Big planting day

With only one arm currently in action, I have to be cunning in order to make things happen. So a lunch date with hubby was put on the table. "I know a great place..." I said.

So off we went for a romantic, the child is at daycare, daytime date. It was a wonderful coincidence that the cafe, I chose, was right in the middle of a garden centre. The food is yummy, I love it there and after some great quality time I suggested to Andrew we walk back to the car through the seedlings section.

He knew what I was up too before his first sip of Latte but still played along with my plan.

A trolley was found and we bought some wee beauties!

2 x capsicum 

2 x egg plant

6 x strawberries

And some pretty little marigolds because the southland times told me these were good for companion planting.

 Hot lunch date, followed by a hot afternoon in the garden = perfect day

Strawberry bag planting experiment

My friends Kim and Chris first introduced me to growing stuff in a bag with their tomatoes outside their flat in England. Then Mum started talking about it with strawberries and I thought I have the perfect spot covering an ugly tree stump and it won't take up precious garden space. So on my tree stump I will have my yummy strawberry bag with lots of warm rock seats around for Lily and I to enjoy berries right off the plant.

I got a bag of special strawberry mix and whacked some drainage holes in the bottom, cut six little crosses, and watered well.

I folded out the corners of the cuts, jammed in my strawberry beauties and then folded the corners back into the middle of the plant, making a nice plastic surface with plants popping out.

Easy as 1, 2, 3...

Hot tip from Kim I will use a drink bottle to get the nozzle right into the bag for watering.

Planting my other babies

Egg plant and capsicum need as much sunshine as possible. I didn't know I was going to be growing these, Andrew picked them when he was high on the excitement and romance of a meal out with only us, no high chair required. 

You know when you buy suede high-heels and they are amazing, and you are really excited to get them home and do a new shoe dance. But then, you get a pair of boots the next week and it's winter and it's practical that you wear them for the next while rather than your beautiful suede high heels in the rain.

I am in this predicament in my garden. My carrots are the high-heels and my capsicums are the boots and they need the sunny spot that my carrot seeds are sprouting in.

So carefully I reclaimed what was a carrot haven, and gave the most sunny spot to my orange cap. Who knows, maybe the seeds will survive and when they sprout the can be re-homed. There is still plent of the carrot row left and my capsicums can bask in the sunniest spot like little tuataras.

My garden paradise is filling up, now all I have to do is keep everything alive, I wonder what my survival rate will be. I also bought seed potatoes and have thrown them in a dark warm cupboard for time out to think and sprout for a while.

Red line - beetroot

Green line - spring onions

Orange line -  carrots

Red dots - strawberry bag hiding ugly tree stump

Orange dots - capsicum

Purple dots - egg plant

Here's me, a very satisfied, slow moving, one armed, novice gardener. It's all coming together nicely.

And the best thing about my hot afternoon of gardening, was that it motivated Andrew to mow the lawns and it was fun working together/perving at him mowing the lawns.