Fruit Trees

Oh how I would love to have the backyard of my childhood!

We had plum trees, apple trees, pear and peach trees, apricots, nectarines and quince.  There was even a loquat tree over one of Dad's chook sheds - this was usually used for climbing in.

Needless to say his backyard was quite large for the suburbs.

My backyard is about 17-20m wide and around 8-10m deep - enough I suppose for fruit trees.  We have 2 sheds at one end, a small wood shed near them, a Lilac and a Birch tree next to the wood shed, a small aviary at the other end of the yard, a clothesline in the middle and another Birch and a large Plum tree next to the clothesline.  We also store 2 trailers and have 3 dogs that go in and out of this area.

The Birch next to the Plum died over winter - not too sure why.  I think maybe that the Plum strangled it or took too much of the water the Birch needed - but who really knows.  So over winter it will be coming out. 

Now the Plum tree is really out of hand.  It is too large to manage and we don't actually eat the fruit from it - it's a type of Green Gage so the fruit is small.  This season the cockatoos had a ball cracking all the fruit open and then the seeds to get to the kernels.  They did this when the fruit was still green - what was left was not enough to bother with.  So as far I am concerned this tree is also to go.  I will miss the shade it provides though - even if it's not on the house.

Hubby has graciously said that once they are chopped down he will square off the bed they are in and I can do what I like with it.  So this means I can put in other fruit trees - dwarf varieties.  I just have to decide which ones.  I am thinking apples and maybe a nectarine.  If I could find a skinny growing type I wouldn't mind putting another one in next to the red rose and something else along the back fence between the sheds and the wood shed.

Something like this....



I am also thinking of pulling out some of the flowering shrubs along the driveway and putting in berries instead.  Blueberries and raspberries would be nice.  I could train them to grow sideways along the fence.

What fruits do you have in your backyard?

Eating our own produce

Not that we have been doing a lot of that.  The odd handful of peas before Christmas, the even less frequent handful of beans since Christmas.

We should do well with the tomatoes though.  The bushes are huge and there is even fruit on them.  Maybe I should have staked them up and even done some tip pruning - but oh well.  Now to wait for the fruit to get bigger and to start to ripen.  I will have to keep a close eye on them as lots are hidden under leaves.

What I have picked though is Rhubarb - my first ever large fistful.  Didn't think to take a photo of it before it got cut up and cooked.  Some of the stems were easily 45cm long.  The variety I have is a green stem variety.  I am thinking I will get 2 more that have red stems.   Here it is all cooked and waiting to be eaten. 

 

I had an order for peach cobbler too.  So it got made with apricots 'cause that's all I had in the cupboard.  Here's the last of it on the left of the plate.  On the right is home-made granola topped with my rhubarb.  A more delicious breakfast I have not had in ages.

 

 

The granola (or muesli if you want to call it that) is a mix of rolled oats, corn flakes, rice puffs, desiccated coconut, chopped peanuts, dried pineapple, dried cranberries and honey.  I put it in the oven for around 20 minutes - minus the fruits - to get the honey to mix up a bit more.  It is quite nice.  Next time I will try to use shredded coconut instead and will crush the corn flakes slightly.

 

 

I am also playing with making my own sourdough bread.  This is my starter that I put together today.  It's 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 tsp sugar and a tiny bit of dried yeast.  This will sit on the bench covered with a tea towel for 3 days before I add some more flour and water to make a loaf of sourdough bread.  I should end up with enough for 1 loaf and a bit more starter.

 

I am using a recipe/method from Linda at Greenhaven - here's hoping it works.

 

Peas and Beans and Worms

The pea seedlings are doing ok - they are starting to flower and I even had 1 pod.  The poor plant is only 6 inches high and yet it is fruiting - if that's the right term.  I ate the pod straight from the plant - very tasty.

A number of the peas seedlings have been eaten by something - I presume snails or slugs.  So I put down more snail bait and planted a few more seeds.  Hopefully that will do the trick.

My beans seeds have started to sprout.  8 very healthy looking seedlings of 1 variety and 6 of another.  Yay!!  And I noticed that the carrots are beginning to sprout too.

