My Two cows

Scary and Baby haven't been up to the house paddock for a quite a while. For the first few minutes, they zoom around jumping and running around excitedly before they finally settle down to eat their grass. They are both looking pretty fat.

Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/100 F7.1, ISO 100

Read more...

Scary the Tree Hugger

The cows just can't help themselves. Whenever Scary and Baby see a tree, they will go scratch themselves on it very vigorously. Poor tree trunk !

I love you tree....


Up, down the head goes....bliss !

Read more...

Hot Air Balloon

When the weather is perfect, a day like today when the air is almost perfectly still, we get to see people enjoying a ride on their hot air balloon in the distance. Sometimes I wish they would glide over our place but they never do, always staying away in the distance.

Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/320 F7.1, ISO 100

Read more...

Today's Pick.....Peas and Plums

A good morning's pick. Some of the plums are not fully ripe yet but I have to pick them to beat the birds.

The peas are doing very well this year. Nothing beats freshly picked peas. They are so very sweet eaten just as they are.

Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/125 F5.6, ISO 100



Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/250 F7.1, ISO 100



Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/160 F8, ISO 100

Read more...

Garlic Harvest

At first I thought the garlic plants were dying from a lack of watering. It did occur to me that it might be time to harvest but just thought it was a bit too soon. Then I saw someone in the net mention harvesting their garlic already.

So today, tentatively I loosen the soil and pulled out a few. Some were huge and some were the size of those in the shops. So far I have only pulled out half of the garlic plants and the total came to 27 bulbs. I counted the rest still in the ground and there are still about 25.

So pleased with myself. The garlics were first planted in May and other than just having a look at them now and then, absolutely no work was involved. No watering except for pulling out some weeds once. The reward for so little effort makes garlic worthy of a space in the veg garden.

3 huge ones



A harvest of 27 bulbs so far.


I have left the other half standing as their tops hadn't turned yellow yet.

Read more...

Parrot Lily ~ Alstroemeria Psittacina

The parrot lily has such gorgeous flowers. It is also commonly known as the new zealand christmas bell and looking at the colours you can understand why.

Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM; 1/40 F4.5, ISO 100



Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, 1/25 F4.5, ISO 100

Read more...

Planting dahlias in the compost bin

This spring I had been able to get some offcut wood and have been revamping the 'backends' of the garden beds all around the fence. The wood was to stop the soil and mulch from spilling out. In the process I dugged out, divided and redistributed all the dahlia tubers.

I didn't quite like to waste the leftovers and there was quite a lot of them. I had 3 discarded compost bin which was too small for its purpose. With the high side, it was ideal to be turned into dahlia beds. The high sides will form support for the tall shoots.

I love dahlias. Their flowers are spectacular and they will pop up year after year requiring very little attention or maintenance. After flowering their stalks do need to be trimmed off else they look very ugly in winter.

My old compost bins


Dahlia tubers to be split and divided



Dahlia shoots sprouting from the first bin

Read more...