Things are rather slow at the moment.  The children need to be run around a lot for school and activities, the weather is getting colder and damper and the ground is getting soggy in places.

On 9 June I planted 80 cloves of garlic and 9 cloves of elephant garlic.  That will hopefully keep us in garlic for next year!  I also fixed a leaky joint on my irrigation system in preparation for next spring…

I’ve now managed to plant 64 trees out on the roadside.  It’s looking good (photos will be posted sometime soon).  The hillside planting is also underway – Habitat Restoration Services started work yesterday.  So far they have been planting a kahikatea forest.  It should look fantastic in 10-20 years from now!

I’ve been reading some great garden books – in particular “Koanga Garden Guide” by Kay Baxter.  It is a fantastic book.  I’m very inspired to get better at crop rotation and companion planting.  I’ve started to prepare a garden plan with that in mind.

ANOTHER small aftershock.  Yesterday there were some good ones – 5.5 and 6.0.  We are all fine – a broken jar of jam and a bottle of beer that came slightly open so we had to drink it.  It could have been a lot worse!  I think we are getting quite used to earthquakes now.  There were about 30 yesterday.