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...

"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.

*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...

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/