The last couple of years, I've done very little gardening compared to previously (and even less posting on this site). And quite lot of un-gardening - by which I mean stripping away the previous garden infrastructure - the beds and trellises and other things I just couldn't keep on top of any more. Between a back, knee and hip injury that just won't go away, becoming super busy with my developing home business, lots of long term houseguests and all my kids having left home and moved away, I just have not been able to spend time in the garden like I used to, and of course I didn't need to grow as many veges for the most part - though what I have grown has still been handy with all the people who have stayed with us for extended periods over the past couple of years!
However, I still love gardening, and if the past year has done nothing else, it has reminded me how much I NEED it - for sanity, physical activity, as well as delicious, nutritious food with minimal cost. It has also taught me that unless I make some deliberate plans and take action, the gardening is easily neglected after a long day in the office and with everything else going on. I first started this blog (under Kiwi Urban Homestead) in late 2012 as a way of sharing with interested friends how I was progressing towards my goal to grow 1000kg of produce in 12 months, and to hold myself accountable, knowing that if I made my goal public I would make much greater progress and be less like to abandon it than if I kept it to myself.
In the same spirit, I'm posting here an honest look at what my garden currently looks like, and some of the things I hope to work on. I haven't not set much in the way of specific goals for this year yet - still mulling those over - but will post when I've decided. Meanwhile, let the garden tour begin - with all the good, half-pie and bad. The reader may also wish to check out photos of my garden in previous years to compare - for example HERE, HERE, and HERE.
In the same spirit, I'm posting here an honest look at what my garden currently looks like, and some of the things I hope to work on. I haven't not set much in the way of specific goals for this year yet - still mulling those over - but will post when I've decided. Meanwhile, let the garden tour begin - with all the good, half-pie and bad. The reader may also wish to check out photos of my garden in previous years to compare - for example HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Let's start at the entrance (below) to what used to be my main garden area in which I grew most of that 1000kgs of produce. This is across a small lawn from the entry to our house. The banksia rose provides shade for the swing seat we originally got for free, though the rose has become big and strong and overwhelmed the trellis holding it. I keep meaning to cut it waaay back and then retrain it, but always keep leaving it for the shade. A job for next winter. The cherry on the right has never done very well. It does provide some summer shade for the caravan (our "spare room"), but I'm thinking to replace it. The nasturtium you can see along the fence is self-sown. Unfortunately convolvulus has crept into that bed; I really need to dig the whole thing out and reform it.
Just through the gate to the right is an area where my daughter helped me lay weedmat and astroturf last summer, mostly to kill off the convolvulus (bindweed) and couch grass that had taken over what used to be a growing area, as well as provide somewhere to put the outdoor set that had been sitting boxed in our shed after we acquired it from my father's estate. The strip along the front is where I intended to put a flower bed, but that hasn't happened yet. The zinnia in pots on the table are intended to go there. Behind this area to the right is a triple grafted apple tree and meyer lemon, both doing well. I hung pheremone traps for the codling moth this season, and intended to spray, but never got that step done, so once again will have damaged apples. Ah well. To the right of the pic next to the lemon is a strip containing thyme, a carpet rose, oregano and a few other things. It's pretty overgrown and hard to access due to the rose, which I need to cut right back.
Under the trees I put down cardboard under weedmat topped with bark last summer in an attempt to kill off all the bindweed and couch so I can put a flower bed in there again. It's an improvement, but now lots of weeds growing on top. Still haven't removed the weedmat or carried on there. Last year I grew a hugely successful choko in a pot against the fence there; have another in a pot for this year if I get to putting it out. The rosemary and sage plants I popped in one corner last season are doing well though - they had a tub of geraniums right behind them last season (now off to the side a bit), and I think that's the reason that my sage did not die off in winter for the first time ever - the bit of shelter and thermal mass created by the tub.
