Motu
22nd October 2005, 21:10
Labour weekend is the time you put in your vege garden.My mother thought it was a crime not to have a vege gargen,she was full of scorn for those who bleated about how poor they were - ''If they grew their own food instead of spending all their money on takeways they could buy clothes for the kids'' I hardly ever left her house without something from her garden,even in a unit she had tomatoes and silverbeet,cabbages and lettuce.I remember as a kid lying down between the rows of peas so she couldn't see me and working my way along eating peas as I went.
So I've been feeling guilty these last few years not having a garden - so today I got my rotary hoe going (it's not a Terrier,but I think it's such a good name for one) and dug me a 3 metre by 3 metre garden,not big,but I'll get something out of it.After all these years of gluggy grey dirt and yellow clay in Auckland the soil down here is a delight,very sandy and easy to work.Rip through the dirt,then a deep fork,a fluff with the hoe again then a rake smooth - looks great.Tomorrow I'll tidy it up and put in some tomatoes,4 kinds,beetroot,cucumber,and something I forgot what it is.
Then I got the PeeWee out and took the boys over the road to the park,for their first lesson in bike riding.I'm the perfect father to teach boys how to ride a bike,because I'm such a good rider myself - ''this is the throttle,these two are brakes,now off you go!'' The older boy was fine,he's had a go on it before,but the 9 yr old did the the standard wide open throttle and freeze trick - but I was ready for that (did it myself 35 yrs ago) and running along beside pulled his hand off the throttle and we crashed into a tree.So he got that sorted and they rode for ages.One got stuck in the mud and finally the bike died,so we pushed it home - bet it starts up like nothing happened tomorrow.I think this is going to be a popular pastime for them...
Altogether a satisfactory day for me...
So I've been feeling guilty these last few years not having a garden - so today I got my rotary hoe going (it's not a Terrier,but I think it's such a good name for one) and dug me a 3 metre by 3 metre garden,not big,but I'll get something out of it.After all these years of gluggy grey dirt and yellow clay in Auckland the soil down here is a delight,very sandy and easy to work.Rip through the dirt,then a deep fork,a fluff with the hoe again then a rake smooth - looks great.Tomorrow I'll tidy it up and put in some tomatoes,4 kinds,beetroot,cucumber,and something I forgot what it is.
Then I got the PeeWee out and took the boys over the road to the park,for their first lesson in bike riding.I'm the perfect father to teach boys how to ride a bike,because I'm such a good rider myself - ''this is the throttle,these two are brakes,now off you go!'' The older boy was fine,he's had a go on it before,but the 9 yr old did the the standard wide open throttle and freeze trick - but I was ready for that (did it myself 35 yrs ago) and running along beside pulled his hand off the throttle and we crashed into a tree.So he got that sorted and they rode for ages.One got stuck in the mud and finally the bike died,so we pushed it home - bet it starts up like nothing happened tomorrow.I think this is going to be a popular pastime for them...
Altogether a satisfactory day for me...