Last of Autumn’s Gardening

We have spoken about starting a new vegetable garden for years. One were we can experiment and grow veggies that ramble wild and climb high but of course for that one needs space. This we have, not acres but somewhere slightly bigger and a special area where all that goodness can be left to do it’s thing.

This empty space was completely overgrown with high shooting Bamboo and rambling thickets of weeds just before the beginning of the deep darkness of the dense forest to the side of our home. Its perfect, and besides sharing the land with a porcupine, I am still yet to actually see with my own eyes, and a troop of very naughty noisy teenagery Vervet monkeys, the land is there to be cultivated for just that.

I cant say that I have done much to help these past couple of months with the beginning process of clearing out (trust me there is still plenty more to be done) but the moral support has been there. I presume this part of the property was once used as a construction site for when the previous owner built the Lapa, added on to the house and fitted the pool - because the stones buried in the beautiful dark delicious soil are in abundance. For those in the area looking for stones, they are yours for free, you just need to come and help us dig them out! I suppose with the rest that will be left we can reuse them, maybe in the laying of the concrete slab for our water tanks? It could take years before all the stones are cleared and the bits and pieces of rubble will be completely gone for the land to be picture perfect.

So far we have grown Spinache, Butternut and Beans from seed and Rob saved a couple of sprouting Potatoes from the veggie rack that have been dug into the soil as well. They all seem to be growing beautifully and I am pleased with the progress. Rob has plans to sell bunches of his Spinache to our neighbours, he is known around these parts for his luscious green leaf growing antics and I have dreams of stiring up big pots of steaming creamy Butternut Soup and slicing up fresh warm homemade bread to serve at the Urban Farm Stall for our customers.

Come Spring we will have cleared a little more and will add a few tepees of Cucumbers and bunches of Salad Herbs amoungst a few other normals that are added to our backyard veggie patch. I cant wait to see just how it will all turn out.

But, for now, we all will be slowing our pace and be patient with the soil and let it rest and hibernate through the colder months. And, I will live vicariously through all of you, my friends from distant shores, who are now planting and harvesting the first fruits of your labour now that you are in the warmer Season.