Even Without Love and Attention

Alright so I'm a little late... but snow peas!!!

Pretty excited about these. There are eight little sproutlings coming up. There were nine but the neighbour clipped one with his whippersnipper (;-_-)

And beetroot! Isn't he sweet? I got a hold of an heirloom mix with red, white and red and white striped tasty blobs. I also put in some carrots but they haven't come up. Sadly don't have much hope for them.

And somehow or other there's tomatoes. There were some growing when we moved in but they had worms so I pulled them out. That was a year ago. I guess there must have been some seeds hanging about ready to spring up!

It might look innocuous but this little guy is actually the devil. It's not so much that it pops up everywhere, which it does,

 

it's more that removing them is such a mission I rarely get the two inch root to come up with it!

  

Burn it! Burn it!! (((\(>o<)/)))

New Life

After such sadness with the melons I've decided to have a go with some flowers. I will plant some winter vegetables in early April but wanted to see if some pretty blossoms might take the heat off them so to speak.

So here we have candytuft, allysum, snapdragon and the ever present marigold. I cheated a little with the marigold by using some seedlings that had sprouted on their own in the garden but the rest are from seed. This was taken two days after I potted them and the allysum has already sprouted.

I also ripped out everything in all the beds and added some manure and potash. So it's a clean slate ready for some new life ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

Damn Beetles

So I've been away for two weeks for work. Essentially two stores got flooded so they sent a bunch of us up there to fix them. Was good fun, though my liver came out worse for wear.

When I came back I was greeted by a rather nasty surprise....

This tiny little beetle and all his friends managed to destroy my entire melon vine (;-_-)

So I've had to rip everything out prematurely. And now I start again!!

Life Goes On

I found a surprise in the garden!!

Marigold shoots!
The summer heat killed them all and they dried really quickly. Then we had days and days of rain. And voila!!
I've saved a dozen of them in seedling punnets. And upon closer inspection throughout the garden I found heaps of little seedlings dotted everywhere, even down the neighbours end...
Viva la marigold!

A Worm Farm

Been pondering the purchase of a composter but we simply don't have the room and with only the two of us we'd never accumulate enough material to make it viable. 

Insert brainstorm. 

Worms! It cost about the same to set up but unlike a compost heap does not require as much space, material nor turning. Also we are able to reap the benefits straight away with a little water.

 I did try taking a picture of the inside but aside from being unappealing the worms are camera shy and wouldn't comply.

So here's hoping we make excellent worm farmers!! (^^)

Everyone Talks About the Weather

Good news everyone!

It's raining. And how. It's not a happy little summer shower. Or even an unhappy summer storm. It's three days of torrential downpour. With more expected. The Rain Gods have an evil sense of humour. So from one extreme to the next we're now on flood alert.

Our current location lends to relative safety from rising waters however the lawn now looks like this

Green! It took two days for what could come back to do so. You may recognise those sticks sitting puddle adjacent. That little patch has not enjoyed the summer. 

Last time this happened the street leading out of here went under and the cars on the street were worse for wear.
So the three of us are stuck inside. Perhaps sitting around relaxing on the couch will be a pleasant couple of days. That is until the food runs out.
On that note I'm going to go construct a raft out of palm fronds and wire-ties...... 

Little Blurps of Potential

The Postie brought me a present today! Got them from diggers.com and I'm pretty excited. They were a little more expensive than you'd get at places like Bunnings. But we're talking $4 a pack with $6.50 delivery for the lot as opposed to $3 a pack and a drive. I think it's worth it for white carrots and mini capsicums!!!
(ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ

So I made another calendar!

A Bit of Mulch

Lawn clippings! Glorious lawn clippings! They've been drying in the brutal summer sun for the last week. Now they're ready to be put to use. I'm afraid it's not much to look at but it does please me and the garden.

(　＾∇＾)

Garden 1

Garden 2

Little blobs of lettuce. Probably not the best time of year to plant it but there you go.

Garden 3

 In the little pot is hopefully going to be some catgrass. And that is the chilli from the house of Hades.

 

Garden 4

I spent two hours in the sun. Granted it was during noon but I came inside with quite a hue. Summer....

o(-_-;*)

A Start in the Garden

So I've made a start in the garden. 

It's a small, long patch along the fence built into a retaining wall divided into four parts. 

The soil had been left to its own devices and sun baking for a while before I got there. Which made for a pretty hard slog.

I forgot to take the before pictures but here's one of the neighbour's end.

Behold the horror!

With a bit of compost, sheep poo and ash from our recent fire the soil has come up a treat.

I've also set up some chicken wire to support the coming crops.

Garden 1

That black thing is the solar charger for a string of LEDs I set up so I could water in the dark. And there's a monster rosemary bush off the end.

Garden 2

I started on this part November last year. The marigold flourished up to the last couple of weeks. It's been hot. SOOOOOOO hot. Even the palms are suffering. The chilli however could not be happier. There's also a couple of melons vines which are surprisingly soldiering on.

Garden 3

This is a terribly boring patch of dirt adjacent to the chilli. Which by the way came from hell. 

 

Garden 4

And yet the most boring patch......

So that's the introduction to our little garden (^^)