More garden doings....

But first some very exciting news!

I'm going to have another grandchild next year. 

My son Jiffy Jonathan and his beautiful girlfriend Josie are pregnant.

To celebrate I made this cute wee blanket, it's just big enough for a Moses basket and really didn't take long to make.

Very soon it will be on it's way to the Isle of Man, along with one or two other items from my Granny collection. 

The weather is still rather changeable here in Timaru, one day it's warm and sunny, the next we are back to cold and wet. But Tony and I have dodged the showers and spent some more time in the garden. One of my tasks has been to get my herb garden going. This year I have opted to keep it in the back porch in order to leave a little more room outside. It's a dry but grey day today and difficult to get nice photos, sorry.

Speaking of outside, things are starting to look green out there, the veges we planted earlier this month are growing well and in some cases too tall for the cat/bird/butterfly proofing.

 Behind the veg bed my Peony tree is looking somewhat overcrowded by it's neighbour. I'm not sure what that is beside it, but it's days are numbered. It is blocking sunlight from my veggies and messing with the peony, so it will be going.

 Further along the garden, behind the greenhouse, next doors clematis is putting on a beautiful display.

 And just on the other side of the path you can see some of the results of my supermarket freebies!

My little garden watermelon, cucumbers and courgette are all potted into troughs and placed so that they can ramble along and down the bank. Hopefully they will do ok there. We will need to ensure we keep up the water though

Yes, that is a bunch of old tyres you see under my greenhouse!  The back of the property slopes away to the fence line, our predecessors in this house had pulled out some of the gardens and built up a solid surface to sit a trampoline on. It was done using old tyres and crusher dust and was a great stable platform ready for us to pop a green house onto.

 Things are looking promising inside the green house too.

The tomatoes are looking strong, there were two extras which we potted, I'll find a spot outside for them once things get a wee bit warmer.

 On the other side of the space as you know, I've been planting capsicum and chilli peppers.

s well as the usual varieties of capsicum I have added my candy cane red and another one called mad hatter. 

 There are still one or two little garden seedlings almost ready to be planted out.

Back outside, we finally got the long bed weeded. Phew! That took a lot of effort.

It#s still looking a bit battered and worse for wear, but is recovering.

Mr H has finally agreed that while bare earth looks very nice, a good mulch is a great way to lessen the weeds!!

 There are even some flowers appearing!

 In other areas, there are still jobs to do. The fennel I grew from my little garden last year has survived the winter. Although we didn't really enjoy eating it, it is a pretty plant and I decided to keep it as an ornamental, it will be moved from it's current spot just as soon as I figure out where to move it too!!

And finally I went to a craft market at the weekend with Debbie and came home with plants!

From front to back I have two podophylum, a hosta and a trillium. (The mint has been there for a while) All are awaiting their instructions! I'll keep you posted on where they go in!

We have a landscape gardener coming along this evening to take a look at the front of our property. We want to make some changes and need help with that bit!! At the moment it looks like a weed infested battlefield! Tony dug out the old fence and gate posts and then we got stuck! We know it needs to be levelled off, and new path and probably a lawn. Hopefully the landscaper will be able to help us out with some ideas and make it look easy as he transforms it!!

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I'm off to sort out a new crochet project.