weekend gardening

Best laid plans and all that ... we didn't get to the stairs making this weekend.


Saturday we had to get the trailer emptied to get some mulch for DH mum.  It had a couple of small square water tanks we picked up for some friends in it, so we delivered them and came back with these.

We revitalised one last year and have been on the lookout for some oldies ever since.

I did a bit of tidying up in the vege patch, staked my tomatoes etc.

I'm hanging out for my tomatoes to ripen.

Zucchini, cucumber and beans down the end, DH hanging out for his corn - I see vege patch, he sees corn!

I baked some beetroot the other night - what a hit - DS4 ate nearly the whole lot!

Good friends dropped in in the afternoon, MIL for dinner, so that was the end of Saturday!!


Sunday when DH went off to do the mulching for his mum, I started repotting and dividing plants.


This little loquat tree I posted about here is now three plants.  I divided and repotted it and gave one to my neighbour along with a pot of raspberry shootings.

Out of two raspberry plants I ended up with around twelve or more little shoots, I hope they take.

By the time we did all that, mulched all the fruit trees, another day was over.


Stairs next weekend!

finally i can feel springs on the way

Lately everyone's been talking about spring and how they can feel it just on the doorstep ..... finally I can say, I CAN TOO!!!

I just love these days.  We've still got rain on the way in a few days, but spring is definitely in the air.  The other day I heard a 'blowie' (big blowfly) in the house, you know the weathers starting to change when you can hear a blowie inside.

Today, I'm just going to post a few pics I took when I went out to welcome my 'chook children' to the day.  My dear little Matthew is at kindy today .... as I was saying goodbye to him (and giving him the biggest mummy hug) his teacher came up and asked what was wrong.  There was nothing at all wrong except, I just didn't want to let go!!

The carrots are really taking off since I fed them my special liquid chook poo!

Broccoli poking its head out to say hi to the sun.

It's just as well I never really have a plan for these cumquat's as Matthew and the birds just can't resist picking them off, especially when they're at 'little boy height'.

I longingly look at the strawberries in the supermarket ... but I'm determined to wait.

Mr Magpie quenching his thirst.

Think I'll invest in some netting this year, we didn't get one peach last year, the birds just loved them too much to share.

I watched this bee for ages, it buzzed from flower to flower for such a long time.

One of my favourite herbs - Thyme.

The lavender flowers are nearly there.

Look at the blossoms on the lime .... just bursting, and there's a few limes there too.

It was full of bees too ... they're so busy ... working, working, working!

New growth on the orange ... this was a transplanted tree that has taken a good few years to 'recover'.

And I can't wait for the gardenia to flower.  I love these .... I'm hoping with the breeze I'll smell it through the bedroom windows.

I'm thinking that's probably enough bombardment for the day.  Need to order some more seeds and get a twenty first invitation drafted for my first baby girl - who's a baby no longer!

Hope you all have a wonderful day :)

seeding away

A couple of months ago we made these awesome owls at playgroup.

As you can see, the top of the egg cartons were used and each 'end'.  I quickly gathered the centre's of the used cartons and brought them home to plant seeds in.

Matthew and I had a seed planting morning, then did a couple more rows of carrots in the vege patch.

DD2 - aka Emily - scored these Lemon Scented Tea Tree seed sticks from Uni for me, so in they went.  

She is about to become much closer to the family after today - she ran out of points and has to hand her licence in today.  You only get 4 in the first year and she got zapped for speeding twice in a week last December.  It's taken them eight months to get the notice out to her.  Guess who'll be running around after her!! Grrrrr ...

We've entered the Junior Landcare Watermelon Challenge this year.  We've done it years ago, I was reminded of it here on The Little Black Cow's lovely blog.

Matthew is eagerly awaiting his seeds, I can see the competition will be fierce, we'll have to start preparing a bed for the bestest watermelon!

Have a lovely day, I'm off to tackle the more mundane chore of ironing (yuk) :)

sunday happenings

Started the day with pancakes ... mmmm.  In the summer months we cook these out on the barbie, its so much easier and QUICKER!

1 1/4 cups self raising flour

1 1/4 cups milk

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

4 drops vanilla essence

The batch here was double the above.

Too easy!!

DD1 arrived for her Sunday visit armed with needles and wool - "Mum, can you teach me to knit again", I think she'd been inspired by the hat!  We sat, I knitted, she watched most of the time with mobile phone in hand, grrrrr, teenagers and phones, hang on, she's not a teenager anymore, she should be over it, grrrrr.

In between watching the football match that 'stopped the state', well almost, I managed to transplant some garlic and also some carrot seedlings.  The carrot seedlings have more to the point been rescued from the chook children!  They got into the vege patch and scratched up the seedling trays.  Will have to wait and see if they survive.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)

seed time

I received some herbs seeds a couple of weeks ago and finally am getting around to planting them.  I've found one of the best places in Australia is Eden Seeds.  They're fast, efficient and have a fantastic certified organic range.  They send out free catalogues and sell fantastic books as well.

After not gardening for a while, there's something special about getting into the dirt.  I love the smell, the feel of the soil, everything!

Then of course, browsing the catalogue, again.

Have a wonderful day:)

my potato planter

DH is still away and we are missing him like crazy.  Master four asks every day if its 'nine days' yet.  He rings every night and is very homesick.  He was very torn about going in the first place.  He loves fishing and would not get the opportunity to go like this for a while.

We decided to do some serious vege planting while he was away.  Unfortunately, the vege patch has been neglected for some months for all sorts of reasons.  

Today's the day we got stuck into it.  Beetroot, lettuce, beans, spinach, broccoli, cauli and potatoes.

Lucky for me I had the cutest little man to help me!!!

 

Daddy's home tomorrow, so there'll be one happy little boy ..... and one happy big mummy!

Have a wonderful weekend :)