Food from the Garden.

Today I harvested my potatoes, and got nearly four kilos of Pink Fir Apple and Otway Pink, which isn't bad. The tomatoes, alas, fell victim to possums, so they've ended up in the compost bin. When I build another bed, probably as a no dig patch, I'll try to make it more animal proof.

Instead of more vegies, I've decided to plant this bed out with herbs. I know that the wallabies like eating them, but the fence seems to keep them out. So fingers are crossed!



I've planted:

• Bay Laurel
• Rosemary
• Basil (three varieties)
• Mint
• Parsley
• Oregano
• Marjoram
• Lemon Grass
• Thyme
• Coriander
• Lavender
• Nasturtium

Since some have greater water needs than others, I've put those that prefer lots of moisture in one bed, and those which prefer it drier in the other, adjusting the drip irrigation system accordingly.

Cooking is something that gives me nearly as much pleasure as gardening, and it'll be great to no longer rely on the green grocer for my herbs. Yum.

Potatoes and tomatoes and strawberries....

As spring warms up, naturally a girl's thoughts turn to propagation. My old hot house was covered in clear plastic, but that made it more like a boiling hot house in summer, so I've replaced the plastic with shade cloth, drawing upon ancient sewing lessons from yesteryear. When we've got our water tank, I'll probably set up a sprinkler system on a timer to keep things moist.

At this point, I'm propagating some native grasses to put into some of the bushier areas of the garden (Wallaby Grass, Danthonia sp.; Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra; Tussock Grass, Poa labillardieri; and Meadow Grass, Microlaena stipoides, as well as some Hen and Chicken Fern, Asplenium bulbiferum. Before it gets too warm, I'll also do some cuttings, probably of various Grevillea species.


The vegie patch is coming on a treat. Plenty of flowers on the tomatoes, and so far, few pests. With luck I'll be able to stay organic. The drip irrigation system I installed is working well. It's great to be able to use so little water by directing it straight to the plants!

Burgeoning!

Hi everyone!

Busy times. I've been working hard on the garden. The beds near the front verandah were full of nasty exotic things, and they're gone now. In their place I've put in lots of new things, a goodly array of small trees, shrubs, monocots and ground covers.



In this bed is an established Ceratopetalum gummiferum, a New South Wales Christmas Bush, which has magnificent red sepals in summer. Against the lattice, I've planted Pandorea pandorana (Wonga Wonga vine). In front of those is an Acacia terminalis and a Grevillea olivacea x preissii which I grew at TAFE as one of my propagation assignments, and there are a couple of Goodenia ovata (with yellow flowers), to match the Acacia. I've planted a few Lomandra longifolia and Lomandra fluviatilis here and there, and in the foreground is a Zieria prostrata. Throughout, I've sown Dichondra repens seed as a ground cover.




This bed is very floral. I've planted as centrepieces, an Acacia fimbriata, a hybrid Leptospermum and a Corymbia ficifllia x ptychocarpa--the latter two have deep pink flowers. As smaller shrubs, I've planted Lomatia silaifolia, Crowea saligna and Melaleuca thymifolia. For ground covers, I've put in Brachyscome formosa, Brachyscome angustifolia, Brachyscome multifida, Wahlenbergia stricta, Dampiera diversifolia, Chrysocephalum apiculatum which will hopefully create a carpet of pink, blue and yellow. To create textural contrast, I added a few Patersonia sericea.

Once these become established, spring will bring a mass of colour! In my not too modest opinion.

Speaking of a lack of modesty, last week I was presented with the Award for Outstanding Graduate for my TAFE horticulture course last year! I was chuffed, especially when I discovered it entailed a book voucher from the wonderful bookshop Floreligium. Today the books I ordered arrived: the latest edition of "Frogs and Reptiles of the Sydney Region" by Ken Griffiths, and "Mycelium Running: how mushrooms can help save the world". Gorgeous.

My science degree begins in July. The course I'm starting with is Foundations for Resource and Environmental Management. I'm lowering myself back into tertiary education gently, so I'm starting with one course only.

The backyard vegie patch is coming on apace. Photos soon. I've planted peas, silver beet, rocket and cabbage, as well as nasturtiums and marigolds as companion plants, and I've mulched and set up an irrigation system and a fence to keep out the wallabies. They're looking good so far: no pests.

But alas, the wallabies got to my lemon tree. Now it has no leaves and no fruit. Still, they were here first so I can't complain. I've planted a Feijoa tree, but I'm not letting any damned marsupial near it. It's thoroughly protected by a plastic guard.

