2014 beginnings

It's been a while. I can't even remember when my last post was made, but what I DO know is that it has been a good, looooooong while since.

It's the middle of summer. We have been having quite a lot of 30+ degree days. It's glorious weather for playing, but not so for gardening, especially for me at the moment. The season started off well enough, I had lots of little seedlings sprouting away, waiting to be planted into the ground and nurtured over the coming growing season. And that's the end of that, as due to two unforeseen events occurring over that crucial time those little seedlings faced a survival of the fittest test that resulted in their neglect and most of them being wiped out.
The first event was a toughie for me, but a goodie: morning sickness. It wore off just before Christmas and now has me finally back in the garden trying to recoup what I can and make the best of the time I have left. I'll be due in winter, so hopefully I'll be able to spend the rest of the summer maintaining what I have in the garden already and preparing the beds as best I can for the cooler season crops, and get my winter crop seedlings in the ground before my body takes over again limiting what I can achieve outside. HOPEFULLY I can time it well enough so that my garden will require only a small amount of maintenance at the times I am unable to devote as much to it as I'd like.
The second event was some roaring bushfires in my local area in October that contributed to a great lot of stress, hibernation from the nausea-increasing plumes of smoke, and preparation for an onset of fire and stuffing our cars with our belongings in the event of evacuation. With two kids in tow, all consuming nausea, and one evacuation route for the entire community through the mountains, I wanted to be WELL prepared. So, our poor garden suffered. The only exception was the scarlet runner beans which apparently seemed to thrive on neglect. Do they enjoy smoke or something? I've never seen anything grow so fast!

It is incredibly disappointing that I have been unable to be as devoted to my garden as I was looking forward to. But the great thing about seasons is that there is always next year! I am very excited about a winter crop, as well as doing better for next summer, and will be using the time I now have up my sleeves to take stock of the things I have learned and apply them to my planning of next years summer crop.


My first lesson: Painted mountain corn. I have found that planting corn against a north facing brick wall under eaves (and subsequently neglecting it) is not a good idea. I figure that particular location is too hot and dry to successfully grow corn without the great amount of maintenance I am unlikely going to be able to provide. It got to about 60cm high before dying. It had set some cute little corn cobs however so I do know that it could have gone well had I been able to maintain it. Next time I'd like to try it again in a different location, if I can spare somewhere suitable. Otherwise I'd love to try it in the future when we have a home that allows us to build a more ideal garden bed.

Lesson two: Scarlet runner beans. They've grown well and have nice flowers and have produced some pods, but these aren't something I am as excited about, so I won't be trying these again any time soon. They have proved useful as a screen for the ugly brown fence however so I at least know that growing a climbing plant there is a good idea. If I am to grow beans again (and I'd like to eventually) I will be looking to find something more productive and focus less on how pretty it is. I will enjoy growing my Golden podded peas there instead over the winter, they were productive AND attractive. The other woe I had with these beans is that out of about 10 seeds I only ended up we three viable plants. The seedlings seemed too fickle for me to want to bother with at this stage. So they don't completely cover that section of ugly fence like I had hoped, just half of it.

Lesson three: Loofah. The seeds MIGHT germinate, but only if they want to, and only when you least expect them to. Which I actually find quite amusing. I hope they do well, I'd like them to do well, so I have a little more patience for this plant. They've just started to take off and grow beyond the seedling stage so I'll be eagerly watching and nurturing these in particular for the rest of the season.

Lesson four: Sunflowers. I can't be bothered with these and won't be growing them again for a while until I learn how to harvest and store the seeds properly, and when I have the space to grow them.

Lesson five: Mint. I think my garden is too hot and dry for mint, in it's terracotta pot. I'll be brainstorming other ways to grow it more successfully. My mint is very fragile against the hot dryness of our summer days and wilts and withers quickly if I don't keep up with it. I have since moved the pot under the shade of a tree where it will get sun until midday and then dappled light during the afternoon heat. Hopefully this is a good solution and I'll be able to enjoy growing mint more for the future. I do love mint.

Lesson six: Other herbs. Chives do well near the tap where it gets splashed with water occasionally, so is fine against the hot north facing brick wall. Rosemary, likewise. Thyme, lemon thyme and sage are loving the dry heat in their spot with the occasional water and are fine where they are also. Oregano is happy in its pot but does need a drink a little more often than the other herbs.

Lesson seven: Tomatoes. All around rockstars. They have been neglected a fair bit as well as the rest of the garden, but when they're given the appropriate attention they will do well and are happy in that hot and sunny location. From our heirloom mix we have been growing what looks like a Tigerella and a funny shaped one whose name escapes me right now. Tomatoes are always an enjoyable addition to the garden, and I think that given our lack of space and need for high productivity due to my two little tomato munchers I will be seeking in the future to grow something compact, higher yielding, with small sized fruit, such as wild sweetie or tommy toe. I'll have a think as to the best variety for our garden and find out what dwarf varieties are around.

