Autumn/Winter Garden: Spinach

A very overcast & cold day today, but no rain, so out into the garden I went. Today I planted spinach. I went down all by myself, which was nice & peaceful. Little helper came with me to buy the spinach seedlings but didn't want to garden & sometimes, that's nice too.

Firstly, I watered everything & dug up some soil to mound up for the spinach. I tried my hand at tench composting a few months ago & I tried to collect that beautiful soil for my spinach. I sadly stopped trench composting soon after I started it as I couldn't stand collecting all the scraps. After about a week the scraps were awful & the bucket they were in was so, so awful & I just couldn't bare cleaning it out all the time, so I stopped. I will be buying a proper compost bin at some stage because I really want to compost & not send all that goodness to landfill.

Next, I started to separate the seedlings. While doing this it occurred to me that this spinach plant was just one, more advanced spinach plant & I was trying to separate it!! Well, I ended up with one bunch & two sad looking smaller plants. Geez, I don't have much hope for these plants after I hacked away at them, but we'll see!

In they went, still looking sad.

Look at how gorgeous my sugar snap pea's are! So happy with them.

 

Now that they have grown to a decent height, it's mulch time. I mulched them with pea straw.

I opened the packet up side down. Hehe

Mulched around the sad spinach as well.

Spinach & sugar snap peas, all mulched well with pea mulch.

My garlic is looking great! Can't believe how fast it's sprung up.

Mulched the garlic as well.

My parsley, grown from my Nonna's seeds is growing so beautifully. I have added it to many meals over the months.

And little helpers little flower has sprouted this week as well. He'll be very happy to see this next time we are in the garden together.

Here is my veggie patch today. Snow peas, parsley, garlic, spring onions, silver beet, nasturtium, spinach & sugar snap peas. Getting full now.

 

Thanks for reading,

Bel

Magestic Japanese Maples at Cloudehill Gardens

I have talked about Cloudehill gardens on my blog before. They are the most amazing, breathtaking gardens. The main reason I decided to visit these stunning gardens was to see their much talked about weeping Japanese maples. Cloudehill have 2 prized 'acer palmatum 'dissectum atropurpureum' on display that are so superb, you have to see them to believe it. They have gorgeous coppery red foliage & are huge! They were given as a gift by the Japanese in 1928! They have been pruned over the years in such a way that they are considered living sculptures.

When I visited the gardens, I made sure I took photos of them. Here are two with little helper in front so you can see just how big they are

 

Here's a photo of the inside of the branches & what the trunk looks like. Look how the trunk & main branches are all curly looking after so many years of growing & strengthening & ageing. Spectacular trees. I love the under planting & the little Japanese touches in the torch & statue.

Here they are side by side in all their majestic glory.

 

 

I'm thinking I might buy this variety when we own our own home down the track. There are so many Japanese maple varieties, it's so hard to choose!

Thanks for reading,

Bel

Autum/Winter Veggie Patch: Spring onions

Got back into the veggie patch this afternoon. Today I planted spring onions. I've never grown them before so I did a little research & followed the directions on the seed packet & away I went!

So, this is what little helper & I got up to today in the garden.

We started off checking out how our garlic, peas & silver beet seeds were going that we planted last week.

Garlic shoots have sprung up.

Snow peas have just sprouted. Can you see that tiny green sprout? Still all curled up & seed like.

Then on to the silver beet. Tiny seedlings have already appeared. Thought I'd thin them out a little as I sowed the seeds in clumps. Not sure if it's too early to do this but it's done! Sometimes I like to just go with what I feel with gardening & see what happens. I'm a bit over hard & fast rules at the moment. Seems to be a trend these days. So does unnecessary anxiety!

My sugar snap pea seedlings are looking gorgeous. I mulched them a few days ago with pea mulch & sprinkled some snail pellets around. I lost many seedlings last season due to slugs & snails so this time I put down some pellets. I bought the ones that break down & add nutrients to your soil, so it seems to be win win.

I did lose one pea seedling thanks to my Siamese cat Monty. He ate it. Damn cat!

Next up, little helper watered all the new growth & while doing that, softened & moistened the soil ready for some spring onion seed sowing. He gave himself a bit of a watering as well!

 

A little bit of hose dropping.

 

 

Next I dug up a section of soil to sow my seeds in. I decided to put the spring onion next to the peas & garlic. I've since realised that onions don't like to be next to peas (opps!) This is what happens when your baby has been cranky all afternoon & you hurry down to the garden for 30 minutes on a whim while your husband is dancing around the loungeoom with said cranky baby! Might need to plan a bit better next time! At least I'll find out what in fact happens when you don't companion plant properly.

Soil is all loosened. Now to add some lime. Apparently spring onions benefit from a bit of lime in the soil. Lime lowers the acidity of the soil & spring onions like some acidity, but not too much. So on went a handful of lime.

