I feel like a can breath again.  This weekend I held my open garden day which has been my main focus since I got back from holidays.  It is always a bit nerve wracking putting your creativity out there, but I didn’t get a chance to think about it as we were so busy.  My team estimate we have around 100 people or so, and the parking at one point was one car short of becoming a crisis. Not only was it so busy we forgot to count but we also forgot to take photos and there is only one, slightly out of focus one, and as much as I would have liked to, there was no chance to talk to individual gardeners, but that is ok.  It was a memorable day, nonetheless.

 It was great to see Neil there, and I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to chat, but just want to put it out there – as my special community friends, if you are ever in the area, just send me a message and I will welcome you into my garden for a personal tour.  But if you want to see what the open day was like, I made a video for those who couldn’t come.  It is a little long – at 51 mins but it is just like being there.  https://youtu.be/9doqvODT1iE

Now the garden has been made respectable for the open day, it leaves me in a good position going forward with a relatively low maintenance garden that will only need a little and often approach to stay in control.  The garden is divided into 5 areas and each day of the week I only attend to the needs of one area, so at this point it will take me no more than half an hour a day to manage the garden.  I expect I will be doing a lot of kitchen gardening though as I held back on harvesting loads of things so there was something to see!

This has been such a challenging season for most of us, although Sue you seem to be having a wonderful time – although keep an eye out – my Mum is in Whanganui and just pulled out her tomatoes because they had blight. 

As fungal diseases seem to be the most prevalent in these conditions it is a good idea to make sure things are given the space they need so they have good air flow.  It is tempting in the spring to squish things in a little closer and in some seasons you may get away with it, but you can’t predict what the weather will do.

Preventatively spraying to prevent disease (and pests) if things look like they might go bad is also a good idea and copper and sulphur are considered natural occurring compounds and not ‘harmful chemicals’.  Yates has a good range of fungicides for any situation.

Don’t compost diseased material and clean your tools between plants and water at the soil and try to avoid splashing onto the leaves – although we can’t control the rain! 

It is so lovely to see you all sharing your gardens and chatting amongst yourselves. I really hope the weather improves and we get a proper summer, however I just looked at my long range forecast, so in my head I’m already thinking about next season.

Happy gardening and as always – if you want to get in touch leave a comment below.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)