I bought some more capsicum seedlings yesterday too.  I will have to plant them later today - after I have done the costumes for Sunday's photo shoot.

I haven't fed the worms in a few days.  I figure they have enough to eat with all the newspaper and cardboard and leaf litter that was in the box before they go put in.  No Worm Tea as yet - probably not enough Worms and a lot of dry leaf litter/paper to soak it all up.  Must check on them.

I have Worms!

So that probably sounds really wrong and is something you think I shouldn't let the blogosphere know.  But seriously I have worms!

Ok, not the sort that a dose of medication will fix.

I have compost worms!  There, that does sound better.

500 live wriggling compost worms.  Not many I know, but money is a bit tight and that many is all I can afford right now.  If I have to I may get another 500 in a couple of months.

Apparently there are eggs in with them and I have heard/read that worms breed quite quickly, so maybe I won't have to but more.

For the moment they are happily (I hope) in their new home.  I have laid down some newspaper and some paper that I sprinkled water onto to make it moist.  I also added a thin-ish payer of potting mix for them to spread out into.  They also have a blankie to keep them warm and in the dark.  Though I spose the lid on the plastic tub will do that job.

I am going to let them settle in for the day and give them their first 'meal' later today after I have cut up veges for our dinner.

I love new pets....


The other day I planted out some small potatoes that were left over from last year that were too small to cook and eat.  I noticed today that I have 2 spud plants that have self sown from the compost/soil/straw mix that I tipped out into the pansy bed - this mix was what I used to grow spuds in last year.  It will be interesting to see what happens with these.  I must remember to pile up some dirt/manure/straw around them.

Today I put out some carrot seeds - for want of a better word for it.  These are Heirloom Carrots and apparently are different colours - purple, yellow, white as well as the usual orange.  They are in with the first lot of beans.

I also got 2 trough pots and planted out some Sweet Peas - just for a bit of extra colour.

Vege bed numbers 5 and 6

Earlier this week I filled up one bed with compost, manure and soil.  I also got 4 circular frames for $5 each - I thought was a good bargain.

Bed #5 has 2 frames in it on the south side closest to the cars and I have put in some bean seeds around them.  The rest of the bed will get carrot seeds.  I'd show you a pic but we all know what dirt looks like, don't we.

I have some left over potatoes from last year that were really too small to cook.  I will put these in with the capsicums.  Hopefully they will do their thing and give me some bigger spuds.

I have noticed that birds are loving the damp soil and are scratching the straw all over the place.  A couple of peas have been eaten and so has 1 more capsicum.  I found a slime trail so the culprit is snails.  I know exactly how to fix them - bait.  I thought the last lot of bait I put out would have done the trick.

The weather here has been cold and wet this week.  Great for the garden as I don't have to water, but it means I have less chance of getting bed #6 filled.  Early next week is supposed to be dry so I should be able to do it then.

Vege Patch

I have just renewed my membership to The Diggers Club for the next 5 years.  They are a plant catalogue mob here in Victoria.  They have a house and garden with restaurant that you can visit, eat in, look around the yard, buy seeds/plants. 

I also bought from them 3 lots of different bean seeds, some heirloom carrot seeds and some pink flower seeds.  The flowers will go in the main front garden beds and should self seed each year.  Years ago I had the same variety but in blue and it kept coming up for years afterwards - in all sorts of spots too.

In looking at my current vege beds the pea seedlings I put in are doing nicely.  I have added some marigolds in amongst them.  I have no idea if they will be helpful to the peas.  They will probably be swamped by them and kark it.

 

I also planted out 3 Grosse Lisse Tomatoes - bought these from my local supermarket for $1 each (they were trying to get rid of them.  I also put some marigolds with them too.  These have all been planted in amongst the pansies.  Hopefully the pansies will give them a bit of protection until they get going.

The capsicum (bell pepper) plants seems to be getting eaten by something.  I have lost 1 that I know of.  I don't think it is snails - the bed they are in is heavily mulched with straw and has no overhanging vegetation in which they could hide.  Will have to keep any eye on them.

Did I tell you that I have finished mulching all around the 6 vege beds??  I think it looks quite good - nice and neat and tidy - at least for the moment.

