Making me smile

I know it's has been a long time since I have written about our garden. Between the rain and the grasshoppers there is not too much to tell. Lets just say, that it's not pretty.

Devastation and neglect are two words that come to mind.

But here is something that is pretty. Here is something that is making me smile every time I look out the back window.



I bought these for a couple of dollars at the market about a month ago. Rain or shine the flowers wake each day as if to say "good morning". Their blooms, the most fabulous lolly pink, brighten my days.

They remind me of my Nana and her garden. Does anyone know what they are called?

What is happening in your garden right now?

Have you started new plantings? I think I should have. Again the word 'neglect' comes to mind.

More flowers please

I realised that I need to get some more flowers into my garden when I saw this gorgeous little bee trying to pollinate the purple flowers of my vintage sheet.

It broke my heart to see her go up and down an entire row of these lavender coloured flowers, (favoured by bees) never stirring as I brushed past and hung an entire second load of washing on the line.

As I placed my last peg, she gave a little buzz of frustration and flew off. Hopefully she found her way to the new blooms of our 'yesterday, today and tomorrow' bush on the other side of the house.

Are you planting any extra flowers this spring? If so which ones?

Are you trying to attract birds or bees, or do you just want some for your table centrepiece?

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Two posts in one day! Yes, making up for yesterday. I'm feeling so much better and this little bee was too cute to not share straight away. 

In our garden... right now

What a surprise! Down the side of the house, the hippeastrums have bloomed. Love. Love.

I told you, exciting things are happening.


The chinese jasmine is going crazy, scenting the warm afternoon breezes.

A couple of 'pots of colour' at my front door.



As for the vegetable garden: more productive than ever. We started out with neat little rows, but when I ran out of space, we basically stuck things in willy nilly. All the plants seem to be happy with that and growing well. Silverbeet, butter lettuce, mizuna and mint.



These are the largest mint leaves we have ever produced. I'm loving adding them to salads.






The tatsoi is thriving, we will need to make something with that this week. Any ideas? And the zucchini's plants are the best ever. So far so good, many of the bushes are with perfect yellow flowers this morning.



Last years kale never saw the light of day. It was gobbled up long before it started to grow. It was our biggest garden failure. This year all three types of kale have been growing well, until.... about 2 days ago, I noticed that the grasshoppers have found it! I might cook with kale this week too.


Out the front, our boxes and pots are looking good. Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, eggplants. This may look a little messy, but it's working. Our land slopes up so you can't see this from the road.



I feel like my Nana with all of these pots all over the place. It is just another reason I am finding happiness in my garden.
 
Mixed lettuce and capsicum. Could this be the year we finally grow capsicums?

Very happy eggplant plants. We have tried growing these for years as well, once I think we got a small eggplant, but turned out to be edible.

But look at the same plants that we just 'stuck in the ground'. That's an eggplant on the left from the same punnet as above and the other plant is a snow pea plant. This is the garden that surrounds the front tanks. This is the garden that needs to be improved - obviously!

The number one job to do in the garden this week: buy some more styrofoam boxes and some more potting mix. I need to replant the snow peas, eggplants and some cucumber bushes that were 'just stuck in the ground.'

I haven't spoken here yet, about my rose bushes that I bought earlier in Spring. This week I am going to see if I can save them!! Yes a rescue mission, is the other thing on my gardening 'to do' list. I think I have been given some misinformation about how to care for roses here in Queensland. I'll let you know how I go with that.

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I'm sorry that I missed a day of blogging. I have been very sick with the flu and yesterday, pretty much did not get off the couch. The computer didn't even get turned on, now that's what I call sick!

The next step

Planting.

We let our prepared vegetable garden bed sit for 1 month (I know, I know it should have been longer) but can I tell you something? When I went to plant out our new seedlings I was AMAZED!!! The soil was so different. Light and loose (sorry I don't know the correct soil terminology here) I was so happy, straight away, I had a good feeling about our growing season to come.



As usual, I went just a little bit crazy at the markets. Here is what I bought and what I have planted:

• cherry tomatoes
• black russian tomatoes
• roma tomatoes
• purple russian kale
• curly kale
• cavolo nero (more kale)
• strawberries
• snow peas
• beans
• silver beet
• leeks
• capsicum
• cucumber (the old fashioned kind)
• eggplant
• lebanese eggplant
• mizuna
• tatsoi
• beetroot
• butter lettuce
• mixed lettuce
• rocket
• rhubarb

• flat leaf parsley
• dill
• sage
• thyme
• coriander
• upward cress (a bit like watercress)
• stinging nettle
• borage
• dandelion


And with a bit of permaculture influence, I have planted both comfrey and marigolds throughout the vegie patch as well.



I knew that our 1m x 5m vegetable patch (in part shade) was not going to give us all that we wanted in the way of produce this year. So it was time to start thinking differently. I had been inspired by this article in the Organic Gardener magazine, to use styrofoam boxes from my fruit shop as containers for my vegetables.

