Africanaussie

I have always heard how stirring up the compost was so good, and I know it does heat up the pile immensely.    So with gardening I thought aerobic (with air) was good and would bring in more beneficial microbes, earthworms etc.  a couple of weeks ago I thought that the ponytail palm which is in a fairly large pot really needed to be re-potted. I noticed that the water was not flowing through - rather sitting in a puddle on the top.  Sometimes potting soil will develop a crust that stops the water going through, but I suspected the pot was not draining out of the bottom. I tipped the pot onto its side and as I dug out the earth I discovered that the lower third was compacted mud and stones (that had originally been put into the bottom of the pot for drainage.).  There were also THOUSANDS of worms :) , OK maybe not quite a thousand, but certainly lots. The drainage holes were clogged with mud and clearly no water could run through.  Since originally the pot was filled with potting soi

One of the first things I did after returning from three weeks away was to survey the garden.  The lychee tree is full of leaves, and most of the plants underneath it have recovered quite well from the sudden blast of sunshine. Luckily we have had a little rain to ease the way, and my darling hubby has been watering. Of course it also allowed a spate of weeds to grow up everywhere!  Among the weeks are plenty of cherry tomato plants which I have left where they volunteered. They fill in the gaps and hopefully will give us some tomatoes.  This has not been a good year for tomatoes - maybe not enough sunny days to ripen them.  We often have cloud cover and I think they like clear sunny days, or so they tell me!  It is warm though - I have not stopped swimming all through the winter, other than when I was away. The gardens seems quite happy.  In the veggie garden the kale, lettuce and carrots have come along well, although I never get those enormous leaves that seem to grow in oth