Africanaussie

 I am so blessed to have a hubby who supports all my crazy hobbies. and we set out over the weekend to spend our Christmas gift card on a worm farm.  It was a combined gift, but of course I made the choice and it was gardening related.!  As most of you know I am a huge fan of my tumbler, but it is getting on in age, and suddenly didn't turn very easily anymore.  Hubby drilled a couple of holes and the trusty tie wraps came out.  What on earth did we do before tie wraps were invented?   I realized I should keep the tumbler as light as possible.  My daughter in law said that they partly compost veggie peeling and kitchen waste in their tumbler and then finish it off in the worm bin.  What a great idea I thought.... so the idea of a worm farm was born.  I settled on the worm cafe as I like the flat edge design, and for now it is under the eaves right next to the tumbler.  What a great design - nothing is thrown out - even the cardboard...

  I have been interested in making baskets for  along time, and last year I purchased an online class on making baskets from the garden.  I found it really messy and required a lot of space to collect all the bits and pieces so really did not pursue it after the initial spurt of creativity.  The same school offered a course on coiled baskets which I had been greatly admiring, so I bought that course as a Christmas present to myself!  It is run by the same lady as the baskets from the garden - Ruth, who I found very easy to follow.  It is super easy to go back and check the instructions. craft school of oz Oh my!   am I hooked!  This was the first basket I created.  I made a little lid in what I considered an African design - like a rondavel, which is a "round house" This was t shirt material wrapped around string and sewn with crochet cotton. From then on, there was no stopping me.  as you know I am very keen to recycle materials in...

 Looking back I seem to now be posting once a month instead of once or twice a week.  Maybe this is my new normal.  In fact I told my daughter in Germany that since the garden is established there doesn't seem to be as much to write about as when I was designing and building up the garden.  She promptly decided to fix that!   She has signed me up to a 6 month seed delivery!   How blessed I am! How lovely that they include her note.  I received my first package and that is a fairly good choice of seeds for this time of year, although the cucumber might just get downy mildew.  I only planted half the seeds.... hedging my bets.  You never know with the wet season.   I already had some basil growing along the edge of the new long raised beds, so planted out the basil all along the edge. I think it is the same kind - Mammoth basil.   Lots of pesto in my future if they all come up.   I was speaking to my daug...

 Last Christmas my grandchildren gave me a collection of little vials of loose leaf herbal teas, in a little calico bag.   One of my favorites was blue bliss, a mix of butterfly pea, lemongrass and blue cornflowers. I was pretty excited to see butterfly pea seeds for sale at the local open gardens we had a couple of months ago.   I popped them into the new raised beds when I took out the eggplant that had reached the end of their growing season.   They took off, and pretty soon I had these amazing bright blue flowers growing up the trellis.  So exciting! I had made some cupcakes using my vegan chocolate cake recipe in some pretty little cupcake holders. I thought I had posted the recipe here on my blog, but see I have not, so I have been remiss as I think you will love it as much as I do (and everyone else that I cook it for).   I will post that recipe in the next couple of days, so watch out for it.  During the year I had purchased...

 Over time the gravel in my paths sinks down, and as I pull up weeds, the earth comes up, and it all begins to look a litle untidy and of course allows more weeds to grow. I ordered a tonne of gravel to be delivered, and of course it has kept me very busy spreading out a thin layer everywhere it is needed.   It looks different, but it is the same rock just, very ,very dusty. We also decided to open up the front a bit and include the carport as part of the garden.  It really is wasted as a carport because most vistors park out front in the visitors parking.  I dug up a few big plants (they have been there for 15 years!)  and others just wouldnt budge so they got a reprieve.   I poured boiling water over one, and then will just continue to cut back any growing shoots and see how we go.  It has been so hot and dry, so have had to continually water to establish the new plants.  I planted a Rose of sharon that I grew from a slip.  Such a...

 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...