Africanaussie

 I have been helping my stepson and family move into their new house.  Lots of work, but luckily they have a bit of overlap where they can live in the old house, and then do all the upgrades they want to in the new house.   Lot of cleaning and  painting, but the thing I have been enjoying the most is of course the garden!  They have a pond,a nd I have never had anything to do with water features.   One day driving home I noticed my neighbour getting ready for his garage sale, and washing out his little pond.   I nipped over to ask if he was selling the pond, and he was, so I bought it on the spot!    It is a two part fibreglass system, and in his garden had the top part resting on the lower pond.   Once I separated them out, and put the waterfall section on a stand it seemed so much bigger.    Projects always look worse before they start to look better, dont they?   I originally had this ...

I spent a few days with a friend of mine last week.  Having a break and doing "girl stuff"  like yoga on the deck, coffee and beach walks in the afternoon.   How lovely, I really need to do more of that in my retirement!  I came away with a few different plants and an extra basket that she didnt want. Over the weekend we had an open garden event and I had been so inspired visiting other peoples gardens, and picked up a few seeds.   Seeds from my area are always the best, as they have become acclimatised.  I popped a few into some pots and have been taking good care of them.  I also planted out some Thai pink egg tomatoes a while back, and every seed has come up!  Defenitely enough to share around., I am just letting them get a big bigger. At the open gardens I fell in love with coleus once again, so was pleased to get some cuttings from my friend.  I planted them out in the little bed next to the gate.  Probably the sunniest sp...

 At the start of our growing season I seem to struggle with the veggie garden, and then suddenly notice that things start going better.  At the same time though, the bandicoots always seem to find a way in.  So finding and repairing holes in the fences is a daily occurance lately.  Our fences are old, so they push against the fence, and burrow under it until they create access.  I then fill in the hole and screw a piece of wood against the fence, or place a heavy rock against it. It is heartbreaking to go out every morning and find my new little seedlings dug up.... The raised beds are just high enough that they cannot get in, so at the moment it is just the herb spiral and I think I need to create some sort of bandicoot fence around that. I have been harvesting these eggplant - a few every day.  They grow in little bunches. The other produce I harvested was my pumpkin. the vine has started flowering again in two different areas, so far only male flowers, b...

   A couple of weeks ago we had an amazing crafternoon, and learned to make kokedama! As expected, the very next week a few of us got together to make more! A wonderfully addictive craft - have you tried it? We used a recipe of 7 parts peat moss to 3 parts bonzai soil with enough water to hold it all together. I would suggest making a small one to begin with, we had a choice of mini mondo grass or jade plant. I chose the jade plant for mine. First of all prepare a small bowl with a piece of stocking stretched over the top, with the toe intact or knotted at the bottom. Line with spagnum moss which has been soaked in water. Make a little palm sized ball of the potting mixture, and then break it exactly in half, that is one way to check if you have the right texture. Insert the plant and continue to massage the ball so that the root is well contained. Pop into the spagnum lined pot and pull the stocking up and around. Add more moss if needed, and then tie the stoc...

 I am harvesting a few cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and lots of greens from the garden, which is good.  we have rain just about every day so I dont have to remember to water! I made up a few flower posies and bags of greens to share with friends, I so love to share what I have in the garden. Most of my gardening endeavors start with amending the soil. Even though I have a small garden I compost as much as possible, in as many ways as possible. My tumbling compost bin is my favourite, since everything is contained and vermin cannot get in, and also tumbling keeps everything nicely mixed. Recently I heard about aerated compost tea. http://www.carryoncomposting.com/441149730 I filled a sand bag with compost and tied the top closed, then placed it into a plastic storage bin. This was the biggest container that I had handy, and it made a fair amount of liquid. I topped the plastic container with water that had been standing for a couple of hours to make sure any chlorine eva...

  Here in tropical North Queensland I am so happy with my raised beds to grow my vegetables this year.  I grow from seed so didnt want to miss the beginning of the growing season.  Of course we never really know when the wet season is going to end, but most people rely on April or May being the time when one can plant out seedlings.   I started early, but wanted to stagger my plantings, so started off a few each weekend The greenhouse where I start the seeds is semi shaded, and I am made sure to water every day.  The greenhouse was a great buy, and I have had the first one for about three years.  I recently purchased a new one and then took the plastic off this one and added shadecloth so that is a place teenage seedlings go, where they have a little more freedom and exposure the wind and the rain, but not the hot sun. I mostly order all my seeds from https://www.theseedcollection.com.au/ - below is the list of seeds I recently received. They ha...

  Most people that grew up in the sixties would have explored the world of tie die.   Our tie dye t shirts proclaimed to the world that we were a new generation. Peace and Love!     Unfortunately, that dye was not very environmentally friendly and so I started researching the world of botanical dyeing.    Fabric choice: It turns out that fabric is either cellulose (plant based) or animal based.   Cotton and linen come from plants, and silk and wool come from an animal – the silk worm, or wool of an animal.   Animal fabric accepts dye much easier, and so does not need to be scoured, just washed gently. Scouring : In order to open the fibres to ready the cloth for dyeing, it has to be scoured, which means the fabric needs to be boiled in a mixture of washing soda and soap.    Use a large pot, preferably stainless steel, and only do as much fabric as will allow movement. In my large pot I scoured 5 dishcloths, 5 tote bags...