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

[ecomama]

Oh HAPPY DAYS Blue! Orange tree doing well, surprise tomatoes lol, they're awesome... parsley and some surviving natives and WORMS! Well done you guys!

I was wondering, do you put the bird cage waste in your compost? I know they're free ranging birds lol, just wondering about that.

Do you have small baby oranges coming on?

I must've invoked Blue at Bunnings last weekend, I bought TWO punnets of parsley by accident lol. I meant to buy one parsley and one coriander just because BF was on the phone and wanted coriander lol. Oh well he didn't get any.

I decided to buy 2 sacks of potting mix to top UP my half wine barrel I've been working on filling. Oh boy does it have some wonders in there! A sack of opened, clean cat litter (the super absorbent type), 2 buckets of lint from the clothes drier, wormy soil from drains but I wanted some higher quality soil to grow some herbs in.

I bought pizza thyme and regular thyme, parsley and basil. With all the rain we've been having, they are SO HAPPY in the wine barrel. Nice!

The shade cloth is above it thank goodness, it shades them from the harsh hot sun and softens the heavy rainfall we've been having too. All good there.

Our grass is growing by the minute now. I still whipper snip most weeds back into it but when a healthy clump of grass is evident, I weed near it.

Mint is growing all through the grass on the way down to the chook palace, so I'm clearing near that for it to grow more.

There's still a sweet carpet of native violets growing in front of our outdoor oven and now it's growing it shady patches elsewhere too yay! Saves mowing there but weeds do occasionally like growing amongst it.

I haven't had opportunity on a clear day to break out my new hedge trimmer yet but I can't wait to use use it.

I began Bonsai trimming on some natives lol! They really like it 🙂
The front camellia looks great as a big Bonsai, I might do the back yard one the same way.

Grass is growing all into my intended Fire Pit area which erks me. I've decided to use some pavers I have on end to create a border around it. This might deter the grass but at least it gives a good border to whipper snip around.

If it's a sunny day tomorrow I'll get some high pressure hosing done on the drive way (which is getting mossy!) and the curved wall to my Potager Garden in the front Court Yard, front steps, porch etc etc.

Always lots to do.

Have fun in your gardens everyone!

Love EMxxxx

[Jstar49]

Hi gardeners,

Yikes my garden! Summer has been either wet or ferocious, so as a result it's pretty messy down there now, and not much left. Some suyo long cucumbers coming on tho- I think they're bomb proof for sub tropics!

Corn, sunflowers, all gone. Beans- small harvest today. Tomatoes when the birds don't get them. Time to replant, but before I can I have to clear, nourish, and topdress..... and I can't be bothered! Em you put me to shame with all your activity 😉

Hopefully I'll get out there soon, otherwise my seedlings will die. Rocket, lettuce and shallots. I also have lots of lovely fruit trees that will need their spot in the sun soon. I repotted but need to prepare their forever site. Custard apple! Grapevine! Jaboticaba! And a loganberry- which if I don't get it in soon will twine around everything while it's in a pot.

Lovely to hear about your projects Em....is BF still in US? It sounds like he's here, eating coriander...;)

Looking forward to hearing about your oranges Blue. Fresh oranges off your own tree is just the best! So are home grown tomatoes- so much flavour .

Love

J*

[Lillylane]

Hey J*!

My garden’s looking a bit that way too. I’m a little overwhelmed with the to-do list so I just focus on getting outside at least once a day for a few minutes to water my pots.

How is it that I always end up with a collection of plants I need to get into the ground? I plant a bunch of them out... yet there’s always more. I think because when they’re all grouped together, I forget that some of them aren’t actually in the ground yet.

A few months ago I transplanted a Rosemary plant into a better spot. It looked pretty terrible for a while and I thought I was gonna loose it, but it’s now looking lush and happy and I’m relieved. It was given to me as a gift so I felt extra pressure to keep it alive!

Gardening Australia is back on, which is good. It always inspires me, but I’m so time poor at the moment.

How is your mango tree doing? My tree had no fruit this year. I read in a magazine that if it’s a particularly wet Spring, mangoes may not fruit. That could explain it.

Hope you are well J* and all!

LL

[Lillylane]

Last week I went to a new shop in town that sells indoor plants. It was incredible - they have a huge collection and each plant was beautifully presented and so well looked after. Some I’ve never seen before.

My cat loves to chew on plants so I have to be careful what I bring into the home. And I haven’t had much luck with indoor plants.

But recently I bought home a Peperomia plant and my cat seems to ignore it! Yay! So I bought a couple more.

Weather hasn’t been great for gardening outside lately so it’s been good to give indoor plants a go.

Hope you’re doing well BB gardeners x

[ecomama]

Hey Lillylane, J*, Blues, Matchy and all our dear old BB friends, new BB friends are VERY welcome to join in here too! 

Nice to be back. 

It's ALMOST time to begin planting Spring and Summer crops in our gardens, depending on where you live in Oz ofcourse. 

What's happening on your gardening adventures peeps? 

I'm pleased to report that after 3 years my lantana forest is GONE. I only pick out the occasional young one here and there now, THANK GOODNESS. What a massive job that's been. 

Now it's gone, our garden soil has eroded horribly with the relentless rain for months on end. 

But it's gone anyway lol. 