 

The paler coloured mulch is euci mulch, the darker mulch is fine pine bark mulch.  I went with this one for the rest of the area due to the cost - the pine was a good $1.50 cheaper per bag than the euci and it seem to spread further and thicker too.



Making of a Worm Farm

This is how I have put together my worm farm.  It takes a couple of different ideas and sort of mashes them together.  Time will tell if it works or not.  I see no reason why it shouldn't.

Materials used:
1 large polystyrene box - lid discarded
2 black plastic tubs with lids - only 1 lid is needed, but keep the other one in case the first one gets ruined.
2 empty plastic milk bottles - I am using 2 litre ones.
Scissors
Pencil
Bricks - at least 5, probably a couple more would be better.
A Shady area for it to live in - worms living in plastic don't cope well with heat so shade will help stop them from being cooked.
Some compost
Some shredded newspaper
Worms - I bought mine from a garden supplier
A bit of old carpet or some hessian or anything that is organic and thick - to keep the worms warm - I am using a mat they sell for this purpose.
Drill and drill bit - this is used to put holes in the bottom of the plastic tubs.

What I did:
Take the large poly box and prop it up on some bricks.

Take 2 x 2 litre milk bottles and cut off 1 side leaving the handle, the lid and the bottom.  This goes under the poly box to catch the liquid that should drip out.

Mark bottom of poly box where the milk bottles are to sit....

Poke holes in marked area with a pencil or drill bit or stick.  You can just see the holes here.

Sit a couple of more bricks inside the poly box.  These will prop up your black plastic tubs which house the worms.

Drill around 12 holes in the bottom of both plastic tubs that are large enough for worms to get thru, yet small enough that the resultant compost (worm castings) doesn't fall thru.  I started to use one about the thickness of a pencil but ended up using a metal skewer that I heated up on the gas stove to poke the holes into the base.


Place 1 tub in the poly box on top of the bricks.  Put some compost in it and top it with some shredded newspaper.  Give it a light spray with some water.  I have used some compost and some weeds and some leave litter we had swept up in the carport.

Add in your worms and then put in your first lot of food for the worms.  Cover with the mat and put on the lid.  I have yet to get my new 'pets'.

The second black tub will be used once the first one gets half full.  They are 55 litre tubs and will get quite heavy if they get too full of castings.  Once the first one if half full I will put the second tub on top of the first one - take lid off, sit tub on top of the castings/worms - add food to new tub and cover with the mat.  The worms should move into the new tub after awhile.  How long that will be, I have no idea.  The old castings can just sit there until I think all the worms are in the new tub.

It will look like this once both tubs are stacked and in use, though I will be putting 1 lid aside in case the other one gets ruined with use.

The idea of the lid is to stop any vermin from getting in and eating the worms food.  It will also help retain heat and moisture.  I hope air can get in as I imagine these tubs are not air tight.  No one I have looked up on the internet seems to have air for their worms as a concern when they use plastic tubs.  Yet the pre-made worm farms both (there's only 2 available locally) state that their lids are vented.

I have 1 concern with this set up - and that is that the poly box will not hold the weight of the other tubs once they get full.  I imagine castings weigh a fair bit.

It will be interesting to see how long the black tubs last for as they are not UV stabilised plastic.  They cost me $6 each. To buy a worm farm from the local hardware store would cost at least $67 - my set up cost me $12 (I already had the poly box and the milk bottles). 

So that's it - my worm farm.  I will keep you posted on how it is all going.

Solar Panels and Worm Farms

The solar panels have been up and running for about 2  months now.  We have all the gauges in place too so now we can keep a eye on what each panel is doing all by it's lonesome.  It sure has kept hubby busy of a night.  He likes to 'tinker' with any new toy he gets to see how it works.

I did some pruning yesterday as today is green bin day.  We intend on pulling out the front lawn and some of the front yard garden bed so we can easily get cars in and out - we now have 4 of them.  So I started to chop up some of the plants in the garden bed.  It will be a long process if I only use the green waste bin.  It only gets cleared every 2 weeks and I don't believe in packing things in there tightly.  I have seen hubby do that and sometimes it gets stuck in the bin.

