The Barefoot Gardener

So Long Between Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:05:00 +0000

Since last summer I have been so dejected with my garden. The extreme heat killed everything last year. I haven't even been game to weed. With winter, has come enough cool weather and moisture for stuff to start growing again. Any greenery is good as far as I'm concerned.

So what has actually been happening in my garden? Besides the weeds, there has been plenty that has self-seeded. Open pollinated seeds are wonderful things. With absolute neglect and chicken invasion (we moved the coop, and it is STILL not secure), we have plenty of silver beet, mustard, carrots, onions, dill, leeks, lettuces, wheat, oats, marigolds and parsnips growing. And that is just what I can see at a glance. I'm not really game to get out there and hunt around too much, otherwise the chickens will follow behind and dig up all the goodies.

We also have masses of stinging nettles. These are great to dig back into the garden as a green manure, but I prefer to eat them. Most people look at me like I'm a martian when I mention that stinging nettles are one of my favourite vegetables. The first obvious question is: "Doesn't it sting when you eat it?"

No, stinging nettles don't sting when you eat them, but that is only after it has been plunged into boiling water. Both this and vinegar neutralise the sting. Of course, picking it and preparing it is quite a treacherous path. I once picked nettles while wearing those thin latex gloves - even through two pairs, you will get stung! I had to soak my hands in vinegar, rather than the usual quick wipe over. To pick nettles you need thick rubber gloves. The ones you buy to wash dishes with are perfect.

So what do you do with the nettles, once they are picked? Besides washing them thoroughly, they can be cooked and used in place of spinach or silver beet. The flavour is far superior to either of these greens. My favourite recipe is a greek one that involves homemade filo, fetta, onions, dill and nettles. You mix up everything and roll it up in the filo. It is then baked in the oven and eaten warm - YUMMO!

It's Been a While.....

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:04:00 +0000

...since I have blogged. To be perfectly honest, with the drought killing my garden, there hasn't been much to report home about.

But today we took a drive up through Kinglake and Flowerdale for the first time since Black Saturday. And to use a much used phrase, nothing can prepare you for it. You would think after all this time, there would be a bit more greenery, but there's not. Surprisingly though every little spot of green is a pure marvel - greener than any green you have ever seen. It's not until you drive out the other side before you realise that the green is still washed out, drought riddled and not the colour of Ireland at all.

It's hard to describe that first sight of burning on the mountain you have always known, you see it from a distance long before you see the scarred bits. The first sight is through trees and you aren't quite sure if you saw it or not - the skeletons of trees. Then as you drive out of Whittlesea, the first signs become apparent, I didn't realise how close it actually got to the town. Your breath catches and your eyes sting as the tears are held back. There is no relief as you climb up into the mountain, every tree is burnt, there is not enough cover. Normally the trees hug you close and you feel sheltered, not today!

Today I saw right through the trees to parts of the mountain I never knew existed, it was like peering into a persons soul and seeing all the secrets they never wanted revealed. There is a long stretch of the road that winds through, and then the houses appear. I am surprised to see them standing, some have rows of burnt trees so close that you wonder if a God does exist and why he chose to save this house and not the one next to it? Truly there is nothing sadder than a lone chimney, standing nude on the hill, no longer protected by its house.

We drove through Kinglake, we saw the houses missing, we saw the shops missing, we saw a lone blanket on the side of the road and we saw the occasional puddle of metal that was once part of a car. But what we were most eager to see was Flowerdale, you see, we very nearly wound up living there a few years back. As were drove in, the shape of the hills felt right, but nothing was where it should be. So many of the familiar houses were gone. Then we realised that the empty spot we were staring at was the remains of one of the houses we inspected. Which meant that on the other side of the road was the farm we were outbid on. What we saw was the remains of a shed - that was it. It is very humbling to know that we escaped death and we didn't even know it. I am so thankful to know that the people who did buy the farm were part time farmers, and they would probably not have been there on the day.

Actually, there is something sadder than the lone chimneys, and that is the dents in the safety barriers. Three months on and the roads are cleared of all the horrors that were presented to us on the news, in the papers, on YouTube. But nothing can hide the fact that these dents were caused by trees, great big trees that fell. Great big trees that fell and then prevented people from fleeing the mountain. Each one of these dents represents people who lost their lives. And seeing them over and over again does not ease the pain, it just makes it more obvious just how horrific it was up the mountain on Black Saturday.

