Hello friends,

Over Labour Weekend in October hubby and I planted our vegetable garden for the summer.

My first task was to weed the garlic growing in the smallest vegetable garden bed, and then also sow onions, carrots, beetroot, radish, sugarbeet and carrot seeds as well.

Hubby then dug over the two remaining large garden beds, and I added sheep pallet fertilizer for the soon to be growing plants.

For the next bed, which was already growing peas and potato plants by now, I added lettuce, rocket, black turtle beans, summer sprouting broccoli, and cabbage, that I had been growing in the glasshouse.

With the last large garden bed I planted maize, corn, and pumpkin plants in the top half. In the bottom half of the garden bed I sowed wheat and linen flax seeds, while hubby acted as a scarecrow to keep the birds off them, and then we double bird netted the seeds to protect them from the birds.

With most of the glasshouse now empty of plants, we emptied out the space, and hubby dug over the garden bed. After that there was just the task of fertilising the soil, and then planting cucumbers, basil, chillies, capsicum and many tomato plants. There was also the big task of setting up all the climbing frames for the growing plants.

It's been a few weeks now, and everything is growing nicely in the garden, despite low snow falling the week after we planted everything. I can't wait to feast on all our vegetables over the coming summer.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

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Tags: 2023, Basil, Beetroot, Bird, Birds, Capsicums, Carrots, Chillies, cucumber, Food, Garden, Garlic, Glasshouse, Plants, Potato, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Radish, Radishes, Repotting, Root Crops, Seed Sowing, Seedlings, Seeds, Spring, Sugar Beet, Tomato, Tomatoes, Vege Garden, Vegetables, Wheat

Hello friends,

Today's adventure was a neighborhood walk to a nearby stand of Alder trees (Alnus glutinosa) on public land, so I could forage some female Alder cones to use in natural dyeing later on in the year.

With my trusty wicker basket in hand, I wandered off down the street...

It didn't take me long to arrive at the stand of Alder trees I was hoping would contain many fallen Alder cones.

And I was in luck, thankfully. After weeks and weeks of hot, dry weather with little to no wind, Dunedin's weather has reverted back to cooler temperatures, rain showers, and gusts today. The grass on public land was absolutely littered in good quality Alder cones, so I got to work.

It didn't take me long to fill up my basket with cones, I barely made a dent in the thousands scattered all over the grass.

And after a quick peek across the road to notice a stand of Eucalyptus trees also on public land, I made a note on my phone to come back and forage for those next week, and then headed off back home via a local park. It's a pretty, small park with lots of deciduous trees that will have a brilliant display of autumnal colors in a month or so. I'll have go back in early April to take some photos.

But to my surprise, I was shocked to see a mother duck, and her four very small ducklings outside a home that backs onto the park. It is very late in summer now for such small ducklings. They were very cute, and it was nice seeing them so close. But I left the park soon after, so that the mother duck wouldn't have to worry about my presence anymore.

I scurried back home between rain showers, and then laid out the Alder cones to dry out. I'll store them away once I'm sure they're completely dry, and later on in the year I'll post my next adventure of dyeing with them.

Have a wonderful day,

Julie-Ann

Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon.

Tags: Alder, Alder Cones, Bird, Birds, Ducklings, Ducks, Foraging, Natural Dyeing, Nature, Plant Dyeing, Walk, Walking