I also had a good look at the vege patches.  I still need to fill the last one with soil and remove all the grass from around them all.  I had started to dig up the grass, but I think I will just give it a good weed spray and then cover it with my preferred mulch.  So much easier on the back and hands.  Won't being do it today though - too windy.

I planted some pea seeds awhile ago.  I put in 20 - most of the germinated but nearly all of them have been eaten by snails (I'm guessing).  The plot they are in was not mulched so when I do that and plant some more seeds they should grow for me.  I'm happy with the way the spinach and the lettuces have grown, though the mignonette ones are still quite small. I picked one last night to have with dinner  but since I was not home to finish off dinner it got left in the fridge - oh well it can go on our lunch.  I added some spinach to last nights lasagne - eldest asked what it was as she ate dinner, but it has no flavour when cooked with other foods.  That's a good thing in my book.  The leaves are large and thick, have a have a thick stalk and  holes in them.  I want to give carrots another go too.

I have been thinking I will get some large-ish pots and plant them up for veges too and put them along the edge of the vege area.  That will then give the drivers a visual on how far up the lawn they can go.  I have some edging I want to put in to separate those 2 areas and to keep the mulch where it belongs.

I have also been thinking again that I need to put together a worm farm.  I found an old polystyrene box we've got lying around that I thought had been thrown out.  I checked the internet for make your one warm farms and found 1 that uses such a box.  I also found a set up using 4 black plastic tubs with lids that looks promising too.  Maybe I can use them together??  To purchase a worm farm would cost around $90 and that's just for the plastic tubs.  It's another $35+ for the worms.  I figure I can get 3 tubs at $10 each and use them with the found box.  If I put the box on the bottom to collect the liquid I can use 2 litre milk bottles with 1 side cut off to drain the liquid into.

With all that I want to do in the garden, it's a shame I don't get any offers of help.

Vege garden update on April 9's post

I have made some in roads to my list of things to do out the front that I posted about on April 9.

I have started to dig up the grass and lay down mulch.  This is hard work and it is a standstill at the moment as I have to wait to get the green rubbish bin emptied.  That will happen this Friday.  Ok so I don't really have to wait, but I would rather put the grass straight into the bin than have to heap it up somewhere and then double handle it into the bin once it is empty.

The corn is all removed and cut up.  Most of it went into a vege bed to compost down, some went into the bin.

I have filled 3 of the 4 beds with compost, manure and soil.  Just waiting on the last pumpkin to die off so I can deal with the last bed.  It may have to have a green manure crop in it over winter.

The leaves down the sideway got swept up by hubby.  I found him putting them into the green waste bin.  I was so upset by that.  It should have all gone onto the garden bed as mulch!!  He even raked up / scraped off the mulch under our lone olive tree.  He has no idea about gardening at all.  Sometimes I believe that we have no common goal in life - but that is a whole other post.

The peas have been planted with frames for them to climb up.  I have also planted out 2 types of lettuce, some spinach and some pansies and primula.  Still need to throw down some carrot and pak choy seeds.  I wonder if I could mix them up and sew together??

I have purchased and edging to define where the vege garden is.  There will be enough left over to put an edge around the gun tree in our nature strip.

That is all to update on my April 9 list.  Still a way to go, but I will get there.

I got a gardening brochure the other day.  It always makes me want to plant out more things.  Like apple trees, roses, nut trees, etc.  With an unresponsive garden wise hubby I wonder if that would be possible.......

Vege garden

will now be turned into flower beds - at least for over winter.  I know I can plant veges that will grow in  Melbourne winter - but not those that we would eat.  Maybe I will do 2 beds with veges and 2 with flowers.

I already have 1 bed all filled with compost, manure and soil and planted with Primula and Pansies.  Another bed had tomatoes in it - the bugs liked them - the tomatoes have been pulled out and chopped up back into the bed and then all that has been covered with lucerne straw.  The idea is to cover the straw with manure and lots of compost and soil.

The corn is still planted although it is all dead.  I have harvested around 20 ears.  We have eaten some - not that sweet to eat.  The youngest commented on how full the corn is compared to store bought.  Here's some that I picked a month ago.

