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.

Pumkins

The pumpkins have taken over. I did not plant any of them but they certainly enjoyed growing in the circles.

They managed to sprawl over four circles and around the edges. They appear to be butternuts. I need to reclaim some growing space so they have to go.

It's harvest time.



This little pile is going to Ballarat with my friend Lou who cleared a circle for me the other day.

I will try to show a before and after.

And here is what came out of it.

Thanks Lou

Garlic from seed

Someone asked me about garlic seed at the farmers market on the weekend.

This is seed collected from my garlic this summer.

I have found that you can grow garlic from seed but it takes a year longer than planting a clove.

 All your garlic should be either eaten or replanted by now.

I am finding that if I delay  planting, all the garlic has vanished.

I only have very small garlic left

I have been busy out in the paddock preparing for the Easter ski race. Our front paddock becomes a car park for the weekend and we have a small farmers nightmare....a paddymelon epidemic.

We used to have lots of visitors at Easter and the children would make halloween type faces with the melons. The campsite would be decorated with paddymelons and citronella candles would keep the mosquitos at bay. Unfortunately all the children have grown up and no longer go on holidays with their parents.

I have been thinking about the birth of lawn bowls, and bocce.

We have been picking them up and relocating them to the dump. Three trailer loads so far. Probally another load tonight and that should see them cleaned up for this year. Unfortunately several have already been squashed and deposited their seeds so we will have to get on to it early next year.

Khaki weed has also established itself in this paddock.

It is getting a dose of round up and then when dead, we are burning the seeds.

This will need constant vigilance if we are to disuade it from establishing itself premenantly.

I did find a stand of the tiniest little blue flowers growing in the pasture.

The pasture itself was thigh high in places.

There is just no substitute for rain.

Lions tail

Have I shown you lions tail?

It is a tough hardy shrub from South Africa. It has fantastic orange flowers that last and last in the vase.

It was glowing tonight in the evening light.

How's this for a lot of promise?

It is a little red chrysanthemum that my sister gave me. The poor thing has struggled in a pot for several years. I planted it in the rows last autumn and it hasn't looked back. It is loaded with blooms and can only be days away from colour.

Wow Rudbeckia!

If you are looking to make a statement in yellow then you should consider Rudbeckia.

I planted three small pieces from the house yard into the rows last Autumn. I had to tie it up just a few weeks ago as it was flopping all over the place. It flowered two weeks ago and still looks good after a weekend of wind and rain. It is hard to show just how tall they are without a person in the shot but I estimate them at 10 ft tall (3.5 metres just doesn't have the same ring to it.)

The Zinnias are dwarfed by the Rudbeckia stand.

This next plant is a Cherry Rudbeckia. This is the first time I have grown it and I am surprised at how different it is. I have had just one spectacular flower on a very short stem. Our summer was very mild so it is hard to know what it could have become with a little bit of warmth and all the rain.

There has been a population explosion of pumpkin beetles.

I am going to get my gloves on for a squashathon .