Who else likes gardening?

[ecomama]

Hi everyone

I hope you're staying well today.

Who else likes gardening? I would love to connect with people here who are happy to share their gardening adventures.

For me I know that gardening helped heal my soul during tough times. I hope it will again.
Then with other things going on, it became a jungle.
I'm part way into rediscovering it again and doing A LOT of hard yakka atm, when I am motivated.

I have new dreams and ideas to put into the many bare places, as I remove thickets of lantana etc. This will all be on a tight budget and I'm ok with that.

I want to create a peaceful place where I can be.
I would like to grow food again (tell 'er she's dreamin' atm lol).
I would like to re-establish my worm farms and compost heaps.
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year in the garden.

I'm 'alone' in my gardening journey and would love to share and hear about other's gardening antics. Hopefully we can troubleshoot any issues in our gardens and talk about any healing we're feeling too. There's a lot of knowledge we can share. I hope this thread can brighten your day!

Love Ecomama

Please

[Gambit87]

Hey Mark,

Yeah Its in the worst position, I don't think it gets 6 hours of 'full' sunlight because there's eucalyptus trees that tower over my yard that block a fair amount of light. There doesnt appear to be any bugs around and the leaves look really healthy.

its just ashame thats all - my favorite flower haha.

[Matchy69]

Hi Gambit yes that might be it not enough sunlight.Thats good it's healthy.They are stunning when in flower.

[Matchy69]

My poor beans didn't like all the rain.I will be putting cauliflowers and broccoli in that bed.My sweet potato has taken over half my vegie garden now.I have to harvest and see what I have got.Everything needs a big prune with so much growth.

[Lillylane]

Picked our very first feijoa fruit today! I was checking out the shrub for fruit and one fell to the ground. It was very small but I cut it open to see - and it was delicious. Apparently they only fruit for a short season this time of year.

There’s not many fruit on the trees - maybe 3 or 4 in total but I’m still so excited to get to taste one.

[Matchy69]

Hi Lillylane that's great your Feijoa Sellowiana has got a couple of fruit on it.They are very tasty and I have one growing here that I planted a couple of years ago.The pink flowers are pretty to.They grow in the highlands of South America like Brazil.They are popular in New Zealand and are farms of them there.I had a really nice one growing at my old house that cropped well.They tolerate frost to

[Lillylane]

Hi Mark,

Yes they are so pretty. I love the grey foliage too. They were an impulse buy at the local markets 🙂

I can’t go to the markets anymore for plants because it’s just too tempting to buy so many.

[ecomama]

Lots happening in the gardening thread lol.

I have a beautiful story about "our family frangipani"... my great Uncle served in many places in WWII (awful things he went thru) and at once point was in Darwin when it was bombed... he said amongst the devastation he saw a beautiful frangipani tree, so he broke off a piece and brought it home.

It became a family tradition that we break off a piece from my Great Aunty's tree to plant in our new home's garden... we feel it brings good luck.

Strange thing was here, I tried about 5x to grow one and they didn't survive (I know why).

Maybe I should try again since the pest is no longer here lol!!!

Our area has been categorised as a "Disaster Zone" after the rain events.

I couldn't say we had $20k of damage - well I hope not!

But because of that Zoning, apparently all home owners here with any damage can get $1000.
I guess that would go towards a House Insurance claim?

I will claim it because we have had so much damage. Just hope it's not a horrid set of repair jobs. I'll post more on the home improvement thread I think.

Anyway we lost tonnes of top soil and seriously, if it rains again on the weekend, I'm not sure I'll have any time to remove all the soil & debris from the drains. I'll just have to get out there in the rain and do it anyway, as I've done countless times before!

We have our lives, our pets and our home.
So much better off than so many people.
It's always so sad having these events happen.

Yep my oranges did not like so much watering.
The Brush Turkeys haven loved eating the split oranges on the ground though lol. That's good.

Everything else has grown so much with months of rain.

My water tanks overflowed the entire time Mark because they were ALREADY full!

EMxxxx

[Matchy69]

Hi Em my water tanks were down to quarter full and was good to get replenished and it has been the second time in four years they have over flown.I ran dry 3 years ago and am very water consious and am on water saving mode again.
Sounds like a lot of work at your place but you and family survived and pets so that is the main thing.It is still very muddy here.Its nice sunny day so hopefully it drys up a bit.
Take care,
Mark.

[Jstar49]

Hi all,

Yes so much damage and devastation- it's heart breaking!

Glad you guys did ok Em, tho still damage and heaps of work by the sounds. A bit sad about all the topsoil ending up elsewhere...

I have been in my garden today, and there is a crust on the surface, due to the amount of very heavy rain I think. Also the gravel and small stones are sitting on top- I guess the lighter soil got carried away, sadly. I am glad I didn't spread all my compost before the floods, as I still have some left to re-nourish the beds.

Today I protected my cabbage plants form the moths, spraying a garlic spray, and making a covered tunnel type protection, using two layers of netting. I've seen the little blighters go through a single layer. I also moved the mulch away, scratching the surface with a fork and adding compost and slow release fertiliser, before replacing the mulch. Glad I hadn't planted very much as it was careful and time consuming work.

We shall see if I get some cabbages this year!

The first year I grew them I got heaps, with hardly any damage. I thought it was the presence of allysum growing, and the fake moths I made on sticks, but those same measures haven't worked since, so I have to put it down to beginners luck. Altho slugs have also been the culprits, making slug hotels in the innermost layers of the growing cabbages. So disappointing to harvest! Thats a good reminder to start now with the beer baits, they help somewhat.

Loved hearing about your fejoia's Lillylane, I think they grow pretty well around here too, I might have to try one. Such a pretty,scented fruit when cut open!

Mark I hope you're able to get some work done in your garden

Cheers all, happy gardening.

J*

[ecomama]

Hey BB Gardeners and all those want to be Gardeners too!!

You are MOST welcome to our lovely thread if you're keen to begin gardening but not sure where to start...

Gambit how are you doing with your Rose babies?

Mark is it "too much moisture" that causes blight on roses?
Glad to hear your tanks are full now. That's a good thing!

J* one Community Garden and ours at work AND even the Sydney Botanical Garden - Organic food growing section all use hanging buntings of white butterflies all across the cabbage seedlings to deter cabbage moth.

AT WORK: We used to make ours out of white paper then laminate them - but I found they got soggy and fell apart in the rain or foggy weather.
So we changed to using white plastic ANYTHING that was being thrown away and made the little butterfly shapes out of those - THAT works a treat!

Good luck!

Another dry day thank goodness.

Off to the shopping centre to buy p.son some Winter clothes and new shoes.
He lives in a MUCH colder area atm.
Thank goodness he has some ski clothing lol!

Love EM