Lesson eight: Flowers. I have had a bit of a flirt with flowering annuals this last year, and am now returning to my roots, so to speak. I started out my garden wanting to grow herbs, lettuce and tomatoes, snow peas and those other things that are expensive to buy or don't keep well in the fridge for more than a day or two. Flowers are enjoyable, but unless they have nutritional value they are just a waste of our resources for this stage in our lives. I have enjoyed growing poppies this year again, with a large display of a red variety, as well as falling in love and a few little ladybird and iceland plants also, these all lasted until the bushfires and quickly curled up their toes and died during that time. I currently have some little jelly bean californian poppies that have recently begun flowering, different to the butter and cream coloured ones I grew last year. These are very pretty and seemingly hardy plants so I don't mind giving them a go again. I'll also be limiting myself to iceland and falling in love for the future spring seasons, if I can accommodate them because I particularly appreciated these. The iceland variety seems to be a lower plant but the falling in love grew quite tall so I will have to find an appropriate place for this one. I'll be culling my collection of flower seeds at one of the Crop & Swaps of the season, if I can get to one, and focus mostly on growing edibles in my garden with the exception of the few flowering things I love and enjoy much more than what I invest in growing them.


On another note, I have been browsing my latest Diggers Club catalogue and have come across two particular things that have grabbed my attention: Garlic and Freesias. Garlic I am looking forward to growing and would love to get some into the ground when I can This is something I love to cook with, doesnt take up much space, and can be stored for longer periods of time. Win-win-win. Freesias have always been a grand love of mine, but due to the fact that we are renters I don't want to be planting any bulbs only to have to leave them behind later, so I have been trying to figure how to best have my cake AND eat it. I don't like the idea of just planting them in pots, however I have decided that I will be planting some in troughs, and burying the troughs in the garden where I can lift them out if I need to. So my freesias can be in a safe place accounted for but allowed to rest and naturalise undisturbed in their troughs until they reach their final home. So now I need to source out some troughs. It's a shame I didn't figure it out earlier as I just tossed some out a couple of weeks ago because I didn't think I would ever really want or need them!

And that is all for today. Not bad for my first day getting back outside to tend to the mess. I am hoping for a week of productivity for our garden while the sun is forecast to be out... if it doesn't get too hot...

Dreaming of walking on grass in bare feet...

I calculated it's going to take 267 bucket loads to move this from A to B. Lucky time isn't in short supply being a stay at home Mum!

GASP!

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE???

Could it be a flower bud on this poppy plant?!

Spring is coming!!!

After the last few weeks of feeling uninspired and bored by the lack of action in my garden (honestly the glorious flowers on my Daphnes are the only things that kept me going for a while there) things are FINALLY starting to pick up. And its getting exciting! Let's go for a little wander around...

Our first stop is just outside the front door where some tiny and previously pathetic looking Sweet Pea seedlings are coming out of their coma. I planted them in Autumn, as is customary apparently, and they grew to a few inches high and then stalled for the months since. I'm not very familiar with Sweet Peas, I don't recall ever seeing them before last season when I tried to grow them and eventually threw them out when they weren't doing anything. I hear they have an incredible scent though so I am exercising more patience this time around and am crossing my fingers that they grow and cover the railing on the porch.

Mr. Lincoln is coming out to play...

 

As are some of our warm season seedlings. So far we have a number of Nasturtium, Marigold, lemon cucumber and a Scarlet runner bean seedlings. The rest haven't come up though so I might replant them soon. Odd, considering that over the last season I was constantly pulling out self sown tomato seedlings everywhere from the lost tomatoes after the kids had had their daily gorge.

 This birthday present Hibiscus was my first indication of spring a few days ago

 I'm glad to see that temporary pot-life isn't disrupting the Clivia plants

 And some pretty violet flowers in their new home by the steps. Don't they just smell divine!

 We have a new tomato from one of our out of season experiment plants. The seeds came from the Diggers heirloom mix. I am looking forward to figuring out which variety it is!

 If there's anything that's consistent in our garden it is the joy brought by Alyssum. Always flowering, always smelling delicious. These flowers are tiny, but good things come in small packages right? This one in particular has been growing well and does seem to be getting bigger lately. I hope some of the other smaller Alyssum plants I have will follow suit also.

 The pretty purple flowers of the golden podded peas, which have been a star attraction in our garden, and will definitely be making an appearance again in the future. For dinner tonight I made this recipe and substituted the beans for shelled golden peas from our garden, and the chopped pods, and substituted the dill for chopped parsley and just used tinned salmon. Lets just say my kids BOTH ATE ALL OF THEIR DINNER. Magic.

