Jacqui called yet another working bee in the garden this Saturday but I was scratching my head didn't I come to one last week? Surely there can't be any more work to do! We are only meant to have one a month. I said can you please call it something different not working bee maybe working snail as..I'm a bit slow.
Well I'm glad I went because we harvested 200 potatoes. Swift and Rocket were the early potatoes which had flowered so we call got to take some home. Mum has now hidden them away where I can't find them. I knew I should have bought a potato bucket. I saw them at Kmart a set of three tins, one for potatoes, one for onions, and one for garlic. But I wasn't sure where I would put them and if mum would tut tut again at my sacrilege at disturbing the kitchen aesthetics. She does not like me tidying up or moving things around. Even though we share the kitchen, apparently its not even mine and I can't touch anything and if I move it I must tell her or ask permission. This is to avoid meltdowns like Christmas morning where, I am reprimanded for not helping out prepare lunch and sitting there kinda agog that it's actually Jesus birthday celebration that everyone is now having even if you don't believe in Him. I could always hide them in my wardrobe cupboard?
Instead of Secret Santa do secret potatoes? I wonder what this gift is, hmm suspiciously wrapped in foil and looking potato-like in a sack. It couldn't be easter eggs could it??
In other news my collapsed hugelkultur bed is now a flat lasagna sheet no dig bed since melons and pumpkins are coming up of their own accord anyway, and I have put climbing frames up so that they don't sprawl all over the lawn. The lasagna layers are..wet paper mulch fettucine, courtesy of electric paper shredder of documents past their use by date, like old university assignments from fifteen years ago. Or even..expired library registrations. Then on top of that, grass clippings mulch that has been moldering in the compost bin. And finally a layer of comfrey leaves. Repeat the layers and until you run out and then put cheese on top to melt. Oh sorry I must be thinking something different.
Flowers at church tomorrow, which might just be agapanthus, flax, fern leaves and licorice plant as my sweet peas have nearly all finished and now have powdery mildew. I know, poinsettia is meant to be plant de jour but at $20 -$40 a pot I think not. I was reading this American gardening book called 'right size garden' about downsizing a garden and the author suggested if you can't get hydrangeas blue, just spray paint them with floral spray. Tip - don't read american gardening books they will drive you nuts with their naivete. This lady just collected all these plants and put them all over the place and then they grew and she couldn't maintain them. This is what she learned..plants are not children or pets. I repeat plants are not children or pets. You are allowed to pull them out if they die! If I recall astroturf was an american invention, as I suspect are fake christmas trees and artificial flowers.
