| Greth Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 - 03:10 pm: |   |
There is a slight hiccup in the retaining wall plans. It seems I am about 15 weeks pregnant, so moving the heavy rocks is now a no-no. The fish have not been doing well, some have succumbed to a fungal disease, but on the plus side, there is a big batch of frog eggs floating amongst the plants. We found a black mesh thingy to replace the green thing over the pond, which is much less obtrusive, but it still needs a purpose made cover.
Got a new iris 'Autumn Echo' on the weekendl
Rainfall is looking even worse than last year, at least I know not to hold out hopes this time. |
| Suzyqt1968 Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 - 06:41 pm: | |
Miss Jessie will soon have a playmate it sounds like. Congrats and I hope it comes at a good time for you :-) |
| Greth Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 02:30 pm: | |
Thanks Suzy, tho I am getting a bit old for this kinda thing!
I've got the big Herb Day coming up, wanting to take $900 worth of stock (and hopefully sell a good part of it) Wasn't really planning on carrying that many plants while pregnant - think I will need DH and DS for muscles. After that I will slow down production a lot - people are not buying plants with severe water restrictions, and certainly won't over summer. Just had a scare last night, Dad has gone into hospital after a minor stroke. No lasting effects, and they should be able to clear the offending artery, but he is 79 and really looking forward to grandchild #8. I told him 7 was a lucky number, but for the Chinese 8 is even luckier!
I'm listening to the rain coming down right now, we have had a bit overnight. Still short of what I hoped for in September, but it all helps. |
| Greth Posted on Friday, September 28, 2007 - 07:40 am: | |
Had another 0.7mm rain, better than nothing.
Dad is home from hospital, but needs to go back in in 4 days to have his carotid artery cleared ( for the uninitiated, this means they are cutting into his throat, and because he is old, they won't use a general anaesthetic..) I'm telling him to hold on for grandchild #8, and I've planted some seeds for him..
DH is taking a fortnight (two week ) holiday, which coincides with DS's school holidays, this will be a time for him to settle and cope with work problems.
Only another 0.7mmm overnight rain, might be another 0.something tonight, not much. |
| Greth Posted on Friday, October 12, 2007 - 06:41 pm: | |
9 mm of rain over the last two days, what a relief! A goodly soak for all the trees and shrubs, yay!
Dad's op went OK, he is back at his home now.Jessie loved the bed adjusting mechanism..
DH got enthused with the house projects for the first few days of holidays, so we have some after photos.
View from the back door, the fishpond now has a different cover.
You can see (left rear)that the veggie garden is absolutely full of stuff now. Still lots of rocks to move and weeds to clear, however things will happen in time. |
Wow, Greth, I don't know how I missed so many of your journal entries. The place looks fabulous and Jessie is just too cute wandering among your flowers! I don't know how you find the time. What a lot of work! I, too, love your Ceanothus. |
| Greth Posted on Saturday, October 13, 2007 - 04:01 pm: | |
Jessie is my constant shadow in the garden. It's a few miles to the nearest playground, so hers is the garden. She has to have a vase beside her bed for all the flowers she picks! At the moment it is full of damask and other scented roses, perennial wallflower and stocks.
I think this is the same lizard which was under the house last year, we fed it scraps whenever we saw it. He was coming out to greet us almost every day. They hibernate over winter so we haven't seen him for a while. Still has a taste for tinned spaghetti leftovers!
We call him Iggy.
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| Greth Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 02:05 pm: | |
Looks like it's pink wool!
Here are our little friends in the front garden, attempting to look inconspicuous. This is mum and bubs kangaroo. Fence is a metre high.
And on the same day, this little chap pretending to be a seed packet label. He/she seems to be a new permanent resident of the ornamental garden. Unlike the sleepy lizards, these little guys move like greased lightning, unless, like here, they are still hoping you haven't seen them.
