WELCOME to my BLOG

Hi there!

I’m slowly working towards some simplicity within the home, but hey! It’s a lot of hard work!

I love having a go at growing my own veges and always use herbs fresh from my garden. I try to plant from seed whenever I can and have learnt to save and share my own seed for the following year. I make Award Winning preserves and pickles; and my husband brews Award Winning boutique beers as well. I love to stockpile and try to limit quick trips to the shops. I dabble in bread making and enjoy making my own stocks too.

I enjoy feeding my family good hearty meals, nothing like those tiny restaurant stacks you have to look for on the plate. My husband maintains our vehicles and machinery and we both enjoy fabricating on a small scale mostly relying on metal & timber recyclers for any materials needed.


While I don’t always have time to reply to comments, I love reading them. I hope you enjoy your stay and I hope you learn something new because I love sharing what I learn, and I'm always looking for another new skill myself.

Cheers!

Showing posts with label seed saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seed saving. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Seed Saving...and Swapping again

Thank-you to each and every one of you for your warm welcome back.
How lovely it was too to receive. 

Yes readers; it's that time of the year again for me. It's time to take another walk around the garden and decide what seed to harvest. I can't stress enough on how important it is for every gardener to save at least some of their own seed....

No matter how large or small your garden is;
you can save your own seed!

Marigold seed - to be harvested
If you practice organic methods, (like me) you can take comfort in knowing that your seed is chemical free. Over the seasons; you can also build up a strain of seed that is resistant to disease AND climatic to your own region. How much better can you get?


When you do harvest your own seed, you more than likely will have plenty to share with other gardeners. Maybe you could even do a swap with them for something that you don't have or haven't tried growing yet. The possibilities are truly endless once you begin saving seed. Especially when you encourage friends and family to save their seed too. 


Think about it...Depending on what you grow; 
you may never have the need to buy seed again....
Mind boggling isn't it!

Perennial Basil seed -
to be harvested once dried on the stem
I've written about saving my Nan's Rhubarb seed here....and you can see when you click on the link how huge Nan Cady's rhubarb is. Good genetics in that seed I'm sure. 

Nasturtium Seed - to be hunted for and gathered

I've also written about those crazy Klumpin' Tomatoes I grew last year....and wrote about how I saved seed from them as well....There's a cool trick to saving Tomato seed without the gel sack around them. Did you know that if you soak tomato seed in some water, let the water go rancid, it develops an enzyme that eats the gel exterior on the seed....when strained, and left to dry on a plate, they dry clean, just like the seed you get in a packet....I used this method on many varieties of seed that I save. 

Rocket seed -
Once dried, the seed pods will be harvested and shelled 

Last December I wrote about saving the seed from Corn Salad Leaf, Tatsoi Salad leaf, Water Cress and Poppy Seed......My corn salad isn't doing so well this year, but I have enough leaf to harvest ocasionally for salad.  I don't have Tatsoi at the moment, but I do have another salad leaf in seed which I need to save (see the Pick-as-you-grow seed head below). 

Pick-as-you-grow lettuce seed -
all the fluffy heads need to be gathered and dried fully
My Water Cress bed is totally bombarded with Water Celery at the moment. I must tell you that Water Celery is very invasive....in the 12 months since planting it in my water garden (Maureen's bath after her bathroom reno, thanks neighbor)....The Water Celery has totally taken over the entire bath. The whole bath is one huge tight root ball of Water Celery. I find it hard to believe that there is any room in there for my water chestnuts to be peeking through, but they are....Thankfully......I never used my Poppy Seed for the tops of bread either; because it was sooooo small it would get laughed at.

