Africanaussie

I have been busy every spare minute getting the veggie garden organised.  A couple of weekends ago we were looking at the swale/hugulkuture area, and thinking that the front part with the raised beds looked so nice and neat and didn't want to have the back area looking untidy.  Here you can see the small hand dug swale area and raised area mostly consisting of roots and branches behind the two raised beds.  I have only ever read about swales in large areas, and the same with hugulkulture, so would it be possible to combine the two into a raised bed system, and have another raised bed behind the two - essentially having the hugelkuture contained in a raised bed?  Our nearest Bunnings had run out of the same type of raised beds, so we ordered one in, and last Sunday went down to pick it up.  I had hubby assemble it, while I dug out around the mound I had created - the hugelkuture mound - I love saying that word :)  I popped it right over the top, added ...

Since I last posted there has been lots of digging going on.  Two trees were removed - a moringa in the herb spiral and the barbados cherry in the veggie bed. Those roots were everywhere, and I think were robbing the veggie beds of nutrition.    This is looking from the back, and I have collected the roots that I dug up to go into the high part of the swale -  as these roots break down they will add to the soil structure.  I am also going to empty out the compost bin and cover it with soil for the same reason.  You can see here that the soil is lower at the back of the beds and then rises up to the swale.  I still have leveling and digging of these paths to go.  I am not sure what I am going to do with the bed alongside the fence.  I like the idea of a row of those wicking polystyrene boxes as I like to  grow solanacea family in them as I have bacterial wilt in the soil. With the rest of the garden looking so nice and neat, will the ...

Having done two overseas trips this year, and suffering drought conditions which led to water rationing for a year means my poor little garden has suffered.   My hubby did his best to keep watering at prescribed times, but we have had high winds, and then also visits by plenty of bandicoots.  They find a way in through the smallest possible little gap under the fence. This has of course been very frustrating, and I began to wonder if in fact I really do love gardening.  It is all so hard.... miserable .... depressing......Oh my gosh I got myself into a deep place of miserableness.  "Hello"  said the flowers on the dragonfruit, cheering me up a bit, and the golden candles seem to be thriving in this weather, Plus ....Yes!  there are lychees ripening, and I am sure there are other creatures watching for the minute they are ready to pick, just as I am!   After having the family over for  a breakfast out in the garden, hubb...

I saw fennel on special last week and bought a nice big bulb for $1.00.  I always think I should like it, but then often when I get it home it doesn't live up to its expectations.  I tried roasting it and it never really softened, I thought you could roast anything and it would improve the flavour and texture!  Roasting vegetables is my very favorite way of cooking vegetables, and every week I roast a couple of trays of vegetables.  So while my tray of vegetables was roasting, I decided to make up a salad with the fennel. The one that had caught my eye combined apple and fennel, and whenever I am juicing a lemon I will grate in the rind - do you do that?  It adds so much extra flavour.  The following day I sort of combined everything for my lunch and it was AMAZING.  You have to try this.... 1/2 large bulb chopped or finely shredded fennel 2 apples, cored and sliced juice and grated rind of one large lemon 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil s...

On the way down to some doctors appointments in Cairns I lucked out when I arrived in Bunnings just as their monthly garden group began.  They provided pots, plants, decorations and soil to make your own Christmas centerpiece.  This is my favorite store, but now it has been elevated!  Look at what I made.  I love that dichondra silver falls - they are always talking about that on Gardening Australia, and I even got another lipstick plant which will eventually have to go into its own hanging basket. The pointsettia should be in an area that does not get light in the evenings to help it keep its colour. It is more of a welcome basket than a centerpiece, and gives a lovely christmassy welcome feel to the entrance.   I do surveys to accumulate points which I then trade in for Bunnings coupons, and there really is nothing better than free shopping in my opinion.  I had accumulated 70.00 in coupons, so had fun looking for bargains to make my free money ...

Last night my neighbour called me and told me that the dragonfruit flower had opened.  this one has dropped over onto her side of the fence. It seems to be night blooming, lovely huge flowers, so there we were, cameras in hand, recording the event. Just look at those stamens....  This morning the flower was already beginning to droop and close up.  then all the energy will go into forming some yummy dragonfruit.  There are two other flowers forming.

