TWIG-23

hmmm - my 'this week in the garden' posts are turning more into 'this SEASON in the garden'
ahhhh well - take it as an indication that I'm spending more time in the garden than online talking about being in the garden (wishful thinking!!!!)

 (the vege garden in autumn.... all the beds are in transition to cooler weather...)

ahhh goodness so much has been happening all over the garden I don't know where to start! well if you look at the pic of the vege garden now you might notice something 'strange' - we carpeted the paths!!! my folks had some hideous, ruined (and wet) carpet under the house that they thought was good only for landfill - I saw it as potential (free) weed mat - wheeeee! in coming months we'll cover the carpet with something 'pretty' (river sand maybe? or woodchips...)

and in the vege garden beds I've been busy planting autumn/winter crops - oodles of brassicas (turnips, swedes, cabbage, broccoli, kale etc etc), garlic, peas, silverbeet and more..... most are now doing well (the beet family are a bit hit and miss on the germination)

 pink buddlea (from the decorative garden below the house....)

aside from the vege patch - I've been tackling the decorative garden bed below the house (and so too has the chook unfortunately! she has been scratching up the mulch and making a heck of a mess..... its a good thing that she's returned to laying eggs or she might have been scheduled for chicken soup) - I've also planted out the chimney garden (with dry herbs.... I hope it proves a good selection for the difficult site) - and FP has been busy tidying up the overgrown section of garden above my studio (what a mess!!!!!). We have an idea that this would be a good site for our permanent poultry house/yard.... (I fancy the idea of looking out my studio window and seeing chookies.... they are nice company and can be really really funny to watch)  - now just to find the time and materials to build one

I'm hoping to tidy up the entrance to the studio and come up some scheme for planting.... hmmmmm I keep changing my mind about what to do here....


But the biggest 'news' in the garden of late has to be our giant sweet potato - harvested last week (I posted a piccie and tale over here as I knew I wouldn't get the time to plonk it on this blog)

and talking of time - I'd better go turn off the hose!

TWIG-22

 Ahhhhh at last I've had a few moments to get stuck into those jobs crying out for attention - and to enjoy the delights of the autumn garden (my favourite time of year around here....the mornings are crispy, but not cold.... the days a warm but not hot and humid... the wind is gentle..... beautiful!)

 this was supposed to be a white dahlia....

ooops someone got the labelling wrong!

I'll move it out of the white bed at the end of the season

we've harvested the HUGE crop of pumpkins and squashes...

  (this is just a small sample of the hubbard and blue banana and etc. squash sitting on the back verandah right now)

To my great delight our black mulberry tree decided to set another round of fruit.... and are they ever beauties!

and at last I've knocked some jobs off my 'to do list' (wheeeee)

TO DO

* order bare root fruit and nut trees

* take cuttings of hydrangea and woody herbs

*plant out decorative garden bed below the house

Completed

Autumn seeds planted: Ruby silverbeet, italian brocolli, red cabbage, late season carrot, hollow crwon parsnip, masey pea, oregon snow pea, italian white garlic, purple garlic, snowball cauliflower

old bath moved (at last!) and filled with water ready for the water plants (water chesnuts, water cress and more)

we've carpeted the path area in the vege garden (its true! we covered the ground in some old carpet we received - and we'll cover this with sand in the next while.... the carpet will keep the weeds down for a long time, before it eventually decays)

  camellia sasanqua - 'fuji-no-mine'... 

these are just starting to flower - the trees are wonderful when covered in white blooms

 blushing pink iceberg rose (its a lovely frothy mass right now....stunning!)

 

 

Picking/ eating

endive,  ivory eggplant, thai eggplant, pontiac potatoes, cherokee wax beans,  pak choy, green capsicum, sweet basil, roma tomato,  dried bortolli bean, black mulberries, white mulberries, watermelon, rockmelon, raspberries

TWIG - 21

well - I haven't found that extra hour int he day or day in the week.... so instead I'm just doing my usual - trying to not feel bad that I can't do it all... at least I can appreciate the lovelies that surround us...

oh and this week gave us one of the funniest tale to date from our garden (something I'm sure will go into our family's folk lore - first a little bit of background..... can you remember me mentioning our 'zucumbers'?  a weird plant cross between the zucchini and a cucumbe)r...

ok so we've had these 'zucumbers' growing madly up near my studio - they've been really vigorous - and of course after an early taste test we've been totally underwhelmed by them.... we've just allowed the rambling plant to remain because - well - we've been lazy!

this week sass had a look at the large fruits on the plant

"these look like rockmelons" he told us

"yes son, they kinda do look like rockmelons.... but they are those yucky zucumbers remember?"

