100 Lilliums

I have been a bit busy getting ready for a delivery of 100 Lillium bulbs.

Had to create a new row.

That meant some serious digging and weeding.

The mesh is for a horizontal trellis to support the flower stems.

Luckily I had 9 star pickets to support the mesh.

I had to lay the dripper line before planting to be sure they would be watered evenly.

Tedious and time consuming....I just wanted to plant the bulbs.

I also want it to work.

I brought the bulbs down to the garden to inspire the work.

Remember the Rudbekia? 10 ft tall yellow explosion of colour.

It's dormant at the moment,

amazing contrast.

Now.

6 months ago



I may have worked it out!

I was wondering how my circles got so out of control....just after my last post...wondering and weeding when I realised I had become side tracked and was weeding well away from the circles.

I had become side tracked down into my flower rows.

and if I change those letters around

distracked.

suddenly

it

all made sense.

Weeds! Where do they come from?

I have to wonder how did this vege circle get so out of control?

It is a daunting task to reclaim this growing space.

This next circle is half under control after 2 solid hours of weeding.

Thank goodness for the garden fork.

I pinched a few self seeded silver beets from another circle and planted in the freshly weeded circle.

This photo shows the hill building aspect of this flood plain garden. All my circles were built up with available dirt...but there was not enough to raise the level of the whole garden so I paved the paths with bricks of newspapers. I then cover the paper bricks with gum leave raked up from our forest.

It looks a bit messy at this stage but here you can see that the level of the ground has been raised by 2 or 3 newspaper bricks.

It hasn't flooded since this work was done but in 1992 the whole garden as it was then was under water.

Over sized produce

Unfortunately I did not place anything next to the quince to really show how huge it was.

Over 1kg in weight this is definitely the largest quince I have ever grown.

My Michael has been cooking lots of delicious things with all the quinces including an apple and quince sponge, Quince crumble, roasted quince as a hot vegetable/fruit. Yum.

I was having a bit of trouble closing the egg carton the other day. One of our chooks must only lay and egg every second day and it is always a double yolker, this time I did put something next to it so you could compare the different sizes.

I have been very busy lately but I had an idea that might help me sell flowers without having to door knock businesses in town.

This was an old sculpture laying around the back yard. It had been made for the sweat box art exhibition by a friend and her students. It was a "sweat box" with a foam head coming out the top where I have put the umbrella.

Works a treat and I had sold a few bunches before the end of the week. I will have to get a more permanent sign though....It has not survived the few showers well. At least the price is still readable.

These are some bunches that I have made and carted around the town. People were really supportive of my efforts and I did sell quite a few bunches, but it is hard work. If I am to do that again I would not use Fowlers jars as the vases as they are really heavy when filled with water. Great physio for me though.

Frogs everywhere!

There has been a lot of frogs around lately. Every night we notice several frogs on the windows catching the insects.

This frog was discovered in the reclaimed potting mix.

It gave me a bit of a fright as reacted to being dumped out of a pot of dirt into the wheel barrow.

Pip said she thought it was a bull frog.

I have noticed quite a few large holes in the potting mix in some of my pots...I have concluded they are a result of a frog leaving it's hibernation hole. Perhaps the to-ing and fro-ing to market is not restful enough for them.

Mum has made them welcome with this bird bath in her garden.

They have also delighted the pottery children by leaping out of the fridge we keep  pottery in to regulate its drying.

The door of the fridge does not quite close and it is surprising the size of the frogs that squeeze their way in.

Please note the fridge is not turned on and no frogs have been harmed by sharing of our pottery space.

It is raining as I type this so the frogs will all be singing tonight

This is my most productive rocket circle. Mizuna has finished as has the cos lettuce. Can you see the cos lettuce that has gone to seed? 

The chooks have been moved to the next circle. They did have 3 weeks here and 3 bales of pea straw and one of lucerne. This circle is quite heavy clay so I was keen to add as much organic matter as possible. I am also continuing my doughnut contouring experiment. I have already planted Red French shallots, Red mustard and a few Silverbeets. Notice the hot house has been repaired. I have already filled it with trays of seedlings.

I can never get lonely in the garden as these two are never too far away. Who would have thought they would be looking for shade in May!

This would have to be my favourite vegetable plant in the garden. Red curly Kale.....tastes like cabbage. I just love the deep purple colour and it seems to trick the cabbage moth with it's colour. Unfortunately the white flies are not so easily fooled.

It should be high in antioxidants like most red coloured vegetables.

Remember the chrysanthemum that my sister gave me, I posted it a few weeks ago as full of promise...

It is a neat little plant and bursting with colour. I am picking the flowers for my bunches.

This whole row is blooming at the moment...Chrysanthemums are great value for cut flowers. Lets hope the trend of buying flowers at the market continues to grow.

Pottery and Mum's garden

 You might recall that the Pottery Club is using Mum's garage temporarily after our studio was demolished to make way for a swimming pool at the specialist school. While I was waiting for the children to arrive for their after school pottery class, I thought I would have a look around at what is flowering in Mum's garden at the moment.

The view from the pottery room is a sight at the moment with most of the saliva's lining the driveway, out in full bloom.

Lime light is a spectacular and unusual flower with lime green calyx's and summer sky blue petals.

The photos do not do the sight justice,maybe it was the time of day and the fading afternoon light.

 It certainly is a more beautiful setting than our last studio. Something more permanent will turn up soon, I just wish we could find a philanthropist to help with our cause.