Tag Archives | gardening

Hello from a cold South Africa

By Linda on May 21, 2017 in Crafts, Family, Gardening, Knitting, Mamma4earth

Hello from a very cold South Africa 🙂

The temperature has plummeted over the past week but our lovely indigenous Aloes are flowering and attracting may birds and insects to our garden. I love them, they are gorgeous plants!

A boy and his dog… K loves Bailey to bits! She is such a sweet girl and has given our other Lab Sandy a boost of longevity. They play for hours and then have long naps together only to resume playing again.

Our beautiful Orchid is flowering again, this plant was given to me as a gift the day Jen was born almost 20 years ago. It flowers profusely year after year and gives us such joy! When it was given to me it was a single bloom with a few leaves at the base but now it has expanded and takes up an entire container.

I am busy with a new pattern for someone, I’m enjoying the design process tremendously and love seeing the development take shape.

We have had to start lighting fires again, it’s so cozy and warm. We’ve collected plenty of wood from our garden during our pruning season, so that worked out very well and is sustainable too.

Oh and this is Bailey attempting to steal my knitting every opportunity she gets. I love her x

In the Garden…

By Linda on February 8, 2017 in Family, Gardening, Urban Farming

Hello!

Our Butternuts are ready, the vines have started to die down and we’ve begun harvesting! Richard and Kye planted these towards the end of last year. We had an old trampoline pit from years ago, we filled it up with compost, grass cuttings and horse manure and planted seedlings. They’ve done so well!

The potatoes are almost ready, just a few more weeks to go.

Ahhh, these have been my favourite so far! Buttery and delicious!

We also tried growing black tomatoes, full of flavour! It’s really exciting to be growing our own food again, the price of veggies is astronomical at the moment, so I get such a sense of accomplishment and pride when I walk out into our garden and pick food for our table. I’ve also sewn wheatgrass seeds in trays, we’re going to start juicing again as soon as it’s ready, I can’t wait.

The rains have come! We are still experiencing a drought but the Vaal Dam is about 65% full. We’ve been collecting rainwater under our downpipes, I can’t believe how quickly the drums fill up and we are recycling our grey water.

And… here’s a photo of Lou ♥

Have a lovely week x

Hello Again

By Linda on October 6, 2016 in Family, Gardening

It’s been a while since I last posted, our phone cables were stolen and most of our neighbourhood was without phones lines and internet for almost a month. I am very grateful to have it back now and wanted to share a little of what we’ve been up to. September is my birthday month and Jenna gave me these exquisite Delphiniums as a gift. I loved having hem greeting me each time I walked into the lounge.

Another birthday gift, a subscription, Grow to Eat, this one from my hubby, such a wonderful magazine!!

Now that winter is officially over, our chickens have finished their moulting and are back to laying profusely. I always find it a little strange how, as soon as the weather begins to cool, they start to moult…

Many months ago, a female Praying Mantis appeared in the entrance hall of our home and layed a chrysalis (also called a ootheca, I had no idea!) right by the front door. I had given up hope of them ever hatching as months and months had passed and then suddenly there were hundreds.

The Vaal Dam is almost empty, there is no rain in sight and water restrictions have been imposed. I need to find a way to save our garden and veggie patch. I’ve started placing these water bottles near the base of our larger plants. Small holes are made at the base of the bottle so that the water can slowly leak out, almost like drip irrigation. An idea from the magazine above. It’s working exceptionally well so far! If you have any other ideas, please do let me know in the comments.

Of course, I had to include a photo of Lou. I find him extremely photogenic and adore him!! He always seems so wise 🙂

Our Bougainvillea seems to love the hot, dry weather, its blooms are incredibly vivid this year.

Thanks so much for reading our story and say hi in the comments if you have some time 🙂

I’m off to plant a few more mini reservoirs out in the garden.

Succulents

By Linda on March 13, 2016 in Gardening

I seem to have developed a love of succulents, my daughter Erin adores them and now I do too. We’ve decided to turn our old dilapidated rose garden into a succulent bed. I’m very excited, tomorrow we begin! We bought these beauties on Saturday, I’m going to try to propagate a few from them as well.

Have a great week!

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Tag Archives | gardening

Hello from a very cold South Africa 🙂