Golden summer days

27 Jan 2013 1 Comment

by Gwen in gardening, home, snapshots, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

Hello again.

I know it has been far too long since I last posted.  Work has eaten me up and I haven’t had much time to garden or do much else, aside from catching up on housework & laundry on my days off.  I also left our old faithful digital camera outside during a fine, misty rain a few months back and my phone’s camera is not as good as that one.  So my photographs have all been very fuzzy and not post-worthy.

On the garden front, not much is happening because I have no time!  It’s been a tad disappointing to have let my veggie garden get completely overgrown, but one day I’ll have it weed-free again.

Finally caught up on laundry today so I harvested our two tubs of Agria potatoes.  They are so golden.

Picture of this year's Agria potato harvest

The summer is flying by- we’ve been to the beautiful beach a few times and have had very lovely sunny days here.

My succulents on the porch are all very happy and low maintenance, which is awesome.  Finally found the name of my favorite one!  It’s a sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’.   Very happy flowers :)

Secum rupestre 'Angelina' bloom

Also, the first tree in our backyard that flowered this spring is a plum tree.  I’m not sure what kind though, but  the fruit is small and sweet, with red flesh.  Unfortunately it’s up on a ridge so I can’t really get to it.  I’ve only eaten a few windfall plums that the birds & bugs didn’t get to.  The back yard smells like fermenting plum wine at the moment, and I have to clear them in order to get to my clothes line.  YUM!

There are also heaps of blackberries taunting me from up on the ridge.  I wonder if I can talk Ben into climbing up there & picking some.

Hope your gardens are going well if you’re down under!  And if you’re up North, stay warm!  Lots of snow pictures circulating through my Facebook feed at the moment.

How is your season going?

Hello, spring. Please stay a while.

26 Sep 2012 5 Comments

by Gwen in cats, gardening, reflections Tags: , , , ,

It’s officially spring here in New Zealand.

Yesterday we received glorious rays of sunshine all day on the Kapiti Coast, and Ben and I spent as much time as we could outdoors.  I was able to get some more weeding done, along with getting all of our laundry dried outside.  I made a note to myself to never use bark for mulching on top of weed mats.  Weeds love it.  You can’t keep them away.  They grow through the weed mat, honest to goodness.  I still have a ways to go in some areas of the yard!

We had the kittens (they’re not really kittens now) out for a bit, so I decided to get the camera out and capture a few action shots.  It’s harder than you think!  Especially with our little old camera that isn’t very fast.

Ben and Leon having a go at tug of war.  Or possibly Leon thinking he should be walking Ben, instead of the other way around?  Leon loves to take toys and just walk off with them in a very determined fashion, tail held high.

Behind them is what I believe to be a passion fruit vine, and a jasmine vine trying to take over the wire trellis going up the wall.

Winters and Moose (the big cats) are never far away when we’re outside, and before long they decided they were kittens again, too.   They’ve both been more playful since we moved here, both inside and outside.

There’s more green here for them to enjoy, I think.  The yard is huge compared to our last house.  The grass will need a trim soon…the house was advertised with the condition that the owner would take care of the lawns, but the land lord hasn’t said anything to us about it yet.  I want to find a good old push-mower anyway.

Moose decided watching was far better than trying to actually catch the thing everyone else was chasing.

Today there wasn’t a true patch of sun at all.  A slight chill was back in the air, and it was raining before long.  Have I mentioned that it rains at least once every two days here?  I’m not kidding!  In a way I don’t mind it, but I’m itching for it to stay warm and dry for a few days in a row.  As I type these last few words, the rain has turned into a pour.  At least I like the sound of rain on the roof!  It’s very comforting. :)

Have you done anything to greet the new season?

Wedding (not tomato) season

26 Feb 2012 12 Comments

by Gwen in home, my other half, reflections Tags: , , , , ,

Well!  I picked a really bad year to start a blog about gardening (amongst other things).  This summer has been really crappy weather-wise, at least for tomatoes, which was supposed to be my bumper crop this year!

It’s (again) been a while since I posted.  And I don’t feel horribly bad about that (sorry!).  I’ve  fallen behind on reading all the awesome blogs I follow, but I’m slowly catching up!  I blame the annual leave I took in January.  Blogging has been an outlet for me, and when I took time off, I didn’t need to say as much because I guess I had more time to do other things?  Plus, the weather has still been really…not summery, so my garden (sadly) is not as awesome as I thought it would be, hence the lack of garden updates.

I’m on annual leave again!  And I’m getting married next Saturday.  Surprise surprise!

