November 2015

A couple of very late frosts (November 5^th 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.