Keeping On, Keeping on!

Hi from Sunny Christchurch.
Its hard to believe how different this year is from last year, weatherwise. I dont follow the weather too much, but I have a Mr 12 who likes looking ahead to see what will happen re the forecast. Its both a blessing and a curse... See Mum, I told you I didnt need a jacket, you wouldnt get the washing dry... etc.

So, is this Autumn yet? Im not a good Winter person, I dont like the cold, but Ive started mulching and composting, and bringing in the citrus trees. This year Ive made a little *hide* for them, with straw bales at each end, to protect them from the wind, and ... well, if we have snow. The white stuff... sigh. We just might?
I have a new blood orange to protect. The last thing I heard from the guy I got it from was... Dont forget to protect it from frost. Theyre worse than lemons... My lemon was in the snow in its first year and survived, but I dont want to chance it :)

Which reminds me, Snow...I need to get a new shovel. The handle  from the one I have... err,... had... was compromised. It had to go onto the new eel spear. You'd understand the necessity if you are a 16 yr old fishing nut who just *had* to try out the new spear right that night... And they caught three good-sized eels, which they baked and ate with the neighbours. We only catch what we can/will eat.

Have some new seeds for sale this year - Ladybird poppy, Flanders Poppy, Broad Beans, Fenugreek, Catnip, and a few others that still need to be sorted and packed. I have the most beautiful cobalt blue larkspur popping through, and have a new echinacea, (above - its called Tomato Soup).
I love echinacea, its one of my favourites, and Im hoping it will grow well so I can divide it up and have drifts of colour throughout the garden, because the bees need all the help they can get, and they LOVE my echinacea. Nearly as much as the Bumblebees do... Theres always a bumblebee asleep on, or slowly crooning into the flowers...

Also have some marigolds, the African ones, that grow a bit taller, and have the crinkly flowers. I dont like the smell much, but they are good for companion plants. Always cheerful are the orange and yellow calendulas or Pot Marigolds. Ive been sowing them with the children at school. Theyve been watching their swan plants being eaten up by the monarch caterpillars... and enjoying the opening of the chrysalis!

Not a lot of other news for now, things are ticking along. Im working on a few new things, hopefully one of them will develop into something wonderful....

As a companion to this blog, I have a new site now, which is organized to detail the seeds Im selling...

Youll find The Seedlist HERE

Im selling through TRADEME and my listings are HERE until I get sorted.
Ive got regular $1 reserves, so you might just get a bargain!
Can post throughout NZ for just 80c for up to five packets of seed (except beans, which are oversized)


Hope life is keeping you smiling,
~Take care~ 
From my Hearth to Yours

Earth Butterfly
XX

First of the Season...

Lots happening here and there, it goes with the time of year I guess :)
We have some new faces popping up through the garden, it is so nice to have some good long hot days in Canterbury!

Harvesting the berries this week, we have had great success with the strawberries (Chandler especially!) and have a pottle or two of other mixed berries - black currant, red currant, raspberries.



Shame about the wind, but its what we are famous for I guess - the ole Nor' West wind!
The tomatoes are starting to appreciate the weather and are growing accordingly - slowly but surely.
A healthy dose of composted pooh and some seaweed is helping.

Have harvested some seeds in the past two weeks and learned how to winnow fine seeds successfully.  Swede, Red Cabbage, Mesculun varieties such as rocket, mizuna and mibuna, Black Kale and two varieties of carrot, and two of lettuce.

Sunflower - Giant Russian (6ft and still growing!)

Salmon pink Hollyhock

The first of my flowers are coming to flower this week - more of the red opium poppies, but after losing one to the wind, I have staked the remainder.

 I also found a purple variety which have just started flowering, and theyre quite smart - an unusual colour, so quite striking and very tall like their red cousin.

Thats all for now,
Happy Gardening!!
Take care
EB
XX