Growth

Well, here's proof that some things in the garden are growing. Top photo shows 4 weeks ago, and bottom photo was taken yesterday. Hopefully will have wee zucchinis growing on it soon!



Sons pepper plant has two new black peppers on it, plus one that hasn't shed the green skin yet...

Jam Making

Kids and I have been busy going to school where there is a plum tree. Actually there are three, but the one next to the car park has AWESOME tasting plums on it. I've just been sitting in the lounge tonight watching a few highlights of The Big Day Out at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland where Muse are performing at 8 pm. Oh and there are other artists playing, it's an all day gig. Anyway, I decided to make more jam out of the plums. First off last week I made a plum pie, which was received well by Son, but not Daughter. Then I made about 1.5 litres of jam. Then another day I made the same amount again. There are three bags in the freezer of pitted plums ready to make more jam another day in the future when I have more jars emptied. Then tonight I turned 2 kilos of pitted plums into approx. 2.5 litres of jam. It looks like this at the moment still cooling on the bench before I put some stickers on it so I remember what it is and when it was made. Woo Hoo plum jam!!!!

Fishing Again

Hubby and Son came home from their fishing trip without any fish. They were given a fish on Saturday by another fisherman and barbecued it for lunch. Apparently it was good eating. We went out last night as we were told the salmon were running, so from 530pm to nearly 930pm Son and Hubby fished at the mouth of the Waimak at Kairakei. Not even a bite. Even the other fishermen around, and there were a few of them too! didn't catch anything worth eating. There were a few herring caught that I saw, but they were only 5 inches or so long so got thrown back. Son and Daughter had fun though making sand angels and being frightened by the waves coming in onto the sand.
Son even sat still for a few minutes while he watched his Dad trying to catch a fish.







Gardening wise, I pulled and dug out two red dock plants that were in the way and overgrowing that part of the garden. I chucked the potatoes in some spare ground by the heatpump where it gets a bit dry just to see if they'll grow there. Instead of throwing them away. Also put in a pepper seedling and a tomato seedling but I don't think they're looking good this morning so I'm not hoping too much for them. Inside too I put a wee few cucumber seeds in a bag in the hot water cupboard to see if they'll sprout. I've got about 21 different edible things in the garden, but need more of each type to get us through the autumn and winter months.

Sowed More Peas

On Friday 5th before hubby took Son and his Nephew out to the lakes for a fish. The peas that are there now are doing okay, but some didn't come up so I filled in the gaps with more pea seeds. Tonight after tea I put in some more carrot seeds too, near where I already have some carrots growing. Hubby will be gone tonight too I think, so I may get another chance for a better sleep. Last night I was joined by Daughter who had had a nightmare about being cut up - could be related to her recent surgery. Today Daughter and I headed to Sister's place in the Grove and had a picnic at a nearby park. On the 3rd of Jan when our family went fishing at the Waimak, Hubby caught his first fish....



Not a pwoper fish yet. But we all had a laugh that he landed a three inch fish on a 20 pound salmon line.

Sowing

Worked the garden over today where I wanted to sow some lettuce and beetroot. I had to look really carefully through the soil after I pulled the weeds, as there are really annoying weeds in that part of the garden. They'll probably pop up but I think I got most of the roots of them out. Got the lettuce and beet seeds in with Son's help and we covered the ground so cats won't have a scratch at the dirt. Then after they've sprouted and grown a little we'll take the cover away so they can go for it. It doesn't look like much but I'll be able to fit about 6 lettuces and maybe close to 2 dozen beets as I don't let them get too big before I pull them to eat. I'll do another photo when they've sprouted so we can see the time they took. Here's the ground before the seeds were put in.

Happy New Year

So we spent time with family yesterday celebrating the new years day together. I'm taking the kids over to Sister's house to watch Cars today. They should enjoy that. Then we may go swimming if the weather warms the day a bit more. Photos of garden progress...
First the passionfruit that I need to plant under some trellis


Son's pepper plant (and a tomato seedling)


The zucchini outside at last


The first supertom tomato on the plant