What I did on my holiday

As it was school holidays and I'd taken a bit of leave, I did what every self respecting holiday maker does and worked my butt off in the garden until I could barely lift my arms at night.

Whilst the raised garden bed patch has been producing beautifully for us, it was time to make a start on the other garden patches.  So we decided to hire a rotary hoe.  We normally wouldn't want to disturb the soil but the grass on our property is so thick and matted that nothing will grow unless you remove it.  I made a start on the second patch with a pick, but after a day of digging and an aching back, had only managed a small portion of it, hence the rotary hoe decision.  It was also my plan to use the hoe myself, as Shaun was busy with constructing his aquaponics set up, but after we realised how heavy it was and that it didn't have reverse, meaning at the end of the row, you have to lug 250kg of complaining machinery back in the other direction, Shaun thankfully took on the task of Chief Hoer.

We started on the second patch, then got the hang of it and kept going with the third and fourth.  Once we'd fully chopped out and removed all the grass in the second patch I put down some blood and bone and lime, then planted buckwheat, sunflowers (under the pots) and millet as chook food and green manure and some watermelon as son food. Patch three was also planted out with millet for the chook and the soil and rockmelon, watermelon, potatoes, pumpkin and beans for the rest of us.

We're still waiting for the watermelon and rockmelon to appear, but the rest is up with all the rain.