Sorrel seed - ready to harvest

Last December I wrote about saving the seed from Corn Salad Leaf, Tatsoi Salad leaf, Water Cress and Poppy Seed......My corn salad isn't doing so well this year, but I have enough leaf to harvest ocasionally for salad.  I don't have Tatsoi at the moment, but I do have another salad leaf in seed which I need to save. My Water Cress is totally bombarded with Water Celery at the moment. I must tell you that Water Celery is very invasive....in the 12 months since planting it in my water garden (the neighbors bath after a reno)...It has totally taken over the entire bath. The whole bath is one huge root ball of Water Celery. I find it hard to believe that there is any room in there for my water chestnuts to be peeking through, but they are....Thankfully.
I never used my Poppy Seed for the tops of bread because it was sooooo small it would get laughed at.

Chervil Seed - to be harvested

If you click here you will see photos of me saving  Celery seed and 2 types of Pick-as-you-grow lettuce leaf. 


While I have never had any problems growing from my own seed, I never assume that they will always germinate....especially since none of my Rosella seed germinated this year, but all of the plants did develop a nasty disease last year due to heavy rainfall...So I guess that's the reason the seed didn't germinate this time...................
I was so thankful to Holly too for sending me the Rosella seed which I swapped with her for one of my shooting choko's.  Holly; I hope your choko vine is doing well. 

This week I need to harvest from my own garden the following: Nasturtium, Marigold, Perennial Basil, Chervil, Sorrel, Pick-as-you-grow lettuce and Rocket.

Later in the week, 
I will come back and show you all
just how much seed I gathered from my garden.


I'm looking to swap seed with anyone who is interested. (Australia and only certain states)....
I'm looking for Rosella seed, as mine developed a disease last year and all seed harvested refused to germinate this time. I'm also looking for some Loofah seed again, as mine went rotten...but I'm still determined to give them both another try.

I will be posting a list of surplus seed that
I have harvested too....
so keep watch and
maybe we could do a swap.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Garlic seed, Rhubarb & Apple pies & Jumping Johnnies

Ok, so I know it's late in letting you know.....and some of you may have already received them....but the Garlic Seed is on it's way.....(four days ago)...lol. I'm spreading myself a bit thin these days...and blogging seems to be one of the things that is falling behind.....


If your wondering how much seed you are getting....I discovered that each little ball on the flower head is full of seed...so I just measured out 1 tablespoon of the little flower balls..and popped them in a press seal bag. So depending on how many seeds are still trapped in the flowers....that's how much seed you are getting.



I've started a test with the garlic seed, but Richard (my gardening friend) tells me it can take 4 or 5 weeks for the seed to germinate....I covered the seed (not shown in the photo below) lightly with more soil and the pot is in the hall way on top of my recycling station. (If the weather fines up and we get some hot days, I will think about transferring it out to the hothouse) We now have a skylight in the hall, so it's bright and I can keep an eye on them. This spot is working well for storing seed while it is soaking or drying.



On to some yummies........

I recently cleaned out the Rhubarb bed ready to give it a feed....I also found that I need to relocate some of the crowns to fill in some gaps...but that won't be happening any time soon, because of all the rain we are having at the moment. So anyway....I had some Rhubarb to use up......

I have also collected the seed this year from my Nan's Rhubarb plants...If you would like some seed from my Nan's Rhubarb plants; send me an email for my address...then send me a self-addressed stamped envelope....and I will get some to you. I think it's awesome that I am able to share my Nan's Rhubarb plants with others....her Rhubarb lives on......and I think she'd like the thought of that.

Rhubarb & Apple Pies
I cut up the rhubarb and I had some apples to use up from the crisper....and stewed them both together.....added a little bit of sugar to taste....and then I had the perfect pie filling. Using Nan's recipe for pastry again....I began assembling the pies....(if your wondering...yes, I re-use my foil pie trays)


What a mess............
but only because I shoved the trays on the bench for the photo...lol
Having just enough stewed fruit for one last pie....I couldn't see the point in having the oven on for one pie.....so I made some open pies....by blind baking the pastry flans....then dividing the fruit mixture between the four flans....They weren't very full...so I sliced up some pears and placed them on top. A few circles of pastry later....and a wash of milk before going into the oven.....yummmmmm

Not bad, not bad........


