Month: October 2017

Glorious spring day! No excuses to not get out and get some solid work done!
I started with the laundry! We had a lovely breeze too, so getting sheets and towels done was a doddle!

I started by putting my stall out the front to see if I could sell any of the excess seedlings I had. Whoo-hoo! I made 13 bucks!!

Anyway, the real job today was redoing the wood pile area so it was more practical for me when stacking. Up until now I have had to think more about how to balance it safely. Plus the old weather canvas was looking pretty woebegone

First thing was to move all accumulated ‘stuff’ out of the way and get the canvas down (I won’t go into detail about the raining spiders bit)

The plan was to use up those pallets we got for free and create a walled in area. That way I can stack the wood higher without thinking I might get squashed at some point!

Of course the resident snoopervisor was on hand to… well I don’t know what he was trying to do except get in the way!

Hot Chocolate Break…

We mixed it up with a bit of aluminium siding as well (Yes, we are still the ‘Dodgy Brothers’ of building stuff)

An old tent provided the new weather proofing canvas over the whole thing

I mostly finished the job by clearing up all the pots/bags etc and putting the pallet floor back

After looking at the above photo I am thinking I may be able to hang some of my gardening tools off this pallet wall!!
We would still like to extend a single pallet wall further along as we fully intend to overstock on wood over summer. But for now, we are pretty pleased.

I am really looking forward to getting in here tomorrow and stacking it all up. We have another couple of loads of wood sitting in the front yard, so I should be able to get it all away in here.
It does look a little higgledy-pigglety but I am fairly confident it will do the job.

Quite tired now  – I’d show you the pizzas I made us for dinner, but too late – we ate them!

Hope everybodys day was fantastic!

Cheers!

 

Hello! Monday went pretty well! A few more things sorted for our upcoming trip, did some egg deliveries & shopping and was left with plenty of time to get out into the garden.
I decided to ‘install’ my deep watering system this season as I never got around to it last year.

Material costs are pretty much zilch.

Basically I went and buried a lot of plastic containers next to the spot I intended to plant my zucchinis. Once the zucchinis grow up and out these will be nicely hidden.

A double handful of mushroom compost, followed by the zucchini itself

I had good success with my zucchinis last time I tried this method. Obviously you get less evaporation and the roots can get to the water quickly.

Not having hardened the plants off after their cushy start in the hothouse, I have erred on the side of caution by covering them over. If the day is reasonable weather wise, I’ll let them out tomorrow!

Potatoes doing pretty well!! I cannot wait for new potatoes again!

I noticed some tiny beetroot seedlings making their way into the big wide world!

And that parsley I moved yesterday? I don’t think it noticed!!

I saw my lovely hothouse tomatoes starting to fall over. Time to thwack a stake in the ground and tie them back.

Later on I will probably use one or two long ties from the roof and just wind it around the plant – which is easy to unwind and tighten as it grows.

And then it was time to enjoy a walk around the yard and take a closer look at what is blooming! The cherry blossom has just started! We have friends coming at the weekend and I am hoping the cherry blossom is at its best when they arrive – just to show off a little!

The Guelder Rose is about to burst out into glorious snowballs of flowers! We didn’t prune it last season so its going to be a bit mad.

I enjoy the way the Geum start off one colour and transform as they open

I was also a bit excited to see a few iris spikes!! I thought we were going to leave the country and miss them altogether! Now I think there is a chance!

November is a very pretty time in our garden. I don’t know what possessed me to plan to leave at that time! (haha – something about Autumn Leaf Colours in Japan most likely!!)

Hope your week has started beautifully!

Cheers

Two days in a row! Loving it! Even had Pip out to enjoy the blue skies!
It was so good to really get my teeth into some work today (mind you, I am feeling it a bit tonight!!)

I scraped off the newspaper and mulch from one half of the raised bed and was really pleased that I had almost no weeds at all to contend with! It was just a matter of giving it a dig over and admiring the worms.

I planned on putting our carrots in here

I don’t do much special. Just sprinkle them along.
Later when they are about little finger size, I start pulling them to eat, leaving a few well spaced for later so they grow bigger.

