Lettuce, Lizards and Ladybirds

The no dig garden out the front continues to bloom with more and more plants that we have grown from seed planted straight into the soil. We currently have three different types of lettuces and Italian Parsley growing next to each other. The mulch is the new sugar cane mulch we have just put on to retain moisture as we have a very dry climate.

This shows the other plants, Lettuces, Tomatoes, Spinach, Kale, Rocket, and Beetroot. In the background the Pineapple Fejoa hedge still has a way to go, and the Fig tree finally has new leaves on it.

One of the reasons for starting to grow our own food was to reduce the damage that we do on the environment by producing organically grown food locally. Outside your own front door is about as local as you can get! What we had not expected, but are thrilled about,  is the continual  build up of wildlife, bringing the garden to life on a whole new level. The Butterfly is heading for the Spinach, which has now gone to seed, we are hoping to start saving our own seeds this season.

We are sure that this Lizard, and the many, many frogs we have in the garden are the main reason our crops survive so well.

Other welcome guests were a whole group of ladybirds/beetles who appeared last week to clear the Kale and Spinach of unwanted bugs. They were a little camera shy but very fast workers.

And finally, the number of birds has increased dramatically, here is a 28 Parrot, one of about 12 types of birds that visits our suburban yard each day. They include Honey -eaters, Doves, Willy Wagtails and Honey eaters to name a few. It is great to see so many other creatures enjoying the garden as much as we do.