Painting with Sunflowers

Apart from the few baby sunflowers we had planted in our vegetable beds, we still had a small army of ready-to-plant ones waiting in trays. After scanning the unused sunny areas in our garden, it was clear that they would find their new home behind the wall that runs along our watermelon patch. Although the soil was - again - rich in clay, this spot gets a nice amount of sun throughout the day. After the tedious task of digging six holes, each about 30 cm's deep, we started mixing in the Gold Dust and compost. 

Saya getting in there with her fashionable-lady-
gardening-gloves.

Once the soil seemed like something could actually grow in it, we deemed it ready and started removing the babies from the trays. Saya carefully planted them, two in each hole. Once everyone had settled in, we watered the bed and rounded the bed off with some bamboo.

Mimilu added the final touches, which were Teddy-bear sunflower seeds being planted in the remaining open areas of the beds. We were told these don't need to be tray-planted first, and can be planted directly into the soil. So now, all that remains is to wait until we have our own row of sunflowers colouring in the old, blank wall behind the watermelon-patch.

The Zucchini bed.

We had planted some baby-marrow (zucchini) seeds about a week and a half ago into a tray of six. Finally, one breaks through. A day or two passes without any others breaking through the soil. Eventually it became apparent that the others were duds and we were going to have to make due with just one for now and plant some more later.

Building the bed.

The spot we chose for the lone baby-would get great sun, but was neighboured by lots of bamboo, whose roots are very strong and hard to remove. We therefore decided to make a raised bed using a string of small logs, that we got from the nursery (seeing as we couldn't find something in our backyard to do this!). We dug into the ground to mix up some of the clay-ish soil - the soil here was a bit better than that of our first two beds. Then we started mixing in compost and a bit of our garden soil.

Once the empty shape had been filled, we planted one lonely-zucchini into it's new massive bed - although we had been told they do go crazy and cover a lot of ground. We watered the bed and let if settle in.

Trekker and the Zucchini.

The HOT SPOT - Attention all chilli lovers!

The Hot spot is a post to follow if you are a chilli-lover. Whether using jalapeños as the main dish (as popper), or using bird's eye or habanero for additional flavour and spice, chilli's are essential in my kitchen. Chillies play a huge part in my life and ultimately, what would our garden be without some spice?

I have planted a chilli-mix, jalapeños and hot baby peppers from seed. We sowed them at the same time we did the sunflowers and I was bitterly disappointed when the sunflowers snuck out, but no sign from my hot-seedlings. Another week past and yet - nothing. Just before giving up hope, my mother (also a big chilli-fan), told me that chilli-seeds take really long to pop-out. They grow super-slowly, therefore require a lot of patients. So, if you're a chilli-lover or a rookie-planter (such as myself!), don't be de-motivated if your chillies are not growing as quickly as your other plants - they like to take their sweet time!

So, a HOT SPOT post, will be published every-so-often to show progress, if any, as I am still waiting on my hotties :) and to include you on the road of chilli-growing. Recipes and facts about chillies will also be included, so keep your eyes open for the next HOT SPOT.

Jalapeno chillies -
image taken from http://www.greenbarngardens.com/catalog/i68.html

Seeds

Seeds are life. It has always amazed me, this miracle of growth, transformation and manifestation. Seeds represent new life, birth. Without seeds, nothing would exist. From such a tiny object, something as majestic and massive as the Giant Redwoods of California, are born. Each with a purpose and a link to every ecosystem on earth. Seeds are to be treasured, they are more special than we realize. Already seeds have been patented. Huge corporations are capitalizing on- and monopolizing those precious gifts from nature.

Already there is too much mass control of which seeds to buy, how to grow them, quantities thereof and how much they yield. Many seed-banks offer seeds - especially for commercial farming - that produce fruits and flowers whose seeds are sterile. Just so you can go and buy more! If you have plants that produce usable seeds, keep them and look after them. Treasure them! Watch this space and follow the birth, growth and flowering of our beautiful sunflowers.

Too much sun!

Saya and Mimilu went to the nursery again today. Despite the fact that all of us were excited to expand a bit more on our newly-found project, the South African sun beating down with all its might left us all rather silent and irritable.

Nonetheless, we arrived home and we started unpacking the new goodies. They had bought a variety of seeds (sunflower, Californian Wonder peppers and a chilli mix-pack), some butternut starts, melon starts, more compost and a two bags of tree bark! Quite a range!

We went straight to our beds to see how the young plants were doing. All of them were looking like they were doing well.. except for one - the lettuce! It was as though the sun had melted it flat onto the ground. The leaves were entirely limp and it was clear that the plant was in need of some serious TLC. Mimilu dug the poor thing out and replanted what was left of it into a small pot. We placed it in the shade and gave it a lot of water and about 20 minutes later it was back to it's perky self. We would definitely have to plant it in a spot that didn't get that much sun. It would stay in the pot for now.

The bags of bark came in handy in adding a bit of a decorative touch. We filled the spot between the two beds with some tree bark and the result was quite pleasing. The rest of the afternoon was spent planting seeds into trays using a mixture of soil and compost.