At the front of our house are two very unsightly underground concrete tanks. With only the tops showing we have always wanted to deck over them, but never seem to have the money. We have cleverly tried to hide them with our planting (from the road at least), but basically it is a wasted and ugly space. The front of the house faces north, so it has full sun all day. It was time to put this space to better use. So by using every spare pot we could find and eight styrofoam boxes (bought: 2 for $3.00) we set about planting our seedlings. We used a good potting mix that was recommended by our local nursery.

But not long into the planting I realised (yes, only then!) that I had bought too many plants. We didn't really have room for them. However, we needed to get them into the ground, some of the seedlings were planted directly into that front garden, in a garden where the soil had not been prepared, where the soil was really - clay.

They needed to be planted that week, because we were going on holidays. Tomorrow I will post photos of what is happening in our garden right now, another month on.



Things that I learnt on this planting day were:

• I do not have an acre of land, more restraint is needed when shopping at the markets
• that vegetables that have a fruit; eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc must have full sun all day, while leafy vegetables; lettuces, kale, etc will be OK with part shade.

Thank-you to the ladies who offered their invaluable advice on my post yesterday.

All of this learning is very exciting.

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Lets start at the very beginning....

It's a very good place to start.

Over the last couple of years, our vegetable garden has been a little bit neglected. This year I wanted to change all of that. This year I wanted to have a very productive vegetable garden and I knew that I had to do more than just stick the seedlings in the ground and hope for the best.

As for the rest of the garden I want to make some changes there too. My recent photos may be an indication, that, an English cottage garden would be my ideal garden, however, in sub tropical Queensland? forget it.

When we bought this house we planted hardy, low maintenance palms and gingers, which I don't really like. I want a backyard that we can go out into and enjoy. Sometimes I stay indoors because our garden is so unsightly. That's not right, it is hot here for 8 months of the year, some changes need be made.

I have been so inspired by Alicia's backyard. I love this space, see it here, here, here and here.

Our children have outgrown our small backyard long ago, if they want to run around, we go to the local park two streets away. This summer I envision a hammock, maybe a few adirondack chairs, more fairy lights, pots of colour and a lot more entertaining. Places for conversation, reading, relaxing, dozing, eating, laughing, sipping tea. Places for one person, two people or eight.



In the middle of August, when the weather was already indicating the arrival of Spring, long before the calender, we had a working bee in our backyard. Mum came over and got to work on the outdoor wooden furniture. Both the table and daybed were sanded back and re varnished.

Thanks Mum, I think we still owe you lunch!


While the boys trimmed, cleared and dug unwanted plants from the garden, Miss Moo Moo and I scrubbed the chairs and the tiles on the deck. Once the cushion and mattress covers from the daybed were washed, we started on preparing the vegetable garden.



We dug out everything except some herbs and the lemongrass, discovering some ginger that I didn't even know Mr Moo had planted. We then dug in some compost, gypsom and soil conditioner. And watered in some seasol. We didn't really know what we were doing, but we felt like we were on the right track. It was the first time that we had ever bothered to prepare the soil. I know that we really should have started in March (that's what I had read was the right time for our climate) Better late than never is what I say. About 2 weeks later we added cow manure (bought in a bag) a tip we picked up from Hanno and Rhonda on our permaculture visit.



We are complete novices and are learning through the internet, books, chatting at the garden show and at markets and at nurseries. We have just joined a local permaculture group, but because we have been away for three weeks we missed some of the workshops that I want to attend.

What we did learn on that first day in the garden was:

• that you do not want curl grubs (that were in our compost) in our vegetable garden
• that the two field mice hiding in our compost were there because (1) there was free food (2) it was warm and cosy and (3) they got in because the lid has a hole in it.

Some of the jobs we want to do in the next month are:

• move the compost bin to a better location. I believe it needs full sun - is that right?
• start a worm farm
• take a look at our front garden, the only garden with full sun, pull out some plants and recondition the soil. We need to work out how to use this space better.
• mulch the vegetable garden
• re-pot some of my indoor plants

If you have any advice for us I would love to hear from you.

What are you doing in your garden right now?

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Springtime love

I am so crazy in love with Springtime in the southern states that it is ridiculous.

These photos were taken at the Orange Botanical Gardens last week.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

These are the last of my Orange photos, tomorrow I might show you what is going on in my own garden. While it is not nearly as pretty, in some parts at least, exciting things are happening.

I'd like to welcome anybody who is coming over from Gooseberry Jam today. Grab a cup of tea and stay a while, it's nice to have you here.

I also want to thank Mrs Gooseberry for her very kind words. xo

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Millthorpe

As well as discovering the delights of Orange, we have also spent a couple of days exploring some of the surrounding area.






I have fallen head over heals in love, with the little villages of Millthorpe and Carcoar.

Head over heals! I'm telling you!

 

Today pictures of Millthorpe's pretty streets and the delectable Old Mill Cafe.




Tomorrow, Carcoar - the town time forgot.

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