I'm sorry if all I'm posting at the moment is garden content. It seems it's about all I can do - and even then, most of the time Jamie's doing the heavy lifting! I did have a cortisteroid injection in my hip and hopefully that'll settle things down, though it's Day 3 now and it's still hurting. I suppose I just have to be patient and remain hopeful. Gardening - and creating this new garden - is what's keeping me from being super depressed at the moment.

So, enough of the lamentations - check out my new 'behind the scenes' area where all the magic happens! And it's real alchemy too - where garden waste turns to soil, and where soil produces plants. I mean, how can one be sad when one is creating life? We're calling it 'compost village' because it's quicker than saying 'I'm down the side of the house where the compost bins are'. If you can come up with a better name, let me know.

The sink we got for free off Facebook marketplace. The buckets underneath can catch soil and water alike, which then gets put in the compost or in the herb garden along the side of the fence.

It's a perfect height for me to pot up plants and plant seedlings. This week I've planted some spring onions, beetroot, and bushbeans. With the heat coming again next week they're sheltered enough in the dappled light under the wattle, but I may put some cloth over them just in case. Heat here can be brutal.

I decided to use the Bunnings (our local DIY megastore) basket we nicked for sifting potting mix for the seeds. It works well, and as I have a plug I can sift straight into the bowl and scoop out easily. I'm quite pleased with this system.

Underneath the sink is two bokashi buckets. I can drain off the liquid and add it straight to the compost as an activator. After two weeks the fermented vegetables can be added to the pile or dug into the garden. However my compost is going super fast anyway at the moment - unbelievably so. I've seemed to have totally nailed my compost system and it's only taking about a month in this heat to create compost that resembles compost - I mean it'll take another month or so to really settle but those buckets are STEAMING in this weather and breaking down straw, coffee grounds, scraps etc really, really fast.

Honestly, I do get a kick from it. The other buckets have various things - worm castings, potting mix (a mixture of potting mix, compost, coir, perlite, manure), browns (torn cardboard and chicken straw, not pictured - it's up the other end of the area), coffee grounds (I get them from a local cafe where a friend works).

I meant to include this tool in my 'three things I bought' post for the #hivegardenqotw but forgot. How I can forget I just don't know - it's seriously the secret to fast compost. It's like a corkscrew you push into the compost to aerate it and it's the single best new thing EVER.

I tend to lose tags so I thought I'd peg them to a wire for a bit of aesthetics. How long they'll last I don't know, but since I'll lose them anyway, it doesn't really matter.

I also made some signs that say 'finishing' or 'resting' so people know which one to put compost in. It's a moot point as even Jamie isn't allowed to touch my system. However I will print off a sign to laminate with instructions in case we have house sitters one day. I have put scissors, a trowel and a fork on the fence as well, plus a screw to hang my bluetooth speaker when I'm working there.

Of course there's also two worm farms that get lots of love and attention. I find that if it's all in the one spot it's much easier to attend to everything properly.

It's all down the side of the house, but at this angle it looks quite the mess. Eventually that tin and stuff will go on the right hand side, and we'll make a bin enclosure as well. I'll likely fit more compost bins as well - Jamie doesn't understand it, but I know you hive gardeners do, right? I've heard some people describe them as 'daleks' a la 'Doctor Who' which I think is quite apt. I think we're going to erect some kind of screen to distract the eye looking from the back of the garden up the side of the house, on the other side of the long herb bed.

Of course there is still much to be done, and I would like to neaten it up even more, but for now, it's super functional and I really enjoy 'pottering' there.

With Love,

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