Been a very busy week so far but not because I won the big
one or in fact anything hehehe... still love my old penny though! If the truth
be known, even if I did...the only thing I would really want is a modest little
house with tons of room for gardens and the boys to frolic. I would make all
sorts of gardens full of fruit, vegetables and herbs to be eaten, dried, and
preserved. Cupboards lined with jars of jams, jellies, pickles, fruits,
cordials and chutneys. The preserving pot I regularly bash my noggin on in my
present kitchen would spend more time on the stove working, than trying to do
me in at any opportunity! A meal could simply be a walk around the garden
nibbling on fresh fare. Knowing what you are eating, where it has come from,
how fresh it is and how it has been grown...that simply can’t be beaten. I would have water too, maybe a stream so
diesel could swim his days away or by the beach so he could run for miles along
the sand, splashing through the waves and chasing bits of driftwood. Ahh,
dreams...the one thing that doesn’t cost a thing.
I brought some seed from a certified organic grower in
Taranaki which finally arrived this week. Seven small brown paper bags (just
like the pay envelopes from the good old days) containing fresh organic seed,
country gentleman corn, celery, red orach, Takamatua black seeded bean, Caigua,
strawberry popcorn and bright lights beet. Some of the growers I am purchasing
seed from have been really helpful by sharing tips and ideas without even
considering it and some don’t want to give any knowledge away but I have been
finding a really good place to discuss all these kinds of things is on some of
the internet forums. Someone suggested flour as a snail/slug deterrent today, apparently
it gums them up and they can’t move. Talc keeps ants at bay and a mix of golden
syrup/baking soda attracts the ants but once they feed on it, the soda blows
them up. I will experiment with these and post the results. Right now I have a
mix of syrup and soda in a small container at the bottom of my peach tree which
in the last few days has become a haven for them. The poor little tree is only
a few feet high in a pot and it is covered in them...hopefully the mix does the
trick!
My books on herbs and organics also arrived earlier this
week, hopefully I will find some quiet time to have a good poke through them
because what I have glanced at so far looks to be very helpful. Everything
else is growing nicely which is probably down to all the nice weather we have
been getting lately. My rhubarb looks gorgeous, corn has grown twice what it
was, jack-be-little’s are starting to get good growth and I can see them
hanging down from the sawhorse soon. The melons are growing slowly but the indoor
sunflowers are so big I will need to re pot tomorrow. I am going to have a good
supply of mixed lettuce, the bok choi pot I dropped on the floor the other day
(and quickly stuffed it all back in the pot) has come away again and I have
two luffa's popped up now. Tomato and capsicum in the garden are growing but not
doing alot but the two sunflowers get taller everyday...I can’t wait for their
happy little heads to show full of seed. I have lots of marigolds coming up
which will make a colourful addition to the garden and a good attractant for
the bees to visit. Still no passionfruit or flowering banana passionfruit
appearing but I do get a little impatient sometimes so I will wait a little
longer. On advice from a few people on the forum, I took some of the lime buds
off the other day. There was so many on it and apparently that can prevent good
fruit if they have too much on them. I sort of brushed them gently, letting the
ones that were loose fall off, the rest I gave some gentle persuasion so now
there is a much more realistic number on it...and they are getting bigger. I
may just get those fresh limes this year after all.
