More progress in the garden!

First off the ranks...I need to let you know that the carrot experiment wasn't a success. Upon inspection the very next day I noticed the carrot lid was to the point of popping off. It was bulging like an explosion was on the horizon...lol....So when I opened the lid to release some pressure....this is what happened....all the fizz came flooding out of the jar.....as I'm not sure this is what is meant to happen, I've tossed the carrot. Carrot NIL...Beans still going........Oh well...worth a try hey!

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As I have never grown zucchini, I just had to show off what I picked...

but there is something much more exciting than this to show you.....

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Check this out...We finally finished the front garden bed...Phew...what a job! But it is sooooo worth the work, to think that it will provide us with fruit in the future...and plenty of space beneath for the odd vegetable or herb too. I knew that when we finally filled in the bed, I would have an instant garden; because I have been planning it so long...and hoarding plants in pots out the back too.

So when it came time to planting out...I had  grown from seed or cutting...... Comfrey, Nasturtium, Rosemary, Lavender, Violets and Pyrethrum. I also have a pot of Thornless Blackberries shooting, which will go on the fence later on. I've been buying dwarf fruit trees in ready for freshly built garden beds...I have planted out the dwarf Washington Navel Orange, a dwarf green Apple and a dwarf Seedless Valencia Orange.

Remember, any work you do now, any planning and planting in your garden, is an investment for your future. When I look to the future and I imagine the 'fruits of my labour'....I get excited. 

Over the back behind the Feijoa tree, I planted the triple grafted Apricot tree which I bought for hubby for Christmas. Apricot is his favourite fruit.

In the original garden bed in the front yard, the Taro and the Rosella are very happy. It won't be long before I start seeing new buds on these Rosella.

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More exciting progress....Hubby was busy on Sunday too, while I was pottering away in the new garden bed with even more plants. .....We had finally sourced enough materials to build a shelving unit for the hothouse. It's only a cheapy from Bunnings, but it gets the job done! The shelving is made up of some bed frames...and some pipe from what we think was once a trampoline cage. I'm so impressed with the shelving...it's made to fit...and without including the ground floor, it can hold 30 seedling trays. That's awesome!

I don't need to put up with the balancing act of the milk crates, and wire mesh now...which was only the floor and one shelf anyway.....OMG I can't believe I filled it...lol....but I do raise plants for the community garden as well as cuttings and seed for the free table at the garden course...along with my own garden needs of-course...Yep, I filled it easy!

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One day down the track, we will learn how to graft multiple varieties of fruit trees onto one tree...so I'm planning ahead and growing my own apple trees....They still have a way to go...and I still need to germinate a few more varieties...but this is a start.

With all the rain we have been having...the perennial beans have gone wildly crazy.....they are taking over everything...and to think....there are only 3 plants. They haven't begun to flower yet, but Richard says not to worry, because all perennial beans take longer to flower.

The front 

I just looked back on when I planted them....mid September Wow! Is it meant to be that long before I get flowers or should I pull them out? I wonder?  Richard....you out there? 

The back

Even the side is being taken over.
This trellis was meant for the passion-fruit vine on the left.

This cucumber is really determined to live...so I've treated it kindly, and propped it up....given it some old horse manure...and planted two Mini long Egg-Plant in the front.

The Jerusalem Artichoke are going strong and I can see some flower buds on them now. The same at the community garden are in full flower...but also in full sun...so I will plant them in the front yard next season.

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The Water Garden

Every time it rains, the water garden (the neighbours old bath) overflows....which is because I haven't yet gotten around to drilling a over-flow hole in it yet.
I use the Azola to add nitrogen to the compost bin...but I haven't had the the need to add wet ingredients with all this rain. Azola is a fantastic compost generator...and it seems to be enjoying being in this position.
The long reeds are Chinese Water Chestnuts...the fern looking plant to the left is Water Celery and in front of that is the Vietnamese Mint....Scattered all over the Azola is Water Cress, and climbing up the Water Chestnuts is a crazy (PennyRoyal like) mint.

My Water Garden collects the first flush of rainwater from the downpipe.

There's lots of other exciting things happening here at the moment....but I will leave that for another post.

On my mind...Sacrificing fruit for good roots.

FIRST YEARS FRUIT TO BE SACRIFICED
I must straighten this back up too
after the horrible wind storm we had the other day.

Many thanks to Rhonda at Down to Earth for this concept.