"they look like rockmelons....."

days past as the small boy continued to gaze at the zucumbers with rockmelon dreams....

eventually we figured the only way to prove that the plants were not rockmelons (YUM) but were indeed zucumbers (YUCK) was to cut one open - we brought it inside.... the knife slid into the zucumber flesh....

and

oh I'm sure you'll guess the end of the tale I don't have to tell you do I? (oh the shame, the shame!)

zucumber  ooops I mean rockmelon

my garden credibility is now shot totally to pieces!

its a good thing we didn't yank the plant out as there are about 30 or more rockmelons for our big-eyed kidlins to devour!

ah well at least my garden credentials are intact with my massive pumpkin crop - just starting to fully ripen now. On the one butternut pumpkin vine we've collected 30 beautiful pumpkins (and there are at least another 15 still ripening). and I've got to say they are d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!!!!!!!

butternut pumpkin - on the front verandah for safe keeping

now if only I can get to all the other jobs needing my attention.....

TO DO

*plant more autumn/ winter seeds 

* order bare root fruit trees

*take cuttings of hydrangea and woody herbs

Completed

* vege garden weeded

* wistringea hedge pruned

* the first batch of tomato sauce (nana t's recipe)

* planted late season parsnip, beetroot and ruby silverbeet seeds

* wombok cabbage, pak choy seedlings planted

* grass mowed.... yet again!

 

Picking/ eating

baby endive, raspberries, ivory eggplant, thai eggplant, bulls blood beetroot, pontiac potatoes, cherokee wax beans, climbing princess beans, green capsicum, sweet basil, roma tomatoes, baby patty-pan squash, black mulberries, white mulberries (we got a surprise second crop of both mulberries - fab!), watermelon (is yum!) and of course ROCKMELONS!

eeeek - there just aren't enough hours in the day are there...

I've been positively floored by work work work of late - and the poor garden has been the one to suffer..... I've not wanted to admit that I've been getting nothing at all done around the place...

oh well - one must be philosophical about these things.... this gorgeous flower (the bulbs were a gift from a friend) popped up out of the ground this week - I'd forgotten that I planted it - and it was a nice reminder that even when I completely neglect the garden it still manages to spring forth delightful surprises

and it spurred me on to do some weeding.... and some planting... and then FP tidied up with some whipper-snipping.... and all in all - it's not a total disaster!

now if only I can get someone to find me a few more hours in the day I might just get on top of my groaning list of things to do.....

TWIG - 20

 

butternut pumpkin - almost ready to be picked

The great cucumber glut continues – but I think I'm finding a solution. 

January last year I took some of my excess vegies to a small farmers market that was developing in the nearby township of Central Tilba. The farmers market is an initiative of the Transition Towns Triangle or TTT (our area's local Transition Towns group – the 'triangle' spoken of is the geographic area from Bermagui to Tilba to Quaama). But after my initial foray in to the markets, life/study commitments, confusion over insurance and my garden's decreasing production caused me to shelve my idea of having my own farmers table, but over the past week I seem to found a solution. The Tilba market runs a collective table under the TTT banner and yesterday I sent them my oversupply of 'early wonder' cucumbers as a gift for the local group essentially. The TTT table folk are keen for me to join/ share space and take any excess garden produce to sell at future markets – this way I won't have to worry about insurance or committing to a solo table every week. And I'm really looking forward to having a chin-wag with other local gardeners who share my passion for local, home-grown, organic, heritage variety, home-preserved fruit and vege and also for other aspects of Transition Towns movement* 

here is the garden late summer
the old potato beds (foreground) are now being slowly replanted
with late season zucchini and cucumber and early season autumn greens

*for anyone unfamiliar with Transition Towns movement I'll write up a special something about another time – but if you follow some of the links provided you'll start to get a solid idea. TT is something I'm increasingly interested in and quietly, individually working through – I thoroughly recommend all the main transition books: The Transition Handbook, Transition Timeline and Local Foods.

patty-pan squash -
the flowers are just as delicious as the small squash - especially if they are lightly battered and fried - yum!

TO DO

*tackle powdery mildew problems (milk spray)

*plant autumn/ winter seeds

*weed vege garden

*prune wistringea hedge

*try to catch up on all the garden jobs!

Completed

*seedlings planted: santolina, chinese wombok cabbage, celeriac, great lakes lettuce, pak choy, stevia, morrocan mint, lemon balm, common mint

*endive seedlings thinned

*yet another batch of mustard pickles bottled as well as a batch of chilli eggplant chutney

*grass mowed.... again!

Picking/ eating

baby endive, raspberries, rondo de nice zucchini, spring onions, ivory eggplant, pontiac potatoes, early wonder cucumbers, armenian cucumbers, passionfruit, cherokee wax beans, climbing princess beans, sweet basil, roma tomatoes, baby patty-pan squash – FP is eyeing off the watermelon – he thinks the first is just about ready to pick (it's huge!) so stay tuned....

it never rain but it pours....

