Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Spring Garden Planning

What a busy week I've been having! I've recently found out I'm moving to Dunedin for 3 months for the final clinical placement of my degree. How exciting! In only 14.5 weeks I'll be a qualified Speech-language Therapist!

But, with this move not far in the distance, I've got ALOT to get organised. From accommodation to car servicing to assignments, and of course, I'll have to be super on to it with my Spring seed planting! I plan to come back for a few weekends to see Paddy and my garden (and I can't miss mine or Paddy's birthdays or our 5 year aniversary!) but I need to have all my seeds ordered and planted before I head off. I'm always slow off the mark with seed raising, but this year I hope to be different.

So, I've spent the last week perusing the King's Seeds catalogue, and creating a strategy for how I am going to fit it all in my teeny tiny garden! Where there's a will, there's a way... trust me.
So here we go, the plan (sorry about the picture quality, click for a better view)...
 

With the addition of my new fruit trees (including another this week, a double-grafted dwarf apricot!) I am going to have to move outside the gate and onto the driveway... Not ideal, as I like to be able to keep an eye on my babies, but unfortunately necessary. Luckily it's actually one of the sunniest areas of the house, and I know the trees will love it.

In my list, there's a lot of regular, tried and trues- my favourite bulls blood beetroot and chantenay carrot, as well as a few new varieties of old favourites, such as slowbolt coriander, genovese giant basil, and a new black coral zucchini. I've also branched out,  including in my order some medicinal flowers, inspired by my much-loved 'Grow Your Own Drugs' books, as well as some new and exciting tomato and chilli varieties.
I find in a small, mostly concrete-surrounded garden, getting bees in can be a problem, so I'm always sure to stock up on bee-attracting flowers. Last year my borage, phacelia and nasturtiums worked a treat, so I'll be sure to plant plenty of those, as well as a few flowers for cutting.

At this point in winter, I start to get a bit down by all the grey days and persistently cold weather, and it always makes me feel better to plan my garden and focus on the upcoming Spring. With the addition of my wonderful new fruit trees, I am even more excited than ever to watch my garden grow!


And, just to make me feel even better, I'll leave you with some photos of my garden from last Spring. So much to look forward to!

7 comments:

  1. awesome! I had egg cartons full of seed trays the summer before last. Then last summer I had a babe, so NO time for garden (except for a few rows of spuds and lettuces). This summer I want a tomato that tastes like a tomato! Have you any recommendations from your browsing over at Kings?

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  2. I love the suitcase garden! And the beautiful fuschia! And the cherries! Okay all of it. I'm trying to narrow down my list of seed wants to less than, well, everything. Like Clare, I simply must have tomatoes. Must. Have.

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  3. Okay possibly about to wet myself - my word verification for that last comment was 'arser'. BahahahahaHAAAA!!! I get the best ones for your blog.

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  4. Yes seed swap sounds like a plan! Hey, I see above Ella seems keen - maybe I'll ask her if she wants to swap too. Flick me an email greenvalleycrafts(AT)gmail(dot)com

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  5. Awesome-just discovered your blog. I'm pleased to find a fellow Christchurch blogger(at least I think you're from Christchurch?) and it looks like we're into some of the same stuff. I haven't even begun to think about gardening for this year yet so good on you:)

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  6. Such gorgeous shots. I adore that red boot planter and the suitcase one. Genius! Sounds like you've got everything in order for planting. Good luck getting it all done in it!! xo m.

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  7. I love the suitcase garden. Brilliant! You make me want to try again with my pots.

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