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These are great pics and stories, Greth. Seeing pics from your part of the world makes me feel warmer than I really am. |
| Greth Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2007 - 03:59 pm: | |
Well, Herb Day is over, made a few hundred dollars and got a few new plants. Still have plenty to sell, may mean a market or two over the next couple of months.
New plants are a fig tree (DS likes figs), soapwort, valerian and a white flowered comfrey. There were a few more things I would have liked to pick up, but I know where I can get them sometime when money is not so critical.
I will restock my local hardware shop with some of the better leftovers, they have been selling quite a lot lately. Might look at investing in a larger trolley to put there if they want to continue with plants. It's a good place to sell, the nearest nursery is 5 km from that town, and its a very expensive one, has a huge gift shop full of very pretty things that I would never buy, lol. |
| Growit Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2007 - 04:24 pm: | |
Sounds like you did alright then Greth? Shame you didn't sell all of them but a few hundred dollars doesn't sound too bad and you felt rich enough to purchase a few more goodies. Fresh figs....yummy!
Oh! Congrats are in order too. I just read your first post. Take it easy Greth, nothing strenuous now. |
| Greth Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:47 pm: | |
Hopefully I can build a small nursery at home Growit, then I won't have to carry stuff around to sell it!
Correction, it was a white flowered borage, not a comfrey (I already had that)
Hope the fig will do alright here, may be a bit dry for it. For the first year it is going to live in pots in the shadehouse, until it is big enough to cope with the great outdoors.
Now Herb Day is over, I will relax and spend more time on my own plants, rather than sale stuff. Still lots of weeding to do, and then I need to get a 4' round bale of peastraw and get the mulching underway.
ETA for bubs is the 21st March, so it looks like I will spend all the hot weather heavily pregnant, sigh. Home remedies for heat rash welcomed!
The chap I borrowed a trailer from wisely reminded me that if I had sold them all I would have been kicking myself for not taking more. |
Long time, no hear. How are you holding up, Greth? I'd send you some of my snow and ice if I could.  |
| Greth Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 08:07 pm: | |
Between the baby and the hot weather, I have had little to post.
Here is the first autumn rain in March.
The roos have been raiding my garden as it is the only place with any green.
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| Greth Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 08:52 pm: | |
Now, what else is news.
I have a mental block on what happened in the garden last summer. It was so horrible, even tho I was prepared.
Now that the rains have started, and new things emerge from seedlings, and I have some time to work in the garden it looks a little better.
We had drought and a record heatwave.
Of the lavenders, I lost about 3, but had some cuttings to save one.
Of the rosemaries none died, one was uprooted by a rabbit, but I took cuttings and it will be replaced.
Of the scented geraniums one was eaten by bunnies, but will survive, another died from heat but I had a spare. Only one died without replacement.
I lost at least one favourite carnation. Another is hanging by a thread, not enough green to take a cutting.
Of the Artemesias (wormwood) One died, but not before I took a cutting, I will have a good plant again soon
Of the thymes, only two survived. I lost maybe 6 or 8, very sad. Slowly I will replace them.
Of the mints, maybe 3 survive out of 10. Another very sad story.
The tomatoes and other summer veg did not thrive in the veggie patch.Only the ornamental gourds, lovage, parsley and marigolds, arrowroot and Jerusalem artichoke did well. Not a lot of edibles.
Not my fault, it was a drought year, and we hardly had enough water for the toilet and washing machine, let alone plants.
Are we in for another drought this year? I dunno, but I will try to have the plants as well prepared as they can be. |
| Stormdancer Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 09:51 pm: | |
Hi Greth! Glad to see you posting again. I've really missed reading about your end of the world. Congrats on the newest member of the family...I know there's a lot of work involved with the little ones.
How fast does winter approach in your area? Reason I ask, I live in Florida and our winters are usually pretty mild. When I started my vegetable garden last year it was in September...fall for most of the US, the end of scorching days for Florida...the tomatoes have done super and currently are putting out several ripe ones daily (I only planted nine plants) We are just really coming in to summer weather right now. So if your weather is anywhere near as goofy as ours, maybe this would be an alternative growing season for some things. We don't get real cold weather or frosts until January normally and the cold only lasts for a few weeks. I covered the garden area with tarps during the frost warnings, but by the time the frost came, the tomatoes were fairly well established. Just a thought.
