Happpy King’s Day to those of you celebrating!

It’s windy today, and there’s a severe weather warning for it, but I’m safe inside watching the birds outside as they are being flung around the garden.

There are still plenty of flowers around in the garden. The osteospermums, both white and purple, tiny orchid-like purple flowers on the Sweet Pea Bush (Polygana) and jasmine on the trellis by the pond.

We’ve had a few colder mornings, and I did have to scrape frost from the windscreen one morning. I have been worried about losing some of the more tender plants. I hope that eventually, the forest system will provide shelter and protection from the occasional frosts but we’re not there yet. Last year I covered the bananas with fleece, but this year I have heavily mulched with plant matter; mainly leaves and twigs. So far (fingers crossed) they are showing signs of frost on the outer leaves, but the cores are still green and appear to be growing even. I’ll report back, because this was a much easier solution than the fabric.

My lettuces are still producing heavily, and the spinach seeds I planted last month are now at ‘baby leaf’ stage, so I’ve started harvesting those too. I have several chillies that are now bright orange, and the beans are now almost at the top of their poles. I’m also still harvesting loads of cilantro/coriander, which makes me very happy! I had some beautiful red cabbages growing, but I have strange dogs, who absolutely love vegetables, and Poppy has reduced them to a stump! I’m hoping they will grow back!

People have different views about Instagram, but I love how it enables people to connect and share from all over the world (I’m @veganpermaculturespain if you’d like to join me there), and this week I found out, from @curlycultivators that ripe limes are yellow! How have I not known that before?! Apparently, the limes we buy in the shops, are harvested when green, as it’s easier to harvest them all at once, and gives them a longer shelf life (which makes sense), but I’m looking forward to testing my yellow lime, to see what difference there is in flavour. I’ll let you know!

I’m still working on my greywater recycling system, and I’m using the water with a watering can. I have some tubing that was left by the previous owners, so when the weather calms down again, I’m going to use that to try and make a drip system. I added an extra collection point into the system, which is being (slowly) filled with soil, so I now have a wicking bed before the water is finally ‘harvested’.

I’m making plans for what I want to grow in the coming year, so I’ll report back on that when I’ve finalised it.

Happy January growing, wherever you are!