Canna Lilly seeds sprouting

After 10 days in water ( changed water every few days as went cloudy) they starting to sprout! Am probably going to wait until the sprout protrudes slightly more, maybe another week, then pot them up.

Might have to risk bruising the fingertips again and using the nail clipper to puncture the canna seed until the white embryo is exposed and soak some more now it looks like the method is successful! Very exciting.

Canna Lilly seeds - germinating

Ordered through EBay Australia 50 Canna Lilly seeds.

Read up about how to germinate and discovered suggestions to make a cut in the seed with a pair of nail clippers until white is showing, and then soak in water for few days until sprouting occurs.

Then sterilise potting mix in pots by pouring boiling water into each pot, leave 15 minutes until cool, plant a few seeds in each pot ( seems to enable better rate of germination than single planted) and put pot inside a plastic bag for a week or two until germination. Will advise success in coming weeks, or not!

Think there has to be an easier way to split seed without killing it. Wondered about pouring boiling water on them and soaking for half an hour then placing in cold water for few days and see if successful.

16 December 2012

Had brilliant time today in our garden. We went to Shalom markets in Bundaberg and had delivered 5 mushroom compost and 10 cane bales. We planted 10 trees (coffee, avocado, wampi, 5 lemon, 3 Lilly Pilly, loquat and chocolate pudding) the beginning of our permaculture designed food forest.

Watched a 25 minute free food forest video on Internet by Geoff Lawton. It was permaculture design in action! We decided to go ahead and create our urban food backyard and leave something of value and learn in process even though we are not going to stay here after 4 years.

New trees - food forest extension

Well, just had delivered 5 coffee bushes, 4 Lilly Pilly bushes, 5 sub tropical fruiting trees ( including bowen mango) 6 citrus of differing varieties, and 50 canna Lilly seeds to germinate and plant in pots.

Are planting out this weekend along with our existing 5 guava, Kia apple, chocolate sapote, tamarind x 2, tree tomato x 2, mulberry x 1 and coffee x 1, Fejoa x 2, 1 lemon and 1 mandarin tree and numerous others.

Trees

Rare small leaf tamarind tree in our garden. Only 30 in wild I have been told. Chocolate sapote tree. Moringa tree. Lilly Pilly bush fruiting and inspiring a dream of wine making!

Blossom

Elephant ear plant with beautiful pink leaf. Beautiful purple grass frond. My bogonia flowering. A few spots of beauty in the garden this morning.

Pineapple Sage

This is my first successful cutting of Pineapple sage that growing successfully in the garden. Yeah so exciting. A small but wonderful success in my garden journey. Especially, when considering that patience is not a word associated with me, and consistency in watering is difficult as I am normally hit and miss.

Citrus blossom

A simple thing this morning. The smell of blossom on our lime tree (first year it has blossomed) is divine. The blossom looks insignificant but the heady citrusy sweetness of its smell knocks your socks off.

Milkweed

Took photo of this insignificant little plant that noteworthy for skin cancer treating properties. Squeeze the milky sap onto suspect cancer and it will bluster, scab and drop off. Be careful where you put it!!

30 December 2012 photos from garden

Went out at 7am and took some photos. Comfrey plant flowering. Coriander that bolted also smothered in little white flowers. My potato patch. A little Moringa tree growing in garden after being planted as a seed 5 or 6 weeks ago. A pot plant flowering my Dad had bought for me. Beautiful start for the day.

Healthy juice for lunch

Today I picked a few sprigs of parsley, about 10 leaves of plantain and 5 mint leaves and blended with fresh banana, pineapple and some rice milk for a delicious light healthy shake for lunch. If you are on blood thinners you are not meant to eat plantain otherwise it is a common garden weed that loaded with iron and minerals. Here are some pictures.

Moringa - 10 days old

2 trees planted out 2 days ago. About 4 inches tall already. Surrounded by horse poo and barricaded against dogs who run around with force of bulldozers. Some chilli, and couple views of garden in different spots.

First eggplant November 2012

First eggplant growing. Have four plants.

Moringa seed

4 days after sprouting!! 75% success rate in germination.

Photos

Small red guava emerging. Crawling everlasting spinach spreading along ground. Yellow butter beans nearly ready to pick. Eggplant's purple flowers with coriander seeding behind it. Such a sunny beautiful spring morning!

Moringa

First Moringa seed emerging (2days old).

Photos from garden 13.11.12

Zucchini and zucchini flower - so beautiful!

Potatoes - hulled

Potatoes

Well my potatoes I sowed very late in the season are well above ground ( nearly a foot tall) so will hull up around them tomorrow and mulch well. Will post photos tomorrow. Have asked my Dad to bring as many bags of horse poo as he can each time he drives from Cordalba to Bundaberg. Also will order more mushroom compost to be delivered next time they have it. Mulch mulch and more mulch over summer. I cannot under plant until trees are bigger. On the bright side, my Moringa seeds are sprouting!!! So excited to watch these trees grow. My Dad ordered seeds online and gave me about 8 to plant. About half started to pop up yesterday. Am going to call into coffee shop we all use from work and see what they do with used coffee grounds. Thought might be useful addition to compost. Will let you know.

Baby Norfolk Pine Cones

I think these baby pine cones forming are just beautiful. Am reading up on all you can do/make/eat to do with pine cones!

Symbiotic relationships

Here is a photo of our miniature lemon tree (new fruit forming back right). Comfrey planted in front to fix nitrogen near roots of fruit tree. This tree grows full size lemons and only size of small bush. It has been brilliant.

Coffee tree

Went to Shalom market Sunday morning and found a lovely man from Gin Gin selling multiple fruit and non fruiting trees. Purchased half a dozen and planted as food forest. Planted couple of metres apart and although some naturally grow 5-10 metres high will keep pruned to 2 metres. Will get less fruit but enough for backyard garden. That is plan based on what we have read.