Behind this all is a fairly big garden bed (originally my spud plot back in 2013), which has two chives at one end, did have a row of parsley which I've now pulled out and will replace, probably with some flowers. In the boxes are 5 different varieties of potatoes I grew there last season just to perpetuate them. I need to dig out the ones now sprouting and put in big tubs so I can clear this space. Behind them is a row of celery now in full flower. I intend to cut off some parts and freeze it to use in making stocks. I'm inclined to leave the flowering plants for the beneficial insects it is attracting, but we'll see how long I do that for. Then there is the space in the middle which was full of rainbow chard before it went to seed, and still has some bunching shallots growing, as well as weeds coming through, and a self-sown choko growing. It's too late to move it - I may whack in a trellis and just let it run, maybe. I'm contemplating putting down cardboard and compost through the middle of this bed and then just planting in it...I also may need this space to start winter veges in a month or two. To the left are marshmellow plants - I harvested the four plants that were about in the middle of this bed a while back, and replanted bits of root to carry them on. Under and behind those are a row of beetroot and purple kohlrabi. The slideshow below gives closer pics of the various things in this bed.
One of my problem spots - under the gala apple is a raised area in which couch and bindweed is rampant - the last few weeks I've been layering grass clippings on there just to get it down a bit, but the bindweed is happily growing right through it (no surprises there). I may have to resort to using black plastic over it to kill everything before reestablishing some kind of mulched bed here. In the corner is lovage, which comes back year after year, and a stray potato plant.
Below: a couple of months ago I finally got around to taking this fig out of the half-barrel it has been languishing in for years and planting it in the ground. It's looking much happier! I'll need to prune it each year to stop it becoming a very big tree.
Dwarf pear, in another very overgrown raised bed. Rosemary and lemon balm behind it. Whole thing needs work.
In this next slideshow is an area where my original main garden beds were. If you're viewing this on a laptop or PC, those are the beds you see in the banner at the top of the page on most sections of this website. A couple of years ago, after I'd removed the last of those original beds, I started revamping the area, and grew some very successful crops. But then it all got overgrown with couch etc again, and I couldn't keep up. Eventually I got it all weedeatered and mowed down, while I pondered what to do with it. There were ridges and hollows due to the previous beds. I decided that since I needed a space to grow some rambling crops, to use this area by putting out long rows of compost in the hollows (creating new ridges), then covering them with weedmat, and covering the areas between with re-used black plastic (partly inspired by my previous similar and very successful squash growing). The aim being to create a good growing area for squash and watermelon for the season while killing off the grass and weeds, while I decide what's next here. See the slideshow and captions for more specifics.
This is the first time I've included these slideshows on this site - they're quite easy and fun to include, so here comes another, showing what else is in this part of my yard:
Just a few of my sheep - mum (white) surrounded by her triplet lambs in the foreground. They came for a nosy when they saw me in the garden taking pics. I've got rid of all my ducks and chickens over the last few months, needing to simplify life as much as possible. May get more poultry in the future, but for now am content without them. The neighbours have chickens, and wild ducks live in the pond behind us (and pop into the garden sometimes), so when I need something to feed garden pests or waste to, that's not a problem! (And I don't have to pay for feed or organise their care if we go away).
Through here (below) is the 50 sqm where I grew 378kg of squash three seasons ago, and then slowly started turning back into general garden beds, and process I still haven't completed. Despite many predictions from other gardeners that using black plastic over this area to kill off the weeds would render the soil infertile, that was never an issue - everything has grown well since. More on what's growing below. In this pic you can see part of the overhanging camellia (left), a kowhai from a seedling my son rescued, with a carpet rose climbing it.
Let's use another slideshow to wander around the front garden:
Next up, my greenhouse...mostly weedy but some productivity....
And finally, some random additional shots of things I need to attend to. This blog is handy as a garden diary too - so I can see my own progress over time :-)
Well, I hope you have enjoyed this wander through my garden. Future posts will (hopefully) be more regular, and much shorter - this one took many hours to upload and put together. With limited time, I plan to do a brief weekly update or so, going forward. Until next time....happy New Year, and happy gardening!
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