A midst the chaos however, perusing the garden provided the perfect distraction for Mr S when nothing else would calm him down from his misery filled tantrums (the poor little man has had a ridiculously crappy time lately, I can't blame him for needing to vent). So lots of thinking has been achieved, and just a little doing.
We have experienced an array of weather. There was even snow 20min further up the mountain which we of course HAD to go and check out! No gardening was achieved on that day ;)
Our strawberry plants have provided us with a handful of nice big strawbs lately, only some have been lucky to actually turn red before Mr S plucks them off their stalks (he sure loves his strawberries!) I picked up a few extra plants the other day and bundled them together in a pot with a pedestal they look more "in place" now than they did before. I also had another few potted strawberry plants of a different variety which have been reproducing so I separated them and sent a bunch off to their new home in a friends garden, along with some of my seedlings and seeds I have excess of. This has been my latest achievement. I had been trying to figure out how to get the most out of the pots I already own and so the pot that previously housed the strawberries will be used for a new tomato plant which will be coming from another friend. There's lots of sharing and caring done around these parts :)
We've planted a few new seeds, Alyssum and more Californian Poppies. I'd like to focus on raising some poppy seeds and transplanting them into a sloping garden bed near the street that was previously overrun with honeysuckle. I did try to sow seeds straight into the patch but all but 1 seemed to have washed away with the water run off. My older Cali Poppies are now shooting up flower buds, the first one opening a few days ago to reveal a beautiful, buttery, creamy coloured little flower. It personified (flowerfied?) the image I had had in my head of the flower named Acceptance With Joy from the book Hind Feet on High Places. Thats my favourite part of the book, the part that sticks in my mind and plays out in my life the most.
My membership to the Diggers Club arrived a couple of weeks ago. That was an exciting day! Since then, when I've found some time, I've been browsing the catalogues and highlighting the varieties of plants I want to grow. Did you know there is a variety of poppy that looks like a lady bug? Miss C was pretty chuffed to find that, and is keen to order the seeds for it eventually :)
Speaking of lady bugs, I have been noticing their presence in my garden. I have now spotted a lady bug on three different days so hopefully that means they (or that one at least) are here to stay!
And I ordered some soap nuts to use for my laundry. Apparently you're not allowed to grow them here though which is a shame. I would be great to grow my own but they're considered a weed. Oh well...
So this kind of brings us somewhat up to date I guess :) I'll leave you with a photo of our capsicum...