Victorian Bushfires

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Last Saturday we lost power due to the extreme heat. It was the hottest day on Victorian record. I had been checking the CFA website all day as I have relatives and friends who live in rural areas. All was fine as we packed up and headed to my in laws for dinner. An hour and a half later we arrived home to discover that Kinglake, Marysville and Narbethong had been wiped off the map.

It's hard to describe exactly how I felt. Four days on and I still don't believe it. Saturday night though, was spent staring at the CFA website. They were filling in fires so quickly that only the suburb was listed. We still have friends we haven't heard from since Saturday. While our immediate family is safe, we are still in mourning over the loss of lives. We still can't believe that something of this magnitude could happen in our backyard.

I watch the world news and stare in disbelief as globally Kinglake is bought to the world, and the irony that this has happened because there is no longer anything there. I listen to the stories that friends tell me of people who escaped, their friends, their families, their colleagues. We hear of the stories of their friends, families and colleagues who didn't make it. It rips my heart from my soul to hear these unbelievable stories. These horror stories, these stories that will go down in history along with the worst natural disaster this country has ever seen.

As I write this, the winds are picking up again. By Friday they are expecting the fires to break containment lines. I wonder when the horror will end. I wonder which other towns will be wiped from the map, how many more lives will be lost.

Summer Heat

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Today is the third day in a row that Melbourne has recorded temperatures in the 40s. It's a new record apparently. Some people seem to get excited over things like that.

For me, though, I just peek out of the window every so often and watch another plant dry to a crisp. Occasionally I venture outside in the heat that is so hot and dry that you don't even sweat. So far we haven't lost any chickens, but I watch and I worry as they hang their wings and pant until they cough. There are no fire threats near us, but we are buffered in suburbia. Still I worry.

Two years ago we breathed the smoke and haze for days as the closest national park burned. It was terrifying even though we live half and hours drive away. I feared for the people who lived through it, who fought for their properties, who rescued injured animals, who saved lives. How they managed through all the smoke, I do not know. It was hard for us to breathe and we were no where near the danger zone.

Today I smell the air as I feed the chooks and while there is no smoke on it, it smells very much like it would the second before a flame erupts. Everywhere I look, I see parched and barren ground, the very skeleton of the earth baring its soul. I fear I will lose at least one of our orange trees, many of my vines are dead and gone already. Beans hang on a vine that has dehydrated beyond redemption. I suspect all I may be left with are the corn and tomatoes and the dill that scents the air as I hang out clothes that are dry before they are pegged.

When will winter come?

Garden Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:22:00 +0000

I was a bit trigger happy with the camera this morning:

Our first ever batch of apples. This variety is Golden Delicious

Romanesco zucchinis. They appear to be EVEN more rampant than the common black variety - Yikes!!

Our first batch of grapes - I'm pretty sure this is a green table variety

Amish Paste tomatoes - these are third generation, so they grow exceptionally well now in our garden

The completed dome on the wood fire oven. Now all that is let to do is a layer of fire blanket and rendering!

"Changing Climate, Changing Times"

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Last night on TV I came across a program on SBS entitled "Changing Climate, Changing Times." It looked right up my alley so settled in with a glass of wine...

I must say, I was a little disappointed with the overall tone of the movie. It was set in the year 2075 and showed the possible changes that global warming could bring and how humans might handle them. While it was optimistic in that it assumed that the world would stay populated (unlike some who believe that a few more degrees will be the very death of us and our civilisation), it also assumed that we would be miserable with the change. It showed fields filled with wind turbines and solar panels, yet the narrator still pinned for oil and the use of a car.

Are we really that shallow that we cannot see we made a mistake with the mass consumption of a finite product that took our mother earth millions of years to develop? Why do many people seem to think renewable resources are a step backwards? After watching people go back to using horse and their feet for transport(remember those funny little bony things attached to the ends of your legs - they aren't just there to stop you from falling over), I wonder why we don't see fossil fuel as a step backwards. Or perhaps an interesting little diversion from evolution. A detour we took to see if the journey would be any shorter - and in the earths case - it just may have been.

