Garden Update

Our garden is doing pretty well, mainly thanks to Owen who spends a lot more time watering and weeding than I do! It'll still be a while before anything is ready to harvest, but at some stage over the next couple of months we should be enjoying homegrown tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbages, lettuce, cauliflower, peas, silver beet, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkins and corn.

We haven't had problems with slugs or caterpillars yet (planting nasturtiums in between the lines of vegetables has probably helped) but we have had a major battle with aphids. Since our vegetable garden is organic, I wouldn't let Owen use any chemicals (especially when they weren't even working on the roses!) and when the aphids started spreading to the vegetables I went in search of a natural solution which I found in this book from the library:

All Purpose Insecticide

1 litre water
3 chillies, chopped
1/2 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed

Bring all ingredients to the boil then remove from heat. Cover and steep for two days, then strain into a spray bottle. Mix in some soapy water before spraying so the mixture adheres to the plants.


This was super effective and the aphid problem is now under control!

Current Obsession: Game of Thrones

Photo Credit

After hearing so much about the series Game of Thrones, Owen and I finally got around to watching it last weekend. And I don't just mean one episode, we watched the whole first season (and stayed up way too late for a Sunday night).

Photo Credit

Since the next season isn't due til next year we've decided to track down the books as a Christmas present. But I'm not sure how closely the series is following the books and I'm a little worried that if I read them then the programme won't be as good (which is usually the case). I guess I'll just have to risk it or learn to be more patient!

One Year

It's funny how one year can go so quickly and at the same time it feels like so much time has passed. One year ago we were doing this, two years ago we were doing this, and twelve years ago we were sharing an awkward phone conversation and discovering that yes, we did quite like each other.

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary we went out for brunch to my favourite place in Brighton, and then in the evening we went for a picnic at Waimakariri Gorge. We brought along a basket full of food and our dog, who was super excited and spent most of the time jumping in the river then trying to run across the picnic blanket.

In between trying to stop the dog from ruining our new books (since it was our paper anniversary) and trying to catch grapes in our mouths, we spent ages playing around with the self-timer setting on the camera so I could get a photo for my anniversary photo project:

I'm looking forward to adding many, many more photos to our collection!