October 2023 Garden Roundup

After such a dry winter, with the tanks at the Community Garden running out of water, the weather was still making it possible to enjoy a lovely Spring, today  like yesterday, it is pouring rain, and looks like it will be raining most of the week. The Community Garden of course are very pleased as all their tanks and containers would be full by now.  The 2nd. 10,000 litre load of water to be delivered at $250 mark was cancelled, a great relief on John's part as the first one only lasted a month. 

 

The council though ,finally installed the water connection, last Friday, so that the Garden can now have a water main and several taps around the acre to water from, once the plumber is hired. John once more has been elected President and Treasurer at last months AGM 5th year in a row. I was hoping he would  not take it on, and be home more, but as usual he is out nearly every day, reminds me of the old days when he was teaching full time. I am definitely missing the company of Einstein and Cricket these days.

I planted two Hollyhocks from my best friends seeds in Melbourne and both have put on quite a show, the flowers are just starting to drop off now, but have been very impressive. Certainly I will save these seeds. This plant is on the boundary line for all to see.

 I braved today's rain to take some pictures of the garden now. Quite a few plants are ready to pull out, the Pink Lady sweetpeas are gone, and the broccoli, celery, coriander, some alysum, and snapdragons are also ready for the compost bin.

The area I see from the verandah.

 The recent plantings are some lettuce and some french beans. I am usually the only one eating from the garden now, John likes his frozen microwave meals he can eat in front of the computer. Consequently there is usually way too much for me so I have had to freeze some.

Mizuna going to seed and a struggling Kale under the cover, White Cabbage Moth have been a problem. The lettuce is loving this rain though.

Yet another lot of french beans the 3rd try this time in a different bed.

I did plant some more beans yesterday,  the 3rd lot of seedlings, as to date they have been eaten by slugs or pulled out by birds, or so far this morning they are still intact, as I did change garden beds this time.

This end is cucumber, carrots Parsley and Basil

Two Zucchinni ,wild tomatoes and  beetroot in the middle of this bed.

The Blueberry and Rhubarb buried by Coriander and Paper Daisies plus Alyssum.

 One thing that has been amazing is the cherry tomatoes. I have picked so many and thrown out lots as I just can't keep up. I have also sent them to the Community Gardens where they sell well. Seedlings of course have been through out the garden like weeds.

Yellow Cherry

Yellow Cherry Toms are my favorite and this hangs on both sides of the fence, and more rhubarb in this bed. They grew wild but handy to have the fence to throw the long stems over.

Red cherries again both sides and overtaking a passionfruit underneath.

I moved a plant stand to the front of the verandah as it gets the morning sun and now some of  the rain and mist. It is a great spot for my cuttings and seedling trays.

Finally some nature pictures

Where I park my car this bush is on the dividing line so watch this lorikeet eating the flowers, from the car.

A baby water dragon finding its way to the verandah.

 And Finally, 

Kookaburra just resting on the fence for ages.

 

 Till Next Time.

Spring has arrived

Another month has gone and I think time is speeding up too fast. I have been busy in the garden of course, and it is looking lovely at the moment, I have managed to do some weeding and mulching. The flowers are all out, vegetables growing and well Spring is definitely here.

Side garden

Current Lettuce/Parsley, Celery bed I pick daily for lunch.

Sweet peas have been producing so much that I have been sending them to the Community garden in bunches of 20 and they have all been selling. This weekend is a big Plant Sale they hold twice a year and have sent in 6 bunches this time plus 2 of Rhubarb, 2 lots of single Kale, 4 x 6 Cherry Tomato punnets, and 4 of single Basil. Happy to say they all sold yesterday, so picked another couple of bunches of one sweet peas and they other yellow coreopsis for today.

Change of colour for sweet peas

An interesting effect has happened to 3 branches of sweet peas that now have a mottled pattern, so I have tied a ribbon to the branches so that when the seeds are formed I can grow that colour. 

I picked up a couple of plants from Bunnings this week and yet to plant them. They will go down the back. John has finished the beds and are full of good soil mixture. 

Liked the brightness of these daisies and carnations remind me of my wedding bouquet.

Kalanchoe lots of new varieties I hadn't seen when I was there last week. 

The Community garden has also finally transferred the container from our son's house and is now waiting for a crane to lift it into its proper space. This will be part office and part storage. 

A roof will be joining that tanks and the container, which allows for a seat area between the tanks. 

Tank got this far

Arial view of where it will go.

There has been quite a few new members this year, and all seem to want a garden bed to hire so John has been building  beds in a new area for this. There has been a lot of public events, and this has come to the notice of everyone. The garden is always looking neat and tidy and a credit to the workers there. 

 On the other hand we are waiting for a landscape gardener to come, he is so busy we had to make a booking, to give us a quote for the artificial grass out back plus maybe the gazebo roof, and pool renovation, fingers crossed for that. John has more or less finished.

There is now three smaller beds at sitting height filled with cow manure/mushroom compost., currently covered to keep the bush turkeys from scraping it all up. A couple piles of dirt have been left in case it is used for the base. Whether the paving will go I am not sure yet.

I will probably plant bush beans and maybe a cucumber vine and brightly coloured flowers so I can see easily from the verandah. There are still 3 long flower pots behind the RHS middle bed. The Pottery flower pots I will arrange somewhere together I think, and  also paint the fence again, most likely the grey. Maybe also a couple of hanging baskets off them as well. 

