In the garden

I mentioned before that during the holidays we were very busy in the garden.  Besides having to sort out the drainage (which works like a charm by the way) we also cleaned up a few spots and made a little veggie patch.

I’ve wanted a veggie patch for such a long time.  One of our concerns were the birds.  We live right next to a private reserve / forest / bush type thing which means we have tons of birds all over.  When i mentioned to someone that I want a veggie patch they said the birds will destroy it so it immediately made we a little scared to start.

Hubby has been planning and thinking about it for a while now and since they converted a huge piece of ground at his work into a veggie patch he had some really great ideas.  We found a spot where we could dig up some grass without it looking bad or being in the way.  Then hubby got us some old tyres to use and we measured those out as well.  These old tyres work brilliantly and soon we had so many ideas for them other than the garden.  One night while having dinner in front of the TV we were watching (not listening) to some show and we saw them using guttering for something against a wall and we looked at each other and said “that’s brilliant”.  The next day hubby and his dad were off to builders to buy, measure and cut some gutter for us as well.  I love love love what we ended up with.  I’ve never made a garden on my own.  My dad always had a veggie patch and he made it looks so easy.  he was born to plant.  Anything he planted grew well and made gorgeous veggies.  This is the first time we are doing it on our own and I hope my dad’s good fortune sticks with us and this veggie patch.  I would be very sad it it flops!

These are veggies we have in so far.  We used tyres as the border.  As you can see the dogs can get to it so the tyres do help a bit with the dogs as well.  In them we have strawberries, spring onion, round tomato, cherry tomato, green pepper and cucumber.  Then in the ground between the tyres I have pumpkin and spinach.  We do also have seeds that I will plant (this weekend!!!) so that not everything is ready to harvest a the same time!  These photo’s were all taken as soon as they were planted.

These are the herbs in the guttering against the wall.  Doesn’t it look fabulous?  Excuse all the dirt and mess. As I said these photo’s were taken as everything was planted. These gutters are so cool.  They have holes in the bottom so the water from the top will drip into the lower ones. In here I have chives, lettuce (yes I know this is not a herb but it was the perfect place for it), celery, basil, rocket and parsley.  If you can recommend any other herbs that are good or nice to have please let me know. I am a little clueless with herbs so I just planted what I know.  I would love to know more!

Hubby also attached this nifty little 4-way splitter thing on the tap so I have a little sprinkler system that covers this whole area.  Then I have a short little mini hose that will also reach this area.  Then another sprinkler that for now reaches the piece of grass before the veggies so that when we expand it already has a sprinkler and the fourth one is open for my watering can or attaching the long hose.  I think i have the smartest husband ever!!  Thanks babe!

We then also went to the fountain area.  This fountain is not much loved by my husband.  There is always something wrong with that he has to fix or drain or clean etc etc etc.  It used to have a fern type thing growing next to it with lots of big bushy shrubby things all around it.  It was nice but it looked quite untidy.  So we whipped out all the plants that were there.  Put a tyre on each side (I am telling you, these things are awesome!) and on the one side I put roses and in the other one…something. I can remember what it is called but it’s almost like a palmy ferny thing that works in the sun etc.  When I came home one day I drove straight into this sign.  I think it’s hilarious and looks really cute where it is.  Husband has a good eye and knew immediately it would be much better to make fun of him instead of the one that would make fun of me 😉  See I told you he was smart.  This area definitely looks much neater and better and I can’t wait foor these plants to grow and fill it up a bit more.

When we just moved into the house he bought us this cute little wishing well.  It’s been standing in the area outside our bedroom door (leading to the pool) and I never really thought it needed anything more.  In our planting frenzy though it came up and I said wouldn’t it look cute if it had something creeper-like growing in it.  Hubby went to find something suitable and came back with this beautiful plant with a blue – almost purple – flower.  I love it!  The more it grows the more gorgeous is looks.

We also put up some green lights shining down into the bottom garden.  We did it mostly so that we could see down there and find our dogs.  It actually turns out to look gorgeous!!  I can’t believe what a difference it makes.  All in all I would say we made some nice improvements to the garden.  We are not really garden people but we actually had fun doing it and hoping to learn as we go.

The photos above were all taken as they were planted but within 2 weeks some of the veggies had grown so much!  These are the tomatoes and some of the herbs.  Since these were taken they have grown even more.  Hopefully soon we will be eating from our very own garden.  yay!