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

[Boudica]

Good Morning Gardenfolk,

Em, hope you are going ok and lust a bit busy, haven't seen you around these parts for a bit.......

Shell, your pumpkins sound great. I think you have done the right thing by lifting them as if the ground is very wet they can start to rot or got things gnawing on them. I have no space where I am to grow them, but I used to when I was a kid. I liked to grow the cute little orange ones that look like jack-o-lanterns. I made soup and served it with the little pumpkin hollowed out as a bowl.

Mark, It's great your Mum had you both in the kitchen, I think it builds confidence having these kinds of skills, and it is a creative outlet too. My brother didn't cook in his younger days but discovered an interest in it as a middle aged man, so now we compare recipes. He's more a BBQ & pizza kind of man though!

I had never heard of Rosella jam, I had to look it up as we do not have it in SA, how interesting! What does it taste like? Great you sell your homemade wares, you would probably do well with a market stall.

Eating mandarins in the sun sounds perfect. It reminds me of a trip I took to Fiji for a project in the forest near Mt Batilamu. We worked all day trudging around in the dense forest carrying equipment, and occasionally we would come across a mandarin tree......finding these juicy snacks was like striking gold!

Lots of people don't like broadbeans, but I do. I grew some last year. I hadn't planned to, but I was just walking along the street one day and a man I did not know approached me and said 'do you want some seeds?', he put his hand out and they were broadbeans. It was a bit of a weird experience, but he made my day!

[Jstar49]

Hi guys,

My garden is covered in little wire tents to protect it from the birds! They must be particularly hungry this year- they're even eating the tomato seedlings, which I don't usually have a problem with!

A few beans are up. the rocket is growing well, and H planted silverbeet seeds, so he's hoping for a bumper crop. Usually it's just me planting in the garden, but with me working long days H is doing some stuff, which I love. Not harvesting much apart from the lettuce which is ready, and rocket of course. But I was given a couple of fresh caught fish the othe day, walking along the beach, so that adds to my harvest!

Boudicca I love the sound of your courtyards- I imagine it lush and secluded..... Some climbing natives might be an idea for your place, could even attract butterflies and birds/bees.....Your local council may even have a guide book, ours does. Weeds to avoid, and indigenous plants for different conditions. There's a great creeper with bright yellow flowers that loves our fence.....

Cheers,

J*

[Matchy69]

Hi Boudica the Rosella jam sells like crazy at the craft shop.I have sold like a dozen jars to one customer.The jam has a tartness to it maby a tart raspberry flavour but very plesent to to taste.It I a member of the hibiscus family.

Broadbeans I remember as kid planting the seeds in my mum's vegie garden and always liked eating them.They always bring back memories of my mum's vegie garden.

Take care,

Mark.

[ecomama]

Hey everyone

Sorry I've been MIA. Yes I've had a family crisis. LOTS of my effort in that sector of my life. Plus returning to FT work, settling my new brood of baby hens plus the USUAL carry on, plusthe roof and ceilings wanting to cave in, Lord help me lol.

I'm good. Just lots happening.

Sorry I won't respond appropriately to all posts. Thank God for Mark! Thankyou for all your posts, what I read about was amazing stuff!

Shelll, great work. It's VERY important that the pumpkins themselves remain as dry as possible.
PLUS the leaves. Let us know the minute any powdery stuff appears on the pumpkin leaves.
Always water along the ground and I would only water and the point of the plant's roots if you need to.
Ya think pumpkins are low care but they're not really! Darn it lol.

Boudica, you're creating a veritable food forest wonderland there lol.
Yes I've had lots of experience with drying fruits etc. (Since found out we cannot eat any dried fruits bec of our digestion... long story).
I bought a food dehydrator and it's FANTASTIC.
I LOVED making fruit strips by blending all the excess mangoes from my neighbour's tree, peeling, deseeding and pureeing it.
Then laying the puree around the silicone mats in the dehydrator.
Cutting these into strips and eating them for snacks and putting them into home made muesli.

Mark, I think I may have used the term "grafting" instead of propagating, sorry.
I can't stand grafting lol!!
I understand it's a really important process for people living with soils unsuitable for the chosen plant.
The grafted plants I've had have become very problematic tbh. Won't even mention the impossible vine from the passionfruit graft grrrrr.

Boudica - yes citrus LOVE nitrogen. Ours are in soil so I wouldn't suggest to do what WE do lol... our citruses are called "the wee trees" lol... yep the best citrus around!
Talk about UPcycling! hahaha.
You can make a nitrogen rich mixture with an 11L bucket with a LID (you'll find out why after you make it!)... put ALL deseeded weeds into the bucket to the top. I'd avoid virulent weeds, grass works well. Then fill to the top with water.
Let sit.
Keep adding weeds.

