Spring potager

It's spring and the potager is looking lush. Mizuna is rapidly growing along the edges, carrots are feathering up, peas are sprouting and broccoli is... well, not heading but certainly forming lots of leaves. Weeds are of course growing madly so I spent some time this weekend weeding, as well as digging in compost and preparing a patch for potatoes. There's still so much to do... I wish the broccoli would hurry up and do its thing, because I want that space for beans and tomatoes.

I planted these from a punnet at easter so they should have been ready by now. I don't want to rip them out, such a waste! But I really do need this space in the next few weeks.

There's been plenty to harvest: spring onions, silver beet, lettuce, broad beans, early carrots, leeks and herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, golden marjoram, mint, basil mint, chives...) The winter garden did well this year.

However I have to change my strategy when it comes to watering. The city reservoirs sustained damage in the quakes, so we've now been hit with water restrictions for summer. No sprinklers or unattended hoses, and I'm only allowed to use the outdoor tap on certain days of the week. So hand watering it is. 

It poured on Saturday so I set out buckets to catch the rain. I also put a bucket in the shower, and when the washing machine was going I waited out by the drain with yet more buckets to catch the runoff! That netted the most water, actually I was rather shocked at how much the washing machine goes through. I have two big plastic rubbish bins to store all the water in and when that was all over they were both full. So I should be ok, as long as it doesn't come to a complete hose ban! Tedious though, the thought of crouching by the drain every weekend siphoning water into buckets. Worth it to keep the tomatoes alive though I suppose.

Let's hope it's still as lush as this in a couple of months time!