And finally we have this little daisy plant. It was previously located on the other side of the garden and was neglected last year, but since being moved and watered regularly (It is immediately next to the still-yet-to-bloom Poppies) it has been revived and is getting ready to burst into bloom with its pretty pink flowers. Miss C will be glad to be able to pick flowers in our garden again.

One other plant that I forgot is my pink ruffles Lavender which has begun sending out little flowers. I'm looking forward to these ones also, they're so pretty and I do love Lavender!

Alas, this brings us to the end of our spring season musings and it is now time for me to go and hop into my preheated bed and snuggle in with a book. Winter isn't all that bad... sometimes.

Until next time :)

Winter CAN be lovely...

5 minutes ago I wandered outside in the damp darkness with my gumboots and torch on the hunt for slugs. What I found however was far more delightful. Maybe my nose was compensating for the lack of visual substance. Or maybe daphne really does smell as good as I thought I had experienced! Enchanting, to say the least! I moved the pots to my porch from where I will hopefully be able to enjoy the scent much more easily.

Also, some Ajuga plants arrived a few days ago, and will be getting planted into the ground hopefully before the end of the week. I had already planted out our rear access path... space... with some (and threw my back out shortly after from all the landscaping I had to do to prepare the area) to grow into a ground cover and liven up that thoroughfare dead-space but these got pulled up by some chickens we were minding a couple of weeks ago for a relative. It was disappointing, but expected nonetheless. Nevermind! They will be replaced soon, which is very exciting, and hopefully they'll be able to get some growth in ASAP!

Although we are only, technically, half way through winter, I have my daphne's flowering, and my little greenhouse ready to grow some seedlings, and my thoughts are turning to preparation for our summer garden. It is beginning to feel like we are on the home stretch now to warmer weather.

If only my poppies would hurry up and start sending up some flowers!!!

Thumb twiddle workout

Today I am feeling uninspired (garden-wise anyway. The house is getting a thorough cleaning after being neglected a little over the last couple of days.)
Everything is merely existing, there's not much happening to speak of. The tomatoes have a few flowers but that's it, carrots are taking their sweet time to grow, as are the poppies, the snow peas and golden podded peas are lazily producing some pods, and it is as if the alyssum looks up at me and says "I'm tiny, but still cheery". I go outside to check the Kailaan broccoli for caterpillars every few days (I'll be getting some netting for next year), but other than that there's nothing else going on.

Indoors my current project is making the kids some library bags after our train/library excursion on Monday made me realise they don't have any. I found a great backpack style design that I'd like to have a crack at so once my home smells a bit better I'll be whipping them up (toddler permitting).

I am eagerly anticipating some flowers from these poppies, and the sweet scent of our daphne to begin wafting it's way around THEN I'll be excited about my winter garden again :)

"I can eat a rainbowwww, eat a rainbowww, eat a rainbow too"

Lucky we are in the cooler season, as with my huge break from blogging not too much has been missed ;)

We are smack bang in the middle of winter which has so far consisted of about a month straight of rain and a week of glorious sunshine. The days are mildly cool where we bask in the sun and soak up its warmth, and the nights are chilly since we are out of firewood. But that's ok, tis the season for snuggling!

Garden-wise, we have been growing some dwarf snow peas, kailaan broccoli, an out of season tomato experiment, purple dragon carrots, POPPIES (!!!!) and some other annuals, and golden podded peas.

I have also been spending a great deal of time repotting and thinking about the layout of our patch for the coming growing season, trying to make the most of our space. While thumbing through my new Diggers catalogue I came across some new seeds I'd love to try. Namely Painted Mountain corn which are a rainbow of kernels on the same cob. I had been trying to be a good girl and not buy anything new BUUUUUUUUUUUT.... I don't have any corn seeds yet and all the bright colours made me dizzy with excitement :)

Which brings me to some other ponderings I have been entertaining lately. Recently in a conversation about purple carrots I was asked "But can you EAT them???" which has since sparked many minutes thinking about how standardly bland and BORING the hybrid varieties of fruit and veg being sold in our supermarket are. No wonder kids don't like eating their veggies! How bizarre that we have become accustomed to our produce being a certain size, shape and colour, and that anything out side of those specifications is considered to be mutant or abnormal, and something that should be treated with caution or not to be consumed at all. When you open a Diggers catalogue and learn a little about heirloom varieties and how many there are (or were), my first thoughts are that our attitudes are laughable, and secondly I am disappointed at the range available to me and I feel that we are being deprived of something wonderfully amazing and exciting. I find joys in the little things of life. The day I discovered purple and white sweet potato varieties is forever in my memory, and then the looks on my family's faces when I served them up some purple sweet potato mash at dinner put more smiles on my face. So I have always enjoyed bright things, sparkly things, and novel things. Which is lending itself to my gardens personality in all the bright and wacky varieties I am choosing to grow there. Hopefully this coming growing season will consist of a kaleidoscope of colours and fun. I'll be growing my purple dragon carrots, painted mountain corn, tiny mixed mini capsicums, tommy toe, zebra, and rainbow beef steak mix tomatoes, a mix of bright beetroot varieties, sapphire and cranberry red potatoes, lemon cucumbers, and Rosa Bianca eggplant, and of course my spotty variegated basil (if the seeds I kept grow, fingers crossed!).

