Operation: Improve My Balcony!

I have 2 balconies & one of them needs a bit of help.

Siamese cat used to be an inside cat & is now an outside cat, so he no longer uses his cat enclosure. It was taking up heaps of room on the balcony so we sold it.

We were also in desperate need of a new dining table & chairs (now we have 4 people eating at the table rather than 2 like back in the day!) So I decided to use our old, tiny wooden table & chair set as an outside sitting area, to sip coffee in the sun & so forth.

I also wanted my two Japanese maples to be on the same balcony for hot wind protection & so I could adore them all at once. I really do love them!

Here are the before photos.

 

And now after, after some heavy lifting & selling & rearranging.

Much prettier now right? I let Siamese cat keep his scratching post. I think it looks cool on the balcony & he loves to sit in the sun right at the top.

I plan on improving it further throughout spring. I have tulip & daffodil bulbs chilling in my fridge. I want to find some pretty wrought iron planters to plant them in. I've also bought a Golden Bunny rose. Always wanted one & bought one at Big W for $6.95. Score!

Here's a pic of a gorgeous Gold Bunny rose (photo from rossroses.com.au)

A few other pretty little photos of mine. Got some lovely floral gloves & a pretty wind chime for mother's day from the kids. So gorgeous.

 

I also have another Japanese maple coming for mothers day some time this week. Very exciting! I'm using the red pot from my sango kaku for my new maple & I'll buy a bigger pot for sango kaku & repot it some time this week or next.

My flower gloves. Love them.

Inaba shidare in dormancy. Poor thing lost all it's leaves early. It will have a great spring, I just know it!

My husband bought me this pretty little stone plaque on our beach holiday, summer that just passed. He thought I'd like it. I love that he knows I'd love something a bit sweet like this. And I do love it!! It always makes me smile when I read it.

A few photos of my sango kaku maple & my fuchsia again. I can't help myself.

It's losing all it's leaves now.

Fuchsia still flowering.

Hope you enjoyed my balcony renovation.

Until next time readers,

Bel

Autumn, Lovely Autumn

I can't stop taking photos of my japanese maple, sango kaku. I can hardly believe how big & beautiful it has grown in its smallish pot. It's leaves are starting to fall, so I'm taking in every moment of its beautiful golden show.

 

 

 

Little helper giving it a water.

 

Some fallen leaves.

I love it's leaves so much, I put some in the middle of my dining table.

Thanks for reading,

Bel

Final Fuchsia Flourish

Here are some photos of the final burst of flowers from one of my fuchsia. Everything else Has stopped flowering, but this plant just power flowered all of a sudden!

It's been great looking out at all the beautiful flowers in this cold, over cast & rainy Melbourne weather.

 

 

One featuring Siamese cat's head.

 

I love fuschia!

Be well & happy,

Bel

A Sick Little Tree

One of the worst things that could possibly happen to my little garden has happened. Something is wrong with my inaba shidare Japanese maple. I am so sad.

I have decided one of 3 things is wrong with it. 1- when I sprayed it with soapy water to kill the little bugs that were on it, it didn't like it. 2- the little bugs that are on it are killing it 3- I didn't water it enough over the last 2 weeks due to sickness & in addition to the bugs, it's suffering. (please don't be 3!! I don't want it to die because of me *sob sob*)

So, whatever the reason, the tiny bugs are still lurking, so I have a double plan of attack.

Pest oil to fully kill off these little free loaders & a generous dose of seasol to inject some nutrients & hopefully life back into my special maple.

Here's some photos of it today. It's very sick looking.

If you look closely, you can see a few of the little bugs.

My poor maple.

First things first, I sprayed the leaves with pest oil. I sprayed the tree until it was dripping. Under & on top of all the leaves & branches.

 

Then I mixed a fairly strong water & seasol mix & fed it to my sick little maple. I watered it in well afterwards.

 

Please get better maple. I have no idea what happens when deciduous trees are sick & then go into dormancy. Hoping it will be re-born in spring. I'll have to research a bit more & find out.

Please get better maple!!!!

Have a fantastic day & thanks for reading,

Bel

Autumn Garden- Mulching, Trellis Construction & Weeding

Beautiful weather in Melbourne town today!

Haven't been out in the garden for about two weeks. First, the whole family was sick for a week & then we had several days of rainy, drab weather. Well today was a fine day, so out we all went, gardening mumma, little helper & baby girl.

Baby girl watched all the gardening unfold from her snuggly position in her baby carrier.

She obviously thought it was fun. She's very easy to please to be honest! Like her mother of course.

On the way down to the veggie patch, I passed my Sango Kaku maple & took a few photos. It is looking gorgeous in the autumn sun.

First look at the garden & stupid possums and/or Siamese cat have eaten some of my pea seedlings & most of my spinach. There is possum poo everywhere, so I'm assuming it's the night bandits again *sigh* well at least there are still some left *sigh again*. Here's a couple of photos of my spinach at the moment.

Today I made a trellis for my sugar snap pea seedlings. I attached plastic covered wire to the 2 stakes I placed when I sowed the pea seeds a few weeks ago. I also lightly tied some of the seedlings to the lower wire to encourage them to trail up into the trellis.

I also lightly tied my pea seedlings to my other trellis. They were planted as seedlings so they are more advanced than my sugar snap peas. Some photos.

They should be up & climbing in no time.

Checked out my garlic next. It's looking lovely.

My parsley is as lush as ever. Been adding it to many dishes.

And little helpers nasturtium is growing beautifully as well.

Not sure about my silver beet. It seems very small for how long it's been in the ground. Not holding much hope for it, but, we'll see.

My spring onion is a bit odd? As I said when I planted it initially, I've never grown it before, so I'm not too sure how it grows. At the moment it is a bunch of very, very thin shoots. Perhaps they will grow into full sized spring onions?? I hope so!

Could you see them? Like I said, very, very thin.

Did a bit of weeding. Clover is running wild in my patch at the moment & lots of little grass shoots all around. Tried to pull them out before they become a big problem.

Yoink, yoink!

A lot of mulch has washed away & started to decompose (which is great for the soil) so little helper & I added some more all around the garden.

Please note: I do put shoes on my child when he goes outside. He decided he didn't want them on & if you have a toddler, you know you just let these types of things go! Pick your battles they say.

Baby girl was having a great time riding on my back, watching little shoe-less helper & I garden.

After mulching, I added some more snail & slug pellets. After all the rain we've had there has been lots of them around.

I like this brand because it's safe for the Siamese cat & those annoying possums that eat all my crops.

After all the rain recently, the last thing my patch needed was a watering, but little helper wanted to & who am I to deny his cranky "watering now?" face.

So water the garden he did.

Here is my Autumn/Winter patch end of April 2012. Things are pretty tame but hoping it will all take off soon.

Oh by the way, please excuse the poorly placed soaker hose. I really need to lay it better. I'll wait until everything gets a bit bigger & work around the plants.

Hope you enjoyed todays veggie patch update.

Have a fantastic Sunday,

Bel