Slowth

So we are down to a post a month now as Winter settles in and the plant growth slows...

..but the rosemary and sage we planted outside the front wall is loooving
the full-day sun!  we've also planted another ground-spreading oregano, since
they seem to be doing well here (see below)

  

the lavender hedge is shooting up like its summer

as for the vacant house across the road, the rosemary and sage now have an
oregano (bottom left corner) and a small spekboom (just behind the rosemary)
as friends, and the clover is going mad with all this new activity in the soil!

grass that we removed from the ground to plant the Sheena's Gold was left out to die
and dry out in the sun. we then used this to mulch the little plants for the cold nights,
even though they too get a full day's sun

little peppadew is popping well!  and the wild geranium
looks better since we cut it back a bit

in our patch we now have 2 beans (the heart-shaped leaves on the right)
and a spinach (small 2-leafed plant to the 10 o'clock of the stone)

the ground-spreading oregano is sprawling

interesting to see how the one hour or so of sunlight that our back garden gets has stimulated the tomato on the left to grow, and the one on the right is not growing at all because it is not getting
any of that sunlight.  the oregano in the middle and the gooseberry at the back are doing great

the little herb garden we started for the landlord is also coming along well despite
the winter chill and thin sunlight!

Winter is upon us - more guerilla gardening

the vacant house across the road, cntnd..a space just waiting to be gardened!
this is the back garden

another view showing grass 'path' leading to garage

and Bob's your uncle - a neat little circle of Sheena's Gold (duranta erecta)
that will grow into a lovely thick bush

a 5 litre water bottle also makes a good pot for our little front door Begonia!

a flock of sentinel Hadedas, or Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) that make sure
we never have a snail problem 

cardboard milk cartons painted black - also make good temporary pots

spinach seedlings growing from a milk carton 

  

our motley assortment of succulents. and a couple of figs (to the right)
that we rescued from various cracks in the walls and decks of our
village, which will grow into bonsaii

Waning daylight hours

our little patch is growing wonderfully - carrots, sage, rosemary, oregano, basil...

the beautiful flowers of salvia elegans, or pineapple sage - a fierce
grower and so easy to propagate!

in lieu of space for soil we've started collecting 5litre water bottles to make
pots which we will fill with soil

the huge garden wall is starting to block out more and more sunlight, so
we've started an experiment to see if reflected light can still help a little
seedling to grow up into the direct light

ginger - likes moisture and no sun

garlic is fabulous! and those 5 litre water bottles work really well

new tomato seedlings with oregano in the middle and gooseberry at the back,
also some wild dandelion and other weeds

little peppadew in its new space next to a wild geranium
(peppers + geranium = companions)

Earthworm farm & herb garden

yummy supper for our beloved wurmz

fabulously fertilizing worm wee!

a small herb garden our landlord has allowed us to start on his back lawn - marjoram, oregano, sage, pineapple sage, a spekboom, rosemary, and a lemongrass hedge

Seedlings and some soft-core guerilla gardening

4 little beans I planted last week in what I am now calling the 'Awkward Tiers'
Will keep this blog posted on how they fare in this yuk shallow soil with no drainage

Small beginnings...

I decided to plant out my 5 little lavender bushes into the municipal lawn area just below our neighbour's driveway.  They will grow into a stout hedge and form a wall giving our front door some camouflage from passers-by.  I'm wondering how long it will take for the municipal garden services to report me....

That wasn't enough.  I decided that a rosemary would do grandly against our garden wall.  With a little sage.  Also municipal lawn.  But I did it neatly, so hopefully even if they do notice they'll leave them alone.

And I really got going.  I've been checking out the vacant house across the street for signs of life.  Nothing.  So this morning I let myself in and discovered a very lonely garden, and spotted the perfect place for another rosemary bush.  Here!

The soil here is very sandy so I mixed in a whole lot of compost, and then set the rosemary in

And then I thought the rosemary would be lonely, so I put a sage in next to it.  I'm going to have to keep checking up on them in the next few weeks because they'll need attention.  But after that they'll be ok on their own.  They're sturdy and stout and will hold up to the winter well.  I am sure that when it comes time to showing the house, the estate agent might or might not get a surprise.  Either way I am convinced these two will be welcome.  Well, anyway, they got there first.

How to clean the oceans

Environmental crises.  There are intelligent solutions.  We have the technology.  There are people who have the money.  Let's get them together.

This young man has an excellent concept for cleaning the Gires (ghastly continents of plastic floating in our oceans):

Watch this video  and check out his website: http://www.boyanslat.com/plastic/

12 day Permaculture Design Course nr East London 28 April

News: there is a 12 day Permaculture Design Course being offered near East London by Permaculture South Africa (see this link for more info) starting 28 April. 

March moves on and winter is coming

We managed to rescue a lot of hardy plants from our big veg garden - plenty of oregano, rosemary, sage...

Carrots are coming!  So are the spring onions and the oregano we planted seems to be a roaming ground cover oregano rather than the more common tall bushy variety

Basil is loving this new spot.  Yum pesto...

Anyway, that's all we have to report for now with regards to our own little garden.  There's still the space at the back of the house:

(stay tuned) 

AND **** the landlord's garden **** woohoooo!!!! which he has graciously allowed us to look at for a new design YAY:

 Until the next post here is some lovely meme stuff and posters - artivism to keep you sharp:

"just the way the world works, my girl..." Yeah but it doesn't have to be anymore.  Never really should have been in the first place.  But hey, now we've got the technology and the information to give a shit again

Now what?

We have moved.  Larger cottage.  Tinier garden space.  The Ultimate Permaculture Challenge: 

The Tiny Suburban Garden

looking left...

very Zen, yes.  But how do we make it productive and not just decorative?

Start with a few carrots, spring onions, tomato plants, oregano, basil, pineapple sage and plain sage, a spekboom and a rosemary...

An awkward project: a tiered...thing that was built to have a water feature but abandoned.  There are a large number of succulents and a lot of bulbonella in the very shallow soil.  Yes, very shallow, and no drainage.  Great

Someone once had a garden here...possible compost spot?  Way too much shade in here for growing what with the giant Natal wild bananas hogging all the sunshine...