Was it only a few weeks ago I was lamenting: 'oh woe is me - we have no rain'?

and then we got rain: 'oh joy is me - we have rain'

wellllll over the weekend and yesterday the skies opened for the second time in 10 days - and yet again the rain came bucketing down. This time however our ground was pre-saturated and the dams and creeks and rivers were nicely at capacity.... sooooo that meant the monster load of falling water (we had a further 310mm over two days) caused a monster load of damage.... and today the NSW State Government has declared the region a site of natural disaster. Our shire lost a few major bridges and a lot of roads have been severely damaged. The Bega River peaked last night at just over 7m - and the Brogo at just under 9m (!!!!! my goodness that's a lotta river! - its usually ankle deep - if that!)

We lost one fence line - and we can't be certain - but it's possible we've lost a couple of head of cattle (this morning a couple of cows and their calves were stranded in the middle of the creek (which is more a swift flowing river at the moment!) and many others are scattered to neighbouring farms (ahhhhh no fence = FREEDOM!!!)

It was a very hairy day yesterday - Sass and EJ's school was evacuated at lunch-time - the tiny creek beside the school became a raging river  - and a tree being hurtled along the flooded waters wiped out the school boundary fence! (ahhhh no fence = .... hmmmmm lets not think about it) if that wasn't reason enough - the main access leading from the town to the school has a very old wooden bridge for the creek crossing - and most thought wouldn't last the afternoon (p.s. it was still standing in the morning!)

forgive me that I don't have pics of all the excitement - sometimes there are other priorities!


now the sun is shining - all is calm  - and except for the call of the randy frogs and the roar of the creeks - all is quiet again.....

TWIG - 18

Ohhh in all the excitement over the RAIN I clear forgot to post anything else last week!

 

raspberry - yum

I sent all my rainy piccies off to foxtel/austar weather channel – and the whole of oz got to see my dear Sams Creek (and to hear my excited rain recitation) - this week the weather channel crew sent me this lovely gift in the mail – its great that I have used it already

Anyway with all the excitement - this is more of a 'this fortnight in the garden' rather than 'week'....

.... and what a wonderful 2 weeks it has been – with the rain at the end of last week (340mm all together – extraordinary!) As I'm writing this we are getting the absolutely essential 'follow-up' rain. This is what we call rainfall that comes after the initial drought-breaking rain. It's important that follow-up rain arrives not too soon and not too late after the initial fall – this is arriving a week after the huge downpour – just perfect timing. The follow-up rain consolidates the big fall – this is the stuff that really gets the grass and garden going. The big downfall filled the rivers and creeks and dams because most of the rain just ran off the very dry ground. This is the stuff that soaks into the now softened ground. And the timing couldn't be better – late summer is just perfect - the days can still be potentially very warm, but the hottest parts of summer are behind us and the cold is yet to set in – so it will be a most glorious autumn and winter! The best in more than a decade I'm tipping.

Yesterday and today was the annual Cobargo Show – only it's been a little bit damp for most show activities – but no one is really complaining. Sass and EJ sent in some very lovely paintings and drawings, they both cooked a cake for the packet cake section, Sass submitted a crocheted string man and EJ entered a collection of flowers -all very adorable. (show update – the kiddies collected a bunch of prizes –much to their delight!)

Here's EJ's rather wonderful abstract painting
(she painted it to go in her room....I just love it!)

and Sassy's collage of favourite things...
bikes feature heavily - oh joy! 
(also to grace his room once it returns from the show)

 

red yarrow

To do

after all the rain I am rethinking our autumn plans – at long last I can plant some of the trees and garden beds that I've been holding off on – but more of this will emerge in the coming weeks/months

plant new seedlings: santolina,  celeriac, stevia

milk spray the cucurbits (powdery mildew is rapidly setting in on my pumpkins squash and friends)

spread organic fertiliser – on all beds – everywhere

trim westringea hedge plants

pick/preserve more cucumbers (if anyone is coming past Sams Creek – please drop in and collect your FREE cucumbers – seriously – please – save us! we have an avalanche of cucumbers at the moment)

 

armenian cucumber (I think....)
I feel a bit like the old woman who lived in a shoe
- she had so many cucumbers she didn't know what to do!

Completed

most of the last week I've spent rushing from dam to dam marvelling at the glorious overflowing bodies of water! And its been too wet to do some of the things that really need attending to – ah well, you're not going to hear me complaining

seedlings planted: morrocan mint, lemon balm, common mint, artichokes & comfrey (in the sunken garden), chinese wombok cabbage, great lakes lettuce, pak choy (vege beds)

endive seedlings thinned

another batch of mustard pickles bottled

Picking/ eating

green oak leaf lettuce, raspberries, rondo de nice zucchini, yellow crook-neck zucchini, green patty-pan squash, spring onions, ivory eggplant, pontiac potatoes, early wonder cucumbers, armenian cucumbers, passionfruit, cherokee wax beans, climbing princess beans, sweet basil, roma tomatoes (yipee – tomatoes at last!!!!) but our stone fruit are all finished for the season (phew...I was nearly out of bottles...).

 

climbing princess beans - small but delicious!