And, YES! They are all very much edible.

Butterflies in my garden

This post is for my benefit more than anything. It's late summer and the 2 flowering plants that I am noticing around are "Naked Ladies" (which this plant, by the way, I find very weird and unappealing, unless they are popping up amongst the foliage of an agapanthus, since they flower after the agapanthus flowers have died and are removed), and the other is the Butterfly Flower/Bush, or Gaura Lindheimeri, which I am finding myself very attracted to. I have visions of one day having a long driveway headed slightly up hill toward my house or some other part of my property with this plant planted en mass as a border. I love it :)
http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Flowering-Plants-and-Shrubs/Gaura-Siskiyou-Pink/1691

The first day of what will hopefully be a long and happy life of natural food preservation!

Tonight I have begun, for the first time, endeavoring to store what seasonal produce I can access and fit in to my freezer as part of the next step of growing a garden: Preserving your produce.

I have a few kilos of cauliflour, broccoli, some leeks & mushrooms that I picked up cheaply from my local green grocer, and a red capsicum from our garden, and have so far blanched the cauliflour, capsicum and broccoli with the intention of freezing them and using them while cooking over the next few months. I intend to do this regularly with what I can find cheaply and seasonally without compromising quality, and eventually what i can grow myself, and stop buying prepackaged frozen veg!

I have also collected a few handfuls of mint and basil. Apparently these can be frozen, whether it be as is, chopped and mixed in butter, or frozen in ice cube trays. I've rinsed them, allowed them to dry, and placed them in rigid containers and frozen them this way. I also have an abundance of oregano and thyme I want to look into freezing if possible, and next season I will be harvesting my sage also. I would try drying herbs if it weren't for the fact that I don't seem to have anywhere very appropriate for them to hang while drying. I would however like to perfect this art and maybe Jared will let me take over the garage a bit next season for storage ;)

Then I could make my own teas once I've got my chammomile growing too!!!

PHEW!

Things have been chaotic.
Spring > Christmas > Summer > Change of routine > Illness... and a few months of frustrating internet reception, 2 broken lenses, and a boisterous toddler.

Excuses excuses right? There have been things that I have wanted to post about but haven't managed it, so here is my update. Hopefully it will be followed by another sooner rather than later.

Much of what I have so far mentioned has been about my efforts to start a garden. I do intend to expand on this, and incorporate other aspects of the lifestyle I am pursuing. There is so much I want to address, but mental space is such a commodity! So here goes:

Lets start with the garden. Tomatoes, snow peas, Californian poppies, squash, zucchini have all been pulled up. The tomatoes and snowpeas enjoyed a short season after both outgrew their stakes and toppled over. The Californian poppies reached the end of their flowering season, the squash and zucchini succumbed to powdery mildew which I didn't bother combating. Currently I have my 50c pitiful-cum-radiant variegated basil planted in the garden bed, as well as a row of leeks, and the frangipani plant. In pots I have a fabulous capsicum plant with a few capsicums waiting to turn red, an eggplant plant which has been flowering for a week or 2 and now has a little eggplant developing, my lots-a-lemons is still going, our strawberries have recently gone berserk and its now a race to beat the snails to the juicy red sweetness dangling from their stems (ironic).....umm....

Herbs. I've aquired a new mint as my old one succumbed to rust, I've got some aloe vera, the nasturtiums are beginning to look sad, and all the other herbs are doing very well.

NOW FOR THE MOST INTERESTING STUFF...

