September 2012

September was another lovely month - rain often seemed to be forecast but never seemed to come, to our new section at least. So Dave pressed on with the fruit cage ...

...and Alice helped dig out the comfrey that had been planted as a kikuyu  barrier at the bottom of the fruit cage area. The cage was a bit bigger than the existing bed and no longer needed the comfrey as the cage itself had a buried surround. So it seemed only right to extend out the planted area and we planted a whole new row of raspberry canes. The existing rows had produced an abundance of new canes so we had plenty to choose from for the new row - a new experience for me after struggling to get any new canes at our previous house.

We also extended the pumpkin patch and eventually edged that.

Then we were ready to put on our net and discovered a bit of a problem. It was an offcut bought on the internet and meant to be 12m * 20m, plenty big enough to cover the cage in one piece but in fact was rather triangular. And the seller was overseas so things were put on hold for a while.

So Dave turned his attention to his long wanted composts heaps. This meant a bit more gorse and blackberry would go, which was good.

But we retained a few straggly kanukas which hopefully will grow to provide a screen.

And in a rarity, Dave brought in a present for me on our wedding anniversary - quite the sweetest baby rats you could imagine!

He also made a shelter for our lambs from some pallets and some roofing iron from a friend's house.

I was spending my time admiring the beautiful spring flowers - at our old house all seasons seemed very much the same so I am revelling in the joys of our new section. As hoped for, the frilly daffodils returned to the drive after the first flush of standard flowers.

The cherry trees in the drive were flowering but seem to be struggling in the wind a bit.

The native clematis was doing its stuff though it had grown taller than the other native it was meant to be growing through.

It also seemed to have discovered the other side of the trellis with the cocktail kiwifruit was growing.

Still it was later joined in flower with a climbing rata which seemed to be more focussed on flowering than climbing ...

... but was quite beautiful.

Further along the inside of the trellis, the new grape vines were coming into leaf but have rather a long way to grow.

And further along, we had some new daffodils as well as some Christmas lilies from Aunty Diana.

And the montana clematis was in flower.

Around the house, the cinerarias from our rental house were well established.

The plants on the pergola seem to struggle each year in the wind though the left hand vine has nearly made it to the roof. Perhaps this year will be the year.

The cocktail kiwi fruit still have a way to go though.

Down in the orchard, the trees are a bit disappointing as they seem to have made rather little progress. Most of them were now out of their protective cages and some of them had some blossom, but none seem to have really thrived. Again perhaps this will be their year.