Day 20 30/10/2014: Maintenance

Some beans sprouting out now:

The potatoes keep coming through! Pictures don't do it justice they are looking like trenches now, I keep having to put more dirt onto them.

Weeded all the patches today, clear dirt :)

Some more strawberrys are coming through :D

Flowers are starting to come up

Something has been eating these flowers! (the pellets in the picture are fertiliser) - I put slug and snail pellets next to the flowers but they still keep getting eaten grrr...

Pick some more Mandermons off the mandermon tree, it has so much fruit on it!  They taste a bit weird but good enough to eat, nomnom

Cleared up a lot of the garden today (the grass from the new patch that was dug up) - also the area outside the back door.  After I mow the lawn I'm planning on taking a bunch of pictures to compare them against the first pictures from 20 blog posts ago :)

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Path to wood shed / end of garden

Clean back choppings from giant plant & find new tree
Buy and plant new vegetables for new patch & patch next to potatoes
Mow the lawn

Day 19 27/10/14 (and some): All Square..nearly

A few days backlog for this blog post:

I ate the first strawberry that came out :)  It was nice, nomnom. There are quite a few more strawberry's coming out so I'm looking forward to picking and eating those with Louise.

Today I bought a new watering can and some plant food, the day after Bill used his plant food - everything looked stronger, green, healthier and happier....thought it was about time I gave them some more.  Will see what they look like tomorrow.

I squared off the new patch...a couple of the lettuces didn't do too well and have pretty much died so there is a space for 2 new plants at the front, will see what we decide to put there.
I'll add pictures of the new squared off patch tomorrow and I have also planted the remaining flowers next to the wood.

Oh - in the new patch there is sweetcorn, sweet peas and lettuce.

The manderin tree has been pruned and looks very spacious :)

The potatoes keep sprouting through!  So nearly every day I rebury them...apparently once flowers start appearing then they are ready to be picked - there are also a few potato plants sprouting through outside of the patch (where I put the scraps hole)...so I put more on dirt of them aswell, could have a lot of potatoes :)

The beans have sprouted out and are looking good, the silverbeet is getting veryyyyy big and the lawn...damnit i need to mow it again (it grows very quick!).  Apparently every 2 weeks I need to mow it so will need to make that a regularly job.

I also need to weed some of the patches, the weather hasn't been great (in fact today when I was squaring off the new patch it was wet and dirty, I redone it because it was not straight the first time d'oh) - however the rain is probably good for the plants :)

Unfortunately a bunch of the flowers I planted next to the backdoor...well they have all disappeared!!! goddamnit  think snails ate them, luckily we had some left over (I was going to put them in pots) so they have gone in their place - will put snail pellets down this time, I didn't last time cos I thought they only attacked the plants that we eat lol.  Some flowers have already come out from them.

The radish are doing well:

However the apple cucumbers have died!  I think there was a very hot day and they just completely dried up:( bitter  I'm planning to buy some more and trying again.

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Path to wood shed / end of garden

Clean back choppings from giant plant & find new tree
Buy and plant new vegetables for new patch & patch next to potatoes
Mow the lawn

Day 18 21/10/14: Pruning and Strawberry Hoose

Today I chopped the wire out of this old fence and used it to make a shelter for the strawberrys...the first strawberry has been seen growing :D (i.e.first red one) and I thought I had better get some protection against the birds...as me and Louise want to eat the strawberrys (and not the birds)

Here's what the strawberry hoose looks like :D

I also pruned back the manderin' tree

I watered everything today and put some more snail pellets out (half of one of the aple cucumbers was eaten!! wahh!!)...found some miracle grow in the garage so combined some of that in

Tomorrow I'm planning on planting the remaining flowers and re-arranging some of those current planted for Louise's preference...then look into squaring off the new patch



Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Path to wood shed / end of garden

Clean back choppings from giant plant & find new tree
Square of new patch
Prune Manderin tree

Plant remaining flowers

Day 17 20/10/14: Planting flowers, herbs and vegetables

Another great day in NZ :D  Spent the weekend with Arj and Karen, so a few days backlog for the update...got some help today from Squidgy and her little helper :)

Went to Bunnings and the Warehouse Sunday with Louise...we got loads of plants:

Planted the herbs, from left to right: Radish (already planted), parsley x2, Mint, rosemary, coriander..might need to change the pots around a little in the future to suit their growth.

This is the new patch that I mentioned in the last post...it's now got sweetcorn and lettuce planted in it - I'll need to get some string and place a piece of wood on the closest side for the corn to stand up against..it will be attached to the wood shed also

There are also some sweet peas next to the woodshed in the same patch

And where the tulips where (they are now past their peak, have been taken out and left out to dry...we can use them again next year), there is now a bunch of flowers...will see how they come out in the future

Then a bunch more flowers down the side...we had an idea to make a NZ flag! that would be cool but I don't think it is very feasible, we would need a lot more space and flowers, so instead it is a pattern of red, blue and white flowers that will hopefully be apparent as they grow.

