Ow, my aching back. Gardening is not easy on the body, though it does get you fit. Today I'm recovering from a huge day in the garden, and there's still things to do. I have a ton of herbal seeds I want to plant and more things in the polytunnel to pot up, plant out or tidy up. I have a ton of swedes to harvest and a wicking bed to move because the rabbits are hiding under it, the buggers.

Spring in the garden is highly energetic - a single coffee will have me making a new garden bed, tearing down a plant that's far too overgrown (and that the bunnies are hiding under) or sowing more seeds or making fences. The below is about a sixth of our cultivated garden space, with the chook shed and compost bins. I found some hoops and netting which is keeping the chickens (and rabbits) off young plants, and the strawberries are doing really well under there. It's a lovely spot to sit and enjoy the garden in the late afternoon sunshine. It's also becoming a bit of a herb and food forest too - mullein, sage, oregano, calendula, wormwood, mugwort, raspberries, strawberries, lavender, tomatoes, beans, zucchini and fruit trees are all growing in this part of the garden.

The birds are essential in the garden and after returning from the desert country I'm ever so grateful for the abundance and variety of birds we have in our garden. Jamie made me a bird bath out of the end of a copper hot watering system which I absolutely love. He also put some screws in the side of the chook pen so I can easily hang the tools which never make it to the shed.

I've been spending a lot of time adding to my medicinal herbs and so far have the following in the garden or about to go in: skullcap, nettle, motherwort, echinacea, ashwagandwa, mullein, wormwood, yarrow, gotu kola, mugwort, tulsi, basil, calendula, oregano, thyme, sage, horseradish, elder, rue, peppermint, lemon balm, raspberry leaf, lavender, white sage, chamomile, astralagus and pennyroyal. I've been networking with other folk herbalists which has been heaps of fun and we've been sharing our plants and seeds and wisdoms.

The other great thing I got hooked up with is getting coffee grounds from a local cafe. I haven't had luck as they usually say that they give them to a particular person who gets them weekly. Now I AM that person - someone is moving out of town and told the cafe owner I was keen, so now all I have to do is take a bin there every weekend to swap with a bin of coffee grounds. Stoked!

Twenty Things I've Learnt, Observed or Contemplated This Spring

To be honest, some of this stuff I already knew, but the list is designed to represent any number of things that pass through my brain when I'm pottering in the garden.

1. Chickens are awesome at getting rid of bugs.
2. Chickens are second only to blackbirds for wrecking the lovely job you just did of mulching.
3. Magpies have a different sound when there are foxes about - it pays to listen to their warning song.
4. You can put calendula on absolutely every single dinner you make, and it'll make you smile every time you go to pick it.
5. Fennel fronds and garlic leaves make a fantastic pesto.
6. Rabbits are assholes and no sooner do you get rid of one burrow, they dig another one somewhere else.
7. Purple kale is awesome when it flowers because the yellow is such a gorgeous contrast. Purple and yellow are perfect together on the colour spectrum and attracts bees and humans alike.
8. Garden with gloves, because bullants are assholes.
9. If you plant a lemon tree in Australia, you better be prepared to eat lemons.
10. Don't plant tomatoes til you have temperatures of 10 degrees overnight for 10 days.
11. Frost is an asshole.
12. Plant flowers not just for bees, but all kinds of useful insects.
13. Plant rhubarb near apple trees - the rhubarb roots are beneficial for apples and they help accentuate each other's flavour.
14. You don't need to plant stuff in rows. It's better to do small areas and stagger them unless you are feeding the masses. Kale, beetroot and silverbeet are lovely ornamental plants as well as edible ones.
15. Plant banana peels under your tomatoes - they're full of potassium.
16. When planting trees in arid areas, did you know that if you throw some nopal cactus leaves in the hole it'll supply water to them?
17. Fermented garlic honey is the most insanely delicious thing and wonderful for hayfever.
18. Pine pollen is awful for hayfever - September is a terrible month for it.
19. Rocket is a good green manure - rotting in the soil or compost, it's a natural biofumigant as it has mustard oil glucosinolates that helps suppress diseas.
20. Nasturiums are really high in vitamin c - you can add the flowers to vinegar and chop the leaves and flowers into salad.

What else - goodness. SO much. Lots and lots of seedlings in the polytunnel - four different types of beans and zucchini, lots of varieties of tomato, jalapenos and capsicum, flowers etc. I ordered a couple of reishi bags to give reishi growing a go - I didn't realise they liked the warmer weather. It's been quite humid lately so the garden's going to go nuts over the next few weeks. It's sooo exciting thinking about everything growing in the garden and how I can make it produce better and smarter. The more permaculture ideas I adopt, the more it should look after itself, but since I"m quitting work this year, I'll have lots of time to work out there and I couldn't be happier.

What's going on with your gardens? Whether it's a project, a tidy up, a dream or an actuality, share this week for the early October #gardenjournal challenge. Post in the Hive Garden community to connect with like minded gardeners, and if you have a little to delegate to @gardenhive, that'd be appreciated too as we're trying to build our upvote power to support gardeners on HIVE.

With Love,

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