We are planning to get chickens!!! And we are FINALLY fixing up the "backside" to make it kid-friendly again. To do it as cheaply as possible and to work with the impracticalities of that space without excessive hard yakka we have decided to split the space into 3 sections. In the top section, the flat area, we are going to build up slightly and build a small retaining wall with some pine sleepers, fill it with topsoil and there we are planning to grow grass from seed, selecting a variety that grows well in shade considering it is directly under a liquid ambar tree. This will be the space we intend for the children to be able to play in. Stepping down you would come to a space that will either have grass, fake grass or pavers... whatever works. That space has a lot of crushed rock pieces that are a pain to clear away among the dirt, so we are planning to scatter some grass seed there and see what happens, if it doesn't grow we will seek out a cheap alternative to fill that space. Then at the bottom under the clothes line Jared is fashioning a deck-space out of scrap wood sourced from the tip and anywhere else he can, and as a frame for the whole thing he has reworked and welded the metal skeleton of our trampoline. He is drilling holes into the wood and the metal frame, then using I-forget-the-names to fasten it all together. This will provide a level space for a potting table, pots, the small clam sandpit we have, and a BBQ, where we don't have to worry about killing any grass underneath these things.
It's all experimental, but completely removable if our landlords don't like it when we move out.
Then we have a garden space directly under the liquid ambar tree that is not serving any purpose other than to store all of our things while we are working on the ground. This is a nice sized space and it is here where we will be looking to house some chickens once the grass is strong enough to walk on and we are able to build a home for them. Then after we sort out the chicken area we will be looking to make the garden nicer, filling it with flowering, scented things to mask the occasional drifting sewer waft from next door. Helloooooooo eggs, and a guilt free way to dispose of our food scraps! (Composting isn't working out for me. I'm planning instead to give our scraps to chooks, and eventually a worm farm.)

It was my birthday in January, and my Father in law has committed to helping me build some wood planter boxes to resemble ones that I spotted on a tv commercial a while back (Possibly for an insurance company? I forget), as well as a storage bench seat that was featured on Better Homes and Gardens last year to house my rakes and shovels and things, smaller tools, kids toys etc. In the meantime I am currently thinking about what winter crops I will be planning to plant in the boxes once theyre done, and raising the seeds. Speaking of seeds, my Dad bought me many seeds of different pretty and yummy things for Christmas, I got to pick out the ones I wanted and he bought them for me.

It is time for planting some poppy varieties, which I have started today ;) Oh, how I love poppies!!!

This has been a rushed catch up post, stressful as its been a long time since the last one, but I'm glad it is just about done so I can get back to my regular musing ;)

Next installment... storing things in the freezer

Festival of the Green

In true Mummy fashion, I started this post early this morning but got interrupted by some more pressing needs that woke up and hungrily wandered out of her bedroom before I could finish. And now it is 16 hours later...


Today is Friday. Which to me usually means scrambling around trying to get most of the cleaning done before Jared's weekend begins come Saturday afternoon so he doesn't feel the need to spend his precious weekend minutes helping me out. And that is exactly how today will be spent, but this Friday feels different. It must be the cloudy coolness of this morning, refreshing after the blaze, haze and heat of yesterday. Maybe it's because my children are still in their rooms and all is quiet save for the odd truck driving past on the highway. I think is also is partly because I am choosing not to stress about my pile of dishes as I have a lovely local lady who has committed to coming over soon to wash them for me, helping to kick me out of the dishes rut I so often get in to - if there is a big pile of dishes, I find it difficult to focus on anything and just end up stressing and feeling battered and flustered and although I spend my time "doing things" not much seems to get achieved. The kids haven't exactly helped lately, I think they're both going through difficult stages at the moment which I have found it hard to cope with on my own.

The light at the end of the tunnel for me, however, has been looking forward to this Saturday. Jared has taken the day off work so we can all go together to the Festival of the Green in Springwood.

I'm very excited. To say the least.

The flyer on our fridge tells me there will be a farmers market, garden workshops, craft and garden stalls, great food and music, an animal farm, pony rides and amusement rides.

Not to mention Costa. I'm not as familiar with him as I haven't watched Gardening Australia in years (why, I don't really know. It's exactly the kind of show I would be interested in. OOH! Which reminds me that I have tonight's episode of Better Homes and Gardens waiting for me...) but it seems like he's a bit of a big deal and it's got other people excited so I am more than happy to jump on the bandwagon :)

 

In a moment of sanity...

Haha!

Reading back over last nights blog post I think it's easy to tell which posts are written when I'm depleted, or feeling like I am behind in blogging. Both are valid excuses for the way my last post turned out!

I'm not too sure what I'm going to do next in my garden. Any suggestions?

Maybe I need to re-visit the Diggers website for some inspiration :)

*Yawn*

A few new teeth and a bunch of infections and time passes oh so quickly. Or slowly. It really depends on how much sleep you get in a given period of time, whether or not you have a stock of childrens Nurofen in your medicine cabinet, and if you have access to coffee when it is required (I have to go buy mine as instant coffee with oat milk from home is oh so gross). Either way the garden has not had a huge look-in of late. Which is more than I can say for the pile of dishes which, no matter how hard I try, will NOT GO AWAY! Ugh.

A midst the chaos however, perusing the garden provided the perfect distraction for Mr S when nothing else would calm him down from his misery filled tantrums (the poor little man has had a ridiculously crappy time lately, I can't blame him for needing to vent). So lots of thinking has been achieved, and just a little doing.

