garden in february

a quick garden update of how things are looking this february.

the lime tree is happy and making more limes. they should be ready soon! 

i have some great flowers blooming.

 

i never really planted much flowers in the past

 

but i really love these ones

 

they keep getting fuller and fuller.

the corn is almost ready, might try some soon

 

can you wait too long to harvest it?

 

and i finally have three full boxes of tree seedlings in FULL sun. it has not been easy to get to this point and I am very happy, still 3 more to get to this point but we are making progress.

and then there is this beauty in the front succulent garden, with a little yellow flower in the center. i always think if a plant flowers it must be happy. and this little plant looks happy to me.

in the garden

i have been emailing and texting a friend in canada recently and we were talking about things that can kill you in australia.

the very next day there was this red back spider right near the tap in my backyard (middle of photo)

 

from a distance you can barely see it but it is right near where i have to put my hand to turn on the tap. danger in my own back yard. luckily they are not aggressive so i am ok. 

also in my backyard, my trees for life are beginning to sprout. one little tree there

 

and a few more of the other variety coming up

 

its exciting and stressful watching them grow, but i think its going to be ok.

volunteering

i have been thinking about volunteering for some time now. the problem is that i am often very busy and short on spare time. so having responsibility to be somewhere at a certain time would be difficult. my friend has bee doing trees for life for many years now and i thought it might work for me as i can do it at home in my own time. so i signed up.

how it works is you get a growers pack, with instructions, seeds, soil, plastic tubes, fertilizer everything you need to grow the native trees. you are responsible for filling the tubes with dirt, and planting the seeds. then you need to water the seedlings and care for them from December to May. once the seedlings are about 30 cm tall they are ready to go to the landowners who will plant them out.

 

 i am growing 6 boxes, each with 60 trees - so 360 little trees to care for! 2 boxes silver mulga, 1 box each of golden wattle, drooping sheoak, pink gum, and inland southern blue gum.

 

these are the 6 boxes of soil, as i picked them up from the depot. they need to be in 8 hours of full sun each day, and set up off the ground so bugs and such cant get into them.

 

because i had 6 boxes with 60 tubes in each to fill, i called in some help. borris' folks came and we all worked together for a few hours after lunch to fill the 360 tubes.

here they are, all ready for the next step. planting the seeds. and i will plant 3 boxes this week.

around the house update

with being back at work now that my wrist has healed life has been busier. as a result i have not blogged much and wanted to give a quick update of things happening around the house.

i have been making these yummy breakfast muffins. banana macadamia almond meal. easy to grab in the morning on the way to work.

it was borris' birthday last month and i made him a raw vegan cacao ginger blueberry  birthday cake

it was actually really good and not too sweet, as i find most raw treats to be.

 

the garden has been really neglected but actually looks really good at the moment. lots of greens that need using up soon but most things are happy. i need to think about a new plant along the back fence as the passion fruit vine is coming to the end of its life and i want to try something different. any ideas?

 

my lime tree has so many flowers on it right now. last year we had the best crop of limes yet, can wait for more this year.

i recently planted out this garden bed outside my front door. there are a couple of plants that will get quite large, but for now it is low and sparse.

 

and its tricky to see but my blood orange tree in the front garden has quite a few blossoms on it right now too. Last year they all fell off, but maybe this year one or two will stay in and become yummy blood oranges. i have been eating lots of these form the markets lately. one of my favourite citrus.

 

yesterday i had some time in the garden, a put together about 30 pots of seeds in seed raising mix. tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, chillies, goldenberries. we will see if anything grows in the next couple weeks, if not then i can hit the nursery for some seedlings early next month.

garden update

its been a while since i did a garden update, so here is the latest as to what is happening in my backyard.

i grew this sunflower, and it was nice and big and happy.

 

then when it dried out i gave it to my friend who has a bird feeder that attracts lorikeets who eat sunflower seeds. they were also happy to have this yummy snack.

 

it appears that i can not grow tomatoes very well. but capsicums or peppers i can grow.  here are my happy capsicum plants, both bell peppers, chillis and jalapenos.

the first mini harvest. i still need to try the chillis to see how hot they really are.

my grandma inspired me to grow my own horseradish. so here it is happily growing in a corner of the garden that nothing else wanted to grow in.  i cant wait to try it. not sure how to tell when its ready, must ask Baba next time.

my lime tree is happy as. making so many limes this is my second crop this year.

so yummy.

i love limes.

i replanted some of my front succulent garden area. it is slowly progressing.

the new border of spike plants is good, it looks kind of uninviting but then all nice in a row.

and i got new shoes. not garden shoes just new shoes.

 
just because they were on sale

home made gifts

i made some gifts for christmas for some of my friends.

i got the pots from a wholesaler place near me, and then went to the plant shop to get the plants and dirt and rocks.

it was fun to make small succulent arrangements

and i got myself a small christmas star succulent

i also made a couple reusable shopping bags for people as well.

the animal eye fabric is great, i bought it not knowing what to make from it and these bags are the perfect thing.

garlic, otto and roy

last week i could not wait any longer to harvest my garlic crop.

the leaves were starting to brown, and i think all the growing was done

 

i planted them in sections by variety, but i cant find the bit of paper where i wrote down the order. but i kept them in bunches of the same variety as i harvested them anyways.

there are nine types all together. some are really a good size and others a bit small. i did better this year than last, i made sure there were no weeds for competition and mulched the area around the garlic really well. i did forget to feed them regularly, so next year i will try that too. but i think it was a successful crop and should see us in garlic for a few months. they are now all hanging under the stairs near the front door of my house, so as soon as you walk in you are greeted with a string garlic scent.

otto's best friend roy was over the other weekend for a visit.

 

they had a great time playing and running around and biting each other. they were both worn out by the end of the visit.

 

borris had a good time with them too

 

training for treats is more difficult with 2 dogs!