STEEMIT COMMUNITY GARDENING JOURNAL CHALLENGE 3 - JULY

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Winter in South Africa means preparations in the garden. It is the end of the spectacular show of wild aloes growing up the mountainsides in our valley. It is also the beginning of early blooming of some of our fruit trees - apricots as well as the almond; which strangely only lost half its leaves and so is only pushing buds on the bare half. Strawberries are flowering as are our beans. Rocket (arugala) and cabbages are starting to bolt. It seems a very transitional season. Winter not quite over but the anticipation of Spring is in the air. Thanks to our resident Steemit gardener @simplymike I'm entering a very belated #gardenjournal2018 for July. I find gardening quotes inspiring as they are so true to life. Take a slow walk with me around the rather bare winter gardens of our African homestead and let the quotes sink in.

"A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them" Unknown.

"Gardening is medicine that does not need a prescription and has no limit on dosage" Unknown.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden" Thomas Jefferson.

Culture! As a fermented foodie and maker of goats milk cheeses and yoghurts I know all about cultures. I love this quote. Once a year we bring in the tractor and scoop up all that my beautiful goaties have to offer from around the goat house where they sleep at night. After a couple months of wetting and turning this lovely organic compost goes into the gardens. This week my husband piled up a huge new heap - with a little help from our one year old son. And, of course, some of my inquisitive goats!

"You can bury a lot of troubles, digging in the dirt" Unknown.

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need" Cicero.

"There are no gardening mistakes - only experiments" Janet K. Phillips.

Here's to hoping my experiments do work out to be gardening wonders. I love tumeric, particularly because it is a power anti-inflammatory. While I buy organic tumeric powder I've only recently found the roots. I have been nursing my tumeric rhizomes through winter and am really excited about planting them. Another new addition to the garden - hopefully - will be the indigenous Shu Shu (Shoo Shoo). As you can see it is sprouting. It is apparently related to a melon and cucumber but in taste it is almost like a potato. You can eat it baked, boiled or fried. And, in my opinion, it is delicious! They grew like weeds in my hometown in Natal but this is the first time I have found them in the Cape. So here is hoping that its creeper will soon establish a corner of the garden. As you can see my husband's experiment is an avo. He has dozens of avo pips ropped up in jars in the windows but only this little guy is putting in an effort. Watch this space.

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" Audrey Hepburn.

"Why try to explain miracles to kids when you can just have them plant a garden" Robert Brault.

"Gardening is cheaper than therapy. And you get tomatoes!" Unknown.

"We think we are nurturing our garden but of course it is our garden that is nurturing us" Jenny Uglow.

Walking in the garden or actually getting your hands dirty is therapeutic, there's no doubt about it. However it is not just the humans who benefit. We have a hard time deciding where our peelings go. These days the chickens win over my goats. We have built large wooden boxes where our feathered gardening friends can scratch to their hearts delight and help the composting process. What critters the chickens don't gobble up, a good dose of diluted apple cider vinegar or epsom salts with neem oil generally sorts out.

"I like gardening. It is a place I find myself when I need to lose myself" Alice Seabold.

"Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your beans." Marcelene Cox

Looking at the bee activity on my flowering herbs. Listening to the wild birds in the fruit trees. Watching my cats watching my son with his spade in the dirt one would never guess that we are caught in a terrible drought. How we hope and pray for rain. I am amazed at how some of the gardens, which have had their irrigation sadly disconnected, still thrive. One of my largest wormwood bushes is throwing seed. This incredible bitter herb is loved by both chickens and goats who self medicate and loved far less by humans who take it for fever or as a natural dewormer. My favourite herb garden is my plough garden. And this coming month I will be focusing on building up the soil and planting new herbs. Thank you @simplymike for giving me a reason to reflect. We are blessed and there is always so much we have to be grateful for!

"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life." Cora Lee Bell.

"Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts" Mac Griswold.

Greek proverb: "A society grows great when old men plant trees, whose shade they will never sit under."