Look what came in the post...

Last Friday my Kings Seeds catalogue arrived in the post and yes I was ready. A few weeks ago I went through their last years catalogue and my seeds and sorted what seeds I need for this coming growing season making a list of what I need in the back of my diary. Although I have some seeds left from last year there are gaps and things that you always need more of every year.

In last years catalogue is circled what I ordered and likewise i have circled what has been ordered in this years catalogue. Even though I order my seeds online I still fill in the order form for my reference and to calculate my costs before I go to their website, that way I am totally prepared and I have already worked out how many bonus seed packets I am entitled to. The bonus seed packets are A seeds only so I don't tend to buy those but leave them to be selected as my bonus seeds. My bonus seed selections I mark in my catalogue as squares not circles. This might seem a bit odd but it works for me. Having my order form already filled in makes the ordering online very easy as you already have all the codes and can fill in the code number instead of having to select everything through the vegetable and flower selection pages.

This year I have selected some flower seeds as well, can't go past sweet peas in my opinion for colour and scent in the garden and an amazing cut flower bringing the essence of the garden right into the living quarters - just magic. My theory with ordering flower seeds is that for the cost of a punnet of seedlings I have enough seeds to keep my gardens full of the little beauties that I enjoy in the gardens around the house. I normally choose scented flowers and the bonus is of course attracting insect life into the garden which always helps with the pollination of my veggies.

My order has been placed and now I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of my parcel of seeds, to me that delivery is as good as Christmas morning with my family. 

Come back soon to see what will come in the post, I wonder when it will arrive?

Cheers

Donna-Maree

Whoops ..... Injury in the garden

Saturday afternoon saw me doing some tidying up in the garden, I had a lot that I wanted to get done and had pretty much just started when I couldn't believe my eyes - I had cut my little finger on my left hand with the secateurs. I was trimming back the thyme plant, removing some dead wood and just giving it a really good haircut. I immediately put pressure on it to stop the bleeding - I don't do blood very well.

I got hubby to help dress my finger (the don't do blood thing prevents me from sorting it myself) and once I recovered a bit, I returned to the garden and carried on with what I wanted to do but I left the thyme plant alone.

My finger is healing well but is still a little tender which is a pain that close to where the finger bends but it has served as a good reminder about taking care and watching what I am cutting in the garden.

Since the weekend when I have been working in the garden I have remembered to wear my gardening gloves to protect my fingers from further incidents but also to keep anything that could infect it away from the wound. I count myself very lucky as this could have ended very differently and I do use that finger a lot, which has been confirmed every time I knock it since I injured it at the weekend and I couldn't imagine not having it anymore.

Take care out there everyone and remember that some of the equipment that we use in the garden can be dangerous and harm us.

April is here...

Wow, I can't believe that we are in April already. The day temperatures are still very good and the evenings and early mornings are a little cooler, but the plants are still growing!

Some things are coming to an end as they do, the tomatoes, courgettes and strawberries are definitely slowing down and stopping production. I am giving the beds a good tidy up ready for the next crop.

I am determined this year to be more successful with my succession planting and cropping. I was a bit late getting organised last year and that affected everything. I have reflected on that and are getting myself more organised, working out when I need to have seeds etc ordered by to allow for sowing of seeds to be ready for planting.

I was looking around online for garlic seed/cloves as I was a little late last year and couldn't really get what I wanted. There were a few sites that I found that I had never heard of before. One of them was CountryTrading  Company from Nelson and I am very impressed with their range. But I am getting ahead of myself. I was looking in particular for elephant garlic. I used to purchase mine for eating from the Whangarei Growers Market but have never previously grown it myself.

I was determined that I would indeed grow some this year, however Country Trading Company were out of stock, which was what I was pretty much expecting. They did however have the facility that I could be emailed when they came back into stock, I dutifully filled out the required information. Over the weekend I received an email saying that the elephant garlic was in stock. So I ordered some!

This came by courier this morning, within a couple of days of my ordering it. I am very impressed with the timely manner and the condition of the bulbs. Check Country Trading Company out here.

Please comment on your favourite seed purchasing company in the comments section below as I love getting your comments.

Happy gardening everyone.

Visiting some of my favourite gardens ...

Today we visited some of my favourite gardens at the Hamilton Gardens. I just love visiting these gardens and seeing the level of maturity they now have, I also enjoy visiting through the different seasons. Today however, was very hot and as a result we didn't get through all of the gardens.

The Indian garden. The last time I saw this garden I was very impressed with design and the hard landscaping, today I was blown away with the vibrancy of the colours in this garden. From comments I overheard I wasn't the only one who thought this way.

The Italian garden - just love this garden, the contained way that plants are grown. I particularly like the citrus in containers and the espaliered plants.

Another one of my favourite gardens is the kitchen garden, no surprises there really. I love the way the walls protect and define the garden. I love the sheer size and scale of this garden and would love a garden just like this. Again there are fruit trees espaliered on the walls in this garden and decent sized raised beds that allow growing of a lot of vegetables. 

I always find looking at gardens very interesting and it doesn't matter how many times I visit a garden I always notice something different each time I go.

Tomorrow I need to check my own garden and get down to the allotment and see what is going on there. Until next time

Happy gardening

How things are going here...

The butter beans are yummy and we have had several feeds from them although they often don't make the dinner table if I leave them on the bench.  I expected there to be a difference in their performance as to where they are but there isn't, although the ones by the drive cope with more wind their roots don't dry out like the plants in the pot in the backyard.

We are enjoying strawberries on a regular basis too. I can't believe that the stalks of the strawberries can support the weight of the fruit like they are, as they are holding them upright into the air and the fruit is large.

The potatoes are flowering and are all doing well. The ones behind the garage seem to be doing the best, getting enough sunshine without drying out too much at this time of the year.

Potatoes in pots.

Seeds and things ...

I have had these sample jiffy pots to try for a while and I decided the other day to give them a go. I have to say that it certainly makes things easy and there is no mess. Yes, I would definitely use them again. 

Isn't spring and watching seeds germinating exciting? And don't bean seeds look like some prehistoric plant emerging from the ground?

I had forgotten how exciting sowing your own seeds can be. I was gifted the bean seeds, they should be butter beans. The other seeds I have sown; peas, corn and sunflower are seeds that had expired beyond their useby date however a lot of them have germinated.

What seeds are you sowing?

Let me know in the comments below.

Donna-Maree

Spring is here...

This is a photo of my bed at the allotment which was taken near the end of August. It was a take stock time, looking to see how things were going and what needs to be done to get ready for spring planting.

I had clearly missed some garlic last season and they are growing well. I had also planted some onions which are doing well too. Since this photo was taken I have tidied up the bed, removing anything that I don't want or need any more and weeded it all. I harvested four cabbages which have been shared with family members and we have been enjoying those.

I then put three wheelbarrows of compost on the bed just going around what is still planted. The compost was made on site in the bins for this purpose. I thank everyone who does the work making the compost for us. As gardeners we just fill the appropriate bin with garden waste, and remove it from the one marked as for use now. There are four bins at different stages of composting and the whole system works well. I then liberally coated my bed with sheep pellets which the rain has broken up and I have to say that the bed is looking very good and the produce growing in there at the moment has seen heaps of growth.

Yesterday I took up some leeks and red onions that I had growing in bunches here at home in the garden at the end of the driveway and planted those. These plants will need checking on today as we have been having beautiful sunny days this week and they might need some water plus I always like to check my babies when they go into the garden.

I have been sowing some seeds but will save telling you about that for the next blog.

Until then happy gardening everyone.

Donna-Maree