July 2014

Another month of ‘living left handed’ plus being away from home for nearly two weeks – so you guessed it not much gardening this month either.  My other problem is it is so wet and windy it is difficult to even take any photos. The wind has been so strong that our swing seat that is tied down went for an abseil off the deck into the garden below.  It will have to stay there until the weather settles down.

The camellias are blooming – I love them – they just sit there doing their own thing and just look after themselves and then put on a beautiful show – can’t ask for much more from a plant. 

The vegie garden is looking bit empty – I’ve done a fair bit of one handed weeding and turning last year’s mulch into the soil so it will really go well once the weather warms up.  We have had many meals from the pot of rainbow chard and Kale growing near the living room door.  I love the ease of picking it and it loves the position – win win.

 

a favorite visitor to the garden - an Eastern Spinebill - it loves the tiny fuchsia that grows near this apricot tree.  

June 2014

My month of living left handed…..

It has been an interesting month to say the least.  Surgery on my right hand on the 4^th June so not much gardening done in the past few weeks.  It is a thrill though to look back at the photos of a year ago and see the large amount of growth that has taken place in the front garden.

I planted this at the end of May

one month's growth....looking pretty yummy

first light of a frosty morning

the wrens are still about although they  are having to share the bird baths with some sparrows
that have now re located to our house 

sunrise this morning

a few plants in the front garden that have more than doubled in size in a year

'Robin Gordon'

'Sweet Jane' 

I do love cyclamens

my new cluster of pots are mostly doing well....the osmanthus had to be re-potted after a bad wind storm blew it over smashing it's pot.  It is now in bud.  It has a very sweet fragrant flower, so going past it will be a joy.

May 2014

I was thrilled to find a beautiful little ‘masdavillea’ in flower.  I bought it 18 months ago and it appear to be doing well in my shade house.  The other residents of the shade house are also happy.  The strikes of the begonias I took last month and also some pieces a friend gave me that she had struck in water are all doing fine.

It has been a rather wet month and so not much watering required in the shade house, but I still like to go for a visit and see what is happening.  It is also a little bit warmer in there so a nice place to escape to if it gets too cold or a storm blows up suddenly.

I moved the potted lime to a warmer position.  The kumquat near the back wall (where the afternoon sun shines) is doing well so now it has a friend (the lime) sitting in the corner near it.  It is looking better already.  I also potted up a couple of geraniums to sit with it and make a nice little group.

The vegie garden is looking a bit empty with most things finished and removed.  I mixed in last year’s sugar cane mulch and some more fertilizer to get the beds ready for future plantings.  We are enjoying eating the kale and the ‘red legs’ silver beet.  I bought a big spice pot in the same ox blood colour as my other new pots.  It is now planted up with kale (2 different types) and red legs silver beet.  It looks good on the deck by the living room window. 

It is lovely to see the camellias and azaleas budding up and blooming again.  They really are such easy care plants.

Gardening next month will be a challenge as I’m having surgery on my right hand so it will be interesting living left handed for a month or so.

 

The blue wrens are still enjoying being in the garden even though we cut back the hebe where they love to hide.  We had to wait over a year to cut back the over grown hebe.  It must be the most visited bush in the garden

I was thrilled when this scarlet robin came for a visit. 

My tiny masdavillea

Another wren

a beautiful sunrise

These plants are enjoying their change of  position

the newest pot - planted with kale and red legs silver beet.

A sparkling sunrise

the lime in its new warm corner

I do love the look of these steps - all done by itself - I had nothing to do with it

April 2014

Another month has come and nearly gone….time is just flying by – a sign of age no doubt.  Oh well at least looking back to this time last year when the front garden was just being planted I can see a lot has changed.  I have only lost a few plants and that was only because of some careless NBM workmen who didn’t realise that plants like their foliage above ground and their roots in the soil.  Apart from that everything has done well – some better than others but overall it is growing to plan.

I was unsure whether to trim back the natives in the front garden in the hope that they will bush up and thicken out.  I heard on ‘Gardening Australia’ that natives are used to having their tips pruned off by animals so yesterday they all got a little trim – by me rather than a wallaby.

The back fence is now standing tall and with its new supports etc. it shouldn’t be blown over again.  We have been having veggies from the garden - red leg silver beet, kale, zucchini and the old favourite snowpeas.  We had or first corn cob last night – delicious – funny thing is that I’m not keen on the bought corn but love home grown.  It is not a huge crop this year but hopefully next year will be better.

My very large 20 year old begonia was looking really straggly and so I gave it a trim and have popped some cuttings in to see if I have any luck getting them to strike.  I have always really liked ‘hares foot’ fern, a few years ago I bought a ‘rabbit’s foot’ fern and I’m now the owner of a ‘kangaroo foot’ fern – didn’t even know one existed. 

The other major job this month which Pop helped me with was cutting back the hebe.  It has needed doing for a while but it is always home to so many little wrens and grey fantails I didn’t like to disturb them.  All seemed pretty quiet so it was pruning time.  It looks a bit sad but it will grow and it can only get better. 

My new 'kangaroo foot fern - with a dendrobium orchid sharing the basket  

the rabbits foot fern

and the original hares foot fern

my new begonia - not often found for sale - but they do well in my shade house

the un picked corn  - I wasn't sure if it was ready to pick but we had a bad storm which blew over the plant so I decided it was ready!!

some of the ingredients of last nights tea

what is left of the hebe - a few trips to the tip needed to get rid of the prunings.

the top front garden

the other side - the nearest grevillea is more than waist high.

most things have doubled in size - some three times - it has been very rewarding to see the garden taking shape and growing as planned.

March 2014

The poor veggie patch looked very neglected on our return.  The snowpeas had not been picked and looked more like broad beans, the zucchinis had not been picked and continued to grow to the point where they are no longer their tastiest.  The tomato plants looked really sad and now had rust so it was time for action.  The tomato plants were the first to go followed closely by the snowpeas.  I gave the veggie beds a good weeding and a spruce up and suddenly it looked productive again.

The fence is still down waiting for response from the neighbours and quotes from fencers.

I managed to get a lovely pot to replant the osmanthus – I loved the look so much I bought quite a few of them.  It was impossible to match the green of the existing pots so I went for an ox blood red to compliment the green.  I’m really pleased with the result.

Another leucadendron died in the same spot (even though I had replaced the soil and done everything I could think of to make them happy) and so I decided to move the bird bath to fill the spot.

This is the only thing in the vegie garden to have done really well this season - Red Legs silver beet.  We both really enjoy the taste and it is quite colourful in the grden.

This is the before photo - my plan is to clip this plant into a cone shape.

the blue wrens are very happy with the native shrubs and the bird baths in the garden.

These pots are near the back door next to our garden swing.  I wanted a plant that was hardy, didn't mind wind and hot afternoon sun and this 'Rhaphiolepis indica' called Springtime was recommended.  It will have pink fragrant flowers in Spring.

This is the 'Osmanthus' in its new pot.  This is also on the deck near the back door.

Another collection of pots, and my favorite watering can my Sis gave me..

This is on the corner of the deck facing the river.  The plant in the large pot is another Raphiolepis - 'Snow Maiden' it will have a white flower.  The clipped circle shape is a tiny flowered fuchsia  that I moved from my big group of clipped plants.  It looked like it needed a change of soil so I did that and gave it a new outlook as well.

A dear friend gave me this succulent recently.  It is doing really well.

My new grouping  of clipped plants.  

I took out the old lavender from the back corner and replaced it with a 'Garrya elliptica'.  It should grow well in this spot.

I also planted two of these fast growing shrubs.  I will need to keep them under control as they will grow very tall give the chance - but they will provide some privacy for the back yard now that our lattice has gone.

February 2014

February – a quiet month in my garden this year. 

A beautiful orchid bloomed.  The tomatoes are getting bigger but still a long way from bearing fruit – oh well. The snowpeas are producing well and we have had a few meals from them.  The zucchinis have also reached the picking stage.  I steamed some the other night and served it with some cheese and sweet chilli sauce on the top.  Pop’s favourite way.

We had some friends stay with us for a week.  It was a lovely time.  Unfortunately there was a really bad wind storm one of the days and the back fence was blown over.  Thankfully it went backwards and didn’t do any damage to my garden or the neighbor’s as it leaned on their retaining wall.   The only other damage was the pot holding my osmanthus was blown down the steps and the pot broken.  The plant was undamaged and the soil just sat in a neat ball.  It was carried into the shade house and kept moist until the next day when a new pot could be bought. 

My friend gave me two lovely plants and we had great fun potting them up and having some time out in the garden.

The next week I was very busy getting some paintings done and then the last two weeks we spent on the mainland visiting family.

my beautiful orchid - the first flowering   

January 2014

January 2014

Well it wasn’t the best start to the New Year in the garden.  We had some very strong winds and combining that with a huge crop of fruit on the apricot tree, down came a large branch.  It broke off part way up the main trunk.  The jury is still out as to whether it can recover.  Fortunately it didn’t do any damage to the surrounding plants but has left a big gap where it used to be – sad.  Pop and I got the branches and fallen fruit cleaned up.

The veggie garden is coming along and the tomatoes are starting to flower.  Not bad seeing they were only planted late December.  The snowpeas are starting to produce – we had enough to add to a stirfry the other night.  The zucchinis also have flowers so it shouldn’t be long till they produce as well.

I have also planted some more coriander.  The first lot just went straight to seed, so another lot should just be maturing when I have to replace them.  Some Italian parsley is always good to have and I also planted some more snow peas.  I decided to have another try with kale.  It probably would have been ok last year but we went away just as it was getting to picking stage.

I’m really pleased with how the apple tree is going.  It was planted in October 2012.  It is now double the size and producing some really nice looking fruit.

Thankfully we haven’t experienced any really hot days yet and so we haven’t had sun damage like the mainland.

The water lily is doing well - one year old - a Christmas present  2012

the species Daphnes are being taken over by lobellias.  I put a few pots of petunias along the cross bar of the shade house.  The sweet peas have been pretty but not many of them.

This is the first time this cymbidium  orchid has flowered for me - it was also purchased one year ago 

I really love this hydrangea.  It was frizzled by a 40 degree day last year - so far so good this year.  It has this colour flower and also

this colour on the same plant - just beautifyl

penstamens are still a favorite plant

This white flowering tea tree is in the front garden

I had trouble getting anything to grow in front of the leucadendrons.  I planted a succulent which has done really well and is now flowering - looking really prtty 

a close up of the flowers

the veggie patch

How is that for a good looking apple?

I'm not keen on the orange coloured flowers but I make an exception with this begonia.  It lives in a hanging basket by the doorway to the shade house.