Pictures for the Jumping Johnnies.............


Yep, Jumpin' Johnnies again.............If you have been following my blog for a while, you will remember my saga with the Jumping Johnnies recipe......I finally have photos I can share with you. You can also find a printable version of the recipe with 4 copies on one page...so you can share the recipe of-course with your friends. I will also update the recipe pages with these photos so that the photo's are with the recipe.




I had a lovely response from my last post, wondering what others are up to....so I will ask again....
Have you been baking?.....Tell me what you've been up to in the kitchen. 
Maybe you've been busy in the garden?........
If you have a blog and have posted about it...leave a link with your comment...I'd love a peek.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Klumpin' Tomatoes

If your new to my blog, check out the give-away I am doing for my blog's first birthday...Time is running out (Friday) to be in the draw to win that fabulous book.

I get a kick out of growing the unusual....sometimes the things you can't buy in the shops; I'll give them a go. 
So when I seen these on ebay last year, I couldn't resist...I got 10 seeds for $1.00 which also included postage...so how could I go wrong...lol. They all germinated, I shared out 5....I killed 1....I unwillingly shared one with the snails and enjoyed the others (which are all finished now and have all been pulled)..... 
In their place now I have a bundle of Black Russian tomato plants soon to be flowering if the sun ever comes out.
Klumpin Tomatoes - Chosen for Seed Saving
Klumpin Tomato
Klumpin Tomato


Choosing tomatoes for Seed Saving 
Now.....I have just 1 plant remaining in my garden, which is doing rather well, considering all the rain we are having at the moment. .........Lots of the garden is either rotting away from being over watered, or the seed I plant is rotting in the soil, because of too much rain and not enough heat.




Do you like to grow unusual varieties of veg? 
If so, do you have some spare seed that you would like to do a seed swap with me?








Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Gardening 101 for December

Another month has passed since I went to my gardening course. this weekend passed, I almost backed out on going, as I had been suffering with an infection with high temperatures. Had I not attended, I knew I would regret it, having missed out on all that information, so that's why I decided to push through. The weather was so hot, which made the hall almost unbearable. People were topping up their water bottles constantly and I made a paper fan to help keep me cool. I took some notes, but bare with me, as I try to fill you in.

All good students in the gardening course
Richard the teacher
 Jobs to be doing now......

  • Mulch your garden, don't make it too thick...up to 75mm thick,  but ideally about 50mm thick. If you use organic matter you may run into problems of too much nitrogen (green plant matter), or too much carbon (dried plant matter). I learn't this lesson with my pumpkin vines. They are looking much much happier now I have removed most of the carbon mulch. Thanks Richard for the advice via my mobile phone.
  • Look for aphids and thrip and treat any plants which are hosting the nasty insects.
  • Keep an eye out for the lovely Hoverfly. You definitely want this insect in your garden, as the Hoverfly larvae will eat about 400 aphids in any one day. 
  • Keep a lookout for those horrible slugs and snails, and when you find one, either give it to the chooks or kill it. (I've been clearing my front garden bed to make way for new plants, but also to clear out all those hiding places for slugs and snails.)
  • Take cuttings of your Natives, Azaleas, Lilly Pilly as well as cuttings from your Sweet Potato. 
When harvesting cuttings from Sweet Potato, choose a nice healthy runner of good length. You will see the small nodules near each leaf; this is where a potato will shoot from. Before planting the runner, you can remove the larger leaves, but it isn't necessary. Cover the runners with 5 cm of soil.

  • Prune your Climbing Roses, and trim your Camellia & Wisteria vines along with your Perennials.

  • Your lawn should be showing lovely rich growth now and be mowing it more regular. Lift the lawn mower blades one or two notches, to give that nice thick spongy growth. Your children's feet will thank you. (I am needing to mow my lawn every 5 days now)

  • Keep up with the Liquid Fertiliser each fortnight, but don't fertilise your root crops. Only fertilise your leaf vegetables.   (I was fertilising everything in the garden, and the tops of my parsnips were almost to my waist. So the nitrogen in the Liquid Fertiliser was producing lovely lush green tops, instead of the energy going to produce lovely long parsnips.So I trimmed the tops off all the parsnip and added them as a layer for my no-dig garden bed).

