Clearing the new garden

We are moving house...*sigh*, but the good news is that the very historical home we are moving into had wonderful previous gardeners.  Their vege patch must have been a glory.  It is now overgrown with chickweed and mallow.

But today Albie and I spent the afternoon making a start on it.  We have slashed and dug and raked and hoed, and now there are some free beds where we have transplanted some of our seedlings from our current house.  In went garlic, in went cauliflower, in went rhubarb, in went snow peas and in went a raspberry cane.

Now we are exhausted.  Photos to come soon, I promise

A third snow

Can you  believe it? we had a third snow morning.  Just a dusting of icing sugar for the grass, and a good frozen one on our cars.  It is virtually unheard of to have more than 1 snow a year, we have been so privileged.

The garden didn't seem to mind.  Once the snow melted it left puddles everywhere and the garden had needed a nice drink.  Even a week later we still have some big puddles.  And with warm weather, well everything is growing.  I found a tiny rhododendron bush in the undergrowth, and the jasmine has started to flower.  Such a beautiful fragrance in late afternoon when I walk past.

My basil hasn't come up.  Whether the seed just wasn't viable in the first place, or whether I have done something wrong trying to germinate them, I'm not sure.

This week we ate leeks and carrots and sprouting broccoli which had overwintered in the abandoned garden of what is destined to become our new home!  the leeks were enormous! and delicious.

Daffodils are out

The first daffodils have come out into flower.  I picked them and brought them inside, hopeful that spring must soon be on the way.

My motherinlaw had given me a bag of daffy bulbs earlier in the year, and seeing some in flower reminded me all about them.  Up until now I had only given them limited thought, but all of a sudden the rush was on to get them into the ground.  Some were already sprouting..eeek.

I also planted my first seeds.  Some basil.  I have been saving those plastic containers that lots of food items seem to come in, in the supermarket.  Plastic, with a lid, they look like mini cool frames.  So I have experimentally put basil seeds into one and if that is successful I will do all my seeds that way this year.

Yay for spring!

Snow, snow and spring

Well, for the 2nd time this winter, we have had snow and LOTS of it.  It's pretty much unheard of for Christchurch to have so much snow.  For 3 days the snowstorm raged in wages of cold and hail and then snow again.  Several dumpings over the days ended with about 18cm of snow.

With the thaw came lots of puddles and slushiness.  The garden sloshed in mud for days and is only just drying out now, a week later.

Christchurch's coldest day in years

Apparently Monday was Christchurch's coldest daytime temperature since 1918...and my garden looks it.  Not a dusting of snow, not a small amount of snow, but large, fluffy over 1/2 a foot of snow.  It was gorgeous.  It stayed for the 3 days on the ground in the coldest parts of the garden.  You should have seen the poor chooks wading around braving snow up to their bellies.

The only thing growing was snowmen.  This was the last, and smallest of a series, some I made with Matt, and then Montana-Rose made about three.  Apparently this one is a Snowlady, cute eh!

Grapefruit tree

Let's hope the Grapefruit aren't frozen solid after this