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Monday, October 3, 2011

I am so ashamed.........


A few years ago hubs and I bought some second hand picket fence panels and slapped them all together and made ourselves a fenced vegie patch.  We carted besser blocks by the thousand ( well tens - almost 100) and made raised garden beds, we carted trailer load after trailer load of soil and shovelled away until we had blisters on our hands and for the last 3 years have enjoyed the fruits of our labour.

But .........



This winter we let it all go to rack and ruin.  All of our hard work has been covered in an abundance of weeds and looks like a very unloved patch.  Despite our neglect the 2 black currant bushes and the pair of gooseberry bushes are still alive in amongst all of that mess.


The rhubarb too has flourished despite the neglect.  We were able to harvest an abundance of stems for cooking.  It was time that we made a stand and this weekend we rolled our sleeves up and gave our little patch some TLC.



I am now very proud to be able to show you the fruits of our labour.  My tired aching muscles can attest to the hard labour we both put in with the help of Amy and the the grandies. We managed to get it all cleaned up and even planted out some Lettuce & Black Zucchini along with "pink eye" potatoes.


The rhubarb bed is now much more loved



And they have some little golden zucchini cousins sharing their bed.


The gooseberries have forgiven us and are looking great this year.


And the Black Currant Bushes already have a visitor - Mr Bumble Bee


And Mr Wasp !  We still have 2 beds to weed and re-plant but we both need to recover now - LOL


Now that daylight savings is here it gives us the opportunity to potter around a little more when we get home from work.  This afternoon I checked out my Stella Cherry Tree which is in it's 3rd year.  It is planted next to the cat's outdoor garden run and it has lots of blossom which will mean lots of yummy fruit.



So whilst the sun was beating down this afternoon I thought I would take advantage of it and do a little potting.  I read somewhere once that you could grow potatoes in a container so as I had some seed potatoes left and this great big container I thought that I would experiment a little bit.  I drilled some holes in the bottom for drainage.



Put some soil in the bottom and then the seed potatoes.


And then topped it off with soil.  So now we will wait and see if we can get a nice crop out of this container.

I also potted up some baby tomato plants and some remaining lettuce seedlings from our planting day yesterday.  I like to plant my tomatoes in stages so that we don't have all of the produce at once.  These ones will be our late planting as I purchased 2 plants a few weeks ago which I have potted up in our back breeze through.


It is not safe to put tomatoes out here in Brighton until late October because of late frosts but our breeze through gets lots of sunshine and provides a nice safe warm growing spot for them.


And they are both loving it !  These will give us some nice early tomato's this year hopefully.



And just so that you don't think I have neglected everything - Remember when I showed you this poor dying creeper?  Well it has been saved from certain death.


I am very proud that I have been able to save him.  He is looking very healthy and is even sending off new tendrils.



I did get some time to stitch over the weekend too.  I am currently working on a new design for release in 2012.



I thought that you might enjoy a little peek at it.

Oh BTW the Cats won !!  I was one very happy girl on Saturday afternoon.

I will be back later in the week.

Hugs - Fee X

19 comments:

Michelle said...

What a busy girl you've been! Clever idea for garden edging too...
The stitchery looks really sweet and pretty!

Heleen Groot said...

Don't be ashamed. I am in awe over your hard work! Your garden looks great! I'm amazed you managed to find time to do the stitchery.....Which also looks wonderful!

By Hoki Quilts said...

OK - you have put me to shame and as soon as it stops raining I'll get out into the garden - really :/
Love your stitchery, the colours are just so... soft.
Good one about the cats too.
hugs - Miche'le xx

Anonymous said...

the vege patch is looking great now Fee well done to you and hubby

Anonymous said...

Wow you have done a lot of hard work, we often thought of starting a vegie patch but not sure ...

Happy growing.
Your stitchery looks lovely

Roseanne said...

Fee your garden is looking great. I do like your little peek I will keep my eyes open to see what you make out of it.

Nicky said...

Loving your garden shots, warmer weather just makes you want to get out into it! Looks like you'll have lots to feast on soon. Enjoy!

Annie said...

Ah, the Tassie green thumb's are at it...we did our veggie patch last weekend too....had a frost the last 2 mornings, so no planing out yet....(oh, and my thumb....not always green. Sneak peek looks pretty awesome Fee :)

Vickie said...

oh my I think you have gone potty..but wow you will reap the rewards..glad you were able to resurect the vegie patch..as usual you r stitchery sneak peek is gorgeous,cheers Vickie

Cathy said...

Wow...what a busy weekend you have had...love your gsrdening endeavours...now get back to work this week to have a well deserved rest!! lol xxx

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Wow Fee your garden looks wonderful!!!

Cherie said...

Gadzooks girl I'm exhausted ... yikes what a woman you are ... nothing has suffered it was all waiting to be revived ... loving that rhubarb that' about $6 a bunch up here!
You're phenomenal, Congrats on EVERYTHING :~) xo.

Unknown said...

Well Done you will be able to Enjoy your Fruits again....isn't it Great when the Gardening Bug Bites...
Lovely Sneak Peak...
cheers

Allie said...

Gosh Fee I'm tired just looking at it all - your garden is going to be wonderful and really give you a great harvest! That is a lot of hard work.
Your stitching is also looking wonderful, I can't wait to see!

Mrs A. said...

What a super long post. Seems odd reading about what you are starting to plant out as it is autumn her in UK and the leaves are starting to fall and most fruits have finished. I've managed to stew apples and plumbs for the freezer and frozen bagfulls of hedgerow blackberries. The clocks go back at the end of this month so making the most of getting out in the garden whilst I can. Hugs Mrs A,

sandra said...

Your garden is looking great, you should be really happy even though it was hard work. Can't wait to see the complete new design.

Sue said...

I'm V. impressed by your gardening...we let out vegie patch go this year and the weather has been the best for growing for 50 years! Oh well, it's lucky we have a vegie store in town.

Sarah said...

Way to go with the veggie patch!

Tomato seedlings. I was so cross I forgot about the Botanical Gardens heritage tomato seedling sale. ARGH.

Lib said...

My garden patch consists of a couple of pots with hopefully one or two tomato plants in. My strawberries (also in pots) are flowering already. One day I will have a bigger vegie garden but for now flowers are it.
PS Sarah I believe the tomato plants are on sale again next weekend...