Mmmm...Apples...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:59:00 +0000

For anyone who has ever wondered whether harvesting is an instinct or a developed trait need look no further than this post. I have answered the age old question of instinct vs learnt response by simply walking past my apple tree tonight.

This is the first year we have had apples grow on one of our apple trees. As I was wandering around outside sticky nosing in and about my garden to see what had changed since this morning, I caught a scent on the air. It was the wonderful aroma of apples - you know the smell. When you wander past the fruit shop and you just feel the urge to buy an apple, or when you open up the pantry and the smell of fruit spills out to greet you. It was this very smell of fragrant apple that made my mind instantly fly into a panic! I had the almighty sudden urge to rip the apple from the tree and scurry inside with it to hide somewhere safe and dark and cool.

I would imagine that it is this very same thought that set peasants a-gathering many many centuries ago. Of course the apples are not ripe yet, it is only the middle of summer. I dread to think how I will be come harvest time in autumn. I hope I even make it that far!

Update on the Wood Fired oven...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:14:00 +0000

A few months back I reported that my wonderful hubby was starting a wood fired oven. He has been hard at work since then. Below are some photos he has taken of his journey. Fingers crossed, the oven should be finished by next weekend :-)

This photo shows the completed base

The base plus the insulation layer

This photo shows the oven floor and the door

The dome mould made out of brickies sand

The completed dome mould covered in plastic. Several courses of brick have been done. The chimney has also been added

Attack of the Killer Weeds

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:52:00 +0000

Not long ago I posted about all the glorious rain we have had. Now all that rain has well and truly sunk in. Besides sending all my seedlings into fits of growth, it has 'encouraged' the weeds to come out of their shells. I have a couch grass problem at the best of times - now to use the term problem is a gross understatement! This morning I got out there and started to weed. I was amazed at all the plants growing so well underneath the shade of the monsters I was removing. And I certainly wouldn't be exaggerating when I describe the process as a nature versus human tug-o-war. Some couch runners where taller than me! :-/ At least I can now see my tomatoes and butter beans. I haven't finished weeding by any stretch of the imagination, but if I do a bit day by day, the chooks should produce some wonderful eggs.

And So It begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:19:00 +0000

It always seems to suddenly bound upon us every year - that time when we go from impatiently waiting for everything to grow, to ACTUALLY eating stuff! A few weeks back it started with the cherries. A week or so after that I noticed the birds starting to eat the apricots, so I picked them. They were very small but extremely tasty. For our first year of fruit we did really well with a bowlful. Then it was time for the white peaches to picked. Although this happened a little earlier than expected when the weight of the fruit and the strong winds broke a large branch of it. The fruit happily ripened inside on the kitchen bench though :-)

In amongst all this fruit eating, the vegetables have almost gone unnoticed. After checking the garden though, we are now eating the first zucchinis, loads of broccoli, plenty of fresh herbs and loose lettuce leaves.

{Sigh} Life certainly doesn't get any better than this!

And So Cometh The Rains...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:16:00 +0000

...40-50mms of the glorious stuff! It was music to my ears even if I did have to be in the city this weekend wearing nothing but a party frock. Two days on and there is STILL puddles and mud. Over the past year, even when we do get a good rain, the ground is so parched that it sucks away the moisture and within 24 hours everything is barren and dry and the ground cracks open again. I really don't believe this is the end of the drought (no matter how much those city folk complain about the amount of rain and how even 40mms won't shut up the whinging farmers), but it's a nice little topper to our dams and a short reprieve from the nasty fire season we are all expecting this year.

Summer has Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:42:00 +0000

We have had a real cold snap this last week. Saturday it was as bleak as it comes. We had thunderstorms and hail all day. Tuesday, on the other hand dawned clear and pure. The day warmed quickly and by the end of it, the sky had that dusty, slightly bleached look that only summer can bring. It may be a week early, but summer has arrived.

I don't know how to feel about that yet. While I simply ADORE all the fruit that only good heat can bring, I worry eternally about the levels of our dams. Our government has decided that instead of biting the bullet and bringing tougher water restrictions to the metropolitan areas, they have {ahem} suggested that we all bear the burden and try to aim for 155 litres water consumption per person per day. I've never heard any thing more stupid in all my life. We have been battling a dought for years now, our dams are below half full and anyone who cares about mother nature has reduced their water consumption at least 3 years ago. Most of us that care are well below the suggested water consumption anyway. The people left fall into two categories - those who don't care and business. No one in these groups are going to voluntarily reduce their water consumption!

