Cover crop

Last Sunday I sowed phacelia in the two main patches where the veges grow come spring. No germination as yet, so it will be a while before we see this sight again.

I see from reviewing my earlier posts (loving blog labels, very easy to locate notes to self!) that I had thought about sowing phacelia in the shaded strip leading up the front door. I had borage in there over summer, which was lovely but a bit big, so I must remember to order some more phacelia seed to sow along there in spring.

The discouraging leek

"If your leeks are ready..." says the the latest email newsletter from Lynda at NZ Gardener. Really? Out there, someone's leeks are ready? My single leek is still pencil-like. A sturdy pencil, but still......

In other news, the lemons are half green half yellow now. There appears to be one less-than-healthy branch on one of the trees where the lemons are all small and oddly shaped, rather like they've already been shrunken and preserved, but the rest are coming along nicely.

Now, if it would just stop raining for a day so I could hoe away the weeds and sow the cover crop for winter before it's too late!

Catnip

The catnip is now officially enormous. I must find some human uses for it! It does get plenty of use as a place for Bugsy to sleep, judging from the giant cat-shaped indentation in the middle of it, and I will definitely start harvesting and drying it to do some custom-made cat toys.

Leek

After two years of trying to get leeks to germinate, and then thrive, I finally have one single solitary leek that was today transplanted into the garden. Hurrah! Hopefully it will continue to thrive.

In other surprising developments, my Jingle Belles capsicum seedling (that germinated late and was therefore going to winter indoors before being planted out in late spring), has decided to attempt to grow some capsicums. They're about 5mm across.

No sign yet of any lettuce and mesclun seedlings - I'm pretty sure everything green in that patch of the garden is a weed but I'm leaving them there just to be on the safe side.