Category: gardening

Here comes the sun

July 20, 2020

It only takes a few rays of sunshine to trick me into thinking its time to plant. Looking at the product info for my seeds in stock, I come up with this possible short list. I guess it is winter. Maybe a little too late for the hollyhock seeds, although I did see plants for sale yesterday. So I’ll give them a go in the green house.

Look – before and after

Firstly I had to clear a space on the shelves. There are a few pots hardening up, outside. I’m hoping they won’t be a frost tonight. I planted some really old scarlet runner beans. I doubt they’ll come up. I’ll love it if they do. And.. I planted 2 different varieties of peas, also from old seeds. But what’s the alternative, throw them away? I can’t do that. And…I found a packet of different varieties of basil. The packet says they can be planted at any time, I’m impatient, wish they would just sprout up..

Calculated or Coincidence

July 19, 2020

I used to believe that toys came to life when you weren’t watching them. All right I’ll be honest I still do. I have proof. I make dolls, maybe you’d call them creatures. For years when I got home from work I’d find them, frozen with guilt. Sometimes they’s meet me at the door, sometimes they’d stray outside, sometimes they would occupy my favorite chair. I’d even caught them mid climb out the window. Yes, caught in the act. Sometimes I’d find them pair off and cuddle up. Othertimes, they might be in inappropriate poses. Enough about that! What’s that story or movie where the toys come to life at night and get up to all sorts of hi-jinx? You’re right there were lots of them. My favorite was Pinocchio. Recently there’s been Toy Story, Fantasia, The Nutcracker and lots more to prove my point.

Rereading my last few posts, I finally put 1 and 1 together. I have a suspect for the degradation of my gum tree. He’s not a reindeer, he’s a rabbit in disguise… and he was hungry when he got here from the North Pole. What do you think?

grrrr…

July 17, 2020

My opponents in the battle to have a garden, (other than the weather), are usually furry, have cute little white tails, eat most of our lucerne crop and have travelled across Australia. A rabbit proof fence had to be built across the continent to stop their advance. Sadly, I have never been able to afford a fence all around my property. Over the years I discovered that they were very reluctant to leap over a smelly old tyre and eat whatever treat I had just planted. The evidence of my success is everywhere. Look at my amazing gum trees I planted years ago. In most cases I remembered to remove the tyres, just before they strangled the trees.

I’d nurtured my new gum tree in the glass house until it was 3 feet high. It was healthy and looked ready to go. So imagine my horror this morning when I went to check on my new gum and found this. All that was left was a STICK!

The tyre was intact. So can I conclude that either a three feet tall bunny, ate dinner last night or I have some sort of bouncing bunny that can repeatedly bounce and eat…? or what?????

After the rain

July 13, 2020

I woke up to more rain, just a lazy drizzle. Yesterday it poured. That was welcome relief from the worry that we desperately need rain for the latest crop to get growing. Today, it’s gloomy and depressing. I braved the miserable weather to have a look around. Nature was enjoying the weather.

Blossom on the almond tree at this time of the year? Is it my imagination or do trees do this? I’ve always thought it a little ironic that the blossom seems to emerge at the same time as the rain washes the flowers away. Won’t be long and it will be spring. I went back inside, much cheerier and up the stairs to see what was happening up there in the studio.

To prune or not to prune

July 1, 2020

In Australia, the general advice is to prune roses in June or July, after they have finished flowering. It is now July the first, so the time is right. Right? It always worries me, too early, too late, what do I do? The danger is frost. Frost can damage the canes of recently pruned roses. See my last post! We had frost! The weather here is so unpredictable. I’m hoping that the weather people have got it right when they said the frosts should ease of in our area for the next few weeks. The poor old plants were looking very sad. I don’t need gloom in my garden, there’s enough in the world around me. So, they can just take their chances. Off with their heads and other plant body parts.

A few late bloomers protested by looking beautiful, on their way to Rose Heaven. Sorry, I’m not saving you lot. You’ve caused me enough pain with all those thorns. You must be incinerated along with all your friends. You had a nasty case of black spot. We’ll blame the weather for that too. I’m not altogether heartless. I did save a few of your more attractive friends for one last vase. I have to say, I’m a little embarrassed to post their picture. I hope you can all do better in spring time. I’m looking forward to another wonderful and long lasting display. That is if you survive till then. At least you’re not in danger from COVID. Be happy with your lot in life.

For the record, the birds nest was empty.

Where do we start?

June 25, 2020

The tour might take some time. It will be interesting and different. Let’s go.

Firstly, I live in rural Australia facing a lagoon. This is the view out front. My farm is an island, surrounded on all side by water. But don’t be fooled, it can be very dry. For the last two years we’ve only had a total of 225 mm per year (about 8.9 inches).This makes gardening here a challenge.

My favorite tree (?) is here, right out front of my house. It’s a date palm, planted well before I moved here. The house is over 100 years old, (I’ll get to it later), so the palm could be old too. Maybe someone just threw out the trash and it grew? Date palms need a male and a female before they set dates. There are others on the creek, down the track. I haven’t been lucky enough to get a date, in the thirty years I’ve been here.

Positives about date palms : they give shade, look exotic, birds live in them, their fronds burn well because of all that palm oil.

Negatives: they drop palm fronds making a mess, when you set them alight they’re amazing, the fire department needs to bring the truck to extinguish the blaze. (I wonder who did that?)

Palm tree – a blight on the native landscape or beautiful? Comments welcome.