I have done some weeding, planted out leeks and onions, and sown a second crop of climbing beans alongside the early row!
Life is good!
An exploration of a gentler, simpler, more organic, more analogue way of living, and the rewards and blessings that flow from this
has officially arrived today, with a glorious sunny day that demands some time be spent in the garden!
I have done some weeding, planted out leeks and onions, and sown a second crop of climbing beans alongside the early row! Life is good!
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is out in full flower at the moment.
This is the first garden I have had with Lilac in it - the fragrance is subtle but lovely! I took this photo a last year with a wonderful Rolleiflex 6002 medium format camera passed on to my by my cousin, who used it in his professional practice for some years - a long time ago now. Getting a replacement battery for it was a challenge, and this is from the first test roll I shot with this camera! Along the side of the house there are a number of plants, shrubs and trees that I do not know the names of!
There is also Hydrangeas, Roses (some very old), Elderberry and Lilac to name a few. At this time of the year, to walk around the house is a fragrant delight! One of my favourites, with a very strong fragrance, is this one. It is a quite nondescript shrub, but what a sweet smell! I have no idea what it is called! are plentiful in our garden - a previous owner was an enthusiast, and we are the beneficiaries, with many mature examples of different colours, flowering one after the other, and giving us a constantly changing palette of colour for around two months at this time of the year!
I really like this one! We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on Friday.
Our wedding was ten days after we settled on our home and moved in. The church is just three blocks away, and the reception was at home. It is the best time of year in the garden, as the seedlings are getting going in the glasshouse, the first of them are being planted out in the vegetable beds, and the flowers in the front garden are a constantly changing kaleidoscope of colour. These Magnolias are out at the moment. This is a film image I took three years ago when I first started shooting film again. Made with my Contax and Agfa Vista 200 colour film. Those bean seedlings are reaching for the sky!
Seven days from breaking out of the soil, and they are going for it! Another week or maybe two and they will be ready to plant out! Fresh beans for dinner sometime in January!!! Spring is in full flight now, and the garden is a fragrant wonderland! There is a mature espaliered apple tree in a corner of the garden that seems to flower and fruit only about once every three years.
That is the photo in the top left - it is covered with flowers, so I am hopeful of a bumper crop! They are nice apples too, although I have no idea of the variety. The picture at the top right is another apple that I grafted when we first moved here five years ago. The first three years the tree just sat there doing nothing, but last year it was away like a rocket, and it looks like it might want to give me an apple or two this season. It is a Bramley's Seedling, the famous English cooking apple, and a favourite of mine! In the front garden we have a bewildering variety of Rhododendrons, in every imaginable colour. They don't all flower at once, this variegated pink one has just come out! I took these pictures just now as the sun is going down, with my vintage Zeiss F1.7 50mm lens attached to the Canon DSLR. Manual focus, manual aperture and shutter speed. Beautiful images! is finally upon us, and it is time to start planting out these seedlings, and sowing more carrots and root crops in the hope that they will germinate this time!
I know better than to expect the warmth to continue, we are not halfway through spring and there will be more cool, windy and wet spells, but it is nice to be out in the sun! These are silver beet (chard) seedlings. Always something in the garden to eat, and great with a white sauce! Spring can be a strange time in the garden - winter crops are near their end, summer crops are being sown and planted, but for a little while there is not much fresh to eat!
However, these Buttercrunch Lettuces sown last Autumn look delicious! One of my favourite, you can take single leaves, and they do develop a loose, tasty heart as well. are a summer favourite, I grown them every year.
Because of the shortish growing season and temperate climate, I start them off in a tray in the glasshouse, planting the seedlings in a warm part of the garden in late October or early November. Growing from seed is the best, you are part of the whole process of nature from germination to saving seed at the end of the season. The first of them is just springing out of the soil now! |
AuthorSteve Mitchell has had a varied and busy career including stints as a carpenter and builder, police constable, air traffic controller, commercial pilot and businessman, almost always more than one thing at the same time. Seeking a simpler life, he came to Bluff, the southernmost town in New Zealand, and for the first five years lived simply and happily in a 115 year old historic home, with half an acre of developing garden and orchard. Now very happily married to the most amazing lady, Steve lives in nearby Invercargill, gardening, photographing and playing music. He still works in the Aerospace Industry, and he is very grateful to his Creator! Categories
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December 2021
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