half of the compost heap (in the cut down water tank) and moved all the yummy stuff from the bottom into an empty portion of one garden bed. The chickens have been having a field day in there!!
Then we dug out a garden bed on both sides of the kiwifruit trellis, dug in some mushroom compost, fed the kiwifruit and mulched the whole bed with barley straw. I am still thinking about what I might grow in those beds alongside the kiwifruit. Any suggestions are gratefully accepted.
We also weeded around the raspberries. The original 2 canes that we planted 18 months ago have now multplied heaps. There would be at least 100 plants come up now. We transplanted about 10 of them today. Within a couple of years we will have raspberries along about 5 metres of our front fence. I can't wait.
The next big project was doing the design and planning for the perimeter fence for the vegie garden/orchard area. W have worked out how many posts, metres of wire etc that we need so may get around to buying that next weekend. I just have to do some more research to get the best prices on the materials. My husband has designed an area 7 metres x 3 metres and 2 metres high which will be bounded on one side by the fence which will be completely netted for our 6 blueberry bushes. There will be photos posted once it is created.
Speaking of photos - I took some today of various aspects of the garden - have a peek!!
In the vegie garden are:
- Zucchini - starting to flower
- Button squash - plants growing bigger every day
- Beetroot - finally getting established after a slow start (they were tiny seedlings)
- Snow peas - 1 of the 6 has died but others are OK
- Basil - 11 plants and they are big enough now that I will be able to pick some to make basil pesto tomorrow
- Capsicums - looking healthy but fairly slow-growing
- Lettuce - picking leaves every day for salads and sandwiches
- Bok choy - developing quite quickly but something is having a nibble at the leaves (little holes in some leaves). I have picked some leaves to chop into stir-fries
- Tomatoes (cherry) - all self-sown (they come up like weeds) and I picked the first 3 ripe ones today. Pop them in my mouth and taste the explosion of flavour!!
I need to get some seedlings of full-sized tomatoes also plant some corn and cucumbers. I might put some corn in the beds alongside the trellis as this will provide a bit of support. It can get quite windy here.
I checked the bunch of bananas today as well but they are still very green. The top hands had started to lose their hard green a few weeks ago and the wildlife had a nibble so I covered them with 3 feed bags - 1 bag I opened the top and bottom and slid up over the bunch but didn't get very far as the bunch is too big. Then I got 2 more and opened them out flat and wrapped around the bunch. Hard to describe - must take a photo. The bunch is so heavy that we had to put a prop against the trunk the other week and also tied the trunk to a nearby fencepost with a piece of rope. Necessity is the mother of invention!! Could not afford to lose all those bananas!!
Time to make some dinner. We are having stewed mulberries for dessert.
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