I've been picking oranges to cut up and take to work every day. LOVE THEM and they're free and SO JUICY so it's LOVELY! 
Thousands of lemons the Brush turkeys eat when they fall to the ground. I use them sometimes. Not enough but there were so many this year, the most ever. 

Picking up TONS of Maca nuts and passing them to one family in particular. They roast them to eat and sell which I'm happy they do! 

I have lots of parsley & Oregano in pots. But the mint growing wild in the garden has been decimated by the turkeys scratching it all up for his THIS year's nest. Along with all else in his path lol. 

We've had several flood events which effected outside AND inside I'm afraid. Also closing roads so many times. 
We've been working hard to rectify these issues on our property. 

LOVE YOUR INDOOR plants Lilly! 

What's everyone greening their life with? 

Love EM

[Lillylane]

Hey EM! Great to hear from you and welcome back! 🙂

Sounds like a huge job getting rid of the lantana! How have your chickens been doing? Especially with all the rain! I’m sorry to hear you’ve been affected by the flood events.

Big hugs!

LL

[ecomama]

Hey Lilly! So nice to see you lol. 

Yes it's been such a rough year, 3 years, 10 years, life lol. Crazy flooding this year. I'm sorry to say that removing all that lantana DIDN'T help with the massive erosion on my land. But them's the brakes hey? 

IT'S GONE. Countless hours of hard yakka. 

I must admit I cried every time I uncovered a fruit tree that had SURVIVED! The lantana had actually protected each tree from my severe neglect as I went thru years of Courts and ONLY protecting my children. 

Today I woke up, looked out my bedroom door to the back garden and lo and behold, our Nectarine tree has blossomed overnight! Hundreds of pretty little pinky, purplish flowers, awww GOOD MORNING NATURE! 

How's your garage / car port area going? I remember you were removing some type of rubble from the front garden also, how's that area doing?  

I'm so happy to see you still on the forums Lilly. How are your babies going? Gosh they get so big so fast, don't they? I watched my grandchildren play soccer yesterday and the 8yo's feet are bigger than mine lol!! 
Are your babies at school now? Maybe not quite yet hmm. 

I'm excited to hear what others are doing in their green or not so green or eroded spaces lol. 

Love EM

[ecomama]

Hey Lilly, post number 2 answering you, oops sorry! 

(I was diagnosed with ADHD this year, always had it, no doubt, but realising how much it effects my focus!).

My chickens' wonderful big coop we purchased and erected last year is 6m x 3m x 3m. HUGE. We had 7 chickens back then. 
It flooded so badly so many times this year that it was a POND in there. 
The chickens showed signs of foot rot so I let them out to free range in the garden. 

They moved onto the back porch which is always fun - not. 
But they were safe, that's the main thing.

Neighbours complained about my 5 chickens free ranging in MY back yard. 
So last week I got a Council letter. 

Foxes and or Goannas and or the gorgeous Bull dog that used to live next door had pushed in the sides of the coop and put HUGE holes in it. 
The kids repaired those holes last week so we could cage the chickens up safely again, sadly.
They LOVED free ranging! 

The kids also had to put wire across the door as little birds were getting in and living in there, infecting the water bowls by bathing in them. This can give chickens a tummy parasite - which is why we lost TWO! 
So that needed fixing. 
Now I have a Harry Potter like cut on my forehead which makes for great conversation at work lol. 
EXPELLIAMUS! I scratched my forehead on the new wire! Ugh! 

I can't imagine life without having chickens, but the extra work is tough! All while working full time, parenting my children AND repairing a much damaged house that Insurance won't fix. Plus repairing drainage by hand myself. So much soil washed into ALL drains. I've been out there in torrential rain so many times to remove it all by hand. 

Sunny today so I'm smiling lol. 

Love EM!

[Lillylane]

Hi EM, I was wondering how you went with all the flooding! I feel for you, especially as I know how much work and love you’ve put into your garden and seeing soil being washed away would be very difficult! Hugs x

Our front yard is a bit easier to maintain now. I’ve made a path from the front door to the carport with some weed matting and pebbles.

There’s another section that was completely covered with weeds in all that relentless rain, so I just let the weeds grow and now I mow it like a mini-lawn! 

My babies will be seven this year. I’d love to be a bit more active on the forums - but I fall asleep almost instantly when I sit down to read at night. Juggling work and kids and a difficult situation with ex.

take care EM and all,

LL

[ecomama]

Darling Lilly, I LOVE that you mow those weeds! Grass needs TONS of nitrogen, so if you want grass there, then you're doing the right thing lol. 

Hugs. I'm sorry to hear about the difficult situation with ex, hold on, did I hear correctly? 
I think last time we spoke, you were married? Sorry I could be confused. 
Have I missed a LOT? 
I'm so sorry. 

Yes. Working and raising children is exhausting. I've been unwell this week, so haven't been to work ALL week! 

I'm still tired, although getting some extra sleep in. 

Your babies are 7! WOW! My multiples leave their teens this year, darlings. Still my babies lol. Far taller than me though which is cute. In fact all my kids are taller than me and the grandkids are stretching up to hug me less too - oh oh. 

Can't believe I have the house to myself, in the day time, for the first time in .... I seriously can't remember when. Feels so weird not being interrupted a thousand times... the dog is keeping close lol. I'm about 7 down the list of favourites to him. 

Hugs
Love EM