Child of the Planet

The fine weather streak has broken just as I dropped this pair of Manzanillo olive trees in the ground out in the front garden. There are several olive plantations in the area, but the all produce oil, not fruit for eating.

Biggest planting of seedlings yet. The weird weather is causing plants to 'go to seed'. Dropping in some red cabbage this time Really pleased with the Chinese cabbage and hoping the staggered planting pays off.

Had the most amazing weather this week. No wind and lots of sun. Time to 'service' my tiny apple orchard. Last year I scored a few fruit and I'm hoping to improve next years harvest. I've pruned off branches I don't want, and notched the trunk just above nodes where I would like to encourage a new branch to develop. Click here to read about the 'tethering'

Today I rigged up a dome of frost cloth over the garlic Look at the first time I had garlic undercover out in the front garden The front garden gets hit by strong salt laden westerlies in the spring I'm wondering if the cover will reduce airborne weed seeds and the movement of rust spores.   

It's been a couple of years and the breck I planted to slow the westerlies off the sea is starting to be a useful size. Cllick here to see what it looked like a couple of years back I've started to prune the largest tree to control it's height.    Nice to see the first flowers appearing. Good for the bees and the tui.