By Ícaro Moreno Ramos (Wedding Photography) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Ícaro Moreno Ramos (Wedding Photography) via Wikimedia Commons

I do love the idea of being engaged, but Ben and I have been together 7+ years.  I really don’t see the point in a long engagement, or a big wedding, so I looked at the calendar and picked a day that I would like to celebrate for the rest of my life.  The 3rd of the 3rd sounded awesome, and it’ll definitely be easy for Ben to remember (jokes, I swear).   Plus, it’s half way between my birthday and Ben’s birthday, and if you include valentine’s day being a week and a half before my birthday, I’ve successfully wrangled us a month of celebrating!  I’m pretty satisfied about that! :) Not that we really do Valentine’s Day, in a commercial sense.

I’ve also turned 30 since the last time I posted.  Being 30 doesn’t feel much different from 29, but that combined with getting married soon has made me miss my family a lot.  Especially my mom.  I always thought she’d be here for this, but life doesn’t always work out the way you thought it would.

I know some folks might be wondering about our wedding plans — there really aren’t many.  We’re having a private ceremony at home with a celebrant and Ben’s parents as our witnesses.  Afterwards, I think Ben and I will just enjoy our wedding day together.  No reception.  We don’t really know heaps of people and Ben’s a fairly private person, so I think it would be awkward to have a lot of people over when we really just want to be married, for us.  I’m hoping our friends will understand that and not be offended that they’re not getting invited to a reception. We’re not even doing a wedding cake (neither of us are crazy about cake).  We thought about having a barbecue, but I’m not really sure we’ll even do that.

By Johnnie Allen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Joe Falcon and Cléoma Falcon on their wedding day April 27th, 1932

Having spent the last few weeks looking at wedding stuff, it really amazes me.  The money there spent in the wedding market is unbelievable.  I can’t imagine spending thousands of dollars on a wedding. Many of the Western wedding traditions as we know them didn’t really exist until the last century, honestly, not a lot of it appeals to me.  Don’t get me wrong — I’ve been to a few weddings and they’ve been really beautiful.  They’re just not for me.

I wasn’t keen on the idea of wearing a dress, as I’m not really a dress (or skirt) kind of person, but I know Ben really would love to see me in a dress, so I managed to find one on my birthday.  It wasn’t an easy feat considering most of the stores out there don’t even carry my size (NZ 18).  It’s not a traditional wedding dress because it’s royal blue, but it fits me well, and I feel beautiful when I wear it.

I want to find some cheap live flowers (white and purple maybe?)  to plant in my tire planters (which have remained bare after I pulled out the nemophilias), but that’s about all the decorating I’m doing.  We’re still saving for a car.  The highlight of my birthday (after finding my dress) was buying a beautiful kaftan top for $5 when it was originally $60.  I don’t want to blow money on dead flowers, however pretty they are.  At least with live flowers we can enjoy them for a few weeks after the wedding!

Call me crazy if you want (a few people I know seem were flabbergasted by me not really wanting to get a dress), but I’m really happy about it all.  That’s what matters, right?

Have you ever gone the non-traditional route with something important?

Planting again & staying busy

31 Jan 2012 3 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, getting healthy, home, reflections Tags: , , , , ,

Time for a quick garden update!

It looks like it’s time for me to replant my tire planters with flowers — the nemophilias were lovely, but they decided they’d had enough and started drooping horribly over the sides.  I’ve pulled them all out and will plant some new seed tomorrow.

I also pulled out my sugar snap and snow peas.  The snow peas had stopped producing and the sugar snaps were really yellow.  I discovered the sugar snaps had powdery mildew towards the bottom of their vines, which has now spread to the crystal apple cucumber plants. Doh!

I did find that there’s a cucumber growing!  Exciting news!  I’ve seen heaps of flowers but this is the first fruit on the vine.  The cucumber vine is super prickly — I get little splinters stuck into my fingers if I’m not wearing gloves.

I’m thinking I might put some lettuces in the tire planter on the back patio, now that there’s really no room for them.  I really loved that red sail variety.

It’s still raining here, and when it’s not sprinkling, it’s extremely muggy, so I haven’t been outside much this week.  I have been keeping busy with zumba and free-stepping while watching tv on the Wii.  Tomorrow, I’ll do some running (ever so briefly…) on the treadmill I think.  Super tired today from zumba, but I really did well.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to get into the workout but today I pushed myself to commit to every song.  It’s a good feeling.

What are some ways you enjoy getting exercise?  How are your gardens looking?

A snapshot sort of Sunday

29 Jan 2012 4 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, snapshots Tags: , , , , , , ,

It’s raining again, but I’m not complaining! :) Less water I need to use, I guess!

The past couple of weeks have been really mild — so much so that I’m not sure I’ll ever get ripe tomatoes!  There are plenty growing now, but none are anywhere near ripe.

These photos have been taken over the past month (usually they’re photos from the last week, but I’ve proven to be a slacker this month at posting).

