I'm a very easy going gardener. I enjoy gardening and this could just be possibly because the garden does its own thing and I get to enjoy it. Yes I know we have weeds in our lawn- but the clover brings the bees to the yard and dandelions make awesome fairies when you blow them.
Our garden has been through a lot in the past 6 years we have lived in this house. We had so much liquefaction from
February 22nd.
Every year since, multiple times a year we get flooded. Enough water to fill the back yard with more than ankle deep water. Its frustrating seeing pea straw floating from the garden, and tide lines as it takes a few weeks to receded. (the boys do think its pretty awesome having their own backyard pool)
But I'm pretty stubborn so we found Macrocarpa planter boxes for sale- my grand plan was to raise the height of the vegetable gardens. High enough that we can grow our own food and move the plants from the areas we know flood. My grand gardening plan is -if it lives it can stay.
This has of course taken longer than anticipated as we were waiting to fill them since they had no idea where to dig up the sewerage lines *sigh*. We have now filled them all and given the whole garden a nice pea straw topping to help with the lack of water this summer.
We now have a productive garden. We have fruit trees- to my count we now have 25- an assortment of plants like passionfruit, feijoa's, apple's, peach's, nectarine's, lemon's, blackcurrants, boysenberries and also strawberries, tomatoes, pumpkins, celery, lettuce, corn, onions, cabbages, beetroot, peppers, rhubarb, courgettes, potatoes, peas, basil, mint, rosemary.
I am enjoying going out and weeding, watering and admiring all the growth the garden in the evenings. The smell of basil and tomatoes when you water them is amazing!
So in
4 years I think I have experienced every emotion possible.
To see all our hard work taken away in just a few seconds- is enough to bring a grown woman to tears.
It feels so good to actually be in a better space in 2015, to be able to embrace what I can change and enjoy where I am and the decisions I have made to get here.
So welcome to my garden. A place of growth. The boys are enjoying all the bugs and birds and I'm just winging it (I have actually been reading many garden books to gain garden knowledge) and when you accidentally plant all your tomatoes too close the upside is the bird's can't actually see all the fruit- gardening win!
Here's to another year. Learning from the past. Embracing the future.
Read More
