Of Big Thyme and carrot beds

It was cool on reaching Corn Buck today
and refreshingly dry following the thunderous
downpours that we have been experiencing
recently.

I planted some more beds of big thyme,
an undervalued plant, in my opinion.
I much prefer it to the traditional bushy
thyme, both for flavour and appearance.
It is also very easy to grow.









T excelled himself, as usual,
creating new beds for carrots,
sowing two varieties at the same
time,











working on the principal
that if one fails the other will not.

The importance of drains

For as long as anyone can remember there have been drains in Corn Buck.
On a daily basis, they sometimes present something of an obstacle, when
passing from one part of the garden to another, their being quite steep in places,
but




















after five minutes of heavy rain, we remember their importance and are glad
that we erred on the side of caution and kept them clean and, relatively weed free.



















Only when the rain falls does it become apparent where a little maintenance or alteration is necessary.



















The irrigation pipe looks slightly redundant,



















luckily T took the main pipe out of the river,
just as the down pour started.



















And as soon as it starts, it stops, but we will not be crossing the river today.

Maintenance

Okra and dwarf beans being given a little encouragement after weeding and moling.

Liquid Gold

The first application of our very own pen manure.
No, not a misspelling of hen, pen manure is what you get
when you have a cow tethered in your land

This morning

T cutlassed and made new beds for sweet potato, while I sowed rocket seeds, sunflowers and groomed some fig trees.

Tania, turmeric and ginger.

With the arrival of a friend's cow, we now have no worries regarding manure. T cuts grass for it in the early mornings and our alarm clock has been altered to 4.30a.m. We were late this morning having had a disturbed sleep due to a vehicle reversing almost into the yard followed by loud cursing and getting on, for what seemed like ages, when eventually help arrived and the cursing drove away. Pre carnival festivities. The ginger plants, that T's sister K gave us, were ready to plant out, which I did, after weeding the beds for them, next to the parsley and turmeric, (or saffron as we call it even though it isn't) but I didn't fork as the beds are still good from when the tomatoes were there and anyway I feel that rooty tubers like a less sandy soil and , to be honest, I was tired. T , who was also tired, nevertheless, cut three loads of grass for the cow and then opened over one hundred holes to plant the Tania, on the top, just by where the cow is tied. There is so much weeding to be done or as a man that was passing observed,
"The bush killing you"

Rain

Rain, lots and lots and lots of rain, as I weed beans to the right of the footpath and T plants cabbage and tomatoes down in the beds where the first set of sweet potato were, the drains gush with water, a hundred little streams spring up from nowhere and the water covers the big stone ,where we have to pass to get home, in the river. T hauls me across as the torrent pours into his boots and Xena fights the current as she successfully swims to the opposite bank.
The Season is here at last.