 I placed an order for some seeds, and as usual couldn't resist adding in some that I am not sure are going to grow here (in the wet season too!) Sorrell Sunflower - sunbird Cucumber - redlands long white Carrot all season Sweet william - summertime mix Rosella Asparagus - Mary Washington Eggplant tsakoniki Angled luffa I really want some flowers - for a couple of years I had yellow cosmos and they were awesome for attracting butterflies, this year I thought I would try some sunflower and sweet William.  Everyone says you cant grow carrots and cucumber in the wet season, but I see them at the markets, so thought I would give it a  try.  The cucumbers are against this fence, with sweet potato in front.  I have used this bed for ginger for quite a few years, so thought I would switch it over, and put the ginger in other places. the tomato plant is still looking healthy so I will leave it there in case it gives me another flush of tomatoes be...

Well, as you know I have been trying to fit my new compost tumbler into my composting schedule.  You are supposed to stop topping it up at some stage and then let it finish off before transferring to the stand alone compost bin.   The thing is that I am not sure what to do with the kitchen waste that accumulates while the tumbler batch is processing (about 4- 6 weeks.)   I have lots of leaves, and they seem to take forever to break down too!  The kitchen scraps compost down quickly but the leaves take ages....So I keep adding to the tumbler, and it is in fact now getting rather full and a bit heavy, so something had to be done. This is what it looks like.  and inside: A worm farm, everyone suggested....    I have only ever heard of one person with a worm farm in this climate.  Recently though, I saw an honesty stall with bottles of worm wee.  Hubby looked the other way when I went to put my coins in the jar and pick up a bottle....

Here it is again, time to link up with Lizzie for the garden-share-collective-december-2014    It doesn't seem as though a  whole month has passed.  Not much has been going on because even though we are in the beginning of the wet season it has been so dry we actually have stage 2 water restrictions..... the wet season plants are all coming up out of dormancy though - ginger, turmeric, galangal, lemongrass, and oh my gosh the cardamom has flowered and it looks as though seed pods have formed - how great is that!  I have been told repeatedly that you cannot grow seeds here, that the type of cardamom we have is called false cardamom... These definitely look like seeds to me....  I presume these will now shrivel into the cardamom seeds that we know and love. Last year I did not grow enough rosella, so I started some seedlings, and they needed some shade so they each got their own little cassava umbrella, along with lemongrass mulch alongside.. Can you...

My two daughters are together for Thanksgiving this year, and since we are a family scattered all around the world this is a rare occurance.  I think you need to have lived through a couple of  American Thanksgivings to really appreciate the holiday, and I am grateful that I did experience living in America for many years.   Happy Thanksgiving everyone! After a busy week and weekend we went and sat on the beach with some brie and fresh bread for a couple of hours.  Very relaxing. You might have noticed that I now have all my blogs tabbed across the top of this one blog.  I have wanted to do this for ages.  Just this last week I e-mailed  Joan at  bluemountainsjournal  and she very kindly sent me the instructions.  It was easy peasy!  Gosh I am so thankful to be a part of this blogging community, thank you Joan. On yet another note I am going to be in the grow your blog party again this year.  Please sign up if you a...

Last night we had a little rain, and it was lovely to walk around this morning and see how the garden had drunk it all up.  We have stage two water restrictions at the moment - unheard of at this time of year here in the wet tropics......  The grass is brown and dry and crunchy underfoot.  The wet season is taking its time arriving, it is muggy and hot as we wait. The kookaburra like to sit on the fence post surveying where their next meal will be coming from.  With this dry weather my poor dear hubby is on a conintual quest to mulch up all the leaves.  All my bins are full, and yet they continue to drop.  The evodia tree is in bloom - so pretty as the flowers from along the branches.  This tree hosts the ulysses butterfly and lots of other nectar feeding birds.  Look at the flowers close-up - arent they awesome?  They start out like little pink origami boxes, and then the white loops arrive and pop!  they open up! The la...

I have been avoiding facing up to the weeds out in the veggie patch.  The more you avoid them the more rampant they become so this weekend I made weeding a priority.  As I go through the beds I throw the weeds onto my weed mat paths.  Once done, I simply turn the weed mat over and voila!  the weeds are gone :)  Making weed tea attracts mosquitos in this climate, and yet I dont want to throw anything that comes out of my garden away.  doesnt it look nice  and clean now?  I also moved one of the worm bins into a more accessible area, right here in the asparagus bed.  This one has a bucket on top with fresh yummy veggies to entice the worms to move up.  That will leave the castings in the lower bucket that I can add to plants that need an extra boost.  I think the lime tree might need some boosting.  Not sure what is going on -one of the branches has started dying and there are these white spots all over the dying branch. ...