Celebrate Spring

With the passing of the equinox & then the full moon after it’s now time to ensure plantings in the veggie patch gets growing for the coming seasons. This weekend was an excellent time to get a few things done while Quentin was focused on the football.
I started off by re making the ‘pumpkin patch’ an area which is really a road leading to an emergency fire gate through to the neighbors. It’s supposed to be kept clear! Last year I added compost, planted pumpkins & then mulched the area. I found a soaker hose so used it upside down around the area. Not a lot happened because soaker hoses need flat, level land to work evenly. I did get some pumpkins but not what I expected so I decided to put a proper drip system in. I was going to use some of the built in dripper hose but since there was a kilometer or so of poly pipe in the shed and a box of pressure compensated drippers also that was the way to go. I got it all set up and the moment I started raking the mulch away to set out the lines the chooks came to help!! I also had to put up a fence that could be removed in a hurry & would keep my ‘helpers’ out while the pumpkins grew.



Next job was to set up a sprinkler (we don’t use mains) in my cold frames that could easily water the seedlings. The result is they can be well watered in 20seconds with a fine spray. This will be even more useful for the February seeds when the cold frame will be covered with shade cloth.
I managed to fix a few more watering systems as each of my raised beds has its own system. The system depends on what will be growing.

We also managed to celebrate spring with a few friends around for a pleasant Sunday lunch.

The willow house is leafing out.

the

goslings are growing

The revamped compost bays also progressed a little as did our own blog site & my entry in the show-off
Check them out at Debs veggies or nirvana farm
. While these photos where uploading I have managed to sew the shade cloth onto the frame to make the coldframe more felexible for summer seedlings.