Sunday, February 23, 2014

Another Weekend Of Planting Fruit Trees And Beans

This batch of bean plantings is doing well
The past weekend was quiet and slightly wet, which is how I like my days.

No need to water the garden because nature is doing it for me, and the quiet gives me a chance to write and schedule blog posts for the A-Z Challenge,which is taking place in April. Twenty posts down, six more to go:-)

I also did a bit of planting.

1. A guy (I didn't know) from the village brought me three saplings for banana, pawpaw and  avocado. Apparently a look at my garden told him the saplings belong there. He then helped me plant them. So I have more fruit trees adding to my small orchard.


2. I also planted a lot of  white beans. Mma and I were sitting on the stoep, just enjoying a bit of  rest and I noticed that the flower beds edging the lawn were not being used to capacity. 

So  I thought, why not plant beans there? They are easy to grow and they emit nutritients that feed the soil for nitrogen-eating plants, so they'll leave that soil richer for more flowers come  spring.

3. I also planted pink sweet peas along the boundary fence facing the main street. I'm looking forward to all.

Just to explain why I'm constantly planting: essentially, I'm trying to do as much succession planting as possible, so I have a steady of food growing at different rates, instead of having one big planting session and ending up with too much food at one time and no food at another.

So basically how it happens is:

1. I have a planting calendar which tells me what to grow every month
2. I make sure I have seeds for those things
3. Whenever I get the chance, even if it's only 30 minutes, I plant something. 

The never-ending story

The one thing I've come to appreciate in having a big yard is that the maintenance never ends. So I also had my trusty helper clean the common space between my yard and the back neighbour's.

Strictly speaking, it is municipal space and the tribal authority is responsible for keeping it tidy.  But it's a very little used road and therefore it's not a major  priority for anyone.

How was your weekend? What gardening jobs did you do this weekend?

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