Thursday, February 09, 2012

Some Finishes.

Yes, some finishes but not the ones I'd like to be reporting on like I finished my quilt or even the borders. No. other work finishes.
 R's foundations got finished and the container got moved onto it. ( it wasn't level so he had to take remedial action - it's okay now. )
 A question;  what is a good colour to paint it and disguise it? ( I hope to grow climber up in front of it eventually. ( yes, I can see it tones with the orange canna flowers but it has got to be another colour. )
 R rang the crane hire on Tuesday to do the moving. They said. " yes, sure we will have a crane truck there at 9 am tomorrow."  The bloke turned up at 7.40 am. Just a tad early. Luckily we were up early. ( they must need the work? )
Another finish by Percy Peacock. He has dropped all the long tail feathers -  we have quite a collection. Actually I like the small fluffy ones he sheds. Will get a photo.
 Yesterday I finished my round of fruit thinning in  2B the largest kiwifruit block!     Yes!                            (Still other blocks to check out )
 Another finish. I had all the lawns mowed before 10 am. today. It is now very dry so it was mowing off rough seed heads, picking up gum leaves and bark - general tity up. Always give me a moral boost as things look tidy just for a short while.
 I finished all my library typing at the weekend so am happy with that.
My 4 borders are only 30 inches long. That's about half what the long sides need to be and two thirds the short ones. I just don't get much time these days as even after dinner I seem to have watering and garden jobs to do. I have currently dug up about 50 more red nerine bulbs that I want to shift to where they will be seen. A bit late doing it as the ones up the bamboo fence are just starting to flower. Yesterday I pulled a dead tree out of a bank that was blocking a path and very ugly and dumped it in the paddock where a certain bloke with a tractor will have to drag it away. I have to admit I was exhausted when I finished but it's done. There are so many jobs like that that keep getting ignored for more important ones. Blah! 
 Question: When attaching borders to your quilts do you sew on the long side first? I am sure someone told me a reason for that....if hanging the quilt it is less likely to stretch...or is there some other reason? ( yes I know to measure through the middle. )
Now some pleasant things. This part of the garden is looking productive.

See how tall the tomatoes have grown. The basil is really doing well now after a very slow start. The spring onions have shot away; the beans are flowering ( we have 2 other lots - the scarlet runner are right at the back - absolutely smothered in passion vine hoppers ) ) and the silver beet are out of site behind the basil. What isn't doing well is the corn and unfortunately V the water melon. They are both too slow and we can't work out why as we have been watering them.

 This morning I have noticed some lovely yellow flowers making bright spots in the garden.

Yes it is just a courgette flower but it looked very bright and inviting...and I'm not even a bee!

This vireya rhododendron - Sunny Splendour ( well named ) is looking very healthy and bright in the shadows under the big oak.
 I took 2 photos of it. See how the colour looks different depending which way the light was .

 It is going to have several flowers I am glad to see.it's leaves are very dark and glossy. A lovely plant . There are 2 exactly the same quite close to each other but not doing the same thing at the same time.

And finally a complaint ( won't get me any where I know cause the culprit is not owning up.) WHO HAS BEEN PECKING MY BUTTERNUT?
Was it Percy or the pukekos?  They also pecked a lot of the little ones. ) Murder is in the air!

( I picked it and we have eaten half - it was very tasty.Luckily the patch up beside the garden shed has at least 20plus still doing well.)

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Once summer has finished will you need to spend so much time in the garden, or will you get time off for good behaviour? I always sew my side borders first, then the top and bottom.....no reason though, have just always done it that way.

molly said...

I had seen this but when I saw how long it was I thought "I'll come back later." Obviously that got away from me!
When I came to the paragraph about "borders" my eyes read "boarders," and before I could correct myself my imagination was careening off,down into the mines I didn't know you had on your property[!] with the dwarfs I didn't know [until now!] you had taken in as boarders, and were probably cooking delicious meals for, with all those wonderful fresh vegetables.......Maybe I'm overdue for an eye-checkup!

Meggie said...

I tend to add the side borders first also, and I don't know why!
Your garden is wonderful- all that delicious basil! And scarlet runner beans! We never see them in the shops here, & they take me back to my childhood, when we had huge vines of them.
Like Molly, I began reading this post days ago, but have only just had time to return to read.

Nicky said...

Great to have some finishes, even if not the quilty kind you would like. Love your bright flowers, wish I could offer some paint advice for the container, but I'm the one who took 2 years to decide what colour to paint the new Linea board on our old house. Decisions, decisions! For what it's worth, I'm a side(usually long) border first girl, I think it evens out the quilt, making the horizontal/shorter borders more even in length with the side ones.