  • Now is the time to be adding wetting agents to your pots. If you don't, you run a definite risk of your potted plants drying out and dying. Keep to the recommended doses though, as you don't want to rot your plants either.
  • Plant your beans. If you have already, plant another crop for a later harvest. For harvest, it is better to sew a dwarf variety than a climbing runner variety. Picking beans on a bush bean brings on new growth of another crop. This can happen 3 to 4 times.

  • Tomatoes, Eggplant and Capsicums all need to be caged or staked; and pick off side shoots to allow good air flow.

  • Check on your Dak Pots to attract fruitfly. They may need a top-up, being careful they don't dry out and become useless.

  • Purchase some of those old fashioned sticky fly tapes to hang in your fruit trees. If any fruit-fly do go to the tree, they will be attracted to and be stick on the sticky tape. (Unfortunately, they also stick and trap the good insects)

  • Still time to be planting more seed potatoes. When harvesting potatoes, you could also leave the baby ones in there, and they will shoot when the time comes.

  • Parsley and Spinach may be flowering now, which will make it sour to the palate. You have the option of allowing it to go to seed, or pulling the whole plant up before that happens. (I have pulled most of my parsley, as I have plenty of seed from the previous year. On harvesting my parsley I have kept back the good leaves to dry in the dehydrator.) Don't keep any leaf from a plant that is going to seed or flowering.
In your garden at the moment, you should be harvesting baby squash, shallots, beetroot, beans from an early crop. Maybe you have some cherry tomatoes becoming red and ripe too. (As soon as there is the slightest colour on my tomatoes, I will be bringing them inside to ripen so not to feed them to the dreaded fruitfly).

Caroline and Jo making their own hanging basket.
  • HANGING HERB BASKETS
It's probably your last chance to make some Hanging Herb Baskets as gifts for Christmas.....
You will need a hanging basket, preferably lined with plastic. 

  1. Cut a hole in the base of the plastic liner for drainage.
  2. Line with newspaper using roughly ten pages thick.
  3. Add some Sphagnum Moss to the base of the pot. This holds moisture very well and will help keep the soil damp. You can buy it at your local nursery.
  4. Choose your herbs, and place taller plants to the side, so you can train them over the side.
Here is the hanging basket which I made in the garden course. I chose a chillie, fennel, thyme, marjoram and mizuna salad leaf. I think it will be fantastic once it gets going. I've been wanting to try fennel too but I'm sceptical at the aniseed flavour of food.

  • EDIBLE FLOWERS IN YOUR GARDEN!!

Think about adding edible flowers to your menu. You may already have plenty of petals that you didn't think of adding. I add lots of flower petals to my salads..but here is a list of flower petals you may not have thought of.  I encourage you to have a go at adding some edible colour to your next salad.
Please note that where I mention a flower, I only recommend the petals, no stamin, no other parts of the flower.
  • Onion flowers (divide up the head)
  • Chive flowers (divide up the head)
  • Borage flowers
  • Calandular petals
  • fruit tree blossoms
  • vegetable flowers (Sacrifice the boy flowers, not the girl flowers; as they produce your crop)
  • Rose Petals (the deeper the colour, the deeper the flavour and aroma) (lovely on top of an iced cake too, or made into Rose Petal Jam, which I will be doing soon)
  • Rosemary flowers (use sparingly) 
  • Lavender flowers
  • Geranium flowers from the scented varieties
  • Pansies
  • Violas and Violets and the young leaves
  • Nasturtium flowers and the young leaves
  • Society Garlic (only the flowers, never the leaves)
  • Fejoa flowers
  • Young tree fern fronds. (Blanched as a salad veg) (use the young spirals)
  • Begonia flowers
  • Impatients flowers
  • Amarynth flowers and young leaves
  • Snapdragon flowers
  • Yellow Day Lily flowers (these have a lemon flavour)
  • Carnations
  • Chrysanthemums flowers
  • Banana flowers (after the banana bunch is formed) (look on internet for ideas)
  • Elderberry flower heads. (used to make cordial and even battered and deep fried)
  • Elderberry berries. (used to make jam)
  • Pomegranate flowers
  • All your herb flowers
  • Radish seed pods (when they are a lovely swollen pod of juicyness)
  • Lilac flowers
  • Hawaiian Hibiscus flowers
  • Hneysuckle flower (not the berry)
  • Wild Hyacynth flowers (not the cultivated garden variety)
  • Marigold
  • Sunflowers
Wow! what a list....is there any I have forgotten or left out? Will you give your salad a revamp with some of these lovely colours. I will miss my Calandular petals in my salads, but I have plenty of dried petals to experiment with now.

