Friday 29 May 2009

The vegetable patch

It's not just me who's afraid of the bugs biting (bear in mind that this photo was taken on a hot 28c day):



K doesn't do much in the garden. He does, when the weeds get to be knee height, wave the strimmer around, but that's about it. To his credit, when he decided that he wanted a vegetable patch he did dig over the area ready to plant. And look, as if by magic, a whole array of produce has appeared!



We'll be eating water melon, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, pickled onions, courgettes and sweetcorn before long (the rhubarb is going to take a little longer). That's if the weeds don't gain control first. Over this last week the mozzies have started biting and the spiders are getting bigger, so I'm somewhat less inclined to get out there and tackle them. I have noticed an awful lot of lizards (and I'm not scared of them, surprisingly), so hopefully they'll help to keep the creepy crawlies at bay. Oh yeah, and frogs too - don't see so many of them, but if there's so much as a drop of rain they start making a right racket, so I know they're there!

9 comments:

  1. Ha he looks funny! I m afraid of every insect that moves :)

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  2. I am afraid to grow anything here darling... we have soot from the city-factories... or sand from the Ocean, not sure what the heck it is...

    Melon-- YUM, I was going to buy a lemon tree, it looks like it will be there just for decoration...lol

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  3. Ahhh he hasn't succumbed to the bee-keeping hat yet? ;P

    My K has about the same amount of involvement in the garden but I kinda like the freedom it gives me. :)

    The frogs here are bizarre. I always thought they needed a pond or at least a marsh but we've got them just in the undergrowth. How on earth do the tadpoles work??

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  4. Hi Snooky,

    Japan is definitely THE place for scarey insects! Anything particularly nasty in Malta? xxx

    Hi GJ,

    I would LOVE my own lemon tree! But we're only renting at the mo, so planting a tree is a no-no... I don't know that our veggies will taste very good this year as we didn't prepare the ground well at all, just dug over the builders sand/ground and sowed. It all seems to be growing OK though! xxx

    Hi Heather,

    Yeah, good point!! We have so many frogs here that they keep us awake at night... Bee-keeping wear, good thinking - I could use it for when I hang out the washing! xxx

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  5. Wow, he has a real green thumb! Sounds like you'll have a delicious array of produce :) And I hope the lizards do their work ;)

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  6. Hi Lorraine,

    Hahaha, the fact that there are veggies growing has nothing whatsoever to do with him, it's all my hard graft! There are tons of lizards (some of them are really pretty!), but way more bugs than they could ever eat :( I'm looking forward to making your beetroot dip soon! xxx

    xxx

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  7. Nice veggie patch!! I see you are another home with a big retaining wall, like Kathryn's. I would be tempted to try to grow things up it but then it depends on what's at the top I suppose!

    I got bitten twice a couple of years ago by something tiny in the garden. Once on my ankle, and the swelling travelled right up to my groin, making my leg like a tree trunk. The next bite was on my wrist and it travelled up to my boob, with similar but more horrifying results. Both times required steroids to get better. I now dress like your hub and add a big cloud of anti bug spray too. Shudder!

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  8. My husband started a "garden" in several terra cotta planters (even though we have a little plot of land where my mother-in-law used to grow things). We can look forward to peppers and tomatoes coming out of these pots. He said something about growing corn! In the pots?!

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  9. Hi Vicky,

    Oh my goodness, now I will be even more paranoid about going out there... I'm very scared of the mukade, and I hear that the small ones have the worst bite. xxx

    Hi gaijinmama,

    lol at the corn in pots! At the moment I've got rhubarb growing in planter, but only because it doesn't like being moved and who knows where we'll be living in a year's time... It seems happy at the moment, but is still no way near big enought to eat any this year. xxx

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