With Christmas coming in the longest Summer days, Australia and New Zealand have a range of trees that flower spectacularly now, and so are called ‘Christmas trees’, even though most houses have a plastic or even real pine tree over the presents.
Read MoreCategory: Gardening
Sunflowers for Christmas
They’ve had a season of mixed fortunes, but by a combination of hardiness and good fortune, the sunflower beds have made it through to flowering, and will be putting on a show for Christmas.
Read MoreGrowing basil: there’s plenty of choice!
The light this morning made me stop and admire the colours of the basil. It was a bright morning after rain, and the basil is just coming into its own after surviving the dry weather. In particular the Dark Opal showed up nicely against the Holy basil. Basil has to be one of the favourite herbs to grow for the home gardener, with good reason. First of all, fresh picked basil from the garden is so much better than bought basil. Either you buy a bunch that has been battered…
Read MoreGrowing okra: another drought star.
I’m an okra growing novice. I have always liked it, and bought it when it looked good in the greengrocer, but I have never seen it growing and could possibly be the first in my family to try it. But so far I’m impressed with growing okra, as it’s stayed unwiltingly defiant through our dry spring.
Read MoreSeed saving – the spring crop.
Seed saving. It seems like everyone’s doing it, and it’s a good job for a warm and breezy Sunday afternoon. Today I got my saved seeds into ziplock bags, and it gave me new enthusiasm to get out sowing. While I think of seed saving as putting away seeds for next year, some crops like lettuce can be sowed back straight away.
Read MoreLocal fruit: Black apple, Planchonella australis
These were a complete surprise to me, but it was nice to discover a native fruit tree, the black apple, in the forest here. I discovered them by chance after following the dog when she took off into the forest.
Read MoreDig up, hoe back, rake over. Making a new garden bed
I’ve settled on a process for making new beds. I’ve tried a few ways, from no-dig, through hoeing, to digging, and for the new plots on the Mid-levels where the soil is deep, digging is definitely the way to go.
Read MoreThree sisters 4 week update
The Three Sisters bed is coming along, despite the dry weather. After my previous post, when the maize was well started, I finished off the planting with bean seeds between the maize stems, and watermelon, rockmelon, and cucumber seedlings in the spaces between the maize blocks.
Read MoreThe Mid-levels.
This last week I have been busy with my new patch, which I’m calling the Mid-levels. It’s halfway down the hill towards the dam, and the site of my new veggie garden, watered from the dam with the solar pump.
Read MoreAnd more compost.
The dry weather means I’m not digging beds so much, and as I mentioned in my last post, my thoughts turned to making more compost. My friends Phil and Lindy have a most impressive setup, with masonry bays, chutes and what have you, but they have a lot of animals and a big family. For me, it’s just important to get started, and I can upgrade later. My resources are; waste hay from the chicken pen, hay from slashing, and muck from the bottom of the dam. To make the whole…
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