Garden Visit

G’day! Midweek already!
I had a lovely day. Remember my friend Maureen who took my lettuce and sold it for me at her market stall? Well I finally got my act together and popped around to visit her, meet her husband Gerry and check out their fantastic garden.

I’d never been to Maureens home before, but I didn’t have to even look at the number to know it was the right one – no lawn, all plants & pots etc!

A welcoming entrance made by Gerry.

Their backyard is amazing! No lawn again, but so wonderfully organised into areas totally focused on growing food! This is just a regular town plot, but I was so impressed with how productive it was!

There were four of these magnificent trellises – and I admit going a little green (envy not thumb) I am pretty sure I need these in my life! (Jeff darling are you reading my blog today? Just giving out some hints)

Each trellis has about a foot of garden on the end so plants types can be swapped to each side, each season in the interests of crop rotation

Loving the chickens on guard!

Something I learned today (actually I should have taken a notebook as there were lots of amazing things I learned today) – see the end of the bean shoot has been pruned off?
We have had a very distressing lack of bees this season. Once a branch had produced enough beans, Gerry clipped the remaining flowers off and threw them in the compost. His reasoning is that there were plenty of beans and the few working bees didn’t need to be unnecessarily pollinating those flowers when they could be doing good else where.

Speaking of compost… Maureen and Gerry have theirs tucked away behind the garage.

Interestingly they do not dig or aerate it! They just keep throwing new composting materials on top. Gerry told me that when he wants to use his compost, he forks out the top layer into that small section on the right, then gets into the good stuff below! The front tin lifts up like a roller door (without rolling) and what I could see of the bottom layer of compost was divine!

The raspberry patch was literally bursting out of its netting. There are plans to move one row (the one we can see here) a foot or two away from the other so there is more space to work between the rows when picking.

They don’t bother thinning the carrots – they just grab a big handful to pull up at once – wash and cook!
All the gardens are mulched with pea straw.

Sparrows and other birds have been a real nuisance  picking off seedlings so Gerry has made up a series of bird proof cages to use on their plants at different stages of their development.

These were also effective against the cabbage moth but not another bug, so I was happy to share my information about the vegie netting I use. They are keen to find some and make use of it!

And a really simple way to store them – a nail on the back fence! (No really Jeff – are you taking notes?? I like these!)

Maureen and Gerry went overseas last year and this was a fantastic solution to watering a large potted kumquat while they were away! A simple water slide was created to catch any rain water and direct it into the pot.

Oh – and I also have ‘Outdoor Tomato Envy’

Gerry telling me this spare spot had broccoli and beans. (eaten) Also the potatoes on the right are a recent planting! I am now wondering if I am too late to put in a few more plants! (Probably)

This garden holds so much! Zucchini, beans, peas, rhubarb, eggplant, herbs, pumpkin, leek, garlic (done) lettuce and probably a ton more I have forgotten to list!

We went inside to enjoy a morning tea/lunch and a chat. The biscuits (crackers) were made by Maureen and of course home grown tomatoes & cucumber!
Maureen is an AMAZING cook! She has been selling baked goods, jams, sauces etc at the markets for years. Sausage rolls were her specialty. (She has decided to slow up on that recently!!)

Today she had two types of zucchini loaves to sample – one with ginger and apricot and the other with dried fruits. They were sooooo goooood!
I brought along my banana/raspberry loaf to add to the fun and they really enjoyed that too (whew!! Hard to take baked goods to the expert! haha)

Maureen is one of those special people that make you feel like you have been friends for years after only meeting for 10 minutes! She has an infectious laugh and is full of energy!

She is always potting up and nurturing plants for the market… She sells them at super prices as she reasons that the more people getting into gardening, the better the world will be! (I happen to agree) 🙂

All sorts of fun things lurk about her garden

It would have been fabulous in spring!

I am quite inspired to get back into my garden now and put a bigger effort in!! I really enjoyed seeing what they had been doing and they were both so generous with their time and information sharing!
I hope you have enjoyed it too!

Cheers!