I don't like summer. This seems a controversial statement - like saying I don't like parties. Perhaps I will tell you about my feelings on parties another time. I particularly don't like the type of summer we are having this year. Hot and dry. At least if we get a summer storm most nights, I … Continue reading Summer Sucks
Tag: gardening
Purple is my favourite
I suspect we all have a connection to a particular tree. For me, it is the Jacaranda tree. Growing up, I lived next door to my grandmother (I know, bliss right!) and she had a Jacaranda tree that forked perfectly to easily climb into and sit and read, or dream or write letters. My home … Continue reading Purple is my favourite
Not a drop of rain!
I have decided after a month of sprummer it is already summer. The worst sort of start. A week of hot dry winds, the horizon smudged with the smoke of bush fires. The trees in my garden have dropped leaves and look bare and parched. My lettuce is shrinking instead of growing. I took this photo of the … Continue reading Not a drop of rain!
Easy Orchids
I used to think orchids were difficult and fiddly. I knew nothing! There were some here when we arrived and they are set and forget plants. This one sits in an old stump by the garage. I forget it is there until every August (Sprinter) it does this: I don't know what it is called. … Continue reading Easy Orchids
The Blueberry Experiment
A few weeks ago I visited my local Fernvale Markets and bought a blueberry bush. I didn't know I could grow blueberries. I still don't know if I can grow blueberries. I thought it would not be cold enough. My friendly nursery lady told me they do all right at her place. But we are … Continue reading The Blueberry Experiment
Plant Crimes
This is an example of the poor planning that defines my sporadic gardening. The strangely paired bedfellows in this pot most surely do not belong together. The red flower is a hippeastrum. I got a stack of bulbs from my friends Donna and Andrew who had an excess growing in the garden of their newly … Continue reading Plant Crimes
It Sprummer – but don’t put your blankets away.
So according to Dr Entwisle's review of seasons in Australia, t is Sprummer - a changeable cross between spring and summer and a time when there is a second burst of flowers. My banksiae rose did exactly that. Finished flowering at the end of August and then flowered again in October. Through September both the mango and … Continue reading It Sprummer – but don’t put your blankets away.
You can eat Nasturtiums!
When I was at boarding school we laughed at the weird girl who ate the wild nasturtiums. What nasty teenagers we were as well as uninformed. As you know, I plant things at the wrong time and in the wrong place all the time. When I go to the Fernvale Markets I try and try … Continue reading You can eat Nasturtiums!
My War Against Wildlife
I love wild life. Honest. I just don't like it when it eats my garden. It is quite devastating to see mangoes on the tree and think - they will be perfect tomorrow - and find the next day that something - possum, parrot or phantom has come in the night and taken a bite of … Continue reading My War Against Wildlife
We’ve got our seasons wrong
Australian seasons are all wrong. In the third week of July, I thought, Spring is in the air. 'Technically' it was actually the middle of Winter. The application of the traditional four seasons too much of Australia can be questioned. As a kid, I was fascinated by the idea of the English trying to establish … Continue reading We’ve got our seasons wrong