This is how our group REALLY started!

So to start: Or should I say….This is how our group REALLY started! (As per Trina’s version anyway!)
Picture this…..3 of us ladies sitting around having a nice relaxing cuppa, (and maybe a little ‘gossip’) when someone (LIZ) suggested that we start a gardening group!
Now to be clear, this seemed a good idea at the time (while comfortably inside, hot cuppa in hand) and we did all recognize that Liz has a wonderfully ‘huge’ greenhouse that is way too big for one family, so YAY we were in! (I personally not as enthusiastic as others, but hey I was in for all the ‘social excuses’ to get together anyway!)
Liz had already had her neighbor Linn helping out last year so hence there were 4 of us!
So a little about us all:
Liz = Grandeur plans = Actual gardener = BOSS (Or just ‘bossy’, yet to decide which!)
Linn = Eager and def Helpful/motivated (Just met, so don't know her too well but looks like she knows what she is doing anyway!)
Tania = Eager Beaver! (Also comes with experience with a small garden at home!)
Trina = Me??? Official Blogger, Bottler of goods and support team! (Never gardened, in fact comes with a “never garden at all cost’s” philosophy! - Not to mention ants!!!)
Luckily about now I managed to have surgery (unplanned but very convenient!) so I can now just lounge around with said cuppa’s and pretend that I would actually be helping if I could! (He he!)
So second ‘official’ meeting/ social gathering then took place at Liz’s, under the guise of a get together for lunch! (My kind of meeting!) Unfortunately Linn couldn’t be there till later but the rest of us had fun!
Official outcome was a list of plants we planned on doing! I personally took this as a challenge of just suggesting any plant that may qualify as a vegetable, after about 5 min (and only 5 veggies) my personal list was exhausted, so I just sat and listened while those other two ran through a heap of plant names that sounded more like alien’s to me, resulting in a list of over 20 plants planned (Or it seemed that many anyway!)
Also resulted in a general concession that I know as little as anyone can know about these things, so welcome to the new job of blogging Trina! (Happy with this, so hope you all like my blog’s or I may find myself OUT!!???!!) No pressure!

New Beginnings

Well, this spring we are gardening for four families. So... introducing Lin McQ, Tania C and Trina H.

We are well under way, having weeded the greenhouse, dug over 2 of 4 beds and started setting up a tyre compost system which will ultimately grow pumpkins as well.

Very proud of our group, we are achieving great things...

They will all become administrators on this blog so that we can get some practice blogging about our triumphs, trials and silly nattering, before we try to win the Yates Spring Garden Challenge for the first time.

We are even planning a Gardening Girlies Getaway to experiment with creating some home made (perhaps partly home grown) beauty products... well most of us just want a drink in our hands really, but I'll get them testing out potions.

Some pictures from the other day...

We found kumara's that actually did become something and I had a happy dance 'cos out of two attempts this is the first one to work.

No-maintenance Gardening

God said:
"Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles."

St. FRANCIS:
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:
You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:
No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE:
'Dumb and Dumber', Lord. It's a story about....

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis

Holiday Fun

With all this work happening around the house... it was time to take the kids out. They were very excited to be showing daddy the lighthouse, that we took the Segal family to on my birthday, and then we took them down to Orua Bay for a dip in the water. Lottie and Joseph loved the surf... William - didn't ;)
and one shot of how the house is going...

Xmas Catch up

It's been a little while since I posted... since the last post we have had a family from Israel stay with us and they helped us get 'cleaned up' and set up a potato patch, which has since also got some tobacco and silverbeet planted. They also helped with further in the vege patch and started the permanent bed, amongst weeding, mulching and scrubbing both paddock and driveway garden.

We are currently painting the house with the help of our friends Justin and Paula... actually they are doing most of it (I've just helped today). Jason is going to paint Paula's car as a contradeal. The first layer on walls is almost complete... gosh it feels good to have the place tidied up. Of course it makes somewhat of a mess through the process but you can see it happening.

I joined a website called Collective Garden. I don't think it has many members yet, but the concept is really very good. I hope it takes off here. It is a bit of a 'blog' meets, database, meets social networking type site. For me I have joined so that I can see the changes to my own garden over time.

Coming up, we have a young man with Japanese/Chinese descent staying with us at the end of January, to help with a few projects.

In the meantime enjoy some house painting photos...

Before Paint...













During paint...

Playhouse fun

Today Jason and I set up the playhouse. That is we dug the holes for the posts and rammed them in. Some time before Christmas we will get some plywood for the walls, dig in another post which a door will swing off. Set up some framing and paint it like a.... now what will the kids like most?








Also thought it was lovely that the boys used the new wall as a 'road'.

My New Wall...

Woohoo... My wall is up.

Now for all the gardening. As I was digging the trench and bbq area, I tipped all the dirt into a planter box that Jason made me years ago and never got used. I've then heeled about 15 trees into it, to survive a year or two before planting. SO what do we back fill this garden bed with? Not to mention it is about 7 cm taller than originally thought, so we also need to raise the entire bed.

Thank goodness we are in the country and have neighbours with horses that have stables that need clearing out. :)