Pleased to fit five rows in this little space!

Job one done.

I then went into the main patch and finished turning over the green manure. I think I was meant to leave it a few weeks to start breaking down etc. Nope. Running out of time, so the corn seeds went in today and they just have to do their best!

I have about 130 seeds in. Enough do you think??
I also went and put in a row of marigolds at the end as the seedlings were a good size

I needed to use the barrow full of mulch from the carrot patch, so I quickly started weeding a bit of the garlic patch and mulched it. Still a lot to go to get it finished.

Then onto that middle patch – That took a fair bit of work. The soil is still gluggy, but a good portion is now cleaned up, weeded and turned over.
I plan to put my zucchinis in here

That makes the whole area look so much better, even though I know there is still a lot to be done!

Rhubarb, Parsley & celery. I actually just transplanted the parsley… will see soon enough if it was happy about that or not!

Here’s hoping for a few more days in the sun!

Hope your weekends were fabulous!

Cheers!

Hello! I feel pleasantly tired after a day in the sunshine! Soaking up all that vitamin D for sure!
I finally got out to see friends today (Sharon, Paul & their daughter Lottie) and check out their property! We have always ‘planned’ but never quite made the date!

I love seeing someone elses garden and getting a tour along with hearing what the plans are. I find it so inspirational!

Sharon has had the same issue as me so far this season – not many good days to get out and really into the garden. So we both are a little behind getting things weeded and sorted

They have a lovely big space that has a lot of vegetables & fruit already on the go. Raspberry canes popping up all over and a fabulous amount of strawberries.

A little poly tunnel shelters some very happy looking tomatoes & lettuce

Beautiful broccoli flowers that are humming with bees

celery tucked up in tubes!

I am very much loving this lattice made from local dogwood!

I went visiting in my garden clothes (as one does) so we had quite an enjoyable time weeding and chatting in the beautiful weather.

Chickens and new chicks are running all over the place

Rescue dog, Elvis is adorable – sweet friendly fellow!

Sharon & Pauls daughter Lottie, living the charmed life of a country girl – lots of furry and feathery friends, fresh food to pick and eat and running about barefoot in the garden!

Sharon helped me fill a few bags of pine needles from the pine forest opposite their home

Back at home I was able to tick ‘mulching the strawberries & blueberries with pine needles’ off my list

I even spotted some blueberry flowers!

With the remaining daylight I made a good start on digging in my green manure.

I had noticed some birds fly out of the garden when I went in… and wasn’t pleased to see a number of my lettuce being munched!

I had a few stakes/polypipe sets ready to go so I just popped them in the soil and threw a net over. That should sort them out!

I took Sharon up a bunch of seedlings and I was lucky enough to bring back a bucket of young raspberry canes to add to my patch!
We have always been pretty good at mostly bartering a lot of our produce between ourselves.

And as a final treat to the day – stopping by the gorgeous tulip fields on the way home – a bit of delightful colour streaking across the land!

Cheers!

Look! Our apple blossoms are about to come out!

Welcome to Friday!
I went into town with Jeff today (all the way to Burnie – haha – 25 minutes down the highway) with the express purpose of picking up another pair of jeans for our upcoming trip.

Sigh. I should know better. Most of you are probably aware of my deep seated dislike of shopping for clothes. Today did not help at all. The first shop (Target)(Where I got the last pair in the Launceston shop a few weeks back) just didn’t have my size at all unless I wanted ‘skinny leg’ and nopety nope. I am 46 not 16. And I am aware I am not built for ‘skinny leg’
I tried jeans on at two other places before becoming thoroughly disillusioned and over it.
Jeff pretty much forced me to try on tops at one of them (I think I pouted a bit and just tried them on over the top of my t-shirt in the shop rather than going into the changing room again for the rigamarole of getting undressed/redressed.) He is beautifully patient. I am sure he wanted to see me wearing something new and nice in Japan and not my gardening clothes or the t-shirts I have had since before we met.
The tops that I got were at clearance prices, so I was lucky there – picked up some extra as it saves me going back for a couple of years haha.
I might even take a photo of my new pretties tomorrow for you…. maybe.

