9 posts tagged “gardening”
Our veggie garden is actually growing!! Probably mostly due to the fact that D and I put up chicken wire to protect it from the chickens, who would like to take a bite at anything (mostly the corn, which was more that frustrating!!).
Despite the fact that most veggie gardens need full sun, ours is dealing with too much, despite the fact it is in half sun half shade. Darn hole in the ozone layer!!! Plus I'm sure the 30 degree plus days aren't helping too much either...
Anyway, the lettuce and beans are doing the best. We have had a few casualties, but that is to be expected...
thought i'd write a quick update on the farm garden.
The chickens are still going strong, still two eggs a day, every day. They now look like real chickens, before they were skinnier and more juvenile, now they have grown into their bodies. I still laugh every time I look at them. Because, y'know, they are chickens.
There has been this mystery bird flying around at dusk. D thinks its a wattlebird. I think its a female satin bowerbird (the males of the species attract the female by scavenging blue things and creating a bower out of them. Supposedly quite advanced for a bird).
However the other day I found it. dead. It had flown into the window, and although usually most birds recover, this one seemed to have broken its neck. Very sad. Even seeing it up close there is still debate over what species it is. We buried it in the compost heap that isn't composting... more on that later.
The next day another bird like it was flying around, obviously looking for its companion, which made us even sadder. Now the identification debate still continues. If it was a wattlebird then it could have been its partner. If it was a bowerbird then it must be its sister or something, because the males are dark blue (whereas the females have brown backs and mottled yellow and grey brests).
D and I fenced off an area of the garden on tuesday and got to work planting seedlings to start the veggie patch. Other attempts failed, as something was eating them / digging them up / it just wasn't working.
So far its going well. We have cucumber, beans, cos, spinach, celery and I also planted some seeds, however i'm not sure if they will grow or not yet.
D also bought me a blueberry plant. I couldn't plant it until we bought special soil, as blueberries like a different ph. We bought some azalea mix, and planted it in a large pot the other day, however the blueberry seems to have died, which sucks. Something else is growing in its place though, will have to see how it turns out, although it is probably just a weed.
We have been taking the layers and layers of jasmine off the side fence. A few weeks ago I could hear something russling around in there, and upon further inspection we came to the conclusion we had bush rats in there.
So what do i do? I start ripping all the jasmine down, in hope they will migrate somewhere else. Instead I make them a more comfy home in our compost heap, which has layers and layers of dead jasmine. Nothing is breaking down, just compacting. I'm thinking of trying to break it down today, but i'm not sure how i'm going to do that.
After sending the chickens to bed at dusk last night, I sat down at their coop and watched. Watched the 'rats' come out of the compost. But instead they are mice. Very small and grey. Very very cautious, any sudden move and they run back to safety. I watched them get into the coop. Probably to eat the chickens food. I tried to put a branch up against the coop, but they still worked out how to get inside. Again, we are having trouble identifying the mystery species. I think they are too small and too uniform in colour to be a normal house mouse, but I will have to do more research.
So, things are happening and growing, which is nice. Hopefully summer will allow our veggie patch to thrive, and someway we can work out what to do with this mice situation. soon.
Sometimes even I am amazed at my wit...
My balcony garden is about to come to an end, as we are going to move in two weeks and they will get planted into the ground (yay).
So far I have to say I havn't really received much produce from it. Lettuce and nasturtium leaves have been handy, but we really havn't gotten that much from them. The baby beets have just popped up and we will have to eat some soon. The broad beans have gotten chocolate spot and have been taken over by the ants. Aphids have popped up on the Romanesco and the Beets. Not that I'm discouraged. I just havn't been able to grow any protective plants - ones that attract beneficial bugs like lacewings and ladybeetles. Now I have tansy and Queen Annes lace seeds, so hopefully they will help in my fight against bugs...
I started a project a month or two back of building a veggie garden outside on my balcony. So far everything is going well. The seedlings I planted back then are still growing, and my second lot need to get planted into bigger pots now. I'm very much getting into it, I find myself needing to go buy potting mix and pots, looking for interesting seeds and checking the plants every night when I get home from work...
I found a small romanesco plant from Kmart about a month ago. It didn't look very healthy, and when i got it to the checkout the woman said because it was almost dead I could have it for $2. Now it going crazy, which I think is great.
The only thing that has been difficult is the ants. They are still crawling all over the lime tree, and now the broadbeans as well. No matter what I do they seem to come back which is a pain.
20:56 i have started talking to my plants - not that they are plants yet, seedlings. "how are you mr parsley, you are about to sprout, aren't you"
I planted some seeds on Monday night, and have been eagerly awaiting their growth. Some varieties have now officially emerged from the dirt and i'm excited.
I have a great little wooden thing that you wrap newspaper around to make little pots. I wrote the plant type and date on the side, but of course when I water them the texta ran, leaving little rainbow edges...
I've decided that I want to make my balcony into an edible garden in which we would actually want to spend time. Right now I used it only as a place to hang out washing, and occasionally BBQ. The only plant we have is a lime tree, which frequently gets covered in scale bugs, brought by the ants...
The balcony gets full sun between sunrise and about 10/11, depending on the season. Then it is plunged into shadow for the rest of the day...
We have had plants on our balcony before, but they have all died. However this time its going to be different. This time I'm going to try.
So here is my plan:
Find plants which will survive the conditions on my balcony, and create a nice place where D and I would like to have dinner, instead of in front of the tv every night. Since he is about to get a car, and we therefore will not be able to buy a house for the next couple of years (unless the interest rates/house prices go down), I want to try and make this work, and i'm itching to garden, any way I can.
I was thinking of finding a way to create a little bit of privacy. Even though we are on the top floor, and no one directly looks over on us, I still think it would be nice to be a little bit more hidden, which could possibly mean plants could survive a little better.
I also want to grow plants that we can then use in cooking. So ideas right now include:
- Bay Tree (Thanks RachJ on my question post)
- Chilis (Thanks Amy Jeynes on my I'm iching to start a veggie garden post)
- Herbs (Rosemary, Sage, Oregano, Thyme. Maybe even Basil, Parsley, Coriander and Mint)
- Veges (Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Spring Onions, Peas, Beans)
- Flowers (Marigold, Nasturtiums, Lavender)
I was thinking of having some sort of lattice/support that offers a little bit of privacy and allows the plants to go up it...
Also I found a cool company that sells terracotta paint, so the pots aren't all that boring terracotta colour, which might be cool.
I also need to get a new outdoor table and chairs, because the ones we have are old and you can see it. I wouldn't mind getting some old wooden furniture and sanding it back and painting it too, if I have the energy...
Does anyone have any other good ideas on what would work well on a balcony?
