I,m up very early most mornings now , to enjoy the best time of the day ,in my opinion ... to watch over and get as much of my vegetable garden watered before the sun comes up .
In the picture above , you are looking across the Labyrinth towards the four main veg beds ....which I do try to rotate the crops in every year .
Below the Labyrinth are three pictures showing the African Keyhole Bed with its watering hole/well in the middle . I water into that watering hole and the water goes deep down and the Pumpkins , Squashes and Butternuts send out their roots towards it. This way discourages slugs and snails , because the surface of the soil remains dry .
Chicken wire surrounds this bed to deter the bunnies ( of which , there are even more coming in , now the gate to the meadow is broken ! )
It was already hot at 6.30 am here in Mullion....we still haven't had any rain !
The Labyrinth is beautiful first thing in the morning , I walk barefoot along her path and listen to the Earth waking up ... the dawn chorus ..bees .. the sounds of new born lambs ..the song of the wind ...no cooling breezes though today .
It is going to be a very hot day today ..I must get the watering done early .
I cant be out in the scorching sun ...got my hat on already !
I have woven a basket of willow around the watering hole ... the idea of this is to support a woven "hat" to shade it and prevent the water evaporating in the heat .... but I haven't done this yet .
I hate watering with tap water ....but my rain water butts are now empty .
What is that plant ? ! I hear you ask . Equisetum hyemale ..lovely Jurassic looking thing ..and may have indeed been around since then ! I know ! I know there may be one or two of you who probably hate it , because it can become a bit of a thug and then hard to get rid of ...blah blah blah...but I love it......I am keeping it separate , in a pot of it's own..in fact I'm looking out for a nice old half whiskey barrel ..I,m thinking that could really show it off and look sensational !
Yes , and I,m loving this Poppy too ! In amongst the Squash plants !
It's all so beautiful ! As the song goes..lol ! In the early morning sunshine .
The Parsley is beginning to flower , I pinch off all these flowering shoots and give it a bit of a tidy up .
Mmm .....My hands smell of Parsley !
The Egyptian Onions are flowering and making rosie red bulbils ...which will fall to the ground and take root if not taken for the kitchen .
Perennial vegetables are definitely the way to go ! And I am searching out more !
Not a very good picture of the Pumpkins and Squashes here , but they are really beginning to grow away now ...especially compared to the other ones that I,ve planted in a more traditional veg bed beyond the Labyrinth ... I will feed and build this one up more over next Autumn/Winter .. using no dig method over there ...although I don't actually dig doing the Keyhole bed method come to think of it .
Off to Penzance after breakers ..fried egg sandwich and ketchup and a nice cup of tea ; going to collect my Japanese Hiroshima Milliners Needle's from the beautiful Sew and Quilt Shop Trinity Yard , Quay Street..and take the dog for her walk at Trevena Cross Nursery and maybe visit their lovely tea rooms for a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake..and then spend the rest of the day sitting in the shade , stitching and playing with my new needles and perfecting my Bullion stitch !
Cheerio for now !
Lovely morning scenes!
ReplyDelete