The rest I have put into the freezer.  They are actually quite long.

I have also harvested all the potatoes - not happy with these either.  Most are really small - bite sized is best way to describe them - and they have quite dirty looking skin.  Maybe I will try them again next year - maybe not.

Yesterday when I was planting out the flowers I noticed that I have 1 lonely small KENT pumpkin grown from seeds saved from a store bought one.  It's about 7 inches across.  I have sat it up on some bricks in an attempt to keep the bugs from eating it.

In checking a website called gardenate.com I have found that I can grow peas, spinach, pak choy, lettuce, carrot as we eat these.  I have tried broccoli in the past with no success.  So once I chop down the corn I think I will put in peas (will need a frame of some sort), carrots, lettuce and pak choy.

So......Jobs to do in the front yard :-
in no particular order.......

• remove all grass from around the vege beds and lay down a thick layer of mulch.
• cut down/remove the corn and chop up
• add 1 bag of manure to each bed
• add heaps of compost and soil to each bed (I really need them to be full of soil as I can't wait for it to be made anymore)
• sweep up the leaves from down the side and compost them (probably in the vege beds)
• make up (or purchase) a frame for peas and plant out pea seeds
• plant out carrot, lettuce, pak choy seeds
• put an edge between vege beds and car parking area
• rip out lawn to make car parking
• rip out all plants behind letterbox
• remove existing garden edge behind letterbox
• redo garden edge along front up to letterbox
• weed front garden and redo mulch (this was last done around 5-6 years ago)

I can manage the first 8, the 10th one and the last one, but I need hubby to do the others.

Since the eldest now has a car we really need to get cracking on making proper car parking for 4 cars.  The only way we can think of doing this is to rip out the front lawn and lay down some gravel.  Having 2 cars in the car port, 1 behind them and the fourth on the nature strip means lots of shuffling of an evening so the first person to leave of a morning can get their car out.  Having car parking on the front lawn is the easiest way.  It may look ugly, but it is the best option.  And then if the overseas child comes home and gets a car that puts us at 5 cars!!  oh boy...

Vege Update

So my hanging tomato has finished - it's all skinny and brown.  And the corn out the front is ready for picking (I think).  And the tomatoes with the corn are being eaten by bugs and not by us.

This year has been rather a failure in the way of putting food on the table.  So I didn't plant lots of vege varieties, but the weather has beaten me this time.  Hubby asked the other day about the corn and the potatoes - when do they get harvested.  I told him it's been to hot to get out there to do it and I plan on doingit on Thursday.  Well that was last week and Thursday was too hot also.  I'm hoping for a break in the weather this Thursday so I can pick the corn, harvest what spuds have grown (I'm doubful of getting many) and turn over the tomatoes.  They are just not worth the watering.

In fact I have become so disillusioned by this whole process that I am thinkg if turning the vege beds into flowers beds.  At least they give me some ejoyment.

Mind you things would be a lot easier if I had some help with it all.  The grass/weeds are growing like mad around the beds and hubby no one thinks to get out the wipper snipper to cut them back.  And asking just gets a grunt for a reply.  I refuse to learn how to use that thing (or the lawn mower) as that would be 1 more thing for me to do around here.  Moan moan, whinge whinge.

so that's veges for March 2013 - maybe I will get inspirated (thanks cup cake queen for that word)..

Garden update

Oohh, it looks like I have corn ears......  Not on me, silly, out in the front yard.  I checked them just before and it appears I have quite a few coming along.  Not sure how to tell when they're ready to pick - any suggstions???  Not every plant has female flowers just yet.  Some are only just getting their males flowers at the top.

And my tigrella tomatoes out the front are having slightly larger fruit than the one out the back too.  These were laying down all over the place, so I got some frames and put around them to lift the plants and fruit up off the ground.  I did manage to accidently break off 1 large stem with numerous fruit on it - oh well.  They still have flowers too, so that's promising.

The plant out the back looks like it's about done.  No more flowers and the fruit is quite small.  I guess the experiment with an upside down plant did not go so well.  Probably a lack of water and thus nutrients.