I'm sure you probably already do this, but have you thought of using the wash water for the plants and/or recycling the wash water for the toilet? Drastic things for drought conditions sure make life interesting huh? We just had our first rain in over 40 days...wildfires have been burning thousands of acres recently here. |
| Greth Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 10:40 pm: | |
We have an extra growing season in Autumn, good for a lot of things, but we will have frosts very soon, so no frost tender things growing.
Tomatoes are still alive, but with green fruit that will probably not ripen. I am having success with cabbage, brussel sprouts, rocket, lettuce, coriander, radishes and broad beans. They will continue to grow well over the winter. Still planting carrots and peas.
All our waste water goes into a septic tank, and the overflow feeds the vegetable garden. We have had over on inch (31mm) of rain so far in May, so things are growing pretty well now, will slow down as the frosty nights hit. |
| Growit Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 - 04:06 am: | |
Gosh Greth. I don't know how you do it. Such harsh conditions to grow in. I couldn't stand to lose so many plants. I would have to go work in an office.
The landscape looks very parched. I am so glad you are finally getting some rain.
I really hope you get a better year this year and that your business thrives.
If I can send you seeds of anything that you have difficulty getting hold of let me know.
Have you tried Myrrhis odorata? It tolerates drought well and I have plenty of seed to spare.
Give the baby a kiss and a cuddle from me. I Can't wait to see pictures of you out carting her around in a backpack whilst gardening.  |
| Greth Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 - 06:31 am: | |
I hate losing plants, Growit! That's why I haven't posted much, this summer nearly drove me to tears. I would love seeds of Myrrhis odorata, I got some before from a GB, but haven't had success with germination. Only one grower that I know of in S.A. grows it at all, I didn't see any last time I was at her herb nursery. I still have a few of the seed I was sent, but am told it must be fresh. I will give the last of it a go in Spring, too cold now I guess.
Parched is a good word. In summer the gum trees are greyish green, there is no other green on our 85 acres, apart from my garden plants. Our place actually looks good for the area, many paddocks are down to bare dirt and rock. We only have agisted sheep for a few months of the year, so we retain much more grass, even if it is dead!
This photo shows what I am dealing with. The standard rose is new (replacing one which died of drought, which replaced one which died of soccer ball) It had about 6 buds when planted a day or two ago, but the kangaroos ate them. Behind Jessie is supposed to be grass, yeah, well..
The little box hedge plants are still alive, believe it or not. Actually the other side of the path they are doing quite well. Mid photo is/was a very nice carnation, I'm very sad to lose that one. Mid left side is a 'bush Barbecue' thyme, a very rare species. My garden was the only place in SA that it survived last year, I think it has squeaked thru again, and I have one tiny backup cutting. In the front are Orris root irises, slightly browned but otherwise thriving.The green bits at 8 o'clock are my spring snapdragons, which survived without water somehow. I collected loads of seed and am now trying to germinate them.
At the top of the garden I am starting a bed with peastraw. Will probably be wider and more interesting in time, for now I'm just repressing weeds and improving the soil.
The ornamental gourds did grow over summer, and now we are starting on the next bit of retaining wall.
And when I get back to my potting bench, I find it has a squatter.
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| Growit Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 - 07:22 am: | |
Jess looks happy as does the pussy cat lol!
I feel for you so much Greth. I will have everything crossed for a better year for you this year. Lets hope it was a freak year and things will get back to normal.
I will PM you at some point for your address but seeing as they do not ripen for a month or two you may have to nudge me to remind me nearer the time. Are there any other seeds you would like? If I don't grow it chances are I can scrounge some.
Which carnation was it Greth?
Off to google a bush bbq thyme. Not heard of that before :) |
