Catching up or making hay while the sun shines!

On Thursday Spring beckoned me outside to work in my garden. We have had so much rain and such low temperatures so far in September that I took the gap of a free afternoon, rolled up my sleeves, donned my garden takkies and headed out for the jungle.

My asparagus plants have been overgrown by the nasturtiums that are growing around the pond and some self seeded tomatoes (from compost) had also encroached on these lovingly nurtured asparagus plants.

The pea bed, which stood in a state of neglect for winter also needed attention.

It was a toss up between the two as I knew my back could not handle a whole day in the garden so I went for the asparagus. I am also two children short as my elder two are enjoying a two week long holiday on a farm in the Free State with close friends.

So the buck stopped with me as the younger two were down with colds.


It was so wonderful to feel the warm sunshine on my skin and I could just see the plants soaking up the rays too. Spring is such a mild season t be in the garden, not like Autumn here which is so windy.


But Spring was just bluffing because the next day we had snow on high lying places like Sir Lowry's Pass and Table Mountain and with the freezing cold there was only one thing to do - make hot chocolate, a fire and play Monopoly!

The rain finally stopped on Saturday afternoon and the seedlings that I have been nurturing indoors have been carried back outdoors to enjoy the sunshine. The squash are ready to be planted out, so this week we will remove the last broad beans and add some compost to the beds and plant out the three types of courgettes I started a month ago. (Providing we don't have more rain and the soils can dry a little)

Sweetcorn needs another week or two which gives me time to eat loads of spinach and lettuce to clean out those beds before adding compost there and planting the corn out.

{My eldest children arrive home tomorrow afternoon...hope they are ready to work ;)}

On Wednesday evening before the cold front hit we headed out to Kommetjie to have some fish and chips as the sun went down. It was such a lovely interlude in an otherwise difficult week with sick kiddos.

Some other things that have been happening around here are making sourdough bread along with a "change of seasons" minestrone soup using up a huge batch of broad beans. 

...another batch of soap. This time is the simple soap from Down to Earth blog which is a never fail recipe.

And the pea bed will just have to wait for next week...lets hope that the weather is sunny and we have some time to dry out...