This is part of my mother's garden. We are expecting three days in a row of 39 degrees maximum and minimum overnight temperatures of 25 degrees. The maple tree in the corner is starting to look stressed after weeks of no rain. This morning I put the hose under it for some time to give it a good, long soak.
In front is a path that my brother spent all week making for our mother using Dromana sands and coreten steel for edging. We are delighted with the job he has done. #gardeningAU#Melbourne#GardeningAustralia
I have not been sharing many garden updates because a more typical #Melbourne summer has arrived and we are battling weeks of no rain and some days over 35 degrees (nowhere near as bad as #Perth though).
I have been very busy with family and community projects but fortunately my husband has stepped in to water plants. Even so, as you can see in this photo of our #StreetGarden, the plants have shrunk and are really holding on quite grimly.
I appear to have got on top of the earwigs so now my cyclamen is flowering. This plant is in a south-facing courtyard so it gets little direct sunshine.
We are in the midst of a cool change after a 35+ degree day. It is still hot but we are getting big drops of rain. The first raindrops evaporated almost as soon as they touched the hot, hard surfaces outside.
Unfortunately we are not expecting much rain out of this change so with the big wind change the residents of Western Victoria fighting fires are going to have a hard time.
I'm sure I'm not alone in having #gardening questions. And my list of questions keeps getting longer because I'm not on Insta or FB to send them in to #gardeningAustralia
For example I am puzzled by this one; In his great book Soil Matthew Evans advocates not disturbing your soil because it breaks the established network of fungal mycelia. So won't a #compost tumbler do the same each time you tumble your compost to aerate it?
Went to the tip shop. They also sell plants I discovered. Bought some lemon trees. $8 cheaper than Bunnings. Also got a yuzu that was about $15 cheaper than one I saw in a nursery. #GardeningAustralia
The garden has flourished over the last 5 days we were away. These pelargonium cuttings I took from a street in North Fitzroy have taken so well that I had to repot them this afternoon. #gardeningAU#Melbourne#gardeningAustralia
Dipladenias love the warm, wet weather we have been having in #Melbourne. This is a plant that should be pruned in mid-summer. It grows very easily from cuttings if they are planted in summer.
A Christmas rose of unknown variety blooming in our garden. We are not rose aficionados in our family - we prefer camellias with their absence of thorns. This rose was well-established in our garden when we moved in. I have left it there and given it no attention whatsoever.
The garden has received a Christmas present of rain. Dipladenias (pictured) are in full bloom at this time of the year and my gardenias have a few flowers. #gardeningAU#GardeningAustralia
I hope that the rain pauses in the flooded areas of the east coast of Australia and does not cause flooding in the rest. I hope the Western Australian fire situation eases so everyone relax with their families today.
A few hours from now we will "see" the Winter Solstice and begin the long slog to spring.
As they say around here, "WHEN THE DAYS BEGIN TO LENGTHEN, THE COLD BEGINS TO STRENGTHEN!" Three cheers to all you gardeners for making it to this point. See you on the other side!😀 #gardening #Allotment #NewEngland #today #winter #solstice #WinterSolstice
Worm farm arrived in the mail today. With worms which are alive - so far. Hope i set it up right and positioned it correctly. First time trying out a worm farm. Fingers crossed.
After a week of rain our garden is wonderfully soggy. Next week is forecast to be dry and around 30 degrees in #Melbourne so I expect my dipladenias (one pictured) to have a growth spurt. #GardeningAustralia#gardeningau
We are planning a potting morning this weekend where members of our street gardening group and neighbours can come and pot up some cuttings. The idea is that we give the potted cuttings to people to babysit over summer so they are ready to plant out after the equinox in March.
Does anyone in inner eastern #Melbourne know where I can get free, fairly small plastic pots for the cuttings? I was thinking of going to Bunnings in Box Hill and see if they would give me some pots people have brought in to recycle. #GardeningAustralia#gardeningau
This afternoon we went to Bunnings in Box Hill. They have a crate outside where people return their used pots. We were able to take a nice amount of free pots for our potting morning tomorrow. #GardeningAustralia#gardeningau
I was so pleased when I signed a lease for this house because it actually had space I could use for my garden, I thought I was finally able to grow stuff in the ground instead of having a bunch of pots, but alas, most things HATE the ground. Only exceptions are rosemary, parsley and tomatoes, so far. Oregano seems to tolerate it.
For illustration, here are capsicum in ground vs capsicum in pot. The one in the ground is also at least several weeks older lol
This afternoon I created another planter out of old wire baskets that I was given by the scrap metal recycling place nearby. I lined it with coir, upended a bag and a half of potting soil, then planted some tomato seedlings. The seedlings are Lycopersicon esculentum or 'Trussty' tomatoes. I haven't grown this variety before.
I have placed it in our small inner urban #Melbourne backyard in front of 2 other planters I created a few months ago in which I am growing sugar snap peas.
Australian gardeners need to avoid purchasing seeds, tubers, bulbs and plants online from overseas providers. A couple of gardeners did this a few.years ago and in doing so introduced an invasive weed in Australia. The local council thought they had destroyed it all but it has popped up again - possibly via birds eating the fruit of the weed:
Anyone know what these little brown eggs are? Maybe a mill wide. They're all over my greenhouse and one of the plants. Haven't seen anything moving yet.
Despite the physical changes and now just wanting to curl up in my bed and cry, I did manage to get my #PlantMail potted up today.
This week’s newbies are:
Echeveria Sea Dragon
Echeveria Ballerina
Echeveria Tolimanensis Hybrid
Echeveria Laui x Strictiflora Nova
Echeveria Edgy
I also repotted my Echeveria Neon Breakers that was bursting out of her pot with lots of babies. I forgot to get a pic before she went back out under the frost cloth but she looks little in her new pot despite desperately needing the size upgrade.
I went more than a little overboard online plant shopping this week so next week’s post will be a big one!
This week’s #PlantMail potted up. It’s been a tough week with the #LongCovid fatigue hitting me particularly hard so they didn’t get potted up until yesterday afternoon despite having all arrived by Thursday.
Echeveria Dream Fantasia
Echeveria Pagoda
Pachyphytum Bubblegum
Cotelydon Choco Line
Echeveria Purple Delight Variegata (cutting)
Echeveria Purple Delight Reverse Variegata (They are a whole lot lighter in person than the sales pictures and may not survive due to lack of colour through which to photosynthesise. Usually you’d leave practically albino ones like this on the mother plant)