So what do we do? Do we sit back and wait for our water to run out?

And so Begins the Great Cherrytree Wars...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:47:00 +0000

It is that time of year again when I arm myself with as many old wives tales as possible and head on outside to with a very large stick to defend the right for the cherries on my tree to mature and ripen into the correct eating age. Last year I didn't have the heart to do it and let nature run its course. The result was that we ate not a single cherry.

Cherries are a passion of mine. And like peaches, I refuse to purchase them from the shop. I wait patiently and watch the trees bloom and develop and mature. I am addicted to anticipation I think. I cannot stand to eat a shop bought cherry or peach because there is no anticipation what so ever involved with walking into a shop and buying it. For me I need to dream about their maturity. To me the first plucked cherry from the tree is like (I would imagine) a glass of the most expensive champagne.

So last week I hung old CDs in the cherry tree. The theory is that birds don't like the constant flashing created by the sun hitting the discs. Since I only had a couple of old CDs, I also hung up some plastic bags. This creates annoying noise and constant movement when the wind blows. Really good ideas I thought - then the birds moved in! Just as the cherries were moving from a pink blush to a more embarrassing shade of red.

Today I am trying a different approach. Today I will be tying the plastic bags around the bunches of cherries. So out there I went with an armload of bags to discover that there were a LOT more cherries in the tree than I first suspected!

Oh joy of joys - it looks like I just may be getting my first real taste of cherries this year after all!!

Woo-Hoo! I Scored the Spring Flush

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:35:00 +0000

All of the seedlings I planted from the last post have sprung from the ground at such a rate that you would suspect steriods were involved. Somehow I managed to get lucky and plant them all just before the spring flush. This occurs every year, but since I had missed it every time, it had taken on a mythical, urban legend feeling to me. But no, it exists! And as a result I have vines now instead of seedlings. They are still quite small, but considering I only planted them a week or so ago, it appears that a miracle has been performed in my garden.

With all this wonderful growth has also come the October rains. Yes, I know it's November, but every year here we get rains late in October. They just came little later this year. With all the talk of an especially bad bush fire season, it was only to be expected that they would be delayed - or nonexistant. I'm just glad it's not the later option :-)

But with all this wonderful plant growth has come the realisation that I will have to hook up my greywater system this weekend. It consists of a long black hose that leads from my laundry tub, out the window and down into a green wheelie bin. Because our laundry is up so high, I only have the option of saving the entire load of water everytime. This is not ideal for vegie gardens because of the high contaminant levels in the first lot of water. So long as I water only the ground and don't splash any water up onto the plants, it all should be fine. I can understand why people shy away from encourageing greywater use on food gardens, but so long as people are really careful in what they are doing, then there shouldn't be a problem. Of course, if anyone in the family gets ill why we are using greywater, then their clothes are washed seperately and the water in not used on the garden.

Planting Frenzy

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:18:00 +0000

The other day I ever so quietly snuck out into the garden. In one hand I had a small spade, and in the other a handful of pumpkin seedlings. While no one was watching I planted them in a mad flurry. Shhh...next in went some spaghetti squashes and ten cucumber seedlings. Heaven's knows what we will do with TEN vines of cucumbers come February. Especially since the next lot of seedlings to go in were 8 Lebanese cucumbers!!

Yes, it is THAT time of year again. I am planting like it is going out of style. Like a silent maniac I also planted the following:

*Hale's best rock melon (6 seedlings)
*Sugar baby watermelon (8 seedlings)
*Fenugreek (loads)
*Luffa (6 seedlings)
*Romanesco zucchini (only 1 seedling, but next to 9 other established ones)
*Amish paste tomatoes (5 seedlings)
*Nigella (about 6 or so)
*Cos lettuce (12 seedlings)
*Some more lettuce, but this lot from the neighbour (LOADS of these went in)

I think that if the recession really does hit, I just may be able to feed the ENTIRE street. Well, I would like to think so anyway :-)

As I gardened, I noticed that my broccoli has started to head. I had to smile at this. Everyone told me I was planting them at the wrong time of the year. For two years running I have planted broccoli at the 'right' time of the year. Each time it resulted in no crop what so ever. So I went with my gut instinct this year and planted them when ever I damn well felt like it!