SAVING YOUR SEEDS: 
You should also have a few plants to harvest seeds from; for your next crop. 
I just harvested seeds from:
  • Corn Salad Leaf 
  • Tatsoi Salad Leaf
  • Water Cress.
  • I also saved for the first time, my Poppy Seed heads....but I'm thinking they are a bit runty to be keeping. Once I work out how to add a photo from my phone, I can show you the huge difference in size.
Richard the gardener, said that they are the same as the ones used for the tops of bread, but I'm not so sure about mine...they are just toooooooo tiny. Ah well, it's all a good learning curve. 
I wonder if anyone has had success with saving poppy seeds for the top of home baked bread? Please let me know the details, as I am interested in the process.

Poppy Seeds for planting
When saving your tomato seeds, leave them on the vine for as long as you can. Allow the fruit to get as big as possible and harvest just before it begins to go bad.
Some seed needs to be fresh when planted otherwise they won't germinate. These include Papaya, and Lemon.

***********************************************
In my garden at the moment

I've been working in the garden too, doing lots of clearing and lots of planting. Here is just a taste of what I have been up to since the course.



Drying the last of the Calandular petals
and harvested Apple mint ready for the dehydrator.

Using the layering method with the no-dig method.


What have you been up to in your garden? 
Will you be tempted to add some edible flowers in your next salad?










Thursday, November 10, 2011

Troubles working away & Pumpkin problems.

Hello everyone...Hubby arrived home late Monday night...it's been fabulous having my best friend around again. We have been rather busy finishing up tasks for while he is home...We had to go to the Solicitors to finalise his Will and Power of Attorney on Tuesday and we've had a few other appointments to keep also.
I'm pleased to say that Hubby fixed the Whipper Snipper after a quick trip to Bunnings. Thanks darl, your a clever man.!

There are a few things that have been happening with Hubby being away that we hadn't planned on
...and they are:

  • When working, he has a place to stay.
  • When not working, he has NO accommodation.
  • When he returns to the house at the end of his 12 hour shift, he has just a 2 hour window to prepare a meal, have a shower & sit down and relax, all before going to bed. 

Two hours may seem like plenty of time to prepare a meal, but it's not really, especially if you need to supply everything yourself, keeping in mind that you share the one fridge and top freezer with anything up to 5 other workers. Oh and you have to pack it all up again, ready to move out of the house while your not working. Now it doesn't sound so easy, does it? If you fly home on a regular basis, all that cooking equipment would need to be included in your luggage. Not the best situation to be in at all!

While walking around the supermarket yesterday, Hubby pointed out all the foods he has been eating. I was feeling quite powerless to say the least when he showed me all the pre-packaged/pre-prepared foods he had been surviving on. My husband along with all my family, are used to having foods cooked from scratch. Good wholesome meals! I'm old school, and believe if a man goes out to work all day to provide well for his family, then he should have a good hearty meal at the end of the day to give him sustenance and energy for the next.

