More gardening notes

Well I've had to wait for some time to identify this plant, which I was given by my mother-in-law several months ago. It is a 'Walking Iris', and has very pretty pale lavender blue flowers. The plant propagates itself readily by forming little plants after the flowers have finished, so would be ideal for mass planting on a bank. I think I will try to get several plants going before I put them into a permanent location. Meanwhile they look great in pots.

Another of my pot plants, 'Baboon flower' (Babiana stricta) is in flower. I just love the deep purple colour of the flowers and the texture of the leaves. These bulbs never need any looking after they just come up year after year.

And down at the bottom of the section in the bush across the way, the kowhai are in full flower:

It's a close call between kowhai and pohutukawa for my favourite NZ native tree!

In the last couple of days we've sowed some more seeds: sweetcorn - good old Honey and Pearl, and Florida Supersweet. Hopefully we'll have a better crop than in previous years as it was either too dry, exposed or both. Also wanting to plant other varieties for popping and possibly some Inca corn if I can obtain it. Now that we've moved the pigs on to their new enclosure, we will be able to turn their old run into some nice new beds ready for all the corn and pumpkins. Now we just have to make sure we have a  plentiful supply of water!

Other seeds I've sown so far are:

Zucchini - Gold Rush, Costata Romanesco
Cucumber - Mini White*
Melon - Banana
Pumpkin - Musquee de Provence*
Silverbeet
Lettuce - Summer Queen*, Butterhead
Parsley - Italian Flat
Basil - Sweet Genovese, Fino Verde
Epazote* - a herb used in Mexican chilli sauces, supposed to blend v. well with coriander
Echinacea*
Marshmallow*
Bergamot
Nigella - Eastern Spice
Cleome
Salvia - Blue Bedder*
Garland Chrysanthemum*

Again the ones marked with an asterisk are ones I've either not tried before or did not manage to grow well. But this isn't the finish - the list goes on!!! I'm keen to have lots of flowers in the veg garden this year, so I have several more to get going over the next week.

Hope your planting/planning is going well.