Tomorrow I think I will plant some more. I still have basil and apple cucumbers and poppies and more lettuces and tomatoes and...

Cold Snap

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Last Saturday it was 32 degrees! Ever since then it has been cold enough to have to turn the heater on of an evening. Ditto the electric blanket.

Of course this is typical, you see on the weekend I planted out all my Curcurbitae seedlings. So now for the entire week I have been torn between rushing out of a morning to check on my precious little babies and desperately hiding away and hoping that by not looking at them they won't die.

Every year this seems to happen. The last frost passes and I get the urge to plant, and then a cold snap hits. So far, I haven't lost anything, but I'm not entirely convinced that they will all survive if the cold weather lasts much longer.

Today I am looking out at sunshine (even though I still had the heater on until 10.00am this morning), I feel bad to be smiling at the heat, because in all this cold weather, we actually had very little rain. The ground is so dry out there that even with the overcast skies and the morning dews, I was still watering seedlings that were sagging in the parched ground.

{sigh} I guess it's only human nature that we are never happy with what we have...

Seed Saving

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:09:00 +0000

A big part of our vegie growing venture involves saving our seed from year to year. Well - in theory anyway. I have a lot of leek and carrot seeds - most of which are cooling their heels along the side of the house where I plucked them from the earth and then dumped them until I had more time on my hands to process them. There they patiently wait, sighing as they watch the rest of the garden grow. The oats reseeded themselves from the pile I pulled up and left to dry. Luckily my silverbeet, marigolds and borage self seed themselves at will all over the place (sometimes I have fantasies about neighbours eating our self sown silverbeet).

Recently though I collected pak choi seed. For some strange reason I adore collecting brassica seed. The pods, when dry, split so easily and the seed slips right out - quite often overshooting the collection bowl. I always smile in following months when I find little plants popping up from where I last collected seed. This time I sat at the front step and listened to the little wrens flit through the fernery. In a few months time no doubt I will be collecting pak choi without even having to step foot onto bare earth.

This morning I collected great big heads of wheat. We have grand plans of growing enough wheat to make our own flour. But right now the wheat is propped up against the cherry tree, drying. Somehow I think this wheat may be sending its roots down there rather than getting ground into flour - I may be wrong...but then again, I know myself too well...

True Love!

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:01:00 +0000

I know now that there is no one else for me - not after my hubby spoilt me rotten. Most women prefer diamonds or flowers. Me, well I prefer what my husband came home with on the weekend - a basket full of vegetable seedlings! I had been busy planting seedlings I had raised from seed so that I could fill the seed trays with even more seeds. Right at the moment when I decided that it would be nice to be planting out tomato plants that were bigger than an inch tall, in walks my hubby with two flowering Black Russian and one Beefsteak tomato. He also bought me two more Hokawase strawberry plants and a small Habenaro chilli. Heaven!

Besides planting vegetables, I have also been weeding my herb patch. It has been the best year ever for Borage and as a result, I have had to clear the entire herb garden of its wonderful blue flowers. Now I have room to plant out all the spices I have attempted to grow after raiding my spice jars in the kitchen. My SIL was amazed the other day when I handed her kids a bag full of kidney beans. She thought you could only eat the ones you bought from the supermarket. But using seed purchased from the supermarket is often an excellent way to obtain cheap seed. Mustard can be grown from the seed from the shops, so can lentils and caraway and lima beans. In fact, after raiding hte spice rack, I am attempting to grow: Cumin, Green Pepper, Fenugreek (this is sprouting after only two days), Cardamon, Fennel, Caraway, Poppy, Coriander and Nigella.

'The Happy Minimalist' by Peter Lawrence

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:07:00 +0000

Recently I was approached by the author of the book 'The Happy Minimalist' to review it here on my blog. I have been approached in the past to review books on many varied topics, but have refused due to the fact that I haven't been too keen on their content. This time though is different.

The author Peter Lawrence, has come from a simple beginning. He was born in Singapore and has now retired (at a wonderfully early age due to his minimalist lifestyle) in the USA. In between that he has gathered degrees from universities in two different countries and lived the very life that has led to the publication of his book.