One of the dogs has been digging in amongst the roses - she's trying to find somewhere thats a bit cool to lie in.  If she doesn't stop this habit soon, she will dig up the poor things!  Been thinking it's time they got pruned, had compost put around them and then mulch laid down.  Dog will love that - all those good smells.

Photos

I was going to post some photos of the vege patch this morning - but I can't find my camera to even take the pics let alone post them.  GRRRR....

Most annoying....

So you will just have to visualise the following......

The upside down tomato is doing really well.  It has flowers and what looks to me like strong stalks.  I got a liquid feed the other day.

Out the front the corn seeds I planted have sprouted!!  I counted 10 out of the 18 that I planted.  Supposed to have a 99% germination rate - so maybe birds got the other seeds.  I will wait the weekend and put in some more if the others come up.

I also put in 4 pumpkins and 2 have germinated.  They are only tiny bits of green poking up out of the mulch at this point, but they're growing.  I now just need to keep the water up to them and give them a feed in a few weeks time.

The 2 tomato plants out the front have fruit!!  4 to be exact.  They are the smallest bushes but fruit has set.

I have been eating the odd strawberry too when I go out to water.  tiny little things but strawberries none the less.  Must remember to feed them too.

The rhubarb is going strong - well 1 plant is.  The other one is a bit spindly looking.  There is almost enough to harvest on the good plant!!

I should probably feed the spuds too.  The heat of 2 days ago didn't knock things around too much.  I thought everything would curl up and wilt, if not die.

Still haven't gotten around to transplanting the other tomato, capsicum, broccoli and lettuces yet.  Poor things........


When hubby painted the front of the house (downstairs outside) he removed what xmas lights I had up from last year and just plonked them in a pile in the garden.  Well last night I put one string over a Diosma and another in the Hibiscus bush.  They are both solar sets, so if I can get them both to work properly our front door area will look quite festive.

Vege Patch Update

Vege patch?? What vege patch??

Honestly all I have managed to get done is put in those 3 tomatoes and the potatoes - and that was a while ago.  The hanging tomato is doing well after it's accident (remember it fell to the ground) and the potatoes have grown and are now starting to wilt (could be due to lack of water).

I was going to put corn into boxes out along the back fence, but I have changed my mind.  They are now going into one of the unused beds out the front.  TODAY!!  I will also put in some pumpkin and zucchini seeds and some sunflower seeds.  The sunflowers I will put into the proper garden beds amongst what is already there. 

And the poor lettuce seedlings need to go into the trough I bought for them.

Last year I was was really keen on growing some of my own veges, but this year I really can't find the inspiration to do it.  I don't know if it is a case of too much happening here that takes over my attention or gardening is just not my thing.  I get no help from anyone - not even hubby.  I am lucky if he actually cuts the grass more than twice a year.  I know he hates mowing grass but he is reluctant to rip it all up and put in plants and mulch.  That does not make any sense to me.

The whole front yard needs re mulched.  I think it has been 5 years since it was last done so you can imagine the state it is in.  Weeds grow like wildfire and removing them is difficult.

I've got 5 roses out the back that did not get pruned during winter.  They are all supposed to be bush roses, but 2 are now so tall you could call them tree roses.  Another one is buried under a daisy type of shrub - that one never did grow very well.  It is actually the eldest's rose - I think it suits her to a 'T'.  No that she's short or anything, just that she doesn't do much.  Just like the rose.....

I found 1 single strawberry down the side 2 days ago and ate it - sour thing it was.  Not sure if it the variety or just not getting the attention/food/water it needs to be sweet.  The rhubarb is doing ok.  Stalks are quite thin and it looks like whatever was eating the leaves has stopped - maybe it died, after all they are poisonous.  The fern that is growing out the side of the garden bed is doing quite well.

I think I need to feed everything - maybe this week........

Concert Programs and life after the concert

Busy right now printing Concert Programs for the eldest cali club. 

The darn printer keeps jamming on the paper though.  And it is starting to annoy me!!

Not the sort of thing I can say - blow it, I'm not doing these anymore.  They have to be done today so I can hand them over to the lady who will bind them for us.  That is once I collect the colour pages from the printer and collate the whole lot together - then she can bind them.

So it looks like I have to sit and baby sit the printer until all 880 pages are done....