I received a lovely email from a lady named Del, the other day offering support for Hubby while he is away from home...Del is a new reader to my blog and we both thank you for your kindness! I have replied to your email and am waiting for you to confirm a convenient time for Hubby to phone you. I'm sorry it took so long for a reply. 
Del lives outside of Sarina, which is rather close to the mine that Hubby works at. She has offered support for him along with her phone number....which is more than appreciated! What a lovely lady! 

Hubby works 6 days on with 6 days off! We worked a few things out on paper yesterday, and while Hubby is a contractor and not working Full Time, if he flies home every 6 days.....his wage would be the same as from his last employer. So we aren't adding to the mortgage just yet.

We really need to think long and hard at accommodation  which is very scarce around Moranbah. We also need to decide if he will take the family car with him, which would involve having one or two days at home before driving the 3 day drive to get back to Moranbah. Lots of big decisions to make in the coming future, but if we can find somewhere for him to live while not working...he will probably fly home once a month. If he gets full time employment instead of being a contractor, I think at least his meals will be provided...but it's early days yet.

******************************
My pumpkin leaves are turning yellow!

My pumpkin plants weren't looking too flash the other day, so I took a few photos, and sent them to Richard, my gardener and teacher of the gardening course I am doing. I knew Richard would be the one to ask what was I doing wrong. I had pumpkins in the front yard, which were turning a sickly looking shade of pale greeny/yellow...and they had slowed down in growth too. 

After having the mulch removed and given a feed of Liquid Nitrogen


It puzzled me as to why these had turned yellow, and the ones I hadn't planted out yet, were growing great!

Richard replied to my phone message and told me to remove the straw I had been using as a mulch. It had given the pumpkins an overload of Carbon, and to balance it out, I was to give them a good dose of Liquid Nitrogen. 

I'm pleased to say that just 2 days later, I can see them recovering, you can't tell from these photo's, but they are reaching for the sky again, and getting their colour back.

Thanks Richard for your friendly advice! 
My pumpkins are looking like they have life again. 


 Some friendly Seed Saving advice to finish off!
Here is my Corn Salad which has gone to seed, the plant is very fine, and I have been finding the seed scattered on the ground....Easy fix....while they are dying off, I have placed an organza bag over them. This way I can retrieve what seed is left on the plant without it all falling on the ground.


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Making Friends, Spring prep & Seed Saving

"Choko causes friendship" That's what the headlines should say this morning.....I recently sent Holly a couple of choko's that were sprouting...
(Does anyone else want some choko to plant? I have a few more now - email me)...

In return Holly sent me:
  • some wonderful smelling coffee soap...which I can't wait to try once it dry's out a little more.....
  • some lovely handmade paper which reminds me I should make time to make some more...My frames are gathering dust somewhere in the study....
  • ingenious envelopes made from recycling magazine pages
  • some bright 'save the planet' stickers, which I will want to restock once I use them all.
  • a packet of Rosella seeds

Many thanks to Holly for such a wonderful gift in return for two choko plants.

Spring is definitely here....At least my plans are anyway.....I have recently planted seeds of many different varieties of tomatoes which hopefully will be my best crop yet. I have also been re-potting tomatoes into larger pots, giving them more space to spread their roots, before being transplanted into the garden. A few days before being planted directly into the garden I will move the punnet trays into the planned space to toughen them up a little. The least amount of shock, the better.


I am really pleased with how the Tomato Plants have come along, and even though I have planted out 7 of them; I still have 9 to go. And that isn't including the small varieties I have planted from seed. (above)





When you buy a plant from a store, do you look for the pot that has the most plants in it? Or do you just take which ever one looks the best....I don't! I take the one that has the most plants in it...after all, why would you buy that pot, which has 6 plants in it like the label says.....When you can have this Pot with the same label...and it's got 16 plants in it? Common sense really.....Even if you don't have the space for all of them, you can give some away to a friend or a neighbour.

I have also been scattering marigold and other flower seeds amongst the garden, hopefully some will take and attract more bees to the garden. This years garden will be far more successful as I have learn't so much since, and my garden has also grown so much.