Had one of each left so planted them in this little wood pot that I found in the garage (hand made by Louise). Bit crowded but will see what happens

Planted some Apple Cucumber at the bottom of the steps, the plan is for it to grow down towards the lower part of the garden

Also planted a bunch of peas in the small patch in front of the Manderin tree

The potatoes are all shooting through the soil so I covered them up, and all the plans looks bigger / stronger which is good!  I'll need to give them some more plant food soon and top up the slug/snail pellits as there is a lot of them around pecking at the harvest

There is still a patch in the lower part that is ready to be used...not sure what to put there yet - also there are some flowers I have not yet planted from the Bunnings trip and we haven't decided yet on a tree.

Lots to do, need to saw of some wood to square of the new patch, clean up where the tree was cut back, prune the manderin tree and plant the rest of the flowers...that is the plan over the next few days and then will look into developing the first part of the garden more (steps and security light)


Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Path to wood shed / end of garden

Clean back choppings from giant plant & find new tree
Square of new patch
Prune Manderin tree

Plant remaining flowers

Day 16 18/10/14: New Patch and Cutting Back

I cut back the tree that leans over the lower vegetable patch and just need to clear out the trimmings from it...we're planning on planting a tree in that patch so we will need to see at Bunning's what tree is best to plant there

Before:

After:

Sigh...need a better camera.

Anyway Louise wanted to a new patch next to the Wood shed, so yesterday I dug up new patch in preparation, however I have not taken any pictures of it yet...I'll add them in the next post.  I'm planning on squaring off the patch as well to make it look like it is supposed to be there.  Thanks also to my helper Squidgy whilst diggin' up the patch :)

I also need to prune the Manderin tree now we have harvest most of the fruit, I was watching a youtube video on how to prune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdYDBo9L8qs

Prune like a pro :)

Louise made lemonadermon out of the half lemon half manderin fruit...but it tastes pretty bitter, might need a recipe revisal.

I can't remember if I mentioned in the last post, but the radish and beans are all planted now...there is still some space in the vegetable patch that the plants in there are currently unconfirmed (Bunning's trips to confirm)

Here's how the higher patch is looking now, after adding fertilizer and giving it water the plants are looking a lot stronger / taller...although you can't really see in the picture

Tomato plant:

Loads to do

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door (ideas for plant pots)
Mow Lawn (last bit of bottom part)

Path to wood shed / end of garden
Clean back choppings from giant plant
Square of new patch
Trip to Bunning's
Prune Manderin' Tree

Day 15 14/10/14: Mowed the lower lawn

Bill came round yesterday; he had some fertilizer that we put on all the plants before properly watering them (I don't think I had been giving them enough water before!) - today they look a lot better.  He was also able to salvage the tomato plant that had been replaced by cat poop.

We planted runner beans next to the gate and some beans in the lower vegetable patch, then placed some radish into a pot which has been placed next to the back door...there is still space in lower vegetable patch for peas, which me and Louise are planning on eyeing up this weekend at Bunnings.

Today I mowed the lower part of the lawn...I got about 80% of the way through and then smoke started coming out of the lawn mower, so thought I'd better stop lol.  The grass was pretty damn long and looks a lot better now.

Here's the rhubarb I mentioned yesterday:

This tree has blossomed and looks good.

Something is growing in the scraps hole aswell...lol:

Tomorrow I'm planning on finishing the lawn then cutting back some of the plants in the lower part of the garden.

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door (ideas for plant pots)
Mow Lawn (last bit of bottom part)

Path to wood shed / end of garden
Cut back giant (?) plants leaning over patches
Trip to Bunnings

Day 14 12/10/14: Squaring off Lower Vegetable Patch and Mowing

Ah some sad news today, one of the tomato plants has been replaced by cat poo...lol :(

Not sure if you can see it in the picture - but I'm pretty bitter about it, spot the poop:

Anyway still made some progress, mowed the top part of the lawn (but forgot to take a picture and its dark now, so I will tomorrow) - it looks a lot better, and dug up trenches in the lower vegetable patch for the wood, then put the wood in and put the soil back...I like how it looks now, it's squared off and is its own little patch.

Next I'll figure out a path to put beside that, Louise was talking about having some peas between the potatoes which is certainly do-able and then also to plant a tree at the end...which was my original idea but Bill said it would need more space - think we are going to go for it anyway.

I also weeded a section next to the Manderin tree (which is nearly out of Manderin's now), where we can plant something else (unconfirmed).