I ordered the rainbow mix of tomatoes from someone on Trademe, who I’m sure orders her seeds from Kings Seeds…and it looks like at least three of what should be full sized tomato plants are turning out to be some smaller variety.  Either cherry or small roma? Time will tell!

Scarlet runner beans are finally catching up to King of Blues.  I really like King of Blues beans better — even the smaller scarlet runner beans are a bit furry. They taste wonderful when cooked, but I think I’ll be better off letting them get really large and then shelling them, like lima beans.

Ignore the rogue weed in there!

Funky rock plant pictures!  I could photograph these all day.  Especially in the bright afternoon sun — the result is awesome.

And the lemon blossoms finally opened!  The day after Bloom Day, of course.  They’re so pretty.

Hoping you’re having a wonderful weekend! :)

January 2012 Bloom Day

15 Jan 2012 25 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, home, my other half, snapshots Tags: , , , , ,

It’s the 15th!  For some folks, it’s pay-day.  For me, it’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, kindly hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens :)

This is the most exciting Bloom Day I’ve ever experienced!

Some things are coming to an end in the raised garden beds — the peas look like they’re about done, and the marigolds are being heavily deadheaded, but other things are still on the up and go.  It’s been pretty warm here (for New Zealand, anyway) so trying to keep on top of the watering with the water restrictions we’ve got in Christchurch have been hard on everyone.

Fiery marigolds

More marigolds

Lemon blooms

The new lemon tree Ben’s parents gave me has so many blooms on it! They smell so good!  I’m not sure whether to leave them or to pinch them off though.  There are so many, and it already has fruit as well.

Meyer lemons

My coriander’s going to seed! Will plant some more shortly.  It’s so easy to grow, and even easier to eat! :)

I spotted the first flower on my capsicums!  Exciting.  I wonder what kind it will be — I ordered a ‘rainbow mix’ of tomatoes and capsicums.

I know he’s not a bloom, but I thought he was pretty, so Sir Jumpsalot gets to be in this post.  I thought he was going to jump on me several times — he kept following my movements and then turning towards me lol.

Some kind of cute bug in a rose! :) Some weird things have been popping up in Ms. Chameleon’s foliage lately…

And that’s why today has been so exciting! :) Ben finally asked me to marry him.  Or in his words, “make it official,” because he’s considered me his wife for quite some time already.

What’s blooming in your garden (or life)?

Summer holiday

07 Jan 2012 4 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, home, reflections, snapshots Tags: , , , , ,

I’ve taken some annual leave, so I might not post as much for this week & next week!  I know I haven’t posted horribly much yet this month, but I’ll get back into the swing of things very soon, I swear :)

I want to use this time to establish some new habits, like making use of the Wii Ben got me for Christmas, and walking everyday, if the weather permits (when it doesn’t, I can use The Beast instead).

I’m also taking some time to notice the small things again — it was much too easy in December to rush around trying to get a million and one things done.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses.

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Ms. Chameleon is in her third batch of flowers now, and putting on a spectacular show.  I could take pictures of them all day.

Have you noticed any small things today? I hope you have! <3

New Year’s wishes

31 Dec 2011 2 Comments

by Gwen in blogs, food, gardening, home, reflections, snapshots Tags: , , , , ,

I can’t believe this year is over.

It’s gone amazingly fast (most of it), except for when I was waiting for seeds to grow and moaning on here about that!

We’ve had some awesome things happen in our lives this year, for better and for worse.  I’m hoping 2012 brings more happiness for the now & gwen house, and that the ground stops moving in Christchurch.  I already have new ideas for the garden next spring if we’re still in this house by then.  I guess only time will tell :)

Starting this blog is probably one of the best things I’ve done for myself in ages.   I never really expect people to read it, but it’s always a blessing to receive lovely comments from you, and it’s been awfully therapeutic for me.  I’ve needed an outlet for a while and gardening, while quickly becoming my most favorite hobby, is quite a solitary experience for me.  It’s been wonderful reading so many blogs and (e)meeting so many lovely bloggers out there!

Things are still full steam ahead outside!  I picked my first King of Blues beans today and blanched them in some salt water.  They tasted amazing, and were longer than my hand — I wasn’t expecting them to grow so long!  The kittens had to inspect them before cooking, of course.  In the picture, I’d snapped all of then in half, so picture them twice as long as that.

I think this variety of beans would be really great to grow if you have kids.  Watching them turn from a dark, purple-black to green while they blanch is lots of fun!  The magic happens very fast. :)

I also tied up the peas a bit more today, and pushed them over the top of the fence so they’ll grow in that direction instead of flopping over.  Some of them have started to yellow.  I’m not sure why exactly!  I’ve always read that peas don’t need much fertilizing/feeding, so I haven’t really feed them in a while.  I’m wondering if it’s a deficiency or if they just really dislike being so close to spring onions.

