How does your garden grow?

 

 

The early days of Spring have been an erratic affair in Melbourne this year with often very chilly 16 degree days and warm 26 degree days in the same week. It has also been incredibly windy so I've put off planting anything new and needy in favour of maintaining and re-staking existing plants. I'm also holding off on planting tomatoes until the more traditional Melbourne Cup Day but the nice weather on the weekend got the better of us so we all trundled off to the nursery to explore the seeds and seedlings.

After a few not so successful attempts with seeds in the past I like to stick to seedlings so I came home happy with my parsley, basil, mint, oregano and thyme (the rosemary I struck from a larger plant my father gave me - rosemary for remembrance). The kids carry less battle scars than me (although there were those weirdly contorted carrots we grew one year) so they opted for seeds but we all agreed that they should be for relatively quick growing things that they would actually eat.

Enter Little Gardeners seeds and their lovely Rainbow Veggie Salad mix (radishes, rainbow silver beet/ chard and carrots - we've held off on the carrots!) and some cucumber, lettuce and rocket. As you can never have enough basil we also bought some basil seeds which came impregnated in a paper disc which you just pop into the soil. I'm not at all sure where I am going to put all the resulting seedlings but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

What's growing in your garden?

The Simple Things...

Cabbage roses. What's not to love about a flower shaped like a vegetable?

The Neglected Garden...

Look at the sorry state of my neglected garden. After so many years of drought I think I'd just really given up on the whole enterprise. Not being able to water the garden except with a bucket and watching things wither and die year after year was so deflating. The only things I've really had any success with have been my herbs and a few vegies.

This winter, however, has been amazing. So much rain! Lush green grass is growing where there used to be brown, brittle little shoots - and the weeds! A small magnolia that has never flowered is suddenly abloom, the blueberry has little pink flowers and no matter how many times I pick up the dead camellia heads there always seem to be more within a few days.

I feel quite inspired!

In My Backyard...

I have a tiny backyard that scarcely accomodates a fold-out clothesline. Despite its size (or lack thereof) I've been growing a few hardy edibles there over the past couple of years - tomatoes, rhubarb, rosemary, parsley, mint, oregano and marjoram. I can't tell you the joy this little strip of garden gives me. I give it very little attention and yet it rewards me not only with delicious food but with amazing natural phenomena like truly bizarre rhubarb flowers which grow as high as the fence and wonderful St Andrews Cross Spiders that spin web that would make Charlotte proud. What's lurking in your backyard?

Four Simple Goals Update

At the beginning of September I pledged to complete Four Simple Goals by the end of the year. I've been a bit slow getting started but this weekend I finally cracked Goal no. 4 - ressurect the vegie garden. Taking advantage of this weekend's glorious Spring weather weekend we traipsed off to Bunnings to buy some seedlings, seed raising mix and compost. I wanted to plant an edible garden so we only bought things we love to eat - tomatoes (Grosse Lisse, Sweet Cherry and Roma), strawberries, blueberries, rocket and dwarf lemon and orange trees. We also planted lettuce and beetroot seeds and added mint and parsley to our herb garden. The kids had a great time planting the seeds in yoghurt pots they'd been saving all week and I'm very excited about the possibility of keeping us in blueberries over Summer. Have you ever grown blueberries before? Any tips?

Not for the faint-hearted...

We're having our house re-stumped and what an dramatic process it is. First you have to clear out under your house. This is what we found (not the blue clam shell) and now have to get rid of. Tom also found lots of bones and shoes which completely freaked him out!

Once they actually lift the house and make it level this is what happens to your walls...

...and this is what happens to your garden. Isabella cried and cried when she saw what they had done to our 'lovely' garden. In truth the garden wasn't actually much chop but they did dig up the Snapdragons she planted last season along with everything but our two rosemary bushes.

...and this is what the house looked like when we went to sleep last night (that's our bedroom wall). Look Mum no hands!

So as you can see we have a lot of work ahead of us sanding back, plastering, painting and gardening. There's no going back now...

Four Simple Goals...

Recently I visited Tracey over at Quiet Paws and saw that she had joined the Four Simple Goals project started by A Beautiful Mess. The idea behind the project is to think up four simple (easily achievable) goals that will make your life richer and happier before 2011. Who doesn't want that? So here are mine.

1. Bring music back into my life. I'm embarrassed to say that I've had an iPod since Christmas and have never really used it. I did set it up when I first got it but then I sort of forgot about it. A few months ago the radio in my car broke and I haven't replaced that either. Going back to dance classes recently reminded me how much I've been missing music in my life.

2. Buy some beautiful new bed linen. Tom and I have trouble agreeing on colours and patterns and as a result we pretty much do nothing and struggle on with whatever boring stuff we already have. Well no more I say! Beautiful soft linen here I come.

3. Get more sleep (in the bed with beautiful bed linen). The older I get the more I realise that if I don't get enough sleep over the space of a few weeks I get a bit (a lot!) ratty. With Daylight Savings just around the corner I know that Henry will be getting me up at 6am rather than 7am so this going to bed at midnight for no apparent reaon needs to stop. I'm going to aim for 10.30pm with some reading time on top.

4. Resurrect the vegie garden. I have tried, really I have but I just can't seem to keep the up the momentum. Yesterday I read that the best way to plan your garden was to make a list of things you like to eat rather than a list of plants and the lightbulb went on! So this Spring I'm going to plant tomatoes, strawberries and salad greens. I'm also going to add to my herb garden and buy a lemon tree.

Doesn't sound too hard does it? And I think I'll be happier and springy-er if I can get them all ticked off. Perhaps you'd like to play along too? More details are available at Elsie's blog here and I'll keep you posted on my progress as I reach each goal.