Bottles with Solomon and Claire...

So we decided to use bottles to help terrace and contain our raised beds.



Beautiful sunny day...

Working in the rain...

Just drizzling really, so it was nice...



...but slippery.



Daniel cut the sisal and inkberry so we can start landscaping the area to direct water.



Kathryn and Miriam tidied up.



And we hung the door on new hinges.

Wet, wet, garden...

80 mm yesterday and we're sopping. Need a drainage solution, the paths are a slippery mess!

The diamondback moth made a mess of things...

After a long battle with this dreaded pest of the brassicas it seems of have claimed victory. There are just too many caterpillars and too much damage so the broccoli and cauliflower are coming out.



A few of the broccoli pulled through but we'll harvest them and destroy the rest.



Goodbye cauliflower, nice knowing you.



But the pig wasn't complaining.



The tomatoes are also diseased beyond repair so we harvested what was there and pulled them out.



The larder, mostly beefsteak.



Thanks to volunteer Miriam for the help and enthusiasm on a drizzly day.



Kathryn and that funny british guy planting onions, beets and carrots where the broccoli and cauliflower once was.



Peppers going into the tomato bed.

How things are looking...

Tomatoes are getting big and ripening...



...but we're getting some cracks in them.



...and a leaf spot that's looking problematic.



A small wire compost bin.



Cabbage and lettuce living in harmony.



The melon pear (Solanum muricatum).



Lazy Housewife climbing bean.



Marigolds around the tomato bed.



Cherry or Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum)...



...small but starting to produce.



Bamboo shooting.



The Carob tree seed (Ceratonia siliqua) I collected in Cape Town germinated!



We're harvesting...



...butternut!



And the "wall of waste" is almost filled in.




"

Christmas Day update...

It's Christmas Day, the mamas from the village are dancing and singing, and we're getting some incredible summer showers sending people dashing for cover.



But when the sun pokes through it's stunning.


Flowers on the border...Salvia (Salvia splendens var. Magic Fire), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), and Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus var. Sensation)


Tomatoes filling in...


The beginnings of spinach as they call it here. In Canada it's called Swiss Chard or Silverbeet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima). It's a huge favourite.


10 varieties of tomato...Brandywine, Purple Cherokee, Black Plum, Red Pear, Yellow Pear, Six Pack, Orange Queen, Gold Nugget, Taxi Yellow and Tigerella, surrounded by French Marigold (Tagetes patula var. Naughty Marietta)



Cabbage is really coming on...

Cucumber bed with Charles...

This the last of the veggie beds in this section. We'll plant cucumbers along the fence and help them climb up and plant spinach, more lettuce and hopefully some bell peppers (if i can get my hands on some).

The quarterly report...

So it's been 6 weeks now and this is where we're at...broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage well on the way. Volunteer tomatoes getting big and the butternut almost eating size. Ten varieties of tomato in the nursery almost ready for planting out, plus herbs and flowers. Direct seeding cucumbers and others this week. Two windbreaks up with gates, expanded boundaries and new fencing, an additional new entrance, half the shade cloth up, new header tank stand. Childrens garden area prepared for layout, production zone two almost leveled.

New fence for Children's Garden and shade cloth...