We'll have to decide when we next go to Bunnings on the best option for those spaces.

Louise showed me some Rhubarb that's been growing as well under the steps to the lower art of the garden, will add a picture of it in the next post - but looks good. She spent some of today gardening the front lawn and done a real good job...she works much faster than me lol^^

Tomorrow I'm planning on mowing the lower part of the lawn and adding some of the fertiliser to the current vegetables...I also need to chat with bill to get the beans for planting.

So sunny here :)

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed or Tree next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door (ideas for plant pots)
Mow Lawn (bottom part)

Path to wood shed / end of garden
Find fertiliser for plants

Day 13 09/10/14: Sawing Wood

Not too much drama today, great weather.  I removed the benches next to backdoor and sawed the wood in the lower vegetable patch to square it off...bloody hard work sawing! Kinda fun though:

Damn forgot to take a picture after I moved them...lol, might use this stuff soon in the future so I put them under the hoose

Here's what the vegetable patch looks like now, going to tidy it up in my next session (dig up the holes for the wood)

Spoke with Louise, she has some bulbs for flowers that we can plant in the side next to the backdoor, also we are planning to go to Bunning's either this weekend or next to buy some "annuals" (I call them flowers) and herb - I'm currently at Arj's, he says I can take some of his mint plants so that'll be one of the first items for the herb patch.

Apparently Bunning's also do lessons in gardening and DIY...so might try that out if there is some stuff I need to learn (although YouTube's pretty useful as well)

I'm a bit worried about those items already planted, think I'll look into given them some plant food in my next session.

These multi-coloured Tullips look nice:

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door (ideas for plant pots)
Mow Lawn

Path to wood shed / end of garden
Find fertiliser for plants
Dig space for the wood (Lower Vegetable Patch)

Day 12 08/10/14: Flower bed and herb garden preparation

Not a very exciting day in the garden today, I carried on weeding the part next to the backdoor and then trimmed the dead part of the leaves off the ??(don't know the name) trees..you can't really see it in the pictures:

Before

After

Weeded some plant pots:

Told you this tree was about to blossom :D

Put all the weeds built up from the last few days into a rubbish bag to take out Friday and then collected all the plant pots...I can imagine walking out the backdoor to a flower bed on the side, tables, chairs and a BBQ below the steps, a herb patch at the start of the garden then a path past the washing line to the wood shed, past the higher vegetable patch and to the gate.  Told Louise of my idea, all seems good!

Loads of these pots..might aswell use them, in fact the garage is packed of good stuff that is not being used.  Could consider tidying it up but that would be a lot of work and maybe a future project.

Also when browsing over the current patches, I remember that I need to saw the wood into the right shape for the lower vegetable patch...will add it to my short term plans.

Louise is going to look into the lawn mower being fixed.

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Organize inside of garage
Shed next to PAB?
Build maze? (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door (ideas for plant pots)
Mow Lawn

Path to wood shed / end of garden

Saw wood for Lower Vegetable Patch

Day 11 07/10/14: Lawn Mower fail / First part of flower bed

OK so the ramp...Louise did use those pieces of wood used under the house while I was in Papamoa on Saturday. So, well, I dunno, lol. Everything worked out well in the end :)

The weather has been pretty terrible the last few days, very rainy and windy...apparently there was an Earthquake as well!   Finally had the chance to mow the lawn today:

Before

After:

That's right after 10 minutes and a phone call to Louise I was finally able to get the lawn mowing going (it's seen better days)...the machine was so loud that I turned the strength down a bit it and it stopped.  Then I could not get it started again and the rotor cable hasn't reeled back in.  The above picture shows the 1 meter of grass I was able to get done in that time sigh.

Instead I put some more dirt on the potatoes so that they won't breach the surface yet and decided to use the time to start on the next part of the garden:

Before:

Then using these Tullips that me and Louise had discussed needed to move out of the box because they were falling over and running out of space:

Became this:

Hmm I feel the picture doesn't do it justice, it looks a lot better!

I took out the lights, only a few of them still work - will see which ones do then consider a place to use them in a garden cos I think they look pretty cool (maybe next to the path to the woodshed)

Would also like to put a plant into this pot, will need to discuss a plan with Louise.

Over the next few days I'm going to work my way down the area next to the back door, weeding and then planting some herbs / flowers.  Might re-arrange it around a little bit.

Ideas to Pursue:
Security light outside wood shed
Stars to bottom level of garden (currently only middle level)
Repair fences / gates
Shed next to PAB?
Build maze (lol!)

Short term plans:
Re-draw Garden with new plan (maybe not necessary for smaller parts)
Herb plants at door
Flower bed at door
Mow Lawn

Path to wood shed / end of garden