Use 1 cup of this when it smells like cow manure into a 9L watering can and use this diluted mixture every 3 weeks on citrus.
I'm do permie things. My weed teas sit higher than the plant I want it to receive and the rain overflows them. Works well!

LOVE EMxxxx

[ecomama]

Hey BB Gardeners!

I spent most of today in my garden and wow my back is ughhh.

Besides the lantana issue, there's a Mickey Mouse plant issue, Tobacco plant (not the smoking tobacco but another awful tree) AND Asparagus Fern issue.

That Asparagus Fern is one HORRIBLE underground monster.

Now we have 6 young hens that free range, I'm really hoping they help raise the fertility of the soil and allow grass to grow better and crowd the weeds out.
My gardener and I are also allowing bracken fern (yep!) to grow anywhere, Cape Gooseberries, Mint and ANYTHING else that's easier to pull out & get rid of than the monsters lol.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed but most of the times, it's just head down and get to work.

I still have HUGE piles of timber and need to cut down 6 dead trees... I'm going to ask around at work if anyone needs firewood lol.
Soon I'll burn off some the less thick branches etc.

BUT I've decided to really build up areas to make hard landscape terraces in the future.
Each terrace will include some fruit trees.
I need to cover the piles to rot down with old carpet and sheets of metal just to keep the Brush Turkeys and my chickens away from scratching them all apart.

Back to my PAID job tomorrow lol!
Happy gardening everyone,
Love EM

[Matchy69]

Hi Em good to see you got out in the garden and sounds like it's going to be an amazing garden with the fruit trees on the terreces.Thwir is always some weed coming up especially after all the rain.That wild Tobacco is in the Solanaceae family and related to potatoes and tomatoes.It is quiet an interesting family.I noticed I got one of those tobacco plants growing here that should pull out.I just want to identify what one it is first.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[ecomama]

Thanks Mark, I didn't know that.

This is one of the worst weeds to have in my garden, worse than even lantana!
That's saying something lol.

Every single hair on it's leaves is a potential seed for another whole tree.
Every wood shaving from a saw whilst cutting it down is too!
It's HORRIBLE.
So the sooner you get it OUT the less issues you'll have.

It can also spike a person and sting too.

I use gloves I can wash and put every skerrick of it I can find into a garbage bag immediately to throw in the garbage bin. Getting out every root is a pain but has to be done or any roots send up a tree grrr.
NONE of it can be composted or used in any way here.

One snuck into our garden about 10y ago and I've had issues ever since grrrr.

BEST WISHES! Hope you don't have the same issues I've had and still have.
EMxxxx

[Boudica]

Hello Peeps,

Wow, a lot has happened on this thread since I last looked, people have been busy.

Jstar, it's nice you can share your gardening with your H. Your wire tents sound novel. I don't have bird issues.....my nemesis is snails! I love indigenous plants, and try to include them where I can to provide food for the native creatures. Unfortunately, the plants that belong here do not thrive in the deep shade that has been created by the buildings and fences, however I have taken over the verge and an adjoining council owned bit of land and planted them with local plants.

Mark, you blew my mind with your jam made of hibiscus! I started searching on line to see if I could obtain this plant to try it out, but I think perhaps it will not like the frost that we get here. Great that you have a thriving little business.

EM, good to see you back here. I hope your family stuff settles down. I like to read your gardening adventures, your garden sounds like vast wilderness that you are bravely forging through, always making new discoveries. It really is very exciting! Thanks for the info re: drying I will take that on board. My cat is presently attending to the nitrogen needs of my lemon tree, but I like the idea of making weed tea potions and will give that a try.

All the best BB gardeners

[ecomama]

Hey Boudica

Omg Mark has recipes of ALL SORTS! Too much excitement about them all here.

We do have a Recipe thread Mark has generously contributed to. He's wonderful in so many ways.
So talented.

Sure Boudica, it's sensible to only grow plants that are known to thrive in the climates of our area and the different micro climates in our garden. My disclaimer is this... some times... just some times... we have a perfect spot getting the right sun, possibly reflective heat from a brick wall or something similar, where we can grow something that wouldn't ordinarily grow there.

EG The Botanical Garden in Tasmania does this with it's organic food gardens. My all time Idol Peter Cundall beginning this, continued by many others.

I was SO HAPPY to read you planted out the Council land! hahaha I've done this to the hilt too here! It's beautiful.

Well done you!

Love EM
PS: The family issues aren't likely to pass quickly BUT I've been able to mend some family rifts to a point and this is helping buoy us all through these difficult times.
Thankyou, hugs.

[Matchy69]

Hi Boudica and everyone.Rosellas that are grown for jam are an annual and I plant seeds from the previous season in punnets in spring and transplant out in the garden and they will start to crop at the end of summer into autumn and are finished by winter.I have a good supply of seed now and will plant at big next spring.I don't mind eating the calyx raw and putting it in salads.It has a tangy taste to it.The flowers can be eaten to.

Happy gardening,

Mark.