I wanted to touch base so you knew we didn't forget you. However, we had a less than abundant season in the garden.

Although we have completed a wonderful wicking garden, we will not share the details until we are able to work out why it has turned stinky.

My belief is that you learn a lot more from 'failure'. Hopefully, we will be able to share a great deal of knowledge that we will gain while finding a fix for this problem and fixing it.

Our beans got rust disease which severely reduced our yield. The peas, tomatoes and roses have all been effected by mould diseases. Way too much rain even though all gardens are raised.

Our doggy dunnit disposal was too narrow to function effectively and got too wet. I had to rescue my worms who would have run away if the thing didn't have a screw on cap. I never saw the soldier fly larvae again, so no idea about their fate.

I have continued my trials with Bokashi in different bags and buckets as well as in our wormfarm. The collecting and fermenting has been very positive, but the use has been a great disappointment as our dog has dug and redug every garden we have used it in.

Lucy was fine with the first few buried Bokashi buckets, then we had one that had failed to ferment correctly. It stunk to high heaven and when I buried it (more to get rid of it) the dog went crazy. I placed various and mounting items on top of it (concrete reinforcement mesh [reo], old metal fence panels [school fence], wooden planks with stakes attached. Once she got that smell, she will not stay away from any garden where any fertiliser has been used (even if buried).

The only advice I can give here is: if you do Bokashi, freeze any failures and dispose of separately (council pickup if you are lucky enough to have one). If you have no choice but burying, freeze it first and dig it deep. Not only dogs will dig Bokashi up; wildlife might find it interesting, too.

We have begun our food forest with a Tamarillo, Curry Tree, Lime tree and garlic and other bulbs. However, as the dog dug this up too, my water flow system went by-the-by. I had used this idea before, but without taking photos. Basically, it is just forming the soil in a normal sloping garden into linked tiny swales. I had a sloping mulched front yard in my previous home and gushing water run off down the side of the house was slowed and directed gently to all productive areas. You could actually see the mulch moisten in a zig-zag fashion across the whole garden. It lasted for years even when walked on.

We are quite deflated by our numerous chances to learn (read failures) but are looking forward to a better spring/summer coming up.

Anyway, there is no news of any great value to pass on. I promise I will do a proper update when we can share something with you.