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. 

Community Garden Inaugural Spring Plant Sale.

 This weekend has been on our calendar for 6 months now, as the first of a major plant sale to be held twice a year. One member has been doing her utmost to collect many cuttings, from the garden and members, and potting them all up. The succulents which are always popular have multiplied automatically, and I personally went and took cuttings of geraniums, plus added different plants of mine, and finally now was our big weekend.

Friday night it started to rain and didn't stop till last night. We haven't seen much rain for the past 3 months, so we were a bit disappointed it had to be THIS weekend.

Some of the plants I sent in

Nevertheless two hourly rosters were made up last week, and a call for slices to be sent in, something I thought would sell, as people walked into the garden. I made three, Lemon cake slice, Apricot Jam slice and little loaves of Banana Bread.

Surprisingly people did come and visit despite all the rain. Initially the plants were all going to be placed out the front of the garden near the entrance, in the end they decided to set it up around the archway half way down the block. This meant everyone had to walk past the pavilion and gardens to see them. This also meant that they could set it all up on Thursday and hoped no-one would trash it overnight. 

Plants were spread out either side and down to the Bush House

 

Bush House will be open for customers to pick succulents.

Just to give you an idea of the rain yesterday this is a view of the water out the front of the garden. Luckily with all the new paths, it was wet but walkable. The back half has been a problem all along and much drainage and soil build up is needed.

Area between the front fence and community hall, where initially the sale was to be.

Rain on the new garden pathway.

Water in front of the Bush House

The food with some lemons and 4 large bunches of  Sweet peas I also sent in, were set up in the Pavilion. Very cold day so the "staff" were freezing in the cold wind. 

I was pleased to see other ladies sent in slices and cake.

Today some books were bought out to replace the sold stuff.

What was left of the goods for sale, so a fair bit was sold in this department, and I noticed one bunch left in the sweet peas.

I know Saturday, they sold $200 worth and today so far $70, so I would say it is a success for the very first one, and can only improve.

 Two new families want to join and another signed up yesterday. We are finding a theme of " if I join and help do I get vegetables?" is a question most asked. It seems some want to earn their so called hourly work, paid in vegetables. 

Times are obviously hard but also I think the expectation of a community garden is lost to a few. Members do get excess vegetables if they don't sell, but then the members want soil  and mulch, fertilizers etc so the money has to come from somewhere. Hiring your own bed is the only guaranteed way of obtaining fresh veges. The organization of the Community garden part though is a bit haphazard. I am thinking also of "who" actually gets the excess vegetables, and the committee may have to put in some system for that as well, so that those who come in on Tuesday only, get a chance at Sunday's left overs from the Market stall which might have  had a large pick of snow peas/cabbage/carrots, for instance.

New beds will be built, with  more money needed for wood, and of course the hay bale garden is still to happen, which was to help a Soup Kitchen type charity, but John may have to re think that idea, to allow more food to be shared. First up is getting it going, as all the bales are there, and it  being successful. My one bed  tested here, I have picked beans, coriander and a cucumber is just about ready.

Nearly time to pull it all out. The weather is getting hotter and the glasshouse very hot.

I was surprised today that after stripping the sweet peas Friday, that it is still loaded today. Time to pick more for me.

Till Next Time.

The Magnolia Tree Garden.

 It seems to me daylight saving (DST) and hot weather have come together, DST I am now used to without too much snoozing in the afternoons, but the hot weather I am struggling with. It is ok during the day I can find a cool spot in the house but at night the heat that our double brick house has absorbed then radiates into the rooms. The average this month here, according to Elders, has been 28C, today it is predicted to be 30C. 

It zaps my energy, which I found out yesterday when Miss P came to help. I chose a small garden to be weeded and replanted with some plants in pots. Slowly I am getting rid of them all somewhere.

 I can't remember where that blue bottle came from, but it can go back to the tip. The Magnolia tree was getting a bit high and needed a prune as well. The white flowers are small and smell lovely.

Port Wine Magnolia sometimes called the Banana Shrub.

The ground was as hard as a rock and dry as a bone, and it took two hours to complete, by which time it was getting hot. Two geraniums, a multi coloured daisy, a row of primulas and two sprinkles of Cosmos, followed by a load of chicken pellets, minerals, and the free compost, with lots of watering and it was done.

