My not so secret garden

One of the things I truly wished to have was a beautiful garden. One where you can wander. I had this vision of stone steps and vine covered walls. Flowers blooming all around while I enjoy the surroundings sitting on a big rock in the middle of it.


I also wanted a vegetable garden, something I can go in, pick up a tomato and then cook in my house. Maybe watching episodes of "the river cottage" kind of set me off this "english garden setting" kind of scenario. (see river cottage here)...http://www.rivercottage.net//


This is what I had in mind....

Mind you, I live in a TROPICAL country. we don't have 4 seasons. We only have two.. the WET and the DRY season. So planning something like this would take a lot of imagination. For one thing, not all the plans suited for this kind of garden would survive the weather. Another thing is that I live in  very populated city and of course, I don't have a rambling river behind my house to enjoy.


So I did the best I could with what I had. I asked my landscaper to make a stone pathway on one side of the house. (this is best as it rains half the year and it would be too muddy for a soil pathway all throughout the house). I also asked him to fence off the back part so I can make my vegetable garden. I think he made it look quite nice. (we have dogs and I was afraid they would get into the garden and dig up all the veggies)

as you can see, the ivy hasn't covered the whole of the arbor yet

I have planted some eggplants, tomatoes, beans and squash on my garden. I also have some herbs growing on some pots on the sides of the pathway. So far, I have harvested some tomatoes (about 3-4 pcs) from the garden. It isn't much, but it's something. (I find delight in such trivial things!... hahahaha)

my beautiful beans!

We have also added Mr. and Mrs. Chuk chuk to our growing family. (These are the geese we bought)
I kindda called them that when they arrived. Chickens go CLUCK CLUCK... so i figured, why not call them ? and the first thing out of my mouth was chuk chuk...  


As with anything new, we had to adjust.... the dogs had to adjust and we had to figure out how to keep both of them happy without them killing each other... LOL

so far, the geese have adjusted pretty well, taking morning baths in the fountain. I didn't realize they can DIVE under water. (they can go under pretty long too)

we still had water lilies here.... they have eaten most of them by now

We can't wait till they lay eggs and have little chuk chuks... as long as they leave my veggies alone that is.!