We have experienced an array of weather. There was even snow 20min further up the mountain which we of course HAD to go and check out! No gardening was achieved on that day ;)

Our strawberry plants have provided us with a handful of nice big strawbs lately, only some have been lucky to actually turn red before Mr S plucks them off their stalks (he sure loves his strawberries!) I picked up a few extra plants the other day and bundled them together in a pot with a pedestal they look more "in place" now than they did before. I also had another few potted strawberry plants of a different variety which have been reproducing so I separated them and sent a bunch off to their new home in a friends garden, along with some of my seedlings and seeds I have excess of. This has been my latest achievement. I had been trying to figure out how to get the most out of the pots I already own and so the pot that previously housed the strawberries will be used for a new tomato plant which will be coming from another friend. There's lots of sharing and caring done around these parts :)

We've planted a few new seeds, Alyssum and more Californian Poppies. I'd like to focus on raising some poppy seeds and transplanting them into a sloping garden bed near the street that was previously overrun with honeysuckle. I did try to sow seeds straight into the patch but all but 1 seemed to have washed away with the water run off. My older Cali Poppies are now shooting up flower buds, the first one opening a few days ago to reveal a beautiful, buttery, creamy coloured little flower. It personified (flowerfied?) the image I had had in my head of the flower named Acceptance With Joy from the book Hind Feet on High Places. Thats my favourite part of the book, the part that sticks in my mind and plays out in my life the most.

My membership to the Diggers Club arrived a couple of weeks ago. That was an exciting day! Since then, when I've found some time, I've been browsing the catalogues and highlighting the varieties of plants I want to grow. Did you know there is a variety of poppy that looks like a lady bug? Miss C was pretty chuffed to find that, and is keen to order the seeds for it eventually :)

Speaking of lady bugs, I have been noticing their presence in my garden. I have now spotted a lady bug on three different days so hopefully that means they (or that one at least) are here to stay!

And I ordered some soap nuts to use for my laundry. Apparently you're not allowed to grow them here though which is a shame. I would be great to grow my own but they're considered a weed. Oh well...

So this kind of brings us somewhat up to date I guess :) I'll leave you with a photo of our capsicum...

I've got a little dilemma...

Our little punnets of beans, zucchini and pumpkin are growing quite big now, and are very ready to go into the ground.

The problem is I don't have anywhere prepared to plant them, and if I do manage to plant them there is a good chance that we wont be around to harvest them (the joys of renting). I only have about an hour a day to get outside by myself when I am home and I know that it's unlikely I'll be able to get a nice little garden bed prepared in time to plant them before the seedlings choke in their tiny punnets.

I don't want to just toss them, I'd feel like it would be such a waste.

So... should I put in the hard yards to dig out these Agave, dig out the rubbish in that area, feed the soil and get these plants into the ground, or do I pass these seedlings on to someone else who can accommodate them... or do I chuck them into my compost bin?

As sad as it might be, I think the best option is to give them away and only grow plants that I can contain in pots and transport easily for now.

Gee wiz. I feel like I'm saying goodbye to my children!


UPDATE:

Yay! In a fabulous twist of fate my seedlings are going to be off to the Faulconbridge Crop and Swap! How awesome is that! I can't go myself as we have been invited to a wedding, but a fabulous likeminded local individual will be taking them instead.
I love our community :)

Here's the link to the Crop and Swap: http://cropandswap.blogspot.com.au/

Spring showers and a (hopefully only short) break from 30 degree weather

The view from Miss C's bedroom window, looking west.
I am finding the weather today particularly enchanting... it's our first cool, misty spring morning for the season, laced with the scents of the flowering orange tree next door and the rain refreshing the air, bringing it back to its mountains-y Eucalypt-y glory.
I don't mind a day like this on occasion :)

For future reference...

Just thinking about the plants I'd like to grow in the future, and thought I might make a list that I can add to as I come across specific varieties. Get it out of my head, and on to paper, so to speak. This will just be a wish list of our favourites for now, what is most practical might be a different story all together. Once we get established we might seek to be a bit more adventurous and try incorporating some new tastes into our kitchen garden.

Maybe it would be a good idea to start by breaking things up into groups too so I can have a crack at some sort of crop rotation for those that need it... *scurries off to find books of reference*

Root vegetables:
Potato (I want to try growing these in stacked tyres)
Carrot
Leek
Lettuce
Onion
Parsnip
Sweet potato

Legume and fruit vegetables:
Beans
Snow peas
Capsicum
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Pumpkin
Corn
Squash
Watermelon
Tomatoes
Zucchini

Brassicas (not a huge fan of most but oh well!):
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Broccolini
Bok Choy
Kale

Fruiting plants/trees and vines (many to be stored in pots as is practical):
Passionfruit
Grapes seedless
Mulberries
Strawberries (check!)
Fig
Lemon (check!)
Gooseberries
Blueberries
Naval Oranges
Imperial Mandarins
Pink Lady Apples
Almond

Herbs and other edible plants:
Chamomile
Pansy (check!)
Camellia Sinensis (check!)
A rose specifically for tea making and hips
Sage (check!)
Continental parsley (check!)
Coriander (check!)
Mint (check!)
Nasturtium (check!)
Lemon thyme (check, check!)
Thyme (check!)
Echinacea
Lavender (check!)
Chives (check!)
Rosemary (check!)
Oregano (check!)

