Garden Stories



September, the month of changing the vegetable garden from summer to winter. Last week we had a few thunderstorms with a lot of heavy rain. Great for my thursty garden!  And for me too! I got a bit tired and sometimes, when temperatures went over 40 degrees, exhausted of the hot weather. 
All this rain was a great opportunity to pull the weeds out. They reached up to 1 meter height in the empty part of the veggie garden!! I should have made a picture to show you the before and after, but as I hate the before, I can't get myself to picture all those weeds.
So, I started last Friday morning, first in the shade, but as the morning went on I worked more and more in the sun. Now I am a natural redhead, that is to say, I was a natural redhead !!! But my skin is still very white and sensitive. I am/work every day in the garden without any problem. With the weed-pulling I was wearing trousers and a T-shirt, bending over and pulling. Can you feel it coming?? Maybe I should have worn a longer T-shirt!! In the evening, in front of the computer, I couldn't understand why my lower back was uncomfortable whenever I leaned back against the chair. I blamed it on the chair!!
After my morning shower I decided to look in the mirror to see why my back was still so sensitive. Well.....I have a really sunburned strip about 5 cm wide just there were the trousers end. 

So today I wore a dress to continue the change-over of the garden. The whole morning I was digging. As you can see I have very nice garden tools. I am especially pleased with the soft leather gloves my brother-in-law brought me 
from the States. I can't get them here. They have soft leather gloves but only for men, one size. you can't work in the garden when your gloves are too big.


Before I started the digging I was checking the squash, ocra, peppers and eggplant. And....see what a I found. An enormous grasshopper! Unfortunately I have them in all sizes. They usually just don't sit quiet to have their picture taken. I don't like them in the garden. Flopsy, my cat really wants to help me to get rid of them. That's why he catches them and brings them to me in the basement, while I am there. Alive!!! They jump, and then I jump! 
Yesterday he brought me a little mouse. Thank God, not alive! He is such a nice cat, he just wants to please me !!!

Surprise! Another present left in my garden. One of my neighbours has chickens. Somehow they managed to escape their garden and payed a visit to mine. It seemed that they loved the strawberries, because they were all there, 5 of them. I had to chase them, first to the next garden and then to their own. Four of them went back. The fith one I chased for some time through two gardens and as it was getting dark, I gave up. Next morning she was gone, back to her home, I guess. A week later, again when pulling weeds, I found this. Two chicken eggs. Present for the garden visit!




Having a vegetable garden means that you have to work, but it gives also pleasure and of course nice organic veggies to eat (if all is well!)
A few days ago I harvested leeks. It isn't the time for leeks here in Sparta. I had some seeds and just put them in the soil to see what would happen. And they came up. They didn't like the extreme heat, but I managed to get some edible pieces. I had to throw a lot away, and still have a supply in the freezer for our winter soups. 
Garden stories will continue as I plan to get my whole garden in a "proper" state.












Comments

  1. Τι ωραία να έχεις τον δικό σου κήπο και να τρως φρέσκα λαχανικά !!!
    Βλέπω είσαι οργανωμένη από εργαλεία για όλες τις δουλειές !!!
    Αν έρχονται και οι κότες να γεννούν εκεί τα αυγά τους τότε είσαι μιά χαρά !!!!
    Θα περιμένουμε κι άλλες φωτογραφίες από τον κήπο σου για να βλέπουμε κι εμείς οι άνθρωποι τις πόλεις και να ευχαριστιόμαστε !!!!
    Καλό ξημέρωμα Άντα !!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Γειά σου Ράνια, Θα γράψω περισσότερο για το κήπο μου, γιατί, μήπως έτσι θα δουλέψω και περισσότερο εκεί !! Χρειάζεται γιατί το χορτάρι βασιλεύει πολλές φορές !

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  2. Dearest Ada,
    Wow, seeing your dark and fertile soil, I sure would love to work with that!
    Happy you even got plenty of edible leeks for the winter stock in your freezer.
    Enjoy what you love to do and your back's sun burn will have healed by now I hope.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mariette, I use goat manure for the soil. You can read in the reply I gave to Marie-Anne, how that works!! I still feel my back!
      Hugs

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  3. Dear Ada, we still wait for the rain to come, as we also need to get the weeds out and start digging, although we have problems with the soil, whilst yours seem very fertile.. Your leeks look good even if you had to throw away a lot! Good luck with your new winter vegetable! I started laughing when I saw the eggs left by your visitor....ha ha ha! Do you remember I had the same experience with our neighbour's chicken???
    I wish you a happy new week!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marie-Anne, To get the soil a bit fertile I use goat manure. Buy it from local shepherd, as many people here do. Problem is that it has a lot of weed seeds in it!!! But... I am a weeding expert! Other problem is that there might be goat fleas in the bags. I had that a few times and I have been bitten. Well,.... that is bad, nothing compared to a mosquito bite. It itches so much you can't sleep. Need some cortison creme. They only bite you when you open de bags and spread it out if the manure is too fresh. When the manure is old enough you don't have this problem. When you spread it out a bit, so the manure dries, the fleas die.

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  4. Σε ζηλεύω που μπορεις και εχεις ενα τετοιο κήπο! Μέσα απο αυτόν χαίρεσαι την φύση γνωριζεις τις εναλλαγές των εποχών έχεις την δική σου παραγωγή! Καλή εβδομάδα!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gelukkig voor je dat de temperatuur wat daalt en flinke buien afkoeling brachten.
    En ja, een tuin brengt veel werk met zich mee. Je kunt er een dagtaak aan hebben. Leuk dat je wat groente hebt kunnen oogsten. En....eieren.Moest er wel even om lachen, zag je rennen achter de kippen.
    Veel succes met je tuin. We hebben hier mooi najaarsweer. Doordat de lente heel vroeg inviel is de herfst ook heel vroeg.

    Liefs, Gerry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hallo Gerry, Fijn dat jullie mooi weer hebben. Hier ziet het er donker uit. Komt onweer aan.

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  6. Enjoy gardening, you do it so well and there will be more rains, that's for sure.
    A warm hug
    Olympia

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  7. fijn dat je je tuin al bijna winterklaar hebt ..het is hier de laaste dagen zo slecht weer dat we onze tuin niet in kunnen ..ben benieuwd of we hem nog klaar krijgen .
    Wel fijn dat de kippen van de buren langs komen ..hahaha als ze niks kapot maken en elke dag een eitje komen leggen is het niet erg ..hahaha..
    nog een fijne week .... filakia

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