30 September 2008
This is the culmination of a few days of jolly hard work. The concrete edging along under the windows was originally as wide as the section at the front of the photo; we dug this out, and moved it over so the garden there is now twice the width it was. Jarrod had some good ideas on how to move it - the concrete was extremely heavy, and we didn't want to break it. We had to dig out both sides of it as well as under it, then use pieces of 3x2" timber to lever it across. At one point we were stumped, and ended up using the wheel jack from the van. Well done, Jarrod!
So, with only a couple of breaks, and a small section removed from the angle (NB borrowing a sledge hammer is better than breaking a normal hammer - haha), we transferred the soil back into the garden, hoed in the compost and proceeded to sow our seeds. The whole strip was divvied up for the children and, of course, I 'helped' them choose what to plant. Jarrod sowed cabbages and lettuces in between. Later, tomatoes and pumpkin grew there too (maybe from the compost bin?) The cabbages were attacked rather badly while we were away on holiday and we gave most of them to the chooks. Danielle had rows of peas and we sowed carrots and parsnips between the rows so that when the peas were finished, there would still be something growing. (We recently pulled the last of the carrots - they weren't much, but the parsnips were huge!) Monique was next and had zuchinni (or courgettes). She had a fantastic crop from these, with some managing to get to marrow size. Then Diana had a wee section for tomatoes and basil. The tomatoes took a long time to grow and I have since been told that it is best to plant them outside after Labour weekend (late October). The basil didn't grow at all. Most of the tomatoes turned out to be cherry ones of varying sizes, so unfortunately they didn't all get eaten.
The trellis is up here for the rows of peas, and also to keep the chooks out. (pity it didn't keep the cats out!) The pleasure of seeing a garden growing and a good harvest later on - of some crops! - made the hard work all worthwhile. Wonder what we will do this year....
