Growing up....ways to make more space.

Today you would think it was spring here in Cape Town...it is warm and we made hay while the sun shines. So it was onwards and upwards with our plan to take our growing efforts from horizontal only to vertical too.

My wonderful mum is here for a couple of days and it's always so good to have her help me in the garden. There are very few woman I can talk to about the feeling of working in the rich soft earth and the smell of compost, without their eyes glazing over...and my mom is one of the few who love all the smells (and the work) involved in gardening.

The rest of my family was roped in to the work too...our little guy picked gooseberries, peas and was the water fetcher for us.

Our older son finished the raised beds, drained and tidied the wormery and cleaned the coop.

Our two girls restacked the wood pile, put Bounce Back through the garden, picked up all the bits and bobs lying around and then made us lunch.

In the meantime, hubby dear (who from this day forward is known as Superman) hung my hanging baskets.



I have nine hanging baskets which he has put on an extension wire so that they hang lower which makes it easier to work with. I have planted our propogated strawberries from last years plants into them. These hang from the pergola outside my kitchen.



Then Superman put up my two wall baskets, also for strawberries. If these work then we will add some more all along the wall inside the veggie garden. I am hoping that the flowers will attract pollinators to my veggie patch.



Then my mom and I sorted out my herb garden. I have tried various places for it, and now have decided to give over the two beds closest to my kitchen to herbs.

So in these two beds and the pots around I have:

Sage
Bloody Sorrel
Basil
Majorum
Oreganum
Fennel
Thyme
Borage
Parsley
Cammomile
Coriander
Bulbenella



We also planted some flowers in the pots and among my veggies - shade has streptocarcus and primula, and sun has Marigolds, Pansies and Calendula. This is for bees and butterflies but also for companions. I also added a pin cushion protea to the raised be which the bees love.

Like I said...making hay while the sun shines!