Garlic

It's not quite the shortest day yet, but my garlic is in. I dug over a patch of garden which I don't plan to be digging in during summer, added some dried manure, and popped in the bulbs. At the end of the row is a rose bush, so let's see if those rumours about garlic keeping aphids away actually work! (Don't worry, I did cover them up. The photo is just at the laying-them-out stage).

I also went with supermarket garlic to plant. I know you aren't supposed to, but it's NZ garlic, Marlborough in fact, so shouldn't be chemically treated. And, when you can get it at the supermarket for $4.99 instead of $8.99 at the garden centre, why wouldn't you?

It's all a bit of an experiment for me. The bulbs might not even sprout, they could rot, wither or be eaten by slugs. But hopefully, I'll get lots of lovely bulbs to plait into strings. And there won't be any vampires around here!

Gardening on a winter's afternoon

Behold, my broccoli! Actually and rather disappointingly, it can be beheld in the palm of your hand. There are several other heads forming, and it looks like I'll have to pick them all at once to get enough for a meal!

I still have cauliflower, cabbages, bok choi, leeks, spring onions, broad beans and silver beet... none of it is quite ripe for the picking yet though.

Still boosting my hopes are these arctic tomatoes. Sown on March 26, they haven't grown very fast but at least haven't died. I won't be harvesting winter tomatoes but maybe some early summer ones? Has anyone grown these - what are they like?

When is the right time to prune a lemon tree? It needs a bit of a trim but I can't bring myself to chop off ripening lemons...

...like these! I did however weed under the tree and give it a feed of epsom salts.

Then I inspected the flowers.

And Lui and I played a fun game where I would try to take a photo of him, and he would jump up, turn his back, walk away a few paces and sit down again.

Like this.

Until distraction struck - (birdie birdie birdie!!)

We basked in the brief sunlight until it began to fade.

And we were forced inside once more.

It's gone!

That great, hulking, lurking pile of bushy twigs and branches is done and dusted. After many backbreaking hours feeding branch after branch into the hungry maw of the chipper, the pile has slowly diminished, and now it's not there anymore!

What is left is a wee bit of firewood.

And some mulch.

Five bags full, to be precise. Tell you what, the fun never ends here... our next job is cleaning out 80+ years of rubble from under the floor so we can have insulation put in. I'll keep you posted on that one!

Frosty morning

It's 8am, and very quiet. The sun has not yet peeped above the trees and houses.

Underfoot, a soft crunch. I tiptoe, quietly, my breath a halo.

Everything outlined in delicate crystal. A coating of white, yet colours shine through.

Soft and smudged, almost otherworldly. I don't recognise this place without sunlight.

Amongst the frozen wilderness, buds open. Petals unfurl. I am grateful for winter flowers.

Pretty things

Some days, you just need pretty things. I had such a day on Saturday, so I caught the bus and took myself off in search of them. First stop was the Craft 2.0 fair, where lots of vendors were selling lovely handmade goodies. It's fantastic to see such an event, and such a lot of support for the handmade, but I felt the same way I did last year after visiting: get a bigger location! It was held at the Our City gallery, the same place Gothic Punk was held, and it was packed to the gills. Hot, stuffy, barely room to move, let alone browse the stalls. With a determined effort I pushed my way through, and came away with a couple of lovelies: a handmade porcelain doll, and a sweet printed bird pin. After that I bolted for the door and fresh air, and felt as though I had been through a bit of an ordeal.

As I was walking through Cashel Mall I passed a cute little shabby chic shop that I had visited before, and saw to my dismay a big CLOSING DOWN sign in the window. The silver lining was that everything was on sale, and I found a string of wooden hearts, and a metal bird ornament - which is actually a bell. Would you like a closer look?

I think he is daydreaming of metal trees.

The string of hearts makes a pretty silhouette in the window.

Dancing ballerina dolly from The Busy Finch.

Hand printed bird pin from In My Backyard.

Bookmarks

I was recently commissioned to make bookmarks for two little girls who are moving away. As I don't know the little girls, or their interests, and I can't draw horses, I just decided to do my favourite house motif in as girly a colour scheme as I could manage. One is pink and one is purple.

Then I just added hearts.

What do you think - girly enough?

Reading list

As the days get colder, I take comfort in having a big pile of books on hand to cuddle up on the couch with and dive into. Actually, it doesn't matter what time of year it is, I get panicky if I am on my last book and don't have something lined up to read after that. So here is my current hoard, it's a mix of library and bought books.

