Gardening & other ramblings...

Thursday, October 15, 2009


Today is one of those days you'd just rather stay inside. It's cold outside with rain patches passing over throughout the day - it would be a wonderful day to sit curled up in a blanket reading....& I probably would have before children - but now I have responsibilities & can't afford such luxury. I'm actually procrastinating - do you remember those curtains I was part way through sewing for my dining/kitchen (yes cast your mind back - it's been a while) - well my plan was to finish them today, but I have found so many ways to procrastinate it's not funny. (Actually they are very good ways like cleaning/washing/ reading (oops OK I did a little bit)/ practising the piano (very bad - it's been a while)/looking after 4 housebound children etc.). I would call it a gloomy day, but I am just so thankful for the rain that there's nothing gloomy about it - in fact each time it rains Judah says " Isn't God good" - I think he's heard it with each rain since we moved here LOL. We have a tin roof & I love the sound of rain on the roof - just beautiful (in fact it's starting right now - how's that for timing).

A rain front heading east from Sunnyside!

In the last patch of sunshine I hung out a load of washing on the line (I should have know this would bring the rain - LOL- doesn't work as I've tried it almost everyday of the year!!!) I also planted carrot seeds around the bottom of a water tank that's quite sandy - I've heard carrots like sandy soil - we'll see. And some lettuce seeds. I found some Nasturtium seeds that are meant to be planted by 1977 - I planted them anyway without little hope of success, but you never know. My neighbour who is the ultimate homesteader (except we don't really call it that in Australia, but she does so much the old fashioned way & has the best garden ever) always says to plant them anyway as you never know, but so far I've never had success with out of date seeds - I reckon ones older than myself don't really stand a chance - oh well!!!
More clouds heavy with rain coming from the west!!

Do you remember this photo I put up of the potatoes that were all shooting in my pantry?
Well I planted them & they've all come up & are looking wonderfully healthy - I would advise anyone not to throw potatoes out, but to plant them - it took a while, but they eventually emerged - I had planted them about 3 inches deep so that the frost wouldn't harm them as it was still winter then!
Potato plants now - I have a row about 8m long!
I now have another tray full of potatoes to plant in my pantry. (Ummm maybe I should use them a bit faster!!!) Unfortunately my garden hoe is missing - I really can't imagine what's happened to it as it should be with my other gardening tools - so until I find that it makes planting them difficult.
A dodgy picture of the tomatoes!

I have 10 tomato seedlings looking lovely & I'm hoping for some wonderful fruit off them. I bought a few different varieties - some cheery, some roma, some miniature plum, beefsteak (doesn't that just sound delicious for a BBQ) & others!

Looking forward to cherry season that should start soon - although with the cold weather we've been having, I wonder if it will be delayed? I enjoy going to town & getting cheap cherries from this old man who comes down from Young (cherry capital of Australia) to deliver cherries & then stone fruits in season straight from the orchards - once a week he comes & it's always worth the trip to town - of course I always do other shopping as well so I'm not using too much petrol ;).
Rosemary
So far the roses & lavender I transplanted from that old house being demolished aren't looking too great, but a friend who has a wonderful garden said not to pull them out for about 6 months as you never know - so here's hoping they'll revive! The geraniums however are going well - of course they are incredibly hardy. My herbs are growing & the one lone strawberry plant I have now (the rest died in what I term the "Dave drought" - when I went away to Qld & a certain someone forgot to water.....) is growing new leaves - I was worrying it was dying, but I think since we've had a few late frosts those leaves were affected.

The grapevine in the greenhouse is shooting - I love the fresh green shoots that come after the dormancy of winter! Aren't grape vines just the prettiest green?



Inspired by the West ladies DVD's I received for my birthday (great gift Sel!!LOL) I've been trying to think outside the box for pots - We had this rusted old teapot & I thought why not?



I have such dreams for my garden & get so frustrated at times that either they don't work or it takes so long to get anything done....I try to garden each day & remind myself that it all doesn't have to be done today!
In your garden God's hand is so apparent!

9 comments:

Mum-me said...

I liked reading about your gardening. It is something I enjoy too, although we can't have a veggie patch in a DHA house.

The first two photos are beautiful.

SF said...

Renata, your garden is just wonderful and I feel put to shame! :( We are so NOT having cool weather up here, it is horribly hot and drier than I can ever ever remember.......... all the grass is dead and brown and I've given up on gardening altogether for now. :( I miss it so much though!! Well done on the potatoes!
Do you let your chickens out at all? Back when I was still gardening in July/August all the chickens got out and I lost absolutely everything which was really sad!! Trying to work out how to avoid that happening again at the new place..... Thankfully it has a great bore which gives a good supply of water, the gardens are established so I'm hoping just to take over where the current owners have left off! :) LOve your blog, girl. ;) Thanks for the inspiration, as always. xo

Kate said...

Honey...have to tell you, if you could see my "garden" of dead grass, holes where the dog has dug and freen ant nests, you would understand why reading your blog and seeing all your thriving green-thumb-ness makes me utterly depressed :) :) Weeds get to stay in our garden because they're greener than the real plants! xo

Grannysaurus said...

I can soooo relate to "garden dreams". Up here things grow quickly which is great, but especially the weeds which is not great. In a few weeks the garden can look like it's been left derelict for years. I have a weeding wand which helps, but sometimes I feel that it needs a 10cm paint brush on the end instead of the dainty little brush that it has got. Your rosemary and grape vine look great.

aunty sel said...

Hey Narn,
lovely garden photo's!! so glad you have been having rain, I have been praying for you's to get some.
I have been gardening today too!! I dug out lots of weeds, and I transplanted tomatoes, capsicums and chilli's as I have abundance all growing a bit close together. It's so wonderful to be in the garden, I agree, God's hand is very apparent in it!!
luv you all,
sel
PS. mum has a fungi garden growing in some baked beans.

Anonymous said...

I think your garden looks great! I too get very frustrated with mine when things don't go as I plan (which is every year!) Sometimes I tell my husband that I'm just going to quit, but I never do. Gardening gets in your blood!

Leanne said...

We are inspired by the West ladies too!

Everything looks just ready to burst into bloom and fruit over there...we're reaching dormant, go-to-sleep stage here. It's neat to read someone's blog across the world, because it's such a different season over there.

Did you know that Carrots love tomatoes? I had heard that, and so one year we planted our carrots right in the middle of our tomatoes and those were the best tomatoes AND carrots every! If you have sandy soil for your carrots, and no rocks in the soil, you will have nice, straight carrots.

Sigh....take care today!

Kimmie said...

Okay...now tell me, do you plant the whole potatoe or cut it into bits (that each have a sprout?) Really, I don't know. Though when I was a girl my Papa planted a field of potatoes...I was the lucky girl who got to pick of the potato beetles and drown them in a bucket of water. (perhaps this is why I never planted them in my own garden, trauma from childhood. lol.

Kimmie
mama to 7
one homemade and 6 adopted

Kath said...

I love gardens!! Looks great.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin