Sorting the cabbage patch

1horizontal potagerI’m turning into my grandmother. I forgot to move the hose that was watering the cabbages. That was Grandy’s famous party trick.

At the time – very small and on our farm in Australia – I never understood why she would forget such an important job.  Especially in a drought.  But being the owner of a very large garden myself now, I well understand.

You just get very, very busy and one thing stops you going back to what you did last.

I remembered eventually. But it did give me a jolt. 1artur supervising

Watering is on the brain at the moment. I even woke up just after 2am this morning panicking because I thought I hadn’t turn off a tap. Endless drought will do that to one’s brain. I don’t usually check the time in the middle of the night when these dramas occur. Who wants to know just how bad the insomnia is going to be?  But this time I had rather hoped it was closer to dawn. Alas no.

I was on a mission today and that was to weed the cabbage patch.  I had no excuse because the top vegetable garden had been strimmed between the crops and I could even find my way to the veg.

1weeded 1The weeds inside the cabbage netting weren’t that bed. That’s because the kale and the cabbages have put on such a growth spurt that they are excluding any light between plants.

And believe me, it’s not me being diligent with my watering.  It’s the underground spring just above the potager that comes to life.  All on its own.

The growth however is so lusty that it is showing up the faults in my home made cloches. They are too low. And falling to bits.  I need new brassica cages. Ones that won’t collapse under snow in winter but can keep out cabbage moth butterflies in summer.

I have design ideas. I just need time and carpentry skills to put them into production. That and more cabbage nets. 1tucked up

Once I weeded thoroughly around the plants I left Artur guarding against butterfly attack and then hauled out the hose.  Everything has had a drench (including the cat who was in the way, he loved it) and I am going to feast on all the branches of kale that I couldn’t cram under the nets.