The garden wake-up is now in full swing – and even the peas and beans did finally germinate! And because of all that nice sunshine, Nikki’s lawn is in need of its first cut of the season. While not all the lawn got cut, she really did have to get the mower out for the front.
Now, if only she could find lawn-alternatives that aren’t going to impact potential sales if things go… *south*.
These informal, unscripted vlog-style videos are a chance for the team to share some of the fun things happening in their respective gardens – and are filmed without a teleprompter in a single take.
Read the transcript here
Hey everybody, happy Sunday. I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are safe, you are well, and you are with people you care about who also care for you. And I hope that you have had some time to rest and recuperate this week.
I have had time to rest and recuperate in my garden. Look at this wonderful cherry tree — and another one over there — and my little ones. You will also see that my grass has been mowed. This is the first grass cut of the season. I hate cutting grass. I would like to replace my grass with some native plants, but for now, at this point in history, where we live — until things are more stable and we know what is happening to this place and us and everything else — I am trying to keep things as conventional as I possibly can.
In here, we have finally got some parsnips growing, which is phenomenal. Over here, you will notice I have a bit of box hedge that has just been wedged in, and there is a really good reason for that. That was when I was cutting the grass — I was working around the front area here and I was cutting around these box bushes. Unfortunately, I cut a branch off that one unknowingly. I felt really bad about it, but I put it in and hopefully it will grow.
You will also notice my daffodils are looking incredible at the front here. The daffodils are just truly amazing. They have really helped me feel very, very… like, every morning I see them and they kind of make my soul sing a little bit, which is really important.
Here though — also look at my tulips, my yellow tulips. Don’t they look amazing? These are little daffodils here. These are called little Tête-à-Têtes. I know there are some weeds here as well, but my plan is to turn this into a bit of a garden space where I can grow maybe some poppies in the summer and some other things. This is the first time I have successfully cultivated bulbs in here and I have lived here for nine years. So don’t let yourself believe that just because you haven’t done something one year, you can’t do it in subsequent years — because it’s really important to be able to do that.
I actually took a day off this week. I didn’t take a day off this week — I would be lying if I said that. So Monday I did my AuDHD thing — I got up really early, I worked out super early, I filmed a video before Vi arrived, and then we had the Polestar 4 here which I’ve been driving quite a bit, and that’s going back tomorrow. Obviously the truck that many of you know about. And there is a very high-up jet just exiting from probably one of the private airports nearby — there’s quite a few private airports around Portland.
But back here, I do want to share something with you that’s really exciting and it’s got me really excited. As you can see I have done a bit of grass cutting — I haven’t cut it very, very short because I don’t like doing that. But check this out. Look. Heck. We have peas — and we have beans! They are growing at last. And yes, looks like someone has been trying to dig up some of my plants — and they will suffer the consequences — but peas are actually coming up now, which is lovely, and I think they are beyond the point at which they’re going to be eaten. So we’ve got some peas here and some beans here. These are fava beans, and then we’ve also got some snow peas and other peas coming up here, and I’m so glad. I need to put a net on it — I think that’s pretty much what I need to do. But I’m so happy that they’re finally growing, because up to this point I was worried that they wouldn’t.
So I think what I’m going to do tonight — I took these off earlier today — I think what I’m going to do is put them back over the top and try and discourage birds, because as you can see some birds have got in and have been helping themselves. But some of these peas are actually doing quite all right, as you can see. So I need to do — I need to do something. I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.
Meanwhile, over here my onions are coming up nicely. My radishes are coming up nicely. I still haven’t done much else in the way of garden prep, and this weekend it’s going to be a nice day and then we’re going to get rain, so I have to decide what I’m going to do there.
But I do want to show you what’s been going on in here, because look at this — look at the growth! So in here we’ve got our tomatillos still growing, we’ve got tomatoes growing — I did some more potting up of tomatoes over the weekend. We’ve got some cucumbers here, and if you remember I said that some of my cucumbers weren’t growing — they are growing! I have some Japanese cucumbers, which is phenomenal. Broccoli and cabbage — I think I’ve said before that the cabbage seed is really, really old, but it’s still growing. Peppers are growing. The only peppers that haven’t started to grow are these Japanese ones that are very old and I don’t expect them to germinate, but let’s see what happens. These peppers are growing very nicely so I’m going to maybe give them a bit of extra warmth and encourage them. I can’t complain — I’m super happy to see things growing.
And then over here we’ve got some more tomatillos. One of those tomatillos is going to go away tomorrow because I’m giving it away to someone. And then over here we’ve got some more tomatoes. So everything is growing really amazingly well, and this time of year is just wonderful.
Let me just — let me turn on some water here, see if I can do this. I can multitask. I can talk to you and I can water my plants at the same time — because of course I can. And I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do about those peas, because I have a suspicion that if I don’t put something over the top of them I might not have them for long. But I do have some ideas on that — one of them is to put some of these over the top, because that will help get rid of little folks who might otherwise want to eat things.
Also, I’ve got some wonderful flowers coming up here — check them out. And also my lupin is looking very good.
Charlie and the rest of the ladies are not very happy because I won’t let them out at this time of year — because a) it’s the time of year where the coyotes come out and they do their thing, but it’s also the time of year when there are lots of green tasty shoots and I don’t want them to eat them all.
So anyway, tell me what’s going on in your garden. Have you done your first cut of the year? Are you an evolved person who doesn’t have a lawn? Tell me what you replaced it with because I would love to know. I really genuinely want to know what I can replace this stupid bloody lawn with. I didn’t cut the back — I’ll show you — I didn’t cut the back because I wanted it to be nice and long, and I wanted it to be more natural out back. So I didn’t cut out back. But I would love to know how you have prepared for your first cut of the season, if indeed you have done one.
Also, tell me what’s going on in your garden. How are you in your planting calendar? Are you terribly behind like I am?
And as always I will see you this time next week. Also, thank you to the amazing list of supporters scrolling by on either side. They are the reason we are still here. Thank you so much if you are on that list, and if you’re not, just remember that sharing our content and interacting with us on social media also really helps a whole bunch — it really does.
So thanks for being the positive change. I know this week has been tough for many of us, and we just have to hope that it will get better — even when I don’t know if I can tell myself that it will. Be kind. Tell the important people in your life that they are important to you. And I will be here this time next week, I promise.
As always — keep evolving.
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