Moving lightly into Spring - 1 September

First day of spring (by some reckoning) and Liz was there like an early bird (well, it was before 10am). She was tending her garden, admiring the crimson of the broad beans and orange of the calendula, and some blue forget-me-nots. Some coriander hiding among the parsley and a random kale that had grown up of its own accord. Liz recommends serving it chopped finely with silver beet and boiled lightly together, or roasting the kale in a little oil. The leaves go crispy.

For myself I carried on pulling up the plastic matting remnants of previous carpet laid down and grown over. I'm replacing it with 'new' old carpet - and so far, I'm pretty sure what we have is made from all organic materials. Much of the 'new' carpet by the way comes from the Catholic Presbytery of the Cathedral for the Sacred Heart in Wellington. You could say we are now standing on 'holy ground' - not that I'm saying priests and bishops are holier than anyone else (!), but there is an association there. Then again, there's the saying, "You are nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth."

In anycase, the outdoor 'carpet-laying' is about two thirds complete. We may need to finish it with some carpet that includes a layer of woven plastic, but I suggest we just keep an eye on it: pull it up and lay it down again on fresh layers of cardboard or newspaper before the weeds grow through it. Happy to discuss ideas with others.

We had a wonderful pot-luck morning tea last week, with seed and produce swap. I now have a swag of coriander and poppy seeds, and some broad beans. Not a lot of gardening last week - but a great social time. Thanks to Michelle and Lorraine especially for organising it.

This month will mark 10 years since the garden was first established -

Some of us are still here from the team that laid the first bed in 2008.

with underground irrigation and the two beds nearest the substation. Now 10 beds, some tyre beds and fruit trees out the back. Let's keep on growing.

Beating mid-winter blues - 23 June

Today at the gardens, we set about tidying up and preparing some beds for winter/spring.
Paul did a marvellous job sorting out compost - getting rid of rubbish which had found its way in, and putting some on the beds. Zoe and Michelle weeded some of the beds with help from younger friends, while Martin did a spot of pruning of the fruit trees, now it's midwinter.

Coming up:
- laying of old carpet (woollen) on the pathways
- signage for what's in the beds; including an indicator of when things can be harvested: we like Zoe's idea of marking up large stones
- deciding what we'll plant for spring crops.

Autumn Action - 7 April

Today at the MCG, we tidied up two of the beds. We planted manure crops on one, leaving the orange-flowered calendula as a nice border (it doesn't look so bare); and sowed lettuce and carrot in another.

Also attempted to mulch down the tough, twiggy compost that's been piled high from our weeding and tidying up of recent months (plus some mysterious additions). But a bit too much for Martin's mulcher! May try with a mower later.

Zucchini still producing on a couple of plants. And a flourishing crop of cabbages accumulating on a number of beds.

Autumn plantings suitable now include Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, leeks, onions, radish, rocket, silver beet and spinach.