So – I even went into an op-shop (thrift) but the jeans in my size I could see the wear in the pants already, so I didn’t even bother trying them on.

On the upside, I managed to pick up some carrot seeds to plant.

Once we were home, I wandered about the garden with pen and paper to note down the specific things that need my attention before we leave the country. The weather is still not playing the game at all! Its a long list.

The strawberry patches are doing well… one more so than the other!
I plan on picking up some pine needle mulch tomorrow, then I have to get out the nets and get them covered.

I also need to make a trip to the beach to stock up on seaweed to mulch the garlic. Its also a bit desperate for a good weeding

Time to dig this in and plant the corn!

I need to walk about with my secateurs to snip off the fruit tree suckers

The makeshift chook defender at the top of the garden gate needs rethinking. It does the job but its fiddly and doesn’t look very stylish at all!! (Basically I am just hooking the chicken wire at the top of the gate anywhichway I can)

I need to get my tables back to put my stall out and sell the seedlings that are ready for new homes! These runner beans for instance!!

Also spotted some cherry blossoms! I wonder if we will get a bit of fruit finally this season??
Anyway… my list is longer than the few things I have mentioned above, but at least its all on paper and I have something to work towards!

Hope your upcoming weekends are full of fun!

Cheers

It’s been bucketing down all afternoon/evening! I squeezed a small amount of outside time to check out the garden, say hi to the chooks and water the pots in the hothouse.

I think about 80% of the potatoes have poked their heads above ground!

In my lettuce patch outside, the first of the self seeded tomatoes have started showing up! (And broccoli!)

This asparagus has been struggling more than its siblings, but clearly not dead as yet!

In the hothouse I have several plants that look ready to be planted out. I just have to make decisions where – and in some cases wait for the weather to behave so I can weed/prepare the area!

I had given up on the butternut pumpkin… even dug around in the pots looking for the seeds that seemed to be lost/gone! Suddenly – there they are!! Surprisingly slow, but looking good now.

One of the capsicum plants in the soil looks to have forgotten to grow… especially compared to one of the others I put into a pot – surprising difference!

And how is this for exciting? My first tomato flowers already!!

The other ones I started from seed are getting along slowly but surely

And one that was growing randomly that I potted up:

Won’t be long before the silverbeet (chard) will need an outside home.

I think this hothouse lettuce doubled in size overnight!!

To finish – a few colourful pretties before bed!

Cherry blossoms almost there!

I hope those who needed rain got some! I feel bad wanting ours to stop. But really… I want it to stop! Just for a little while!

Have a great day!
Cheers!

Hello! Here starts another week! I spent a lot of today in the hothouse – the weather was rain/sun/rain/sun/rain with continual wind. Seemed sensible to be under cover.

These are my early seed failures!! I think I over loved them with the blood and bone. Plus it was still too early in the season and cold… I think.
Pretty much everything else in the mushroom compost mix has gone fantastically (barring slug/snail mishaps)

Anyway, so replanting the onions, leek, chives, thyme, sunflowers, chilli more tomatoes, more basil and some watermelon.

I have never tried growing watermelon before… time will tell if our season will be long enough and hot enough.

Was too lazy to walk back up to the house to find chilli seeds so just picked one.

I felt like potting up some more oregano.

The patch is thriving!

I love the way they conveniently pull up with roots attached!

The rocket is way over due for a new home. I have never had it or done anything with it… hope I got it right today!

Pulled the plants apart as gently as I could – they are pretty packed in there!

Done! And they all look pretty dead now!! haha

I potted the ones I didn’t want in the garden. They also look pretty dead!

Lets hope they bounce back like the lettuce!

The outside lettuce is looking good too!

The rhubarb that I wanted to move looks excellent! I think I might just leave it alone and put the carrots elsewhere!

Lots of cherry plums!

I also dashed over to Ruby’s after I was done here, planted 6 zucchini plants (lol – you think enough??) then came back home, collected Jeff and did a hike over Anniversary Bay!
I am ready for bed now!

Cheers!