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. To take part, post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here from your blog by saying you're part of "On my mind". Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When you've done that, come back here and add a comment below, with  a link to your blog.

Yep, this one is going to hurt....I was looking forward to having oranges this season, but I have learn't that in order to set your new fruit tree up for a good life....it's best to sacrifice the first fruit so that the energy goes into the root ball, and not into growing fruit. This sets the fruit tree up for the following years to be a much healthier, happy plant.  Ohhhh, it's going to hurt....My little Seedless Valencia Orange is full of fruit, but what Richard says in the gardening course........makes so much sense!

So Richard, if your reading this..this post is for you..to show that I am a good student,
and I do as I am told....lol

Dwarf seedless Valencia fruit ALL GONE
:(  equals  :) next season

I also sacrificed the lime flowers too......so it can grow and become stronger. Ahhh, no point worrying about it now...can't glue 'em back on...lol....Oh, if your'e wondering about the size of the pot....It's not permanent...It's going to be planted in the front garden once it is built.

LIME TREE - FIRST YEAR
Sacrificing the fruit buds.

I'm such a good student.....hmmmmmm, all that fruit that could have been.....will be on my mind today.

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RATS IN YOUR GARDEN? 

I have two types of rats in my garden at the moment.....

one feral, and one not so feral named Rusty.

I'd like to tell you about a little thing that happened in my garden yesterday......

Every morning, Rusty comes out with me to the garden, I go out there, just to check on things,.....water the mushroom compost...and take stock of what still needs to be done....Rusty, on the other hand, comes out with me...to hunt for lizards, and anything else smaller than her. Her motto is....'Anything smaller than me, on MY property...MUST DIE'..... she even takes cockroaches out of the house to kill.

Rusty is a good hunter too...never giving up on a scent.....staying so focused she becomes out of breath from searching every trace smell left behind by 'Anything smaller than her'. Sometimes it's cats, sometimes it's a rat....mostly it's just lizards though.

Yesterday, while on our morning walk around the garden....Rusty's behaviour told me that a rat had walked along one of the big black tubs.....I had a few trays of Tomato seedlings sitting in the tub to protect them in the horrible wind storm we had.......The tub is full of soil, waiting for some of my seedlings...........

Well, Rusty, my darling dog who I tell ..."Is the most beautiful girl in the whole world"....decided upon herself to remove the Tomato Seedling pots from the top of the black tub....so she could jump up into the tub for a better sniff and hunt. One by one she had stretched her neck far enough that she could grab the pot by the top with her teeth...and dump it on the ground. There were 6 pots on the ground. I had a mess to clean up, and some seedlings to save.....

Meanwhile Nanna (my Mum) yells out her window...."Can you come and put my slippers on for me"....and as I had just finished cleaning up the mess....I guess she heard me yelling at Rusty....so off I went and helped Mum with her slippers.......

By the time I got back......there were another 9 seedlings and their tubs dumped on the ground....and one very dirty Rusty Dog! I yelled, I ranted, I raved....I even threatened her with a cane close by, by tapping her on the rump with it. Not very hard...just enough to give her the message, that it is serious. ( this is the first time too for such a tap, so she didn't know what hit her......no pun intended here).....

So........... she goes around the sink area, to avoid me......and back to the Tomato Seedlings....with that; I gave her another whack; on the bum this time..and a little harder too.....sure; I don't think it would hurt her much...but it would give her something to think about. 

I work too hard to have it all tossed on the ground....so after cleaning up the second bigger mess....and saving what I could save...I realised there was no way I was going to stop Rusty from hunting for the rat that had long gone....but had left behind a trail of scent to annoy her anyway....So I relocated the pots to another area.

Different varieties of tiny tomatoes.

You may think I have lots of Tomato Plants...and be wondering what I am going to do with them all....surely they aren't all for me?.....No they're not! This is what grew when I planted seeds....so I will give them all a chance....

• Some I will keep for myself...the strongest of them all...probably about 4 of each variety...they are all the mini tomatoes....
• Some I will donate to my local Community Garden......
• Some for an elderly couple up the road............for their grandchildren when they visit them.
• Some I will sell on the trade table at the Garden course........( a new idea of Richard's)
• and Some I will donate to freecycle..........

They all get a chance, and I get to share....win win for everyone.

Do you have any 'First year fruit'.....will you be sacrificing the fruit so your citrus can develop a nice big healthy root ball? 

