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
This morning I planted a small pot of blue salvia in our street garden. I must have looked mad out there watering the garden just after it had finished raining. However, there is a reason.
Whenever I plant out something I first big a deep hole and pour water into it. This is to ensure that the plant gets a head start by having very damp soil around the bottom of the roots of the plant. I mix the water with the soil, then put the plant on top and soil around it. Then I give it another water so the top level of soil is also damp. Then I add mulch.
In a dry country like Australia, I feel that this method gives newly planted plants a head-start and helps get them established. Despite about 2.6mm of rain in the last 24+ hours, the soil is parched after our El Nino spring. I hope all the rain forecast for the coming week actually eventuates. #gardeningau#gardeningAus
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:
Gardeners in south-east Australia should watch out for cabbage butterflies [edited] say ecologists who believe that numbers of the imported pest have exploded due to an unusually warm winter and favourable Spring conditions.
There are ways to deal with them that do not involve chemicals.
Yesterday I spent most of the day in our steep back yard cleaning it up so we could plant some new native trees and shrubs. It made me really want to put in a few steps here and there because I either had to risk my arse or traipse the long way around to different levels. I have zero handyperson skills!
Maybe I'll see if I can find some nice flat rocks to build organic looking steps. Although they're probably not the safest and I have bad ankles already!
an hour later
I went out again to transfer some of the "spicy sticks" (bougainvillea branches) to the ground level and clear space for the last of the plants to be planted. It's a goddamn nightmare so Nick is going to post in a local group to see if we can hire someone to take all the thorny bougainvillea skeletons to the tip.
I didn't fall down the slope! But I did manage to eat dirt. Use a mattock with your mouth closed, my friends.
@Natalie Bougainvillea is the curse of our small inner-urban backyard. We tried to train it but it always wanted to be massive so we cut the large trunk (been planted years ago) and dealt with the branches by cutting them up small, putting them in empty bags of potting soil mix and week by week putting them in our wheelie bin.
We have spent hours dealing with the thing. We have now given the stump some blackberry poison. It will take me a few years before I am convinced we have actually killed it.
And removing it revealed the damage to the fence it was causing. Fortunately it is fairly superficial damage but it could have ended up breaking the fence.
Sorry, for the long message. Just has to vent my feelings about #Bougainvillea planted in the wrong places!
My sugar snap peas are growing well in the planters I made out of discarded wire baskets. One thing I have learned is that to get enough peas cropping at the same time to accompany a meal, I need to plant a lot more.
I planted the ones on the left four weeks ahead of the ones on the right. I recorded when I planted them but can't remember where.
The fancy-pantsy solar powered WiFi pan-tilt-zoom PIR cameras we have in the gardens were bought for W.A.R. (Weapons Against Rats). Unfortunately, the rotten little beggars are usually either too clever or too small to trigger the infrared motion detectors.
This week I have admired how good my reddish/pinkish salvia flowers look against my frilly, white pelargonium flowers. If I ever plant them out I should plant them alongside each other. #gardeningAU#Melbourne
I bought this #pelargonium cheaply from a nursery nearly ten years ago. It is a short, slow-growing plant that needs shelter from the harsh sun in summer. I have managed to grow several more from cuttings, one of which you can see to the left of the main plant. #GardeningAU
I bought this gazania plant for $2.50 at a hardware store. It had no label and looked very sad but I know that half dead looking gazanias can be easily revived. Several weeks later and I am rewarded with this spectacular flower that looks even better in real life than this photo. #Gazania#GardeningAU
Our council has planted yellow gazanias in nearly every street planting here in inner #Melbourne. They are generally pretty drought tolerant but I have found the colour that I like (pictured above) is not so drought tolerant. #gardeningAU
🍇 The grape vine leaves are just perfect for using now - for cooking dolmades, mushrooms, yoghurt pie, and wrapping things like tofu, paneer, cheese before grilling. The leaves are young and tender and just the right size.
🍇 And also for drying and powdering. I found out a few years ago when I was making a lot of dolmades that the leaves dry really easily, even without help, just on the kitchen bench. So, as they are edible and flavoursome, I decided to powder some. It was such a success that I dry leaves each year for powder.
🍇 So the dehydrator has 5 full racks, at 35C (with some added tarragon that I couldn't help picking) - it won't take long, perhaps an hour for drying off the moisture from washing, and another max for drying.
🍇 I remove the stem, and for leaves with a tougher middle vein, some of that is removed too. Just fold the leaf in half and use your fingernails. Scissors can also be used.
🏡 I managed to get out into the garden, and it is quite warm in the sun - I had to peel off a couple of layers. A few more veggies planted. And more of the lavender bushes pruned.
🧅 I see that some onions or leeks have joined the "grow by myself" movement that always invades my garden - I do insist on throwing seed heads onto beds, so it is no wonder. By tomorrow I will have to decide what to do with the "grow by myself" tomatoes - which bed will I transplant them too? - while letting the leeks grow larger before I transplant them.
🌿 The "grow by myself" basil is being attacked by snails. Need to attend to that.
🍓 The strawbs are flowering - can't wait - and rhubarb is ready for picking. It is all happening.
:ma_flag_aboriginal: I put the karkalla (native food) in a pot. Apparently it is very tolerant of a wide range of conditions, so fingers crossed.
Some lovely time in the garden this arvo, potting up some spring colour on the front verandah.
I realised today that I am into "Slow Gardening". That's it, #SlowGardening. I had someone come and help me with some big garden tasks last week. He was all - Let's get this done! Let's go! #macho#stompStompStomp
I am all - But look what is growing under there, And see this bright yellow spider? What about these bees on that flower. Oh, cucumbers have self-sown, and look at those tomatoes popping up from the fallen ones last summer. There are new leaves on this plant. Aren't the butterflies beautiful.And those flowers!! Oh my, those flowers.
We were on opposite ends of the spectrum, and some things he did made me cringe. But in the end he did a great job, and I only lost a few plants 😭 . It took him a few hours which would have taken me a long long time to get done.
@LifeTimeCooking I like the 'pottering in the garden' mode myself but sometimes in Spring and Autumn a partner who likes doing big stuff is useful. Last weekend my partner chopped down our monstrous #bougainvillea and then poisoned it - neither jobs I like doing but needed to get done. Fortunately there were very few plants at risk during the process.
In between infrequent big garden projects I potter around pull one particular small weed or another, rearranging my pot plant collection, picking up little bits of rubbish that have floated in on the wind etc.
Nearly all the petals on the gymea lily are unfurled. Bright sun from overhead makes them glow magenta. Bees love it. It will last about 3-4 weeks if the weather stays dry and sunny. #gardeningAu#bloomscrolling
After running around this morning I sat in the backyard eating a late lunch where I spied this nasturtium. This flower brought me pleasure so I thought I should share it with you.
I am going to plant seeds of this plant in the pots at the top of our front fence with the hope they will dangle down the front of the fence making people happy as they walk by.