And I've started work on the pond. This really excites me! My plan is to put a waterfallish thing above a crack between two sandstone platforms. The water will flow down to pond number 1, and from there into a larger pond.

Update: I've started a new section on my Growing Passion website, devoted to the construction of the pond. Please take a look. I'll update it frequently, as the work gets done.

The first stage is removing huge tracts of the bloody agapanthus some nong planted. The more established plants have extensive root systems, and the only way to remove them is with brute force and lots of sweat. Still, it's satisfying work. And it's nice to have help. Here's Martien, hard at it. What a fine lad.




Agapanthus massacres are quite cathartic. During one I found a lone Epacris longiflora. It is looking rather sad, but now it's lost its competitors for space, light, nutrients and water, maybe it will be happier.

I also must tell you about the website of my friends, Stewart and Susie, on their swimming-pool-turned-into-pond: Pool to Pond. Stunning, huh? They're an inspiration. If you've a pool you don't want any more, forget about the expense of filling it in. This is the environmentally wonderful solution. Wouldn't you just love these plants and animals in your backyard?

Meanwhile, I'm continuing my volunteer work at the Herbarium's Plant Pathology Lab. Loving it to pieces. I'm even getting to do DNA extractions alone and without the aid of a net!

The closing date for applications for the Herbarium AVH position has ended. I've finished my application and mailed it off. It felt like a smallish novella. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Check out this gorgeous diamond python resident in the neighbours' roof! It vanished, apparently, during the bushfires, and rats invaded the roof. Now it's back and the rats are gone. I know which I'd prefer.




The other day, I saw a male Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) in the garden, right next to the house. Wish I could have got a pic, but it ran away too quickly, alas. Damn but I love the wildlife here....

Oh, and we've got a new puppy--a border collie--Trillian, as a companion for Miepje. Isn't she beautiful? But naughty. Very, very naughty. Like Miepje, we got her from the RSPCA. Unlike Miepje, she's not in the least traumatised by her early experiences. She's ridiculously confident about the world. Smart as a button.

The Great Pickling....

Yesterday, I had my first harvest of my cornichon cucumber crop at TAFE.



And now, the pickling will begin!

Squash!

Tonight, we ate the first squash from my vegie patch.

Aren't they pretty? They certainly tasted good.



Not a great photo, but doing a macro shot at night isn't easy.

Yesterday, part of my lunch was snowpeas from my patch. So crisp, sweet and perfect!

I love growing my own stuff to eat. My ideal garden would have four raised vegie beds (four for efficient crop rotation) of 1x3 metres. Should keep us fed. Well, along with the chooks and the goats and the orchard. I'll barter fruit and vegies for the odd bit of meat.

The Assassin

Firstly, thanks to all who have visited the blog and posted, and to those who have visited silently and stealthily and left no sign. You all make me want make it as good as my skills allow!

At TAFE today, we were appalled to find an array of damage from sundry pests. In one case, the larvae of Sciarids (Fungus Gnats) had so infested the tomato crop of Margaret D. that all but four of the plants had to be sacrificed. The adults are also all over the leaves of our potatoes, but it's the maggots that do the damage.

But the good guys were there too. Like this assassin bug, above, family Reduviidae. Assassin bugs, as the name suggests, are predators, and eat caterpillers by sucking out their precious bodily juices. Isn't it stunningly gorgeous?

Meanwhile, my cornichon cucumbers are close to harvest! I'm hoping that I'll pick them next week. They need only be little, because I'm going to pickle them. See the latest on the website.



















I've also updated my Recommended Books page, to include some new additions to my bookshelf:

Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon
Resurrection in a Bucket by Margaret Simons
Fruit and Vegetable Gardening in Australia by Michael Pollock
A Primer of Ecological Genetics by Conner and Hartl

And there's a new section: Insect Gallery. My early xmas present was a Panasonic DMC-FZ7 Lumix with 12x optical zoom. I love it to pieces. And now that I can take better macros, this part of the site is liable to grow fast! One of my teachers at TAFE is Mark Latham (no, not the one who trashes Panasonic DMC-FZ7 Lumixes with 12x optical zoom) and apart from being a botanist, he's also an entomologist. (And I just know you're going to enjoy these pages, Mark!) He's a fabulous resource, not to mention someone whose insect-obsessive personality is deeply reassuring to someone like me.

Corny

The only real reason I'm posting this is so I can put up a photo. Okay, I confess. I'm playing.

This is the flower of a corn plant, one of the crops we're growing at TAFE.