Happy New Year for 2018
This week, I’m looking ahead to the garden projects for 2018. There’s prepping to grow asparagus and saffron. Also want to get the rear water tank hooked up to the gutter collection. Concentrate energies into getting a better yield from the apple trees, and to build another garden bed out the front.
The big hope for the summer, is that it rains occasionally. The local landscape gardeners are ‘doing it tough’. No one needs lawns mowed.
If you don’t water something, it dies so the weeds aren't much of a problem. All the roadside berms are yellow stubble. The 'big dry' is highlighting the need to start thinking about irrigation schemes for next summer.
Now that the compost heap is almost re-distributed, I have a gap in the front lawn where I’ll stick a third raised garden.
There are a few areas in the backyard which slope towards neighbours fences and I’ve been looking for something to plant there.
A mate suggested asparagus and saffron. I like that these plants are perennial and I can leave them to grow in these relatively difficult to access sections of the back yard.
Asparagus likes good drainage and lots to eat. The sand dune that I’m sitting on guarantees water won't hang around for too long and someone suggested that burying a dead sheep in the bottom of a hole is a good start.
Dead sheep are rare on my street, so I'm using fish frames provided by a mate who walks through the surf dragging nets up and down Otaki beach.
I’ve dug a couple of trenches and laid a cardboard liner along the bottom to slow down the goodies leaching into the sand. The trench is then filled with layers of dead fish, comfrey, seaweed, horse manure, grass, and mulched up tree.
A couple of old trellis walls have been thrown down on top to keep the birds off.
I'm thinking that a roll of old carpet could be a better cover?
Saffron crocus need plenty of sun, especially in the autumn.
After spending a couple of days scouting out a good spot for a saffron experiment, I decided to plant the bulbs inbetween the trunks of a banksia tree windbreak that splits the rear yard.
The afternoon sun in the summer cuts a bright wedge between the house and the garage well into the afternoon, and there is a slight northerly slope.
I've cut a hole in the dry sand, and I'm filling it with well matured horse shit.
This is one of my first apples produced by one of five apple trees. I knocked the blossoms off last year to so the plants could direct energy to growing roots. This is the first year I’ve scored some fruit.
I’ve got a tank ready to supply the plants in the back garden with water. It’s not hooked into the gutter system and after the baking spring Otaki has suffered, getting this tank online is a priority.
The big hope for the summer, is that it rains occasionally. The local landscape gardeners are ‘doing it tough’. No one needs lawns mowed.If you don’t water something, it dies so the weeds aren't much of a problem. All the roadside berms are yellow stubble. The 'big dry' is highlighting the need to start thinking about irrigation schemes for next summer.
Now that the compost heap is almost re-distributed, I have a gap in the front lawn where I’ll stick a third raised garden.
There are a few areas in the backyard which slope towards neighbours fences and I’ve been looking for something to plant there.
A mate suggested asparagus and saffron. I like that these plants are perennial and I can leave them to grow in these relatively difficult to access sections of the back yard.
Asparagus likes good drainage and lots to eat. The sand dune that I’m sitting on guarantees water won't hang around for too long and someone suggested that burying a dead sheep in the bottom of a hole is a good start.
Dead sheep are rare on my street, so I'm using fish frames provided by a mate who walks through the surf dragging nets up and down Otaki beach.I’ve dug a couple of trenches and laid a cardboard liner along the bottom to slow down the goodies leaching into the sand. The trench is then filled with layers of dead fish, comfrey, seaweed, horse manure, grass, and mulched up tree.
A couple of old trellis walls have been thrown down on top to keep the birds off.
I'm thinking that a roll of old carpet could be a better cover?
Saffron crocus need plenty of sun, especially in the autumn.
After spending a couple of days scouting out a good spot for a saffron experiment, I decided to plant the bulbs inbetween the trunks of a banksia tree windbreak that splits the rear yard.
The afternoon sun in the summer cuts a bright wedge between the house and the garage well into the afternoon, and there is a slight northerly slope.
I've cut a hole in the dry sand, and I'm filling it with well matured horse shit.
This is one of my first apples produced by one of five apple trees. I knocked the blossoms off last year to so the plants could direct energy to growing roots. This is the first year I’ve scored some fruit.
I’ve got a tank ready to supply the plants in the back garden with water. It’s not hooked into the gutter system and after the baking spring Otaki has suffered, getting this tank online is a priority.
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