I had to get up the ladder as the tree was quite high, but looks much better now. It also had a good watering. 

If it wasn't for my lovely grandaughter I don't know if I would ever get around to doing so much so quickly, such a treasure and only 12. I told her about my cousin who took up weeding for older ladies lol like me, and couldn't keep up with all the work. If ever she needed a job later in life while at uni or similar, she is now certainly trained for weeding, basic pruning and propagating, repotting, growing vegetables and flowers. I was very pleased to hear also, as an elective at school, she wanted to do sewing, as she already knew agriculture haha. Miss P is also a good little house painter and I have decided next job between us, will be to finish off the bathroom, it has a low roof line and already had one coat.

As I write this NSW, is preparing for lockdown, in stages,  to be opened completely. I think it is a little bit early as 580 new cases yesterday alone, it is starting to hit regional areas now, but although the rules are no holidaying for Sydney-ites in these areas, a lot of cases have started for that reason including Victoria who are having over a 1000 a day. Let us hope those in power know what they are doing, personally I am staying at home as usual and not venturing very far. This area is still covid safe. 

 

 

Till Next Time.

Lemon Powder, Planting Leeks, & Root Vegetables.

This week  I have been attending a virtual Organizing HQ Seminar. Put together with over 70 women doing hour long talks over 5 days. It was free although you can purchase the lot to have them forever, and only up for 24 hrs. each days worth.

It is the 2nd. year I have attended this and enjoyed listening to all the various talks all week. Everything for decluttering, working cleaning schedules, routines, menus, frugal buying and repurposing, finance, health, mindset, minimalism, organizing projects, and decorating. It is amazing what stay at home mums build their new careers on via the internet.

Listening while doing my own cleaning and decluttering has made the hours go quickly, so I feel this week has flown by.

Ready for the op shop and growing bigger every day.

The lemons on the tree were starting to fall off as well, so I picked them all, made lemon butter, but found some interesting preserving information on powders with dehydrated fruit and vegetables. As I had the lemons, worked on lemon powder.

Peeling the skins with a peeler makes them thin, so spread them out on my trays, and dehydrated to crispy. All those lemons and it breaks down to a miniscule amount. These then went into my small blender and Voila lemon powder. Lemon you can use in a cake batter, icing, cheesecake, on chicken, etc to give a lemon flavour, it is strong. Tomato powder,  as in using puree.

Found a jar of dried tomatoes so experimented with them.

I try and spend an hour or more a day in the garden, at the moment, but by 10am it is too hot for me, so making an effort to get up in time to have breaky, wake up and get out there. This week I planted carrot seeds and beetroot. The trick is to keep the beds wet so I give them a light water morning and afternoon. I found the pigeons in the beetroot bed hunting seeds so had to cover them. This is new for me and wondering if nature is being effected at all. We have had no rain for months, or are they being lazy haha.

Beetroot with climbing Northeaster bean seeds on the end.

Left the sweet pea for shade, tiny carrot seeds  need a bit more care from drying out.  Northeaster beans on this end too.

This mornings effort I started on transplanting the baby perpetual leeks. There were lots of smaller plants ready but the first big one, it's babies hadn't detached, so may cut the root off and plant that, babies and all.

Digging this lot up

Notice LHS babies compared to bigger leek ones, haven't separated

Babies that need to be planted

I had to rescue a pot of garlic chive, it had become so overcrowded they were struggling, even pulling it apart was a nightmare. I soaked in water, the ones that were for planting and will find another pot and maybe plant some in with the leeks. They should take off with plenty of water and good soil.

Garlic Chives

I started on the new leek bed but will leave it till tomorrow to actually do some planting. The beetroot is ready for picking, which I will do as needed. Made a beetroot, pumpkin, feta, chickpea salad this week, was extra yummy with just pulled beetroot and smoked salmon.

New leek bed to be.

No embroidery for two weeks as it is school holidays, but I am putting in the next photo for our leader as I kept some seeds for her. 

Red Nasturtiums

 Enjoy the holidays, and stay safe.

Till Next Time.