Some garden inspiration, some fantasy escapism, a favourite from childhood, and a new Better Homes and Gardens magazine...

Oh, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Someone told me there was a book with that name, and I thought, that can't be true, but oh - it is! It is the origninal Pride and Prejudice story, but with the added bonus of hordes of zombies (AKA unmentionables, or dreadfuls). And Elizabeth the Zombie Slayer. Fortunately Mr Darcy quite likes a lady with fair features and some uncommon skill with a blade.

And, I thought this was rather interesting - the cover of Trickster with a bookmark I made back in 2003.

Product Review - Schwarkzopf Hair Dye

I don't usually do product reviews, but when I colour my hair I throw the packaging away and can't remember next time which one to buy again. Some work well, some wash right out, some have toxic fumes. So here (mostly for personal future reference) are my cons and pros:

SCHWARZKOPF LIVE #88 - BROWN ALLURE

- Colour tube was difficult to squeeze into mixer bottle.
- Applicator bottle was difficult to use - I found it too big and hard to squeeze the gel out of.
- The plastic gloves were completely useless - huge, floppy, my hair tangled around them and pulled them off my hands.

+ The product was not as stinky as some others! Good ventilation is still a must though.
+ There seemed to be lots in the bottle. I always buy two packs because of my long hair, but it seemed like one and a half would have been adequate (better than other times when I've nearly run out).
+ The conditioner comes in a tube with a screw top! This is a big plus, as you will know if you have ever been in the shower, trying in vain to open a plastic sealed sachet with your teeth...
+ It rinsed out quickly and stayed rinsed out - no staining the towel or continuing to rinse out the next three times I washed my hair.

There you have it, and three cons to four pros mean I'll probably buy this one again. I'll make sure I have some disposable latex gloves on hand too. On the subject of hair dye, here are a couple of things I'd like to see:

* Half size packs for touching up your roots... it's so annoying to buy a full pack, knowing you'll have to throw half of it away.
* The actual conditioner they use in the packs available as a full size bottle.

If you dye your own hair, what brand do you use?

Potager

Last weekend we had perfect weather. Warm, sunny and summery. I spent the entire weekend in the garden - weeding and tidying up on Saturday, chipping more branches on Sunday (pictured). Saturday was the most fun day - Sunday got old very fast! But as I worked, I dreamed. And I thought about what I want to do in my garden. And I think I've got a plan.

I'm going to make a potager - similar in design to this one. I like the concentric circle layout of the paths, which gives a strong structure to the whole thing. It means that when the broccoli is flopping around, and the cabbages have all been harvested leaving a big bare spot, there will still be a strong design element at work.

Especially if you plant diagonally!

Of course I'll still have flowers and flowering herbs scattered throughout...

And something decorative in the central bed.

I also think raised beds are important - building curved ones will be quite the challenge!

I definitely want brick or stone paths.

The above images are from "New Zealand Potager - The Ornamental Vegetable Garden" by Diana Anthony. It's a really helpful book if you are planning a potager!

This is my rough sketch. I'll be keeping the existing concrete paths for now (far left and bottom right). The rectangle shape in the lower right corner is my glasshouse, and the circle above and to the left of it is the cherry tree - I've designed the path to veer around it. (Should I leave this in do you think? I don't want its roots making the paths buckle, or sucking up the water from my veges. But I don't want to just chop it either...)

Anyway, that was last weekend. This weekend has been nothing but rain, gales, and the two mixed together. Much better to just curl up on the couch and forget about it all....

Gardening days

Weekends of late have been full of gardening activity (weather permitting). We have removed a large section of overgrown, bushy shrubbery from the side of the house, and are about two thirds through putting all the twigs and branches through a chipper. It's a noisy, dirty, backbreaking job, but I'll have some nice mulch at the end of it. I've also been battling the overgrown-with-oxalis strawberry bed, and that job is taking so much longer than I thought that I don't even want to talk about it.

So, onto something a little more cheerful - shall I show you how my garden grows?

The butter beans of summer have succumbed to the frost, but the broad beans are loving life and growing bushy and beautiful.

I have plenty of cabbages, kale, broccoli and cauliflower...

Even some bok choi which is obviously tasty.

Parsnips are fattening up (and taste much better after a frost).

Foreground: spring onions and background: leeks (my pride and joy!)

In the glasshouse the last peppers are still ripening.

A little viola, her face dirty from the rain.

As I took these photos the sky opened up once more so I scrambled for the shelter of the porch and used my zoom lens. See the chrysanthemum at the back fence? It's flattened under the weight of the water. Poor thing...

That's better!