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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Sweet Spring

Hello again,

This is the first time trying out the new blogger format, so I hope it works out okay.

I have been busy this weekend getting jobs done while the sun is shining and the days are mild. It wont be long and the heat will be here. I need to get mulch put around the veggies and plants.

It is Fathers day tomorrow, so I will be going to see my dad in the afternoon.

I noticed this pretty flower on my Moth orchid this morning. I have moved it to a new spot hanging in the laundry window and it seems to be very happy.


The quandongs are ripening fast with this warm weather.


Calendula.


Lemon balm.

Silver beet and beetroot.

Carrots slightly overgrown.

Beetroot and mini cabbages.


 Going to seed...


on the mustard greens.


This one is almost ready...

Cape dandelion.

Getting the soil right in empty beds.


Leeks among the nettles...

New leaves on the mulberry tree.

Apricot blossom.



Nectarine blossom.



Fig.

Orange blossom.

Grapevines coming to life.

Fallen fruit.

The last of the tiger tomatoes. The vines have been pulled out to make way for new plants.


In with zucchinis.


And cucumbers.


This pretty wattle caught my eye.


First quandongs of the season...


I had to show you this beautiful Spring display of flowers in the local TAFE car-park. So proud of our council for planting these lovely displays all around our town.











Bee business...

I got stung near my eye by one of our bees! Needless to say I have had a very uncomfortable couple of days with a swollen face and my right eye pushed shut although I was able to open it slightly as the day wore on. Our bees decided to swarm, so Phil had to quickly set up another hive to recapture them. They are all nicely buzzing around again, although they seem to be more aggressive at this time of year as I found out ha! We have gone from four hives to seven and two small nuke boxes. Phil was asked to go and rescue a swarm the other day, which he did successfully. We are going to have to place some of the hives on our friends properties as I think there are too many bees for us to have here now. We did a small honey pull to make room for our expanding colonies.


The swarm...





Honey...


Marmalade...I managed to get this made through the week. I am not happy with this batch because I cooked it a bit long and it went too dark, but that does not affect the yummy sweet taste. In my defense I was struggling with a swollen sore face lol!


It is getting warm here quickly with the temperature on Monday being 34C {93.2F}.

What have you been up to on this very first Spring weekend?

xTania 

12 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your eye, Tania. Bee stings are very painful. As usual, I am SO impressed with your garden. Everything looks just fabulous!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Stephenie. My eye is all good now, I am just left with an annoying itch on my face.

      xTania

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  2. And here we are in the Mid-Ohio Valley wending our way into autumn.

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    1. I am not sure which I prefer, the cold or hot. We have very warm to hot weather for about nine months, and it is very tiring by the time winter arrives next June. I do LOVE Autumn though, I would very much enjoy if it was like that all year.

      xTania

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  3. Hi Tania, I am in the early planning stages of putting my veggie patch to rest for the warmer months. There is still plenty go on in the patch with tomatoes, corn, cucurbits, peas, beans, parsnips, potatoes, lettuce, baby capsicum, sweet potato and onions to be harvested over the coming weeks and months. However I don't anticipate planting much out into the patch from now on until after summer. We are harvesting blue berries every day and the lemon and kumquat tree are setting new fruit. We went from cold winter weather last week to warm this week. Hoping for more rain.




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    Replies
    1. Hi Sherri,

      I will try to grow as much as I can early, so by January when the real heatwaves hit, the plants will have finished producing. I am waiting for my sweet potatoes to show. I prepared their bed a while ago and they are sitting in there waiting for the warmth. We also did a quick change of seasons, cold one week warm the next. We need more rain too, they keep promising it but we seem to miss out of the good rainfalls, receiving only showers. It is better than nothing but we need a good soaking rain to get down in the subsoil.

      xTania

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  4. Having a bee sting near your eye would have been so uncomfortable. Your cabbage looks so big and amazing too..have a great week. Kathy

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    Replies
    1. Oh it was very uncomfortable Kathy, but all good now.

      Enjoy your week,
      xTania

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  5. Oh, I hope your eye is all well now, Tania. I like bees as long as they are far away from me. LOL
    Bee stings are not fun.

    Your garden is so beautiful.

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    Replies
    1. All good now thanks Nil.

      Bee stings are indeed painful and not something I want to experience too often especially on my face...ouch!

      Have a lovely week,
      xTania

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  6. You did well with new blogger Tania! I was slow to figure it out! Your garden looks amazing. It would have grown again since you posted this. The face is bad for a bee sting! I hope you had some rain. We were lucky just to get some. I have been planting planting! Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Hello Annabel,

      I didn't really find any issues with blogger when I did this post, but I did in an earlier post positioning photos. It seemed to go smoothly this time around.

      My garden is doing really well this year, I think the bees are helping along with the rain and the cool weather. We have had quite a bit or rain lately and the plants are loving it.

      The face is definitely bad for bee stings, I was miserable for days and unrecognisable lol!

      So good that you are having rain too, all good for growing veggies for food!

      xTania

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