It has seemed like a very wet old winter in the Waikato. On the upside – cozy nights in front of the log fire. On the downside – a quiet time in the veggie patch.
Like magic whether the rain clouds disperse or not, mother nature swings into gear. The plum and cherry tree blossom have been and gone into leaf before I could wipe the raindrops from the lens! Pear, crab apple and apple trees are in full bloom.
It’s gorgeous to see the fresh green leaves on the deciduous trees exposing themselves in numbers on a daily basis. Loquats are already fruiting, and the lemons are both fruiting and blossoming (the joys of a Yen Ben tree). There’s even a very confused feijoa tree in blossom!
Our veggie patch is ready to go. With our trusty tiller, it was turned over in just several hours – rather than several days by spade. Worth every penny, especially if you have a big vegetable garden in mind.
In July (albeit slightly late) we planted around 180 cloves of garlic. Enough to keep the garden vampires away and me very happy space in the kitchen come February!
A rather generous patch of potatoes have also been sown. Rather than burying whole potatoes I stick by my tried and true method of cutting the potatoes into chunks where eyes appear and spreading them about. I’m going vertical this year – one giant mound!
In the gloomy past few weeks when the rain has left me housebound, I have planted around 800 seeds in a make-shift ‘greenhouse’ which is actually a warm, wind resistant part of my deck. Snow peas, beans, cucumber, lettuce, kale and beetroot at already firing on all cylinders. I can’t wait to plant them in the garden in coming weeks once (a) they are robust enough to handle a spring downpour and (b) once I’ve prepared my second veggie patch – the ‘salad garden’.
My Salad Garden will be just that – dedicated to greens, herbs and strawberries. Sheltered by English Garden hedging and just a stones-throw from my kitchen, it can be my go-to for a swift salad assembly!
Roll on the sunshine!
