A couple of very late frosts (November 5th the most
recent) brought the choppers out to protect the vines. We can hear the roar of the engines as they
fly low, though the nearest vines are more than 10kms away from us. The frosts nearly took us by surprise
too. A haphazard assortment of items
were hurriedly chucked over the newly planted citrus. Not pretty, but it worked. Since the photo, an orange and a lime have
completed the grove. They’ve even all
been mulched and staked. Some plants that we didn't protect - our own vines, the
fig tree and cocktail kiwifruit - all got significant frost-burn, but seem to
recovering now.
Madame Cholet is nearly fully-planted out. The tomatoes have had their first pinching
out of side-shoots and we’re eating lettuce.
I planted out most of the remaining seedlings into the vege garden
today. The ground is really dry,
in-keeping with the vineyard moisture levels in Marlborough which are at late
December levels. An el-nino weather
pattern is predicted for summer, and we’ll cop the dry and windy
conditions. It doesn’t bode well to be
so dry already. Our water comes from an
underground spring so we just have to keep everything crossed that it doesn’t
run out.
The horse arena is (drum roll please) finished. Ironically, it now looks more like a horse arena than it did before, but that's because the weeds aren't hiding the gravel ground anymore. The pea metal arrived safely and without
munting the paddocks en route. It’s been
spread and has really smartened the place up.
Numerous strawberry plants have joined the feijoa bed and are beginning
to flower, and some vagrant comfrey has been re-homed among the citrus. There are now a dozen olive trees, 4 each of
Frantoio, J2 and Mission. Incredibly
they are also all mulched and staked.
The young trees are attached to their stakes by an ingenious combination
of cut-up old tea towels and baling twine.
They have a certain eclectic charm.
The unoccupied beds are only letting the side down if you don’t find
mounds of weeds attractive in any way.
Fruit is developing in the orchard and in the other gardens. Gooseberries and blueberries
are abundant and are fattening up beautifully.
The first blushing-red redcurrant is visible, and clusters of pip and
stone fruit are swelling. The
raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries are in full bloom and competing for
the sunlight. They’re such a pleasure,
an oasis of sweet promise. 
Cornelius and his harem have temporarily been confined to
barracks. They had been becoming more
adventurous, tackling the herb and fruit gardens, and the beds around the house
– scratching around and leaving the less secure plants in their wake. Yesterday the flower garden was fully planted
with a range of annuals grown from seed and a few new perennials to fill in the
gaps. Then it was mulched with barley
straw and the chooks were lured back to their run. It feels a bit mean locking them up, but
it’ll only be until the plants get a chance to dig their roots in.
The sheep are looking very raggy and are in danger of being
coerced into a haircut. We’ve decided to
splash out on another (and better quality) set of hand-shears this year. It still won’t be a pleasant task, though it
usually provides some entertainment value.
They’re shedding bits of wool all over the paddock. After foraging for elder-flowers from the
various trees around the property, Karyn and I collected the wool up. It will be used to make duvets for the worms,
beginning as one king-sized duvet until the strands are claimed. Batch one of elder-flower cordial is
promising, but the recipe will be tweaked for subsequent batches. It just needs to be elder flowerier. Now that I’ve introduced Karyn to the joys of
foraging, who knows where it might end? I’ll
wager she’ll be making something into wine by the end of the season.
It’ll be D-day for Zeus very soon, so we’ve been clearing
out the freezer. We’ve sought out recipes
for less-familiar cuts like lamb neck, lamb shank, pork hocks and oxtail, which had been lurking in the bottom of the freezer. Mostly they've been slow-cooked and delicious, and it's been quite satisfying to stretch our culinary horizons. I also discovered a couple of bags of cooked borlotti beans which made a delicious
alternative to baked beans when mixed with some of our own tomato sauce.
The vege garden continues to take up massive amounts of
time. Amazingly, and despite my worst
predictions, the bulk of the weeding is complete, and some of what’s remaining
will be left to its own devices unless I’m overcome by an overwhelming urge to
clear it. Not likely. It’s great to see the low hedges around the
keyhole beds taking shape and actually finally even looking like they’re
supposed to be hedges. Some of the
keyhole centres have been planted with herbs and flowers, rather than anything
which will grow too big. That’s a lesson
learned from the rhubarb and globe artichokes which are bursting out of their
circles in other zones. The pomegranate,
which was a bin-end plant, had been coming away before winter. Now it’s dead except for some tiny new shoots
popping up from the base. If it manages to resuscitate itself, then I’ll erect frost protection. 
Potato shoots are popping up through their mulch – always
a proud moment and one which elicits a premature desire to bandicoot. Crowds of Jerusalem artichoke shoots are
popping up and the asparagus are ferny and wispy, but hopefully edible next
year. The herb garden is gorgeous, and
has a few new additions – Clary Sage, curry plant, Echinacea and bergamot. It’s already a popular hanging out place for
bees, and they should be kept happy for many months ahead.
The academic year is drawing to a close, and I’m optimistic
that the recent paid work overload will wind down soon. It’s time to start planning for Christmas (only 35 sleeps to go) and
enjoying the spoils of summer. In the meantime, spring in the garden is the bees knees.
