Trellis and Sandpit

Nothing vegetable today....instead we have a new sandpit for the kids to play in and a new trellis for our roses to climb up.

The trellis is particularly good and has taken away the "blank" look that our new stone bed had. Now the whole wall is softened and it looks great.

The sandpit on the other hand, is pretty much a necessity. Albie finally has somewhere to play with his trucks and it will be very nice for him! So far there is no sand in it, and Montana-Rose is just using the wee seat for jumping off...

Help with Broccoli

Our good friend Jan is staying with us for a few days, and yesterday she helped me to freeze broccoli.

It's always the way,when broccoli is ready in the garden it is cheap in the supermarket, I bought 8 heads at 59c each. Jan and I cut, blanched and froze all the bought broccoli so we can enjoy our own now.

The lettuce and spinach are doing well in the new beds we made. They have good leaf growth and look healthy. Luckily the dog has not been back in there digging!

Boysenberry Pruning today

I had to look up on the web about how to prune our Boysenberry and I discovered that once it has finished fruiting you cut off the old canes and tie up the new ones that are forming.

This was easier said than done! The old ones were all tied to chicken netting and extracting them without ripping my hands to shreds was tricky. Then the new ones were all entangled in my legs....Still, I have done my best and it doesn't look too bad.

I think next year it should be prolific as this year was its first "proper" year. Although we have had the plant since we lived in Christchurch, it has been moved several times and not really had a chance to establish itself.

Dehydrating madly

The dehydrator is out on the veranda to minimise the smell in the house. I only have 5 trays for it and they are bulging. One has tomatoes drying, one has plums and the others have mushrooms.

Our broccoli is looking ready and I am saving some for when our visitors arrive on Thursday so we can serve them food fresh from the garden. The broccoli bought from the supermarket ($1.50 per head, its always cheap when we have lots in the garden) I blanched and popped into the freezer....

More mushrooms, lots of growing going on, and I sold $2 worth of corgettes!

Today's haul, the first carrots

I didnt think we would have carrots yet, but I was looking at the bases of them, and decided they were still too close and should be thinned a bit more. The resulting thinnings look pretty good to eat...We are just going to have them lightly steamed then tossed in butter and chopped parsley. Won't they be fab!

Oh, and the dog is in the doghouse. She got into one of our new garden beds and started digging a hole, just where we had put some broccoli plants...wait till Mark sees that! his babies! Well, now they are all covered in chicken netting which I hope will prove to be a suitable deterrent.

Construction of new garden beds underway

I'm taking a break from sawing firewood and stacking it while the other half does amazing things in our garden today. The weather is fiercely hot, and we are lucky to be working on the shady side of our house, and out of the worst of it. Strangely enough this is where we have been planning new vege beds. Here he is working on them!

When we started this garden there we three beds, then we added one more, then two more, and now another 3 - he has one more to go today. It's been interesting to see it evolve, and we always have ideas for new things to go in. We are going to put stones as paths around this lot as well, like the original 3, which you can just see in the distance, (with my washing behind LOL. I think it is going to look rather good, and it also gives us a lot more space for things like black currants and french beans which never really seem to get a look in at present.

The chooks have been happy today too, here they are living their lives and laying us eggs.

Rhubarb and Muffins

This weather really does dictate what to do in the garden. It has been hot for a week now, but with plenty of rain. The garden is going crazy. Every time I look out the window, or walk around zuchinis have lengthened by inches, and peas have podded.

We have picked peas every day, and had zuchinis every night. I tied the peas up as they are waving growing tips all over the place.

The rhubarb loves the rain, it is sprouting enormous green plates of leaves, with large fleshy stalks. I have made rhubarb cordial and was looking for something new to do with it, when Patricia told me about her Rhubarb Muffins!

God, what a treat!

RHUBARB MUFFINS
Make the Custard; 2T custard powder, 1T sugar, 1c milk. Let it cool.

For the muffins: 2c SR Flour, 1/2c sugar, 2/3c milk, 125gm melted butter, 1 egg, 1c rhubarb (chopped small).

2/3 fill muffin cups then dollop on some custard, put a bit of mixture on top. Sprinkle with demarara sugar, or cinnamon & sugar. Bake about 15mins.