19 October 2021

Blogtober Day 18

 I have been lazy this past week; I haven’t kept up with my Italian lessons; I haven’t written in my journal; my colouring supplies have been neglected and worse of all, I haven’t walked once this week when I usually walk 4-5 times a week. I know the reason for it, I’m tired. Our elderly dog has been waking us up during the night because she needs to go outside, once back in bed, it takes an hour or more for me to get back to sleep, by the time my alarm goes off I feel like I’ve had no sleep at all. I’m out of my routine and I don’t like it. 

I worked a half-day at the Heritage Centre today. At the moment, I am cataloguing school children’s copybooks they used for practising their cursive writing, not an easy thing to do with pen and ink. Some are very messy. There are also some history and scripture exam papers as well, they make interesting reading. 

When I arrived home, I noticed that the garden was full of blooms, spring has finally arrived. I will leave you with some photos I took.

Bearded iris

My favourite rose of all time, Double Delight.

Cornflower

Erigeron aka Sea Side Daisy

Grandma's Rose, beautifully fragrant and thornless.

Lewisia

Dutch iris

Red valerian "Kiss Me Quick"
I will be back tomorrow.



    

10 February 2016

17 July 2014

The Winter Vegetable Garden

My poor blog has been sadly neglected of late. Life has been a bit busier than normal with family visiting from interstate and a 70th birthday to celebrate (not mine that is quite a few years off yet). Now that life is back to normal I thought it was time for a garden update.
 There are some things in the garden that are doing well, like the Green Dragon broccoli.
  The kale which is looking lush and green.
The cauliflowers are coming on nicely, although there is no sign of any heads forming yet.
 The snow peas, despite a bad case of powdery mildew are growing strong and are supplying us with a handful every couple of days or so.
Windsor Longpod beans, these 8 small plants have produced almost a kilo of beans so far. I will be planting a whole bed of them next year.
 I dug the first crop of Purple Kestrel a couple of weeks ago, not a big harvest, 300g, but they were very good.
Then there are the things that aren't doing as well as I hoped. 
These are wong bok cabbages or I should say what's left of them, of the 12 cabbages I planted these are the only two that survived. I think that earwigs might be responsible for the damage.   

 I am going to leave them because although they don't look great they are starting to form hearts.
 Unlike the snow peas the sugar snaps are not coping with the powdery mildew as well. Although they are producing they are nowhere near as big as they should be so I think it might be best to pull these out and sow more seeds.
So that is what's happening in the garden at the moment, I still have to sow more broccoli and carrot seeds but apart from that the winter planting is taken care of and with just over six weeks to the start of spring I am already plotting and planning what to plant in the spring/summer garden.  

08 April 2014

Bloomin' Lovely

There isn't a lot flowering in my gardens at the moment but I thought I would share some pictures of what has been over the past few weeks.

Oxalis purpurea and oxalis hirta have awoken from their summer slumber to provide a splash of colour in the garden.
Oxalis purpurea

Oxalis hirta
 I have no idea what the name of this rose is as it was here when I moved in. The buds are a very pale apricot and as you can see it opens up to a soft blush pink.
 One of two minature roses in the garden but once again I don't know it's name.
One of my favourites, Woburn Abbey.
Grandma's Rose, I love the slighty antique look to the petals.  It is thornless and has a beautiful fragrance.
Lavender

Blue salvia
Seaside daisy just now starting to recover and flower after the hot summer.
 A late hollyhock.
Correa "Dusky Bells".
Cape Mallow, it has flowered constantly since I planted it almost two years ago even during the heat waves we have experienced here in South Australia this past summer. It is a definite favourite with the bees.
Stock that I had collected seed from thinking it would die down but it surprised me by flowering again.
And last but by no means least my dwarf Buddleja "Ivory".
What is flowering in your garden now?


19 August 2013

This Week In The Garden

The snow peas are finally producing enough to pick.
 The sugar snaps on the other hand are taking there own sweet time, I counted a total of four.

Loads of self seeded coriander, some of which has started to go to seed. Hopefully the seeds will be ready to harvest before I run out of last years.
Celery that was planted last spring and is now only just big enough to pick.
I haven't had a lot of luck growing beetroot in the past but these plants seem to be doing OK so far.
I had never eaten kohlrabi until I grew it myself a couple of years ago, it quickly became one of my favourite things to grow. I use it finely sliced in stir fries, leaves and bulbs, it tastes like a very mild broccoli. It is super easy to grow and the best thing about it is that unlike broccoli the cabbage white butterflies show no interest in it at all.
Winter is the only time of the year you can grow potatoes here in South Australia and this year's crop looks like it is going to be a good one.
Lettuce, good anytime of the year.
A forest of carrots that really need to be thinned out. If ever it stops raining I will do just that.
 Broccoli that's just about finished,
and purple sprouting broccoli that is just starting.
The first blossoms on the Mariposa plum tree made an appearance.
And two more cauliflowers were harvested. Not very big, only 200gms each, but very tasty.
So tell me, what's happening in your garden?



02 July 2013

Winter Blooms

 It may be the second month of winter but there is still plenty of flowers blooming in the garden.
Marguerite Daisy
 Gerbera
 Woburn Abbey
 Bacopa
 Gold Bunny
 Dearest
 Cape Mallow
 Grandma's Rose
Blue Moon
 Nemesia