He discusses not only how to be happy in a life that contains the minimum of material wealth, but how important it is for us to live this way. While many people before Peter have written books on how to live a happy and simple life (Living The Good Life by Linda Cockburn springs straight to mind), this book explains more fully why we must as a whole change our very attitude to the unsustainable lifestyle so many of us in the western world lead today.

And thanks to the kind permission of Peter, I am able to include an excerpt from his book. I think this first paragraph sums up nicely both the book itself and the very lifestyle that myself and many others are now trying so desperately to live by:

What is a Minimalist?

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary explains it as:

1. an advocate or practitioner of minimal art or music
2. an advocate of moderate political reform

My scope of a minimalist is broader than the typical dictionary definition. I describe a minimalist as a person who minimizes everything and anything to what is absolutely necessary. According to Greek philosopher Epicurus, whose thinking encapsulates my view, the troubles entailed by maintaining an extravagant lifestyle tend to outweigh the pleasure of enjoying that lifestyle. He recommended that what was necessary for life and happiness be maintained at minimal cost, believing that anything beyond what is necessary should either be tempered by moderation or completely avoided.

Unfortunately the book is not yet available here in Australia. It can however be purchased via Peter's website or at Amazon

How Many Seeds are Too Many?

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:31:00 +0000

I sorted out all my seeds. There are now 3 containers, one is for seed packets, another is for seeds to be planted out, and the last is for the empty packets that will eventually be filled with saved seed. This organising inspired me to plant the following:

*Butternut Pumpkin
*Extra Early Sweet Corn
Super Sweet Bicolour Corn
*Hollow Crown Parsnip
*Romanesco Zucchini
*Spaghetti Squash
*Luffa
*Pickling Cucumber
*Lebanese Cucumber
*Sunflowers

If anyone has been paying close attention to my recent plantings, you will notice that if all the seeds I have planted recently germinate (actually, if only 20% germinate), then I should have a bumper crop this year. That is of course if I can hack my way through the vines at my front door and actually get to the garden.

I also made Impossible pie for lunch. If you have never heard of this, then it could be basically described as a quiche once it is cooked. The bit that makes it amazing (or impossible), is that all the ingredients are mixed together and poured into a pie dish. Due to the some strange and mysterious reaction that occurs, the ingredients actually separate out so you are left with a pastry crust and a quiche on top - amazing stuff! This one was wonderfully homegrown. It had eggs from our chooks and greens from the garden and tasted so wholesome you could have sworn it had came right out of an Amish kitchen.

And So The Insanity Continues...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:03:00 +0000

It was wonderfully warm today - warm enough to wear a t shirt at 8.30 in the morning. Warm enough to lay in the grass and make pictures in the clouds. And warm enough to bury my hands in the dirt once again. I planted the following seeds today:

*Sweet delight capsicum
*Hot chilli pepper
*Dill
*Bush champion cucumber
*Hale's best rockmelon
*Sweetie tomatoes

I finally finished weeding the monster weeds down the back and planted in all my pumpkin seeds: Jen's bush pumpkin, Kent and an unknown variety that I saved from a pumpkin a few years back.

The celery seedlings got planted, so did my one remaining passionfruit and two alpine strawberries. Last, but not least, I planted out two heads of garlic.

Now I just need to hook up my greywater system to the washing machine, and I should have enough water for it all...

Just a Rant...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:55:00 +0000

With all this talk of global warming, carbon offsets, climate change and greenhouse emissions, I am wondering what is so wonderfully great with the human lifestyle of today that the government seem to reinforce? We live in a society today that does not notice an old lady who died alone in her house. Nobody knows who their neighbours are nor what they have been up to. Depression and mental illness is skyrocketing but ironically no one seems to care. Debt is rising, yet everyone seems to own a mobile phone - we are always contactable but eternally alone is a world that speeds on by. We have all these labour saving devices but are left with no time to ourselves. Obesity is rampant, yet we have no time to exercise.

So what, I ask the government, is so truly wonderful about all this? Why do you insist on maintaining our current lifestyle and try desperately to fit the climate change challenges around the misery? Humans are funny beings, we are known to be highly intelligent and have proven time and again throughout the course of history that our brains are incredibly adaptable. Yet, and history once again shows us, we are as stubborn as a mule when it comes to voluntary change.

