this and that

Hello.

It was a lovely spring day in Whyalla when we went over on Wednesday. We had lunch at the Beach Cafe then went to my appointment. They have really nice beaches over there, a nice spot to sit and enjoy.

I came home with some plants from the garden centre. A black cherry tomato plant, punnets of strawberries and apple cucumbers. I also stopped in at Cheap as Chips to pick up a couple of things. 

What is it with these birds? They build their nests in the strangest of places. I know this one has babies because I hear them when I walk past, they are common house sparrows.

I didn't get much done on Thursday like I had hoped, most of the day was filled with visitors. It was lovely though as all the visitors were family, my three kids and the grandies.

Friday however was productive, although I had a big pile of washing to do. I find that I keep putting off household chores and instead spending the day outside in the nice sunshine. The thing with housework is, it will wait for you, and I will get to it eventually. It is not top of my priority list lol! I ended up doing the washing, vacuuming and mopping as I have a busy week coming up.

First thing in the morning I set to and re-potted a mint plant. I need to repot a few plants as I don't want them to become pot bound.

The salad lettuce is coming along nicely.

I have planted out the black cherry tomato.

Strawberries 

And Cucumbers

I buried a rotten tomato in the soil a week or so ago, hoping that the seeds would grow.  I was very pleased to see tiny life appearing.

These volunteer tomatoes are starting to look like Roma's...I think.

Hubby is not a sign maker! He grabbed an old piece of mdf board, a spray can and quickly made this sign.  He has been putting it out the front of our house for visitors to see when we are out back working in the garden. It looked rough and messy so I tried to spruce it up with some pretty touches. Its still grotty but looks a lot better than it did (I should have taken a before photo). 

Today we spent time putting up shade cloth out in the patch. 

We laid the shade cloth out in the driveway to measure and cut.

Stretched and pulled over the top. Almost finished now.

This old fridge has been placed under a shady tree to be used as a worm farm, I am hoping that the insulation will protect them from our very hot weather. The fridge still needs to be leveled and some things done to it to prepare for the worms.

 I have started to put mulch around the veggies.

I really need to find room somewhere in a bed or two for some of these rhubarb, they will grow so much better. 

I freed this bed up by removing one of the celery plants and topped it up with some horse poo, soil and slow release fertiliser.  Maybe I will put rhubarb in this one.

I wont get outside in the yard much next week. Monday and Tuesday are cleaning days, then I have another appointment on Wednesday in Whyalla (getting my teeth fixed). So looks as though it will be Thursday before I get back to it. The weather will be warm again, so that is good news.

See you soon,

xTania

getting there

Hello friends,

We achieved quite a bit today.

Hubby was home so he set to work on the area to be closed in out in the veggie patch. He needed my assistance from time to time so most of the day was spent out in the garden area, only stopping for lunch and then a cuppa with a friend that dropped in.

The north end has been closed in. There was a second gate in the corner but we decided to move it to stop the hot wind whistling in through the gap and damaging the veggies.

Hard at work...

Getting there...just the new shade-cloth to go on now and that wont happen until hubby gets home from his other job on Friday haha!

I took the opportunity to tidy the patch while hubby worked away, occasionally stopping when he needed my help.

Weeds were pulled out and raked into piles ready to go into the wheel barrow for disposal.

All nice and tidy now...

We are off to Whyalla tomorrow for an appointment, so may not get too much done outside. Still, it will be a nice day out. 

It is starting to warm up again, 25C (77F) tomorrow, with a few pleasant Spring days ahead.  I am loving spending so much time outdoors.

See you soon,

xTania

keeping busy

Hello again,

I am doing extra posting this week as I want to keep track of what I have been up to.

On Sunday I planted out some mixed lettuce. These grow well in pots and I have them just outside my kitchen, very handy to go and pick for salads.

I pulled up a few beetroot to give to my mum. She has trouble growing beetroot where she lives, but I am lucky to be able to grow it all year round.

I am spending more time reading with my morning cuppa. 

I have collected Earth Garden and Grass Roots magazines over the years and never really got around to reading the old copies that I have found in my travels.  So instead of social media checking, I am enjoying spending more time learning the old fashioned way. I used to do a lot of reading in the past, but since the intrusion of face-book etc into my life,  reading books and magazines have taken the back seat.

There was rain in Horrock's Pass when I travelled home from my parents place on Sunday. Not a drop here though...

A little time spent in the op shop and I came home with more books. Was ever so happy to come across such useful books. I paid $10.00 for all of these and they are in great condition.

In the garden, I have blueberries...

Yesterday was spent doing a bit of weeding...

Jackie French gave good advice for weeds in one of the magazines I am reading.

I believe weeds have a purpose, just like everything else in nature. In fact most of them are herbs and can be used in many ways. I like to pull them out before they go to seed and use for mulch or compost or even green manure. Unfortunately I didn't get to them in time this year because of being away and now they have gone to seed, so I will just tidy them up a bit. 

I leave these plants/weeds here for a live cover mulch, they creep and keep the roots cool for the trees.  The flowers also attract a lot of bees.

Look what I discovered hiding in some of the growth around the mulberry tree.  Now I know why those girls where acting suspicious.

 Time to empty the wheelbarrow.

My list has gotten longer, but I am getting quite a few things crossed off.

I moved bricks yesterday and placed them around the fruit trees. Hopefully I will add more mulch today.

Making a little pathway.

I would love to create a herb spiral, but not sure how it will go throughout Summer with the heat. I think the poor plants will perish, although I have positioned this "sample" to get the afternoon shade.

Sophie Thomson was on the radio on Sunday morning and she mentioned that if you prune passion-fruit vines, they will produce for more years than usual. So yesterday I set to and trimmed the passion-fruit plants and nearby bougainvillea.  I was very pleased to see flowers forming on the passion-fruit this year.

The worms are doing well although I did discover a couple of ants in the box this morning so I have sat the bottom in water. 

I cleaned the chook pen out and put fresh hay for them to sort through for me so I can use it for mulch around the fruit trees. The old hay I removed was placed under the grape vine. They don't take long to kick it to pieces...

I hope to get some more of my job list done today. The weather is pleasant at the moment, not too cold and not too hot. There is not much housework getting done while this nice weather is around, I am making hay while the sun shines J

See you soon,

xTania