I then mixed it all through with my hands so it was evenly distributed. I then made 2 little trenches as shown below.

I then added some fertiliser to the bottom of the little trenches & then backfilled them with soil. Apparently spring onion like all this & I will provide. I want them to be happy, so they can make me happy, by feeding me & my family!

Dymanic lifter pellets. It's all the non liquid fertiliser I had, so hopefully it will do!

I then made a long, very shallow indent in the soil with my finger & sprinkled in the tiny seeds. I have learned by my mistakes that small seeds need be barley covered in soil or they won't grow! Spring onion seeds are tiny, so I lightly sprinkled soil over them & lightly patted it down.

All done! Little helper didn't want to sow the seeds this time, he was just a spectator.

Here is the garden now. One extra bed full of spring onion seeds. Hope they do ok next to the peas!

Have an awesome day!

Bel

On my Balcony Today

Gorgeous day on the balcony today!

My fuschia is looking beautiful this morning. This plant is one of my operation rescue plants. Found it in a half price bin looking awful, but as soon as I saw the tag said "fuschia" I knew what it could be. I've loved fuschia's since I was a little girl. I used to call them the pink bell flower & only in recent years have I discovered what they're called & how many gorgeous varieties there are.

 

I'm planning on buying heaps more next spring. I'd like a big section of one of my balconies to be all different types of fuschia.

 

 

Also on my balcony today is a huge, gorgeous apricot Just Joey rose. Oh how I love this Rose. My mother in law bought it for me as a gift. It has given me so much joy & so much heart ache, thanks to a possum that lives in our roof, comes out at night & destroys my roses.

I had 5 beautiful buds at the end of spring & I looked out at them every day thinking "Wow!! I'm going to have FIVE ROSES!!! ALL AT ONCE!!!" so, needless to say, I never did & who knew possums love rose buds? So annoying, but after many attempts at keep him away using many methods, I moved my rose from one balcony to the other & to my surprise, he stopped eating it! So, it's a bit late in the season & this poor rose has suffered a bit of trauma, but after months of nothing, I have a single rose & I am rapt!! Here's a few pics

 

Most amazing, soft, delicate colour. Can't wait til next spring.

And finally, just a pretty photo of my Sango Kaku Japanese maple in the morning sun

 

Be well & have a happy day,

Bel

Garden Bits & Pieces

A couple of little bits & pieces today. First up, been meaning to mulch my weeping maple with stones but keep forgetting. Well, I've finally done it. Here's some before & after's

 

 

Next up, I purchased a little garden mascot for the veggie patch! Husband rolled his eyes at this purchase, but he obviously can't see how cute it is to have a little gnome mascot for your garden now does he?

Here's a pic of my side balcony. Here, from the left, I have my cream dahlia, cat grass & cat nip for my siamese cat, a dwarf peach tree, my newly planted coffee plant, my much loved Japanese maple, a rescued fuchsia & a gorgeous apricot rose.

 

I'd like to re-arrange & re-pot a few things on here in the next few months, so stay tuned!

Bye for now,

Bel

A Coffee Plant? Why, YES!

I bought a lime tree around a year ago & potted it up & it seemed to be frozen in time for EVER! I was told they do that as they spend the first year putting out roots & then they put work into leaves & fruit. Well, I'm pretty sure this tree was a dud from the start. I recently noticed it was covered in ants & scales & I thought "right, see you later" & I pulled it out & threw it in the bushes. It actually had barley any roots so, as I said, think it was a dud from the start.

So out with the old & in with the new- A coffee plant! This plants proper name is "coffea arabica". I had no intention of buying a coffee plant or even knew you could, but when I saw it in the nursery I thought, yeah, that sounds right! I need a coffee plant!

First, cleared out the old potting mix from the lime.

Really supposed to wash & disinfect at this point but a) have two kids under 2.5yrs, don't have the energy b) I'm living on the edge! "I'm sure it will be fine!" are often my famous last words, so, I'm sure it will be fine!

Filled my lovely terracotta pot up with premium potting mix (never buy the cheap stuff! Did that once, nothing grew, never again!)

 

Little helper back in helping again. Here he is putting some slow release fertilizer into the planting hole. I always try to remember to do this, then I don't have the pressure of remembering to fertilize all the time. I often forget what day it is, so anything like this helps.

Popped the plant in its hole. Patted it in & watered it in well with some seasol & water. It's a funny little thing isn't it?

Apparently It has fragrant jasmine like white flowers in spring & brilliant red berries in autumn, that can be harvested late autumn, roasted & sipped ever so lovingly- well that's how I intend to do it anyhow. It likes full sun to part shade & doesnt care for frost. So hopefully, this time next year, I'll be brewing my own coffee.

Be well & thanks for reading,

Bel