January Gardening.

Wishing You are Happy New Year!

January is already being a busy time for us, but the weather is great and we are fitting in some time off as well as work but have both been busy in the garden.  Most things are flourishing.
  The 2 courgette plants currently producing just might be the healthiest ones we have ever grown. I suspect they like the straw mulch around their roots ...they are standing up not sprawling on the ground as they sometimes do.

 This morning I picked these Greenfeast peas from R's walled garden.

Off this row. ( sweetcorn behind  and bumble bee box ) 

 The courgettes, peas and beans must be picked daily to ensure they keep cropping.

 The silver beet is doing well too.

 We are eating my little tom thumb lettuces as fast as we can - they are so crisp.

 Right that is 6 shades of green . Perhaps some other colours now.

 Blue cornflowers . Here is my wildflower patch. I use the term wild flower loosely Isabelle. It does have official wild flowers in there but also packets of seed which grow rapidly and EASILY at this time of the year( Cornflowers,  Cosmos , Zinnias ) ( NZ would have no native wild flowers of it's own...hence Californian Poppies; Soldier poppies,  English flowers, South African flowers )

 Wherever they are from the bees and I are loving them.

 I have picked my first little yellow drop tomato .....so I won that race...R's big ones are not far behind. ( just starting to show colour )

 I have also picked 15 blueberries and weeded then and tried to cover them with nets. R's has hung old discarded CDs on hooks which flash around in the breeze to try and keep the birds off.

 Now for this photo you will need to look closely. It is a bumble bee coming out of the door in it's box ( hive I suppose ) . There is also one disappearing into the left doorway. This bee box is inside the walled garden and is very active.

This is a poor photo but I'll show it anyway as I don't have a better one. It is of a Bumble bee's back end. The yellow bits are the full pollen sacks on it's legs.

 As I was trying to get close with the camera the bumble bees kept bumping into me, but carried on unperturbed.

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 Tomorrow we are having some help come in, to work with us pulling off defective Kiwifruit. Ones that will never make it to export.

 These are examples I have ready to show them, of what we want picked off. Doubles ;ones with hooks; too wide; too squat; or already rubbed on something ( front left - brown mark )  These are not regular kiwfruit shape..and regular ( exportable )  are the only sort we want the vine putting nutrients into. They need to be off the vines now so the good fruit left will plump up to a good size.

 R and I have been working at this job but need help to get it done now.

 I have finished reading one book and started another and we have been to a very pleasant 80th birthday BBQ where the son ( a chef ) made Calamari for entrée...very tender and yummy. So just a little relaxation. 

 Most of my garden in the shade is weeded, the sunny spots less so as it's been just too hot in the sun. After dinner at night is a good time but luckily it gets dark and makes me come inside.

 We are now watering things to just maintain them.