I have the garden course coming up again this Saturday...The first month was amazing, learning so much and putting it all in place once I got home was even better. I had the pleasure of having Richard (now called My Gardener to the family) visit my garden yesterday. We walked around my garden, as I showed him different things I am doing. He was impressed that I was growing my own mushrooms under the unit, and admired all the lovely new growth I had coming on my fruit trees; most being too young to bear fruit yet, but the citrus and the mulberry are going so well....

The two black tubs will be for my little tomatoes this year
I will be adding more mesh for them to climb as well.

Richard advised me to bring the fruit trees into full sun
until they are planted in the front yard.

Lemon/Lime
and an empty bed

Kiwifruit

can you spot the spider?

Bay Laurel coming along nicely

The Choko is climbing again
I'm not sure I want it there this year,
as I want the  fence for beans.
I may have to move it, but to where?

Lemon or Lime blossoms

Rhubarb is doing well.
Rhubarb champagne will be lovely

Red Currants will need to be netted soon
I was able to give Richard a potted plant of Lemon Balm, as his had died off and needed it for baking the cookies for morning tea for the course. I have employed Richard to help me build the front garden....my trees need a new home and I can't wait to have the extra space. Richard has a very successful business called Illawarra Blooming Gardens. 


Here are some other things happening in my garden, I've been rather busy filling the new garden beds from the black tubs I got at Bunnings.


Water Cress is flowering and
some Water Chestnuts are coming up amongst the Azola and PennyRoyal

Front: Spinach & Ruby Chard bed
Back: Beans to come

These ones are not doing so well.

Perennial Basil from the Community Garden
look at the roots, ready to plant
I recently put a call out on FreeCycle for wanting a cutting from someone who has a Kaffir Lime tree, a lovely lady from Port Kembla came through for me....the little drive was far cheaper in petrol than buying a plant. I will be potting it today. I did have it in water trying to set roots like the Basil (above), but My Gardener, Richard informed me I had to take it out of the water and put it in some soil.

Kaffir Lime Cutting
Richard, It will be planted today.
Corn Salad is growing better now I have stopped harvesting it.

and so has the watercress


I consider my gardening space to be rather limited, unlike the lovely huge gardens I see on many farm blogs that I read....you lucky gals....

Taking into account the space.....or lack of space rather....I always look for the most productive option....

With beetroot, I choose a variety that is long like a carrot, this way I get more slices of beetroot per plant. They are much like a carrot shape.

With the Berry Bed, I am able to take advantage of the unused space in front to plant radishes, also a long variety like a carrot....more slices per plant...Brilliant!

I have planted long radish which will be well finished before harvesting the berries above
PROPAGATING 101 - From the gardening course...
After finding out the secret to propagating from cuttings...having more than ten per pot....I came home and potted away......I saved Perenial Basil, Lavender & Rosemary...they are coming along nicely.


SEED SAVING IN MY GARDEN.....AGAIN!
Last year I saved seeds from my own garden....this is very productive, as you can pick the best plant to leave to keep the seed from. Not to mention the fact that you will have free seeds for next season
Here are some instructions I posted on saving some of the seed last season....

This year so far I am saving seeds from.....

Purple Radish - 1 of 3

Purple Radish - 2 of 3

Purple Radish -3 of 3

*Tatsoi lettuce leaf
*Rocket

*Bok Choy
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Check out the FREE mulch I got from the Dunmore Tip.....It has to be 12 months old, it smells great....
Best of all, Richard the gardener reckons it is 'soil'....
When I went out to the tip to investigate the mulch, there was a pile of horse manure next to it....So I asked the gentleman who was tipping it into the trailer if he could mix some through the mulch.
Thanks Mr Digger Driver....Oh it cost me $6 for him to tip it.
I think I have taken 8 wheelbarrow loads from this over the last two days.
This is what I have left for the front garden bed, once it is built.
Are you saving seed from your garden this season?
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