Life after the Concert - looking forward to that.

I have a batch of laundry bags to make for Aussie Hero Quilts as well as some quilts to put together for them.  I may have to make up tops only and send them off to their coordinator for her get quilted.  There are just too many in my head wanting made up!

Plus there is the vege garden that desperately needs attention.  I only have tomatoes in at the moment!  So much for putting in zucchini, pumpkins and corn.  Plus the seeds I put in really need to be potted on and fertilised so they can grow up big and strong.  The poor lettuces have not done much at all.

I think I may put sunflowers in amongst the weeds, um, flowers out the front.

Tomatoes and Potatoes

here we come.....

Well hopefully anyway.  My experiment to grow a tomato bush upside down came to ground this morning - literally.

Whilst putting washing on the line the whole pot (if you can call it that) fell to the ground with a thud.  Thank goodness I was there to quickly rescue the poor thing and put it back up.  I did loose part of the plant - the middle shoot!! 

I gave it a drink with some seaweed extract in it, so hopefully it will recover.

I also planted out the other 2 seedlings I purchased at the same time as the upside down one in the front yard beds.  Currently they are in potting mix in boxes.  You can see one of them in this pic.

The bed will get the straw and compost/maure treatment too.  Tommorrw seems like a good day to do that.

The poppies are fom last year - I am surprised they did not die off over winter.

These are my potatoes.  So far I have topped up the bags 3 times and I will do another lot soon.  The empty bag is not really empty - it just has the store bought potatoes that have not done anything yet.  Maybe they never will......

Vege Patch 2012

Today I finally got around to mostly sorting out the front yard vege patch after winter.  The grass around them was clipped down and then put into the beds.  I think this will be ok and will provide some green manure.  After all it all breaks down in the compost bin doesn't it? 

I have 2 beds nearly ready for some seeds to go in.  They still need another layer of compost and straw and then they'll ready.  The other 2 beds have yet to be redone - they both have flowering poppies that were planted last year growing strongly.

I will put in tomatoes, pumpkins from some seeds I saved from bought one, zucchini again and broccoli.  Maybe some capsicum too - if the seeds germinate.  I received the tomato seedlings the other day so they need to be planted out soon too.  I want to try doing one upside down and still need to find a place to hang it.  Maybe on the clothesline in the centre.

I also got my corn seeds.  These I will plant out at the end of the month into filled cardboard boxes.  Since they take only 12 weeks from planting to harvest this should not a problem, at least that's what I hope.  I think I will put these out the back along the fence - hopefully the dogs won't dig into  them.

My planted out potatoes seem to be doing their thing.  The seed spuds are anyway.  The couple I kept from the supermarket have yet to rear their heads above the dirt.

Vege Garden Update

Well the seeds I put in for Broccoli and Lettuce are really doing well.  They are both getting tall (should they do this?) but have yet to get their first set of real leaves.  I am still waiting on the arrival of my tomato seedlings.

I really need to weed out the front yard beds - but I can't be bothered!!  This is not a good way to be for someone who is trying to be a tiny bit self sufficient.  I keep coming up with excuses - too cold/wet/windy - BUT I really need to get to it SOON.  Otherwise I will have seedlings and no where to put them.

The Potatoes are snug in their bags and showing no sign of growing up just yet.

On another note - Hubby is home for the next 2 weeks.  The company he works for has no work for a lot of their staff.  He works on constructions sites - the last site he was on had 25 guys sacked!!  Some were with the company for over 20 years.  Things will be a bit tight here for a while me thinks.

Carrots

Just pulled up the last of the carrots that were planted AAAGES ago.  Every single one of them is puny beyond belief.  There is 1 or 2 that may be fit for people to eat - I'm thinking dog food for the rest.

Watered the potatoes - locked my self out of the house and had to go get the spare key - thank goodness the last person to use it had put it back.  No sign of spuds growing much yet.

Checked the other seeds in their mini hot house.  The lettuce is coming up and so is the broccoli (they're towards the back).

Bought a long trough to transplant the lettuce into once it gets big enough.  Need some more potting mix to do this.  Still waiting on the tomato seedlings to arrive.