 

 One last look at the front garden.

 

New roses I have picked for this week.

 

Till Next Time .

Down in the Dirt.

It is amazing after a week away how much a garden can change. I do not know how it happens but suddenly weeds had taken over, despite doing a major clean-up before we left. 

I can only surmise that Summer has actually begun in this area, promoting a plethora of growth. Normally it wouldn't phase me, but age is catching up, and the soil has been rock hard, which again baffles me after all the rain and overcast days we have had.

Since returning I have spent every morning, weeding a bed or two, and out there by 7.30 at the latest, for about 2 hrs., as after 9.30am the UV starts to creep up too high. Last thing I need is another skin cancer.

Green garlic as it didnt form and leeks. To be chopped and frozen for use.

Despite the work I am grateful for the garden and the bounty of vegetables and flowers it does produce, and with a bonus of no chemicals, season after season, as long as I do my part. 

 

I am now thinking though, that I may have to pull down the front ones, as John doesn't seem to want anything I grow, sticking to instant meals, so there is no need to produce so much. The soil is excellent in these front beds and I will exchange the back soil with it, and use them. I would prefer these wooden ones, much easier to use, but the back cannot be undone, as the front can. This means another revamp, but in no hurry, as finishing the painting in the house first.

Yellow tomatoes helps with no fruitfly.

The flowers have been lovely also, blooming in every garden., which means I can pick a vase full, every week, just little vases, dotted around the house.

 

The poppies have been really good this year, lots of colours.

Fortunately the native bee hive had to be split and John bought it home as it needs to be watched for 6 months, but as it happens the Government has done a big spraying at Nana Glen to get rid of the deadly Varroa Parasite, which sadly also means destroying the hives themselves. 

The spraying covers 25 km, so the other beehive came home as well, as the Community Gardens are in that zone. It has been installed in the neighbours garden, to avoid it being destroyed, as apparently the spray can kill native bees as well. They are both safe now and both have adapted to the new environments.

This morning I attacked the hedges. I have been putting it off for some time, in fact the neighbour has cuts his 4 times already, a bit excessive in my mind. Never the less I finally did it, but such a ligament jarring exercise, leaves me exhausted and aching.

Maybe this afternoon if cool enough I will clean up the mess, the path now also needs weeding again. The hydrangeas are looking lovely at the moment, and opposite the hedge.

I do love the blue colour, caused from the acidic soil, which means blueberries or azaleas could grow here as well.

Till Next Time.

Breaks Over - Spring Flowers and Veg Roundup.

How quick the time has gone after my 2nd. break,  and I have been really busy in my time off. First up  Blogger finally closed down its email service and I have researched a new site for those who wanted reminders via email. I have transferred the email file direct from Blogger to MailChimp and fingers crossed that it is all back on track. Thank you Miss J for pointing that out.

It is such a shame though that Victoria is now going through massive flooding, and I know in this area home owners are still trying to get their lives back together after NSW floods earlier.  

Two weeks to go before we are off to Lord Howe Island, and the weather has been going my way for once with the vegetable garden and the flowers have been blooming.

Potato bed, has been very productive, Planted lettuce in the end where I started to dig them up.

 Yesterday I picked potatoes, beans, beetroot, radish, celery, carrots, leeks and cherry tomatoes, and a few strawberries. I have also new seedlings coming up of lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchini.

Red Pontiac and White Dutch Cream

Due to the  fact our blue tongue lizard loves strawberries I have had to cover the blueberry/strawberry bed with net. I have decided to give up growing strawberries, will leave these here to do their thing but all the rest I am digging up. Easier to just buy a frozen pack for $4.

The celery has been appearing all over the place, I have no idea why, must have gone to seed last year. It is a great salad ingredient freshly picked. It will out produce what we eat though, and I am looking into freezing some for soups next winter. Not a lot just for the first cold spell, as it likes cool weather growing and hopefully do just as well in 2023. I really should be juicing it.

The last of the cabbages was also picked this morning and going to make a chicken and cabbage dish for tonight, with some beans and leeks. They do really well in this area, but using up 6 cabbages was an effort, I gave two to my DIL.

Newly weeded bean garden, to try and get things in order before we go, and will be planting more beans now that the weather is warming up. I have lost a few rotting with our rain.

New seedlings of lettuce, rocket, basil and marigolds for colour.

Out the back the lemons are just about all off the tree, the wind we have been having, knocked a lot off. Unfortunately they have also rotted a bit quick for me,  but I have been making iceblocks for putting in bottles of water, and freezing some for cordial there is still a lot frozen, left over from last year's crop. I wish I could freeze lemon butter, that would help, but it separates.

The 3rd. carrot bed is looking good, and I had better start pulling the first one up and freeze them. Obviously they are doing well with all the rain we have had, although can't complain about it this week.

Front is bed  is no 3 carrots, back is the first one. The second one is out in  front garden.

Tlhe sweet peas have been wonderful, lots of bunches sent off to the Community Garden. I have thinned it in order to get some seeds for next year.

 There is a 2nd lot that self seeded in one of the beds I will keep for a few weeks. Only two plants would you believe.

 

 Here is a quick round up of all the flowers in bloom now.

 

Decluttering has been going well and 11 boxes went off to three op shops. It is getting really hard to donate stuff, and I just joined a free giveway Facebook page to see if that might work.

  Thank you all for hanging in there with me, hope everyone is well.

Till Next Time.