Week 29

The weather has been a bit overcast and therefore warmer this week. Warmer, in this case, meaning "not freezing but still cold". The children have been back at preschool and I've been back out in the garden.

I had an encounter with an unknown assailant on Friday. I put on my gumboots and went to take the compost out. Got about 15 metres before I felt a sharp pain on the top of my right foot. Shook my boot out but found nothing. Hobbled back to the house and found a small red mark on my foot and something very, very small sticking out of it. My whole foot ached for the rest of the day but luckily it didn't spread so wasn't poisonous, whatever it was. I believe it was definitely an insect sting as opposed to being prickled by something sharp. Prickles don't hurt for days.

That'll teach me to keep my gumboots outside. Now I'm too scared to put them back on again. They were only cheap Warehouse boots which I bought last year and are already falling apart anyway. So I think I'll just buy myself some new ones instead.

Have been very busy in the vege garden. Finally got it dug over for winter. Never mind that winter has already begun. I used the tractor, put the plow attachment on it and drove up and down the vege patch. It was actually a lot easier than I expected. Found heaps more potatoes but left most of them in the ground for next year (is that the way it works?).

Then I divided the garden into four sections, approx 3m x 4m each. I laid weedmat down inbetween each section to provide a visual break and a walkway to allow access all around the plot. There is also a fifth plot along the back of the garden for tall things like tomatoes.

- - - Plot 1 - - -

P A T H

- - - Plot 2 - - -

P A T H

- - - Plot 3 - - -

P A T H

- - - Plot 4 - - -

Once I had it all laid out I had to stop for the day. That night we had a bit of a storm with high winds, and it nearly undid everything I'd done that day. Except that I'd noticed the weedmat was starting to come loose so I put various spades, forks, rakes, etc down on top of the weedmat to stop it blowing away overnight.

The next thing I did was to lay compost down on top of my plots. I'd forgotten to do this earlier, I think I was supposed to do it before I turned over the soil.

Then I spread leftover lavender clippings all over my four plots. The point being to provide a bit of a mulch but also just to protect the ground over winter, to stop the weeds growing so much, until I'm ready to start planting things in spring.

I'll upload some photos shortly, but I have to say I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. Laying down the weedmat to separate the plots was (to me) a stroke of genius (even if I do say so myself). It provides a visual break between the plots and provides something to walk on (and stops you from getting so dirty). But the best thing about it is that it has gone from being one huge, intimidating plot, into five smaller, manageable plots. Psychologically I feel a lot more comfortable about dealing with five small gardens than one huge garden. The other beauty of using weedmat is that it can easily be pulled up again when it is time to dig over the garden again.

I don't know if the lavender clippings were the right thing to use or not. Someone suggested they might be too woody. My main intent is not to have them to encourage growth, but to inhibit it, so I think it will work well. And if not, well I'll still have the best smelling vege garden anyway!

-M