Stone Walls

Before

  A huge rock with small stone walls built on it to create small (not so  successful) spaces to plant herbs. We removed the walls – see pile of stones on left.

After

                                                                                  The stones are used to make edging around the beautiful monumental rock.

Cacti from elsewhere in the garden will be moved to this area . . .

 

Infancy

The cauliflower seedlings are just breaking through the soil.

Pansy seedlings planted with the butter lettuce

I collected a load of old Oak planks – used at the lacal wine cellar to flavor the wine. "Re-cycle" or "Up-cycle". . . the gates to the vegetable garden, made with the planks.  

Pond Inlets

The fountain at the entrance to the

Vegetable garden

We made stylised ceramic "fish" to attach to

the white PVC inlet-pipe

First Crop Planted

                                                                                                             The new vegetable garden is marked on the photo above. This area has been a road for at least 90 years; would be interesting to see if we have added enough compost to revive the soil.                                                                                                       The supports (and barriers for the dogs) are made with old strips of Oak wood from a local wine cellar, tied with string. 

First plants and seeds planted. The old Bentwood chair used to be my grandpa's "gardening chair" - he cut the chair legs shorter to reach down easier . . . I prefer to work on the ground.                                



Inspiration

Starting to plant the Vegetable Garden this weekend. I have been making gates to keep the dogs out. All is not completely closed yet, but it will be too late for some plants, if we don't start planting.

Our previous vegetable garden was very small with a washing line (photo left) in the centre.

The line was ideal for my “Supervisor” Louis - the African Grey Parrot

My knowledge of “companion planting” is still very limited, but I have proved to myself that Marigolds will keep Aphids off the Cabbages.
The flowers attracted bees and other insects and looked very pretty.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next three photos are of an Inspiring Vegetable Garden featured in House & Garden - July 2009

photographs by Alain Proust

Vegetable Garden Layout II

All the old concrete tiles on the property were collected to do the layout



Everybody came to help when the horse manure compost arrived

Many drawings later the final design is based on how many tiles are available

Vegetable Garden Layout I

The pool, plastered with Marble Plaster and 

filled with water within 24 hours for the plaster to cure slowly

 

The area next to the pool will be the new vegetable/kitchen garden.

To keep the vegetable garden as organic as possible, I have been reading a lot about companion planting. This led me to discover very beautiful French “potager” gardens on the internet.



Beautiful Mango and Pineapple plants in the garden

"Instant Gratification"

January 2012

after all the long, slow and hard work

to clean and remove the fible pool at the back garden

all the stones and concrete and metal in the front garden

~ we succumbed to the temptation of an instant "roll out lawn" ~

16 Nov to 14 Dec 2011

~ removing the enormous fiberglass pool ~

  

~ because the fibre pool and surround was built above ground ~

~ it took 4 days to bulldoze and 14 truck loads to remove the structure ~ 

14 jan 2012

~ finally, the new hand plastered pool near completion ~



the Prologue

~ fountain built by an Italian prisoner of war in the 1940's ~ 

 



we moved to "de klippen valleij" - a farm house built in 1714 - in october 2011