Do you have any rats of the Rusty variety? what did you do to keep them from being a rat?!

Happy Mothers Day

I recently wrote about visiting April who runs permaculturevisions . 

I spent most of the day there....While discussing fruit trees April recommended Daleys online for fruit trees...she used to  buy through Diggers, but now finds Daleys more reliable. 

I had a look through their website as was very impressed; flipping back and fro from Daleys to Diggers.....I found most of the trees I was interested in were out of stock, or almost ready for sale at Diggers....so I ordered my trees through Daleys.....

Here is how the trees arrived by courier...

just after opening the box

looking inside

Care instructions

 I have some major plans for the yard after seeing other peoples gardens recently....I have always envied others who have fruits in their gardens....and have recently discovered Miniature Fruit Trees...and any tree can be held back if grown in a pot....a large pot I suppose, but a pot none the less.

I ordered the following which arrived 3 days later.....

• a Miniature Seedless Valencia Orange
• a Miniature Macadamia nut tree
• a Miniature Mulberry, red shahtoot...this grows lovely long berries about 10 cm long...
• a Finger Lime which is described as growing  between 3 to 7 meters high...Eeeeeek...I have been told that if I put this in a pot and keep it pruned, I should be fine.

L to R: Valencia, Macadamia, Mulberry, FingerLime

Watering instructions

Enclosed in my support frame I made up....
I got the frame from the tip and have used it for many plants and even seedlings

This is my mothers day gift to myself......so Happy Mothers Day to me........I am travelling to Victoria on mothers day this Sunday.....so I will wish all the mums and mums to be a Happy Mother's day.

I am very impressed with Daleys Fruit Trees....I will certainly buy from them again in the future.

Repotting new trees

On 01 May it was National Permaculture Day...this is a day where selected people who practice Permaculture on their own land; invite the public to visit their property...and share their ideas.

I first heard of this great day through Donna at Casa Famiglia.....It was a great week, as I met Donna at her lovely home on the Tuesday.....and then I had the pleasure of visiting April who runs permaculturevisions . 

I spent most of the day there....and was naturally the first of the public to arrive....so I was blessed with 

April showing me around her garden one to one, teaching as we went.  

Here is my water pond, it's early days yet,
This is the pond I am growing Chinese Water Chestnuts,
 my new friend Sonia gave me some from her water pond.

From April; I have been given some Fernia Azola (not sure of the spelling), it is the small floating plant that will continue to grow until the whole pond is covered...this keeps mosquito's at bay. Also some peppermint. 

April also suggested adding some lemongrass to my pond..... Mind you my pond is a laundry sink from the tip for $5.00.....I just cut a round tin plug and sealed it on the plug hole with silicone.  

L to R: Elderflower, Ice-cream bean plant, Fig, Locut.

I am aware that none of these plants are actually suited to a small garden like mine, but I am planning on planting them into pots to reduce their growth and I am also planning on keeping them well pruned.
It may go horribly wrong, it may work, who knows....but its worth a try to have such lovely fruit trees added to my list.
April had some plants for sale that she had grafted herself.....I bought a pot with two fruit trees in it for $15...A bargain for an Ice-Cream Bean plant and a Fig....I transplanted them into their own bigger pots today.
Another idea, I noticed in April's garden was the lovely ceramic tiles located at each plant...all different shapes, colours and sizes....but clearly labelling each plant....what a brilliant idea....
I found a tub of small green ceramic tiles at the tip the other day....and new instantly what I could use them for....Thanks for the idea April.

Here is a finger lime from April's garden,
we all had fun tasting one half and used the other half in a tossed salad.

Like myself, April also uses bird cage tops to  protect young plants.
this lettuce has self seeded...and I don't want Cindy dog to piddle on it....so I  have covered it for now , when it is more established, I will transplant it to the garden...
There are actually quite a few seedlings scattered around the garden pebbles.

Also planted today some Garlic, and Jerusalem Artichokes and two Taro pots.
Underneath I have two larger pots with Tumeric planted today 

I was also given some Jerusalem Artichokes to plant....which I also did today. 

I have seen other people's gardens in the last few weeks, and it has certainly opened my eyes to more and more possibilities.....I may have overdone it though, and not quite thought it all through...but I have huge plans now for my little plot of land I call home...I am working on a great variety of fruit trees...I just hope I can organise it all....I'm sure it will be worth it.