I picked a bunch of sugar snap pods and lots of huge snow peas that I’ll be eating for dinner tonight!  I’ve found that the pea pods have a really sweet smell when you pick them, even though the flower has dropped off of it days before then.  It lingers on your fingers like marigolds do when you’re deadheading them.

I moved the red sail lettuces from bed #2 to bed #1 to make room for all the tomatoes and capsicum plants.  They were touch and go for the first day, but they’re settling in nicely and look like they’ll be bolting this week.  We had some really hot days last week that made my green lettuces bolt, so I pulled them from bed #1.

I spotted our first tomato today as well and let out a little cheer!  Nearly all the full-sized tomato plants and pear tomato plants have flowers on them now.  In a few weeks I think we’ll get a lovely first crop!  I can hardly wait :)  We’re going to attempt making our own chutney & tomato sauce with what we harvest in 2012.

The nemophilia is looking as lovely as ever, with the white snowstorm poking up through the baby blue-eyes.  I think this flower will be a keeper for me.  I’m going to look forward to growing them every year.

Best wishes from now & gwen to you and yours! :) See you in 2012!

Plantnappers & Christmas

28 Dec 2011 5 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, home, reflections Tags: , , , , ,

Sorry for the lack of posts!  Work has exploded with activity, I was out-of-town for a bit and then before I knew it, Christmas had come and gone.

Things in the garden are exploding, too.  I can’t keep up with the lettuces, and I’m getting so many snow peas that I could eat them at every meal and still have more! :) Luckily, I love snow peas.

I can finally tell the difference between the sugar snap peas and snow peas, by the way.

King of Blues BeansMy king of blues & scarlet runner beans are starting to come out.  It’s really cool to see these little sticks on the vines turn into beans!  Even though Ben doesn’t eat as many veggies as I do, he loves the idea of being able to grow your own food, so he’s getting a real kick from how much our garden beds are giving us this season.

Our Christmas was really lovely.  We got to spend the day over at Ben’s parents’ house and have an amazing lunch there.

I really got spoiled this year!  Ben got me a Wii with the new Zumba game & Wii Fit because he knows how much I love Zumba and how the original dvds are getting a bit boring for me.  I also got two pairs of glasses.  I haven’t had glasses in about ten years — my old optometrist used to yell at me for that.

Ben’s parents have been reading along here and spied my garden wish list post from a few months ago.  They gave me a dwarf lemon tree and english lavender for Christmas!  And Ben’s brother got me some socks (I love socks! I always need socks!) and some new gardening secateurs.

On a sad note, the plantnappers struck again early Christmas Eve morning (or Christmas Eve Eve? night).  I went outside to water the garden late on Saturday and opened the door to find that Mr. Courgette had been stolen. They weren’t so neat about the roots this time and left quite a few of them, which looked really horrible because they were still bringing up water and just sticking out of the bed, dripping.

I’m not sure if whoever doing it is just screwing with us, or if they really like courgettes, but I was (and still am a bit) heartbroken.  Ben is really upset as well…we just feel a bit powerless at this point to really try and stop them from ripping out everything else that I’ve worked so hard to grow.

Pretty fly on a pretty marigoldI was really discouraged about bringing any of the plants I’ve grown from seed out from around back, but I really have no where else to put them and what’s the point of having two new raised garden beds if I can’t use them?  I’m trying to not let the plantnappers keep me down, so I’ve done some rearranging in the garden beds since then, and I’ll do a picture post tomorrow to show you the updates! :)

Leon & Damara want me to post about their holiday as well, so stay tuned for that!

We hope your holidays are going smashingly well! 

December 2011 Bloom Day

16 Dec 2011 7 Comments

by Gwen in gardening, snapshots Tags: , , , ,

Yesterday was the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! I had this post ready to go and then my internet went down. *shakes fist* Every month on the 15th, GBBD is hosted over at May Dreams’ Gardens! :) You should definitely click through to see what’s blooming all over the world today.

Crystal apple cucumber flower

My cyrstal apple cucumbers are putting out flowers left and right! They’re still only babies, though, so I might pinch them off.

Snow pea flower

Snow peas are out of control!  My tummy likes it. :)

English thyme flower

Some thyme flowering beside my little sage plant! :) Cute flowers.

Scarlet runner bean flower

My scarlet runner beans! Lovely color against the green!  Very festive.

Nemophilia baby blue eyes flower

My nemophilia flowers are going crazy, too.  They’re funny, floppy little things and I’m really loving them!  So are the bees.  Lots of bumble bees and honey bees out on sunny days!  Unfortunately it’s going to rain the next five days or so. Sigh.

What’s blooming in your garden?  Or in your house? :)

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