Garden Stone Tutorial

This is such a lovely idea...and a nice, personalised touch for your garden or courtyard.

Image: Sunset Gurl Design 

Gardening on my mind

I have been neglecting the garden somewhat recently. Christmas/New Year is such a busy time.

Oh yes, I have been watering, but it is so darn hot here, they really need some tender loving care. Yesterday evening I watered, and watered, and watered. Afterwards I decided to transplant a few seedlings that I had been given for Christmas (thank you again!). The giver was very generous and there were absolutely heaps of seedlings in the pots. I thought I would plant them out and hopefully give most of them a fighting chance to feed us!

I could not believe it but some of the soil not so far down was bone dry still! So out came the hose again. My poor little plants. For the past couple of weeks I have been running around with beach umbrellas; putting them over sunburnt plants and chasing them across the yard as they blow away. What a sight for the neighbours! Haha.

They seem to be recovering from the heat now, little flowers on my tomatoes again and some little cherry ones have formed. I have a little, tiny green capsicum and some more little flowers. The zucchini is bushy but have not seen any more fruit just yet.

Will be out later watering and taking pictures for you all!

It's so hot, I am jealous of the lovely snowy pics I keep seeing from you Northern Hemisphere bloggers. Now to sit in front of the a/c and pretend that the weather outside is frightful, and the fire so delightful....

Salad fresh from the garden

Our garden is starting to produce more and more :) It makes me so happy.

Garden starting to produce!!! And new sprouts too.

Fun in the sun

Have the time to spend in the garden today, waiting for the right time to go down and get started.

Today I have to plant out some of my new yellow pollenless Sunflower seeds (thanks MIL), repot some of the burgeoning seedlings that are too close together, and decide which plants I will be giving away.

I'm a newbie, so of couse had seed fever when I got my seeds; planted far too many of everything. Now they are fighting for space and I realise if they all survive, my potted container garden will be a market garden of some nature. I have a big family and some friends that won't mind adopting a plant or two, so they won't go to waste. The ones I have the most of are cabbage and silverbeet. I swear I only planted so many and they had a mutant party and split into many more!

The carrots really need to be thinned out, I found it really hard to get the right number of seed planted. They are just so tiny. It seems a waste to just thin them out, but I tried transplating some with no luck.

Next time I plant carrots (or other tiny seeds), I am going to try making my own seed tape. Check out this link to see how.

My vegie garden

My garden is coming along really well. It's all growing quite well...at the moment I have the following growing, all in pots:

1. Broad Beans (x4)
2. Cabbages
3. Tomatoes (Black Russian, Tommy Toe Sweeties, Beefsteak)
4. Bok Choy
5. Carrots
6. Basil
7. Beetroot
8. Lettuce
9. Silverbeet
10. Passionfruit
11. Chives
12. Potatoes (4 different 'mystery' varieties) - these are in hessian bags
13. Cucumbers
14. Rescued lime tree, starting to look more like a tree than a stick now :D

They are mostly all at the seedling stage now, but I am ever hopeful I will have sucessful crops. Most have been planted 4-6 weeks ago. If they do all survive, we will be well on the way towards a more self sufficient lifestyle.

Hmmm I think that's it, will post pictures soon!

Black Thumb...?

I've always had the touch of death when it comes to gardening. In the past I've put in some effort in starts and stops with flowers and pre potted herbs.

I've managed to kill a lot of plants by either neglect or love (over watering etc).

Recently, I've had a resurgence of interest in growing plants (fruit/vegetables mostly) since a friend posted a video of the Dervaes family and their little patch of earth.

Their website is http://www.pathtofreedom.com/, I suggest you watch the following videos first as it really gives you a good idea of what they are about.

You can check them out at http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=7gmoxbqqof and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q.

Whether or not you share their political ideas, a lot of what they say hits home. More of us should be growing our own food. In the old days, EVERYONE had a vegie garden. It was the odd person that didn't.

Also, what they grow with their little block is AMAZING. Wow.

If you consider the environmental impact, if more people had a few plants growing at home, think about the distance and 'carbon' that would be saved.

Fiscally, in these turbulent times, it also makes sense. Why am I paying $3 for fresh cut basil at the supermarket when I could grow it just outside my kitchen?

So I'm really going to put some effort in. I want to grow tomatoes, beans, herbs and some sort of vine (I'm thinking passionfruit/chokoes) to start. If I can get them going, I'll definitely add more. I've enlisted the help of my MIL who is a great gardener so hopefully I CAN DO THIS!!!

I will update you on my progress *fingers crossed*