We've had a couple of welcome wet days here. Friday saw some very heavy falls. Low, dense clouds blanketing the sky and rain drumming loudly on the roof and gushing from gutters. An inside day for everyone! Sir Steve dog's walk was cancelled due to lashings of precipitation ... but try explaining that to an enthusiastic Labrador who feels hard done by!
The rain continued to fall in heavy showers throughout Saturday. Breaks in the weather, peeks of sunshine now and then, humid and warm. Beautiful boy's cricket match was cancelled, much easier to explain than a Labrador's missed walk! The garden beckoned, that sense of impatience and optimism that I find comes along with soaking rain. So, on with my old, torn and soil-stained gardening clothes and gumboots (that I keep for just such occasions) and outside into the rain ...
Drenched!
The main veggie patch was cleared of its tangled cucumber vines and frazzled celery amongst other things. Ready for rejuvenation!
Cleared veggie patch.
Cranberry Hibiscus and yellow Clivia Lillies were planted in the garden that surrounds the spot where our son's sandpit used to be. There are established shrubs there; a Little Gem Magnolia right in the top corner and two Michelia Cocos either side. I'm trying to grow this garden cheaply by using plants that I propagate from cuttings or through division. I hope to add salvias around the birdbath at some stage too. The pumpkin vine keeps wanting to spread out into the lawn so something more compliant is needed in that spot.
The sandpit garden.
One of three tiny Cranberry Hibiscus that I grew from cuttings.
Division of one yellow Clivia Lily now makes for three!
Sunday dawned a little brighter and so, after a walk with the beside-himself-with-joy Sir Steve, I returned to the veggie patch I'd cleared. I lifted the soil gently with a garden fork, loosening it without turning it over. A sprinkling of little leguminous leopard tree leaves that I collected on our walk and some torn pumpkin leaves from that pesky vine up the back. As they break down, they will nourish to the soil.
Little leopard tree leaves & torn pumpkin leaves to nourish the soil.
A layer of manure and compost over the top.
Watered in with worm tea & protected with a blanket of pea straw.
In a few weeks time I will plant in our rejuvenated veggie patch. I'm already dreaming of lettuce, spring onion, silverbeet and kale. Definitely beetroot too! Perhaps we'll have a few more wet days before then.
What did you get up to during your weekend days?
What did you get up to during your weekend days?
Meg