Yesterday being Sunday was Joyday.  So I took the day to start making a new dress to wear to a weeding we are going to in 3 weeks.  The fabric I have is a mid-grey with cream spots satin.  The dress pattern  was a bit small, but I figured with my sewing skills I could up-size it to fit.  Cut it all out adding in extra fabric where I thought I needed it.  Sewed up the bodice - includes a wrap-shawly collar.  Thought I had better see if this will fit.  So chucked it on and got eldest to see if it would do up in the back.  Noooo, it won't!  Boo Hoo.  So back to the fabric store for more fabric and the larger pattern...  This is what I get for not buying the correct size pattern in the first place.

I have visions in my head of this being a really nice dress. 

Rhubarb and Tomatoes

I don't know about any of you, but I love rhubarb.  It's that tangy sweetness that gets me every time.  Problem is, I now don't get to eat it very often.  I have bought some from my local supermarket on the odd occasion, but the rest of the house doesn't like it (more for me then). 

When I was still unmarried and living at home Dad had quite an extensive vege and fruit patch in the back yard.  We had apple, apricot, nectarine, peach, quince, loquat, pear trees as well as a multi grafted plum tree.  That tree used to get so much fruit on it Dad would have to prop up the branches so they didn't break off under the weight of the fruit.  So stewed fruit and home made jam was always available.  There was even a couple of rhubarb crowns.  Dad also grew tomatoes, lettuce, silver beet.  One year he grew pumpkin - we had so many in storage they covered the bench in the garage!

In my attempt to grow some of my own produce today I purchased 2 rhubarb crowns from my local hardware/garden store.  Yesterday the rhubarb seeds I bought turned up too.  So in a couple of days the crowns will go in and I will pot up the seeds into some seedling mix to get them started.

This may seems like a lot of rhubarb to planting - and you may be right - but did I mention I love the stuff??  And who knows what is going to survive and how much of it is going to die - specially over summer when we go on holidays.  Note to self - must remember to set up automatic watering system whist we are away.  One that the child staying home doesn't have to worry about.

I also got myself a plastic bucket that I am going to have a go at growing a tomato bush in upside down.  This sounds crazy, but I have seen it done with success. 


Like this.

The variety I will use is Tommy Toe - a 3cm variety of fruit.  Grew this last year with some success.








Will keep you updated on that one.



I have also thought of how to grow veges down the side of the house.  This area gets lots of sun all year and has a raised garden bed - actually the top of the bed is level with next door's ground level (we had to dig our house into our block of land a bit).  The bed is narrow - around 40cm wide - and the soil is terrible.  Compacted and little or no organic matter.  Last year I added some straw as a mulch and tried to grow melons in it.  Birds dug up all the straw and ate the seeds.  There is no way I can raise the height of the bed wall myself - I'm not that capable and the back side is wood fence (my neighbour would not be impressed to learn I have compost and dirt up against it).

So I think the best way to utilise this area is with a plastic rectangular tubs that have had the bottoms of them removed and fill them in a no-dig manner.  Kind of like gardening in pots, but a slightly larger scale.  Now to find some cheap tubs.  (I think I know where I can get 1 or 2 - local dance club has some with no lids that I may be able to steal, um have).

If I can also get 2 more of the bed frames I started with last year I will be happy.  That will give me 6 mini plots in our front yard and will not interfere with car parking.  Need to start them back up again.  One is full of grass, the others have very little grass/weeds in them.  The poppies have survived over winter and look nice and healthy.  I pulled out the broccoli the other day.  That will get chopped up, pushed down and covered over with straw and manure to rot down over summer.  All food for the next crops.  I also need to think of something to put around the beds to get rid of the grass.  Loath to spray with glyphosate - it might leach into the vege beds and then we could be eating it!

On another garden type note - I would love to able to organise a neighbourhood vege co-op.  One where neighbours grow veges and fruit in their own yards and then swap/trade with others in the
co-op as the produce matures.  Can see the benefits - getting to know the neighbours, not having to grow as much variety but still getting it, etc.  Can also see the down side - people not co-operating properly, someone not getting any produce but yet giving out their growings, etc.  Much to ponder......