Fresh Flowers Mildura

I just love spring

I love picking flowers

Just lucky for me I like to grow them too!

I also like to share the flowers and have a road side stall selling them to the passing public.

 If you live in Mildura you can take advantage of the very cheap fresh flowers on

Etiwanda Ave just $5 per bunch.

 They are seasonal so whatever is flowering goes in the bunches.

This October there are lots of Dianthus and Alstromeria.



Alstromeria are my favourites. Very long lasting in the vase, and very long stemmed.

They are very prolific also.

I did try to tame this section but the weight of the flowers thwarted my efforts.

Some of the flowers have grown up through the passion fruit and would have to be 3 metres tall,

now that is long stemmed!

I am starting to think that the pink alstromeria here in the front is a dwarf variety.

Usually dug out every year by the white Labrador looking for a cool spot to sleep, this is the first flower in a long time. I had forgotten what it looked like.

Rural inspired pottery

I have noticed a subtle change in the pottery I have been making since we moved to mum's garage down on the farm.

This must be a paper weight for a beef farmer

When I glazed this, the herd of cows were at the other end of the paddock.

Had they been a little closer I am sure their whole face would have been white.

This is represents the many rabbits on the farm even though it is more like a hare.

We do get the occasional hare but there are always rabbits. I think we should work out how to sell rabbits instead of vegetables.

This is half of a "Sweat box" sculpture

I had made the head on one day and the body on another and as a result I never did like the finished product, but I have found a way to enjoy it.

Placed on a H section of fence it has a PPeruvian feel to it.

It can watch over the Lillium patch, they are so close to flowering and there are no farmers markets for three weeks. I do hope it all works out that they flower on a market week.

This is the "sweat box" body. I am going to make a new head and neck from fabric.....and hopefully have it suspended on a big spring so there is movement. 

This next one is my favourite tea pot. It is fully functioning, the saddle lifts up so you can put in the tea leaves and water.

Busting the "No garlic from seed" myth

I totally hate being told I can't do something.

There is a very strong urban myth that you can't grow garlic from seed, in fact

someone was trying to convince me at the market on the weekend that it was not possible.

so...

For the last few years I have been collecting garlic seed and growing it.

This is a garlic seed head.

It has fleshy little seeds that form after the flower.

I have also collected seed from half way up the stem (internal)

each plant is different and not all plants produce seed.

This is my summer haul from the last crop.

Like the cloves they will vanish to dust if not planted fresh.

I put four seeds in a pot and when up and established I "park" four to six pots around a dripper.

In 12 months time these will be my planting stock for the following year.

This means I can sell some of my crop and not worry so much about replanting the biggest and the best.

If you have ever grown garlic you will know it is best to plant big healthy cloves. The bigger the clove the better the result. If you are growing them for sale it is hard to forgo the good price and easy sale to increase the planting stock. I am confident that I have found the answer to that dilemma.

I am confident that I have "busted" this Garlic myth.

If you don't believe me......prove it for yourself.

Dianthus, lots of flowers

I have waited a long time but I have been rewarded.

Mum gave me a packet of seeds.

They are often referred to as "Pinks"

each plant is a slightly different pink colour

I do have some losses with my companions always looking for somewhere comfortable to sit while I work.

So sweet,

 like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!

I am also very excited with two new rows,

 already planted with Dahlias and Calla lillies

They were really neat with leaf mulch between and straw on the rows.

That was until the wild weather this week

There is even a spare row for something new!

Camel tea pots

I made this one day when I was encouraging a student to make a novelty teapot.

The saddle lifts off to add tea leaves and hot water.

I am always quite nervous adding colour to my pots.

It can "make or break" and there is no way to fix it is it does not work out...other than start again.

 was on a bit of a roll and decided to make some book ends.

My husband was horrified when I cut this sculpted camel in half.

It made sense to me.

I have some old books that I prefer to display with the camel...."A girls own adventure"

The finish on this one is cast iron paint. A paint thick with iron filings and a product called instant rust.

I thought I would put a few traditional RAKU pots in as well.

They are fired to 1000degrees Celsius and then removed from the kiln and placed in a bin full of sawdust. This provides the carbon to make the unglazed bits of the pot black, and encouraged black cracks called crazing. Raku is my favorite for of pottery but it does make the work very fragile and no good for using with food.

The glaze is a copper based glaze and if handled right it can range in colour from this Egyptian blue to metallic red. I will confess I was aiming for red so these are abject failures from an intention point of view.

But quite beautiful for failures.

Cherry Blossom

I spoke of losing my Cherries last year from a heatwave.

This year there will be more than ever to make up for it.

The trees have been freed from their bird proof cage for the winter but as spring marches on the bird mesh will have to go back up.

To think that each one of those flowers represents a yummy cherry, mmmmmmmmmmmm

We will also have a few apples....they are pink ladies.

I am looking forward to eating some of these mullberries very soon.

The tree is starting to seriously droop with the weight of the fruit. It's one of the Australian mullberries, not as strong in flavour as the English Mullberry, the fruit is longer.

Last year we got two summer crops off this little tree....the last of which was picked by Lou after Easter. 

You have to feel sorry for the chook that laid this enormous egg. It weighed in at 104 grams

Does not fit in an egg carton very well, deffinately a double yolker

Spring is here!

Spring is here

Its an exciting time in the garden and the paddock.

I think the quince blossom is the prettiest blossom of spring.

Old trees can look a bit tortured due to the heavy fruit forcing the branches to droop.

Mine is a young tree but it has had its fair share of tortuous droop and heavy fruit.

Note the large branches from a red gum tree that were used to prop up the drooping branches.

All fruit blossom is beautiful but I particularly like Nectarine blossom also.

Blossom keeps the bees busy

The promise of yummy fruit is almost guaranteed given water restrictions have been lifted.

I lost all of last years cherries in a heat wave.

I won't ever let that happen again.

The Lilliums are coming.

Thankfully between Skittles and myself the rabbits have not destroyed my Lillium patch.

I am looking forward to picking flowers for the market.

I have also been busy clearing and weeding.....an endless task in a garden.

I put this photo in to show you the slope I had to rectify to flood proof this garden.

I am planning to plant cucumbers against this retaining wall fence.

Oh and a trip or two to a nursery to spend some of my market money on flowering shrubs for market flowers. What a good excuse!

Not a very good photo however it does show you the dwarf diosma in the background.

I just love the blue dampier?

Very hardy apparently. It will have to be in my yard.