What are we all scared of? That life could get worse? And yet, that is the way we are headed if we remain with our heads in the sand as we wait for the government of today to decide how much change is enough to maintain this miserable existence.

Spring Tides

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:41:00 +0000

At the moment I can feel the Spring tides rising through me like the sap is rising through our fruit trees out the back. Without rhyme nor reason, I can be found at any given spare moment digging holes, or sprinkling seeds or pulling up weeds. I actually don't think I could control myself - even if I wanted to. It's the same year in and year out, spring comes and I just have to drop everything to get busy in the garden.

Last week my daughter and I sprinkled flower seeds everywhere, hopefully summer will see sunflowers and zinnias and poppies and a dozen other types of flowers. Of course I say 'hopefully' as spring has brought about the completion of the moult for our chooks and they are now freely flying over any fence in sight to get to the aforementioned seeds

After the flower planting frenzy, I moved onto my summer edibles. I think it's too early down here for watermelons, zucchinis, snake beans and cucumbers yet, but they have been planted anyway. Ditto tomatoes...and by tomatoes, I actually planted out half of my saved seed! Corn has gone in as well. I still haven't planted all of the packets from the other week, but I have made a big dent in them.

A few days after that planting, I pulled out my seed boxes and sorted them all. As a result, the following seeds also got planted:

*Lettuce - Cos and Australian yellow leaf
*Cucumbers - Lebanese and Pickling
*Gourds - not sure on they type, maybe Bottle
*Rockmelon
*Nasturtiums
*Capsicum
*Butternut pumpkin

I also started clearing away the weeds from down where the chicken coop was last year. I can now attest to how well plants grow on chook poo - these weeds were like prehistoric creatures that fought valiantly as I hacked them from the earth. This patch is where I am going to plant the bulk of my pumpkins this year. They can just ample all over the place down there without the fear of them engulfing the rest of the garden, or any small children for that matter...

Officially it's Spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:19:00 +0000

Although, as I have been saying, really it has been spring now for weeks. It doesn't stop that wonderful feeling of promise though. It's as if the plants can read and have watched through the window as we ceremoniously turned the page over on the calender this morning. There is a new electricity in the air that just wasn't there yesterday. I went shopping on Friday in anticipation of this feeling. This year I plan to limit the variety that I grow, but what I do grow - I will grow in bulk. Therefore I can now justify the four packets of corn seed I bought, as well as a packet each of zucchini and watermelon.

So with the new season, the peach blossom has dropped, in perfect time to plant out the mother load of seed. I'm not so sure it really is the right time to be planting corn, because even though the blossom has dropped - it is only on selected trees. It looks like all the trees that we planted last year, and have shallow root systems have welcomed in the season early. The older (and possibly wiser) trees are only just coming into bloom over the last few days. It will be weeks yet before they drop their blossom. To compensate for this, I have decided to buy another four packets of corn seed and plant that lot when my older peach trees do drop.

{cough} corn glut...

Well, here's hoping anyway...

Seedlings, Seedlings Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Nut) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:45:00 +0000

On the weekend we went to our local market. It's a lovely place, situated on the side of a hill and in amongst a carpark (I know that doesn't make it sound anywhere near as lovely as what it really us). Anyway, we were on the hunt for a new Nelly Kelly passionfruit vine - hopefully one that I can't kill this year ;-) But what we ended up coming home with was ten enormous brocolli seedlings. They are just beautiful! I mentioned recently that I was missing the wonderful taste of homegrown brocolli, and once I saw these beauties, i just knew i had to have them. They are big enough that the snails won't devour them before I do :-)

On the way home we called into my inlaws to collect some bricks for our outdoor oven. In the process, my father inlaw gave me some celery seedlings - more yummo! Three days later and the snails still haven't noticed them, so maybe I will also get lucky with these ones.

My husband also came across the most beautiful door for our oven too. It has come off an old woodfire oven that was ready for the scrapheap. The door though is perfect, not a spot of rust anywhere. It actually has two doors on it, one with a flat tray - so that will be perfect for my Naan bread.

So overall - we had a really lucky weekend!