Other beneficial plants:
Alyssum (check! I hope it hangs in there!)
Marigold (check!)

Flowering favourites:Cherry blossom
Japanese maple
Port wine magnolia
Jasmine
Daphne (check!)
Honey suckle
Diascia
Paper daisies (check!)
Mr Lincoln rose
Violet (check!)
Crepe myrtle
Hydrangea

Bulbs and annuals:
Poppies, of course!
Freesias buried under a lawn

And for inside:
Sprouts on a kitchen windowsill
Theres a particular indoor plant I'd like who's name escapes me at the moment (living by a highway I am always concerned about air quality, and having some indoor plants would help to ease that for me)

Obviously a lot of these will have to wait a long time until we have our own place, but it doesn't hurt to plan it now :)

Spring things

A few things have been happening in our garden, and then at the same time it doesn't feel like much.

First things first, we've hit our first string of 30+ degree days (woo!) and its been glorious  :)

The seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago have slowly been sprouting. Most of the snow peas have popped up and seem to be growing well, as well as the squash seedlings. The beans have been fascinating to watch; first nothing, then the arch of their necks were exposed first, then after several days suddenly their heads popped out of the dirt and they've been growing more rapidly than I would have expected. They're quite entertaining little plant characters! The eggplant have fiiiiiinally sprouted and are still tiny, and we have one teeny weeny purple lettuce seedling. The zuchinni seeds are still sleeping. I bought some yellow zuchinni, butternut pumpkin and leek seedlings from Bunnings earlier in the week which have continued to grow. The capsicum plant has had a flower on it, the marigolds have been flowering though the plants are still small, and the 2 lemon thyme (I splashed out on a second, slightly different one since I appreciate these little beauties so much!) are as lovely as ever.

Snow peas!

Seedling city :) In the 1st and 2nd big tubs are squash, the red pots have eggplant, the 3 punnets to the left of the pots are my Bunnings bought seedlings, and the rest are my others 

Beans looking happy. Only half of them have sprouted but I'm chuffed nonetheless

Our tomatoes are continuing to grow and we now have some that are turning red... very exciting!!! Miss C will love picking these soon! My Californian poppies are still growing bigger and bigger too.

On the other side of things, not much else seems to be happening. So many plants seem to be stalling, the nasturtium and rosemary in particular although I have heard that rosemary likes to take its sweet time. The lettuce are taking forever to grow to a harvestable size also. *sigh* I don't know if I just need to be more patient or if there's anything I should be giving them to aid their growth. It is so hard to keep track of things like soil preferences, water requirements and suitable foods for each individual plant. Next year I will definitely do more to prepare the garden beds. I didn't bother with any manure or compost or anything, just aiming to work with the plant food I already had on hand.

Also, we have had a small presence of aphids in our garden, as well as spotted cucumber beetles. The beetles are apparently an exotic species and hard to control which is a huge pain. I discovered them yesterday on the alyssum I bought last week after noticing that the plants weren't looking too happy. I did a bit of research to find out what they were, and when I went out an hour later to do my best at hand picking them off they were all gone! The aphids sucked dry a viola plant that I tossed over the weekend, as well as attacking my old thyme plant that I wanted to replace anyway. I haven't seen them anywhere else yet which is lucky as I still haven't found a insecticide concoction I want to use.

Alyssum

A few happier things have been happening though. I'm a fan of Better Homes and Gardens, and a while back they mentioned a dwarf variety of lemon tree called Lot's A' Lemons that could be grown in a pot. My mother makes a fab lemon butter but always has to scab lemons from other people as for some reason hadn't been able to grow a lemon tree of her own. I wanted to buy her this particular lemon variety for Christmas or some other occasion but was unable to find it and had to settle on a different one (which is now flowering happily in her front yard). I have been searching locally for pretty little Diasca plants and stopped in at the nursery at Winmalee on my way back from the shops on Wednesday to have a peek there. I was unlucky with the Diasca but I did stumble across a Lot's A' Lemons :) Enchanted by its scent and the bees humming around it... and the price tag, I decided to risk getting in trouble from Jared and snapped it up while I had the opportunity! No regrets, the smell of the flowers is incredible!

Lot's A' Lemons

Mr Buzzy Bee working hard

I have also recently purchased a Camellia Sinensis, which is the variety of plant that black, white and green tea come from, so I can make my own tea!

