Lovely Spring Weather

It's been lovely gardening weather lately, but before I show off the garden, I wanted to show you a picture of the inside of the chook pen as it is right now.



We knocked-up the ramp and platform pretty quickly from spare bed slats. The roosting table has pipes covering the sharp edges, and the front pipe comes off easily after removing the pins. The blackboard and poster still need to be hung on the walls. :)

Marty and I have spent most days out in the garden, weeding and planting seeds.



The front garden this winter has not been used much at all. The only area with any real activity has been this:



On the left, snowpeas. I meant to plant peas, but I think I got my seeds mixed up! Oh well. In the middle is the purple sprouting broccoli. Very interesting plant! I plucked a few caterpillars from it every now and then, but for the most part it looks like the white cabbage moth doesn't seem too interested in it. Under the broccoli is pyrethrum and nasturtium flowers and to the right of all that is Spartigus the Asparagus. He's done very nicely this spring and we've eaten a little asparagus already.

Also out in the front garden, the comfrey has made a comeback. It died back completely last year in the heat and this spring it surprised us by coming back to life again.



In an unused part of the garden, we've got some nettles growing happily. This is their second year, and although usually considered a weed, we like to keep some around just for the butterflies. The nettles are being eaten by caterpillars at the moment, and in return hopefully we'll see some Admiral butterflies.



Lastly, this is the sleeper bed in the back. (Made of railway sleepers.) Growing in here is some celery with the most wonderful flavour, the last beetroot (although I've planted more seeds), and a blackcurrant that is just starting to wake up. There are also carrots and broccoli and a flowering bok-choy that are not in the photo. The carrots are very small since this bed doesn't get much light over the winter months, and the bok-choy is huge and old but I can't get rid of it - the bees are still enjoying it!



You can also see behind everything the overgrown mass of weeds. It's the boggy area and the frogs are going crazy.. so I can't bring myself to scythe the whole lot down just yet. It'll be easier when the pond has dried up for the season anyway. Well, that's my excuse! I have a short video of the sounds the frogs are making (with a few ravens thrown in for good measure). In it, I'm sitting right on the edge of the sleeper bed. I recorded it for the sound, so forgive the very boring vision. :)



Until next time!