Garden 29 October 2012

Two little pumpkins growing. The plant is dying in plants so hope they ripen. Beautiful cats whisker flower. Also blue agapanthus just opening up. What is this caterpillar? Is it good or bad insect for my garden?

Garden 29 October 2012

Nasturtium flower

Garlic Chives

Garlic chives are simple to grow and quite hardy. They can take a lot of neglect and keep on growing. They taste great added to salads and are terrific on ham sandwiches.

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Bindweed

I read something very interesting about this weed that continues to try and strangle our mock orange bush in our front garden. It was some facts about this common pest: "In one laboratory test plot, a single bindweed, six months after germination, produced 197 vertical roots for a total count of 788 feet of roots. Add to that 34 horizontal roots on which there were 144 new shoot buds, each of which were capable of be becoming a new plant" - The book entitled "The quarter acre farm" by Spring Warren. No wonder after 3 years of pulling it out it still returns just as strong as ever.

Tree Tomatoes

These are my tree tomatoes or tamarillo plants. I planted them beginning of the year. No sign of fruit but hopefully in next couple of years they will. I live the unusual taste of the fruit and can't wait until the first crop. They are sensitive to wind so planted against a fence with a comfrey plant I divided at base of each one. Comfrey is meant to fix nitrogen in soil so beneficial for anything it planted near. Hope this will be the case. A couple of grevillea trees are interplanted also. I put picture of Grevillea flower as so beautiful.

Photos

Have just planted some eggplants and zucchini and beans.

The corn came up after I discovered some old seed of "popcorn" variety I had forgotten about and so threw in just to see if it was still viable. This particular variety the corn cob grows as a round ball but you eat it the same way and the corn is still yellow. I thought it would be a novelty for the kids. Didn't have much success with original lot but this time it seems healthy still.

We have a mixture of flowers scattered throughout the garden also as well as native trees.

The bathtub initially had lemon grass and other herbs in it but the lemon grass grew enormous and I recently cut it right back. Am going to remove it as it took over and I have plenty of other clumps of it in the garden. I will plant it out with more herbs then.

Book "The quarter acre farm"

Just in middle of reading a book entitled "The quarter acre farm - How I kept the patio, lost the lawn, and fed my family for a year" by Spring Warren.

It resonating with me as she describes herself as a gardener who either forgets to water in time, or waters too much, who never treats her compost pile the way gardening books expound, and who experiences multitudes of failures along with her successes in the garden.

In fact, it mostly the description of the "lazy gardener" that I resonate most with. For example, this morning, I woke up and made a coffee. Tried to read the said book for half an hour with cats whining for food on bed! Then went out to water, and 5 minutes into watering stopped to pick a few dozen tomatoes that were ripe and starting to split. Came in and made smoothie for breakfast, at same time washing tomatoes in bowl, pulling off green stalks, placing on baking tray and baking with tablespoon of olive oil sprinkling of dried mixed herbs and a tiny bit of sea salt. Baking in hot oven for 15 minutes and then blending mixture.

It was had for dinner tonight on some whole wheat pasta, Parmesan cheese, teaspoon of sour cream and chopped mint from garden. It was like an explosion of flavor in your mouth of summer. The tomato taste nearly knocked your socks off - it was wonderful.

But I always try to be systematic and organized and only manage for small bursts of time and then i am back to my disorganized and meandering ways.

But I feel so alive and peaceful and REAL in my garden even when it all slightly chaotic. I love the connection I feel with it and I love it when I meet similar natured people who get that the dirt around my nails just hadn't come off despite vigorous washing and marks my interest permanently on my body !

Tomatoes

Here is pictures of some of the multitude of cherry tomatoes we have growing at side of our garage! Also, pumpkins that self generated in compost pile. New little lettuces coming up, and some of our vege beds - bought from Bunnings.

Backyard Greens

Here is a picture of some green salad veges that have been keeping us in supply the last few months! Just outside of backdoor so handy to pick for quick salad needed for dinner or for a sandwich.

Lime tree

Here is the first limes growing on a tree Brett brought home from TAFE 2.5 years ago. Were nearly going to pull it out as firstly, grasshoppers kept eating the tree back to just bare branches and secondly it just has never fruited. So glad we waited. Am having to learn patience on this gardening venture of mine.

Taste Test

There is nothing quite like the taste of tomatoes picked straight from the bush and consumed right there and then.

Tomatoes

Our first attempts 3 years ago at growing tomatoes here in Wide Bay Queensland, Australia had mixed success.  All cherry tomato varieties were 100% successful, most of what I then would have called "normal looking" tomatoes failed. Failed in the sense that they all were eaten by bugs. The bugs however left the cherry tomatoes alone. In this, our 4th year of being gardeners, we have just had a 2 month period where Nana was really sick and required 24/7 care and NO work was done in the garden. Weeds proliferated and grew so high you could not see the vegetables in between. Tomatoes self generated in the midst of all this from the compost pile, including larger varieties. None of these vegetables or tomatoes have been eaten by bugs. We have had a bounty to eat for last month from this backyard harvest. This experience reiterated to me the fact that traditional "tidy" gardens just do not work here where we live. The fact that bugs got lost in the maze of traditional " so called weeds" was an eye opener. I have since learnt that some of the common garden weeds I have growing can actually be eaten as salad vegetables! Plantain being one of the main surprises. Will be posting photos soon to show our self seeding tomatoes ( just staked them) and pumpkin and corn!!! Happy gardening bloggers
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Bundaberg Backyard Farmers

Hello world,  my husband and I married 4 years ago this month, after meeting online and dating for a few months (but that is another story)!  We blended two families and between us have 6 children, but four years ago, had 4 living at home only as the other 2 adult children of mine were living independently.  We could have bought a 3 bedroom home that was completely renovated but with 6 of us and my motherinlaw about to move in also, we had to find somewhere bigger.  Our budget found us a home in Bundaberg that was big enough for us all, but 60 years old with nothing having been done to it since it was first built.  It is a 1200 sq metre block and had a few big trees out the front and one beautiful Norfolk pine in the backyard down the side, but that was it. 

Since we bought the house 3 years ago we both started reading and discovering the wonderful philosophy and way of life that is permaculture.  This blog is about documenting our journey in growing our own food and attempts to be successful at it whilst both working fulltime, having a 17 year old son who is special needs (autistic spectrum disorder), looking after nan (aged 86 years), our other 3 children, as well as 2 dogs and 2 cats.