Camellia Sinensis

And I joined the Diggers Club :) I'll be looking forward to collecting some heirloom varieties next time I'm after seeds, and I'd also like to look into getting some chamomile and echinacea and other tea/medicinal plants eventually. I might give the credit card a break for a little while first though.
http://www.diggers.com.au/

Over the weekend we got outside and did a small amount of clearing the wasteland. Jared dismantled the trampoline (to be turned into a go-cart or something in the future), mowed the lawn, and we cleared away some rubbish and piles of pruned branches and things that have been sitting around for a while. I also discovered that Jareds parents have a whole lot of off cuts of pine sleepers, chicken wire, pavers and other things I've been thinking about acquiring for the garden so Colin (Jareds dad) brought around a bunch of those things for me, which are currently dumped in the back side to be used in the near future (I hope!) I love recycling! Still haven't tackled the agave yet.

The BEST news by far this week is that Jared will have more time to spend with us next year. He is a diesel mechanic apprentice and has been working 60+ hours over 6 days each week for the last almost 2 years. It has been very hard, and he's finding that he is on the path to burning out, so he has organised to work part time next year, continue his theology course that has since been pushed to one side, and will hopefully finish both around the same time in 2 years. Jared hasn't had much of a life with the hours he's been working so it will be great to have more moments we can share with him where he's not tired or working and it will generally make him happier, which is always a good thing. I am looking forward to being able to work alongside Jared in the garden and have it be "ours" and not just "mine". I miss having a deeper relationship with him. I miss sharing passions with him, and gardening and creating beautiful spaces is one of them.

Finally, I found this yesterday. It looks pretty darn cool :) Check it out!
http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/

Much Agave about nothing

Jared and I took a stroll around the wasteland yesterday to discuss how we could utilise that space. Currently it contains a pile of grass clippings, the remnants of our firewood from winter, a wattle and a gum tree, and several spiky, lethal plants. While perusing one of my current favourite gardening blogs shortly after I discovered that these spiky things are called Agave, and they are natives to parts of North America, and they're apparently quite a statement plant to have in your garden. Whatever. Since I almost fell into one of the bigger ones once and ended up with a massive bruise surrounding the puncture in my thigh I'm pretty sure they're not on my list of plants I'd like to have in my dream garden. In our mission to prepare the space for productivity we will be seeking to remove all of those plants. We will be chopping up the bigger spiky offenders before we dig them out, but as for the smaller ones we will be looking into passing them on to anyone who wants them. There are a few larger ones and at least a dozen, if not more, 'pups' up for grabs. We are hoping to get outside over the long weekend to do it, although we have a wedding, a birthday party, an appointment and Jareds birthday happening over the weekend also, so hopefully the weather will turn it on for us so we can get out there and maximise the amount of time we do have! Drop me a line if you want to claim them :)

A little lesson about germination today

With my wander and water this morning came the joys of discovering that some of our snow peas have sprouted. New sprouts are always an exciting event for Miss C :) In order to distract Mr S from crawling around in the puddles and sitting on our plants (many a plant has been nursed back to health so far), I usually hand him a little pot and some kids gardening tools to keep him occupied while I water the garden. Today we discovered that the pot I was about to give him also had some little snow pea seedlings which had been unearthed (C must have planted them while I wasn't looking!) So Miss C and I examined and discussed how our little green pea seeds had begun to grow into little plants.

It really is fascinating and pretty mind boggling how within a seed, many much much smaller than snow pea seeds, is the potential to grow and gift us all the wonderful sights and tastes and smells that we so often take for granted.

Upon venturing back inside I was considering how amazing it also is that if we cared enough to, we could live virtually waste and expense free, or at least dramatically cut down the cost of living and the amount of rubbish we send to the tip each week. For example, a seed will grow into  a plant that will produce fruit for us to eat. All that seed needs is water and sun and the right type of soil, which is all readily available, and water is can be collected. The fruit from that plant will nourish our bodies, and any waste from that plant can be composted and fed to the soil and will nourish future seeds in that plot. Or, if you kept chickens they would eat those scraps, provide you with eggs to eat (you can compost the shells, or break them up and use them to keep snails away from your plants, apparently) and their poo could be used as a manure to feed the soil to grow your plants. Or if you had a worm farm you could feed them the scraps and use their wee as a fertiliser to feed your plants and their casings to feed the soil. There's plenty of different scenarios that are equally as good as the next and can be adapted to most situations and living circumstances.
And for those who are unable to compost or use their organic scraps as feed, many councils have the option of a green bin and collection service. And then I get all irritated because THE BLUE MOUNTAINS DON'T HAVE THAT OPTION!

HELLOOOOOOO! We live within a world famous, heritage listed national park, surrounded by green and nature and stuff, and we are supposedly proud of that! It's a horn that regularly gets tooted by the council. The logic for not providing SOMETHING along those lines, even on an optional basis, is lost on me.

Shake it off...