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]

Good morning Lilly, sorry to hear you've been unwell. Hugs.

The garden and all else beckons us when we're feeling under the weather doesn't it?
I hope you recover very soon!

Rain here today, so an Inside day after I've taken Alexa in for her surgery.

I'll be minding her pup too today, so lots of action lol.

Love to all
EMxxxx

[Lillylane]

Hey EM,

Hoping you went OK today. Time seems to stand still when a loved one is having surgery - big hugs! Sending healing thoughts for a good recovery for Alexa and some rest for you too! xx

Had a little rain here too this morning. Really freezing outside though with strong winds.

This afternoon I feel like I’m on the way to feeling better.

Love,

LL

[Jstar49]

Hiya,

Hugs Lillylane, hope you are feeling better tomorrow. Sometimes being unwell is almost worth it for the buzz of feeling better afterwards- does anyone else get that? I seem to get quite creative too, and forget about housework more easily. It reorders my priorities.

Em, hope all went well with Alexa's surgery. I know you'll keep us posted, we'll all want to know how yo and she are gong.

Today, I coaxed my D down to the garden to check our seeds, and we poked chickweed thru the fence for the chookies, who tugged at them and gobbled them up. I got my work cardi dirty lol! Weeding a new patch.

I have a good collection of seedlings and plants now, waiting to be planted, but that didn't stop me buying some lettuce seedlings!! Altho I did plant the watercress in a bigger pot today. One down...

I was busy on the weekend sewing some pants, so didn't do a scrap of work in the garden. Hopefully some seedlings poke their heads up, that will encourage me....

The weather is cold, wild and windy- much better inside.

Much love,

J*

[Jstar49]

Em, Lovely to hear of the palace's arrival! Now the work begins!

Oh if only we knew each other in real time- and it wasn't a lockdown AND we lived nearby!!! We'd all be there in a FLASH! to help construct the fortress for your darlings...

Hugs,

J*

[ecomama]

Hey Lilly

Thankyou and J* for your well wishes for Alexa's surgery. So far so good IF I can trust her reports (she can be a monster at not telling me the WHOLE truth so I'm not worried - so yeah).
I slept most of yesterday between driving her to and from etc.

It was FREEZING here too yesterday brrrr, and raining :-)) lol.
Bed was the best place to be ie I avoided feeling anxious all day because I was asleep AND I got rested which is awesome.

Feel better soon! Yes I'm the same J*. I think hang it, I'm better now, I'm going to do what I WANT to do hahaha.

J* THANKYOU! I will invoke ALL your energy tomorrow lol, so if you feel exhausted THAT'S why hahaha.
It's a crazy jigsaw puzzle for sure but I'll invoke everyone's cryptic crossword puzzle minds too lol.

I am SO EXCITED about doing this, it's a feeling I haven't had since BF was flying over to visit! Or my visits to see him - THAT level, so it's good.
I need to be realistic. This PALACE is going to present some major issues in construction but hey... I've got a great ex Farmer as my Handyman and he's a real CAN DO MAN. And he's AWESOME in other ways. Charging me less per hour because I'm a single mum AND make great coffee, cake & sandwiches all day long (his words not mine) lol.
I have to BUY in coffee for him, we don't ever have any here. I'll give him the jar when we finish bec it just rots in the cupboard lol.

Hence I need to go shopping, cash, coffee, sandwich and cake stuff.

I gardened for HOURS this morning already. I was SO anxious at whether Alexa made it thru the night with no ER visit. Her BF is SO attentive, kind and already noticed things about her. A caring NDIS support worker too, she's very happy and content with him.

I might even be swayed to upload a photo of my Chook Palace as my profile pic hahaha! You'll see my grand toothless fence behind it, so fancy!

Ah Papa BTs did dismantle my fungus wood heap. More work to do now.

I began clearing the pool area, filled the green bin and 2 more sacks with rotting plastic yuck.

Gotta go
Love EMxxx

[Clues_Of_Blue]

Hi all,

Thanks for the encouragement EM & J* - planning our garden is definitely a good sign for seeing a future. Very positive thing for us both to be doing it. EM, I chuckled at your comment re nitrogen. Duly noted. Also super glad to see your chook palace has arrived.

Rubbish gardening weather since I last posted, it's gone all cold again. Good rain though, and the trees are loving it. The new orange tree is covered in new growth, and the poor lime is making a comeback after a real hard time last Summer. New leaves and even some buds.

Pretty interested in that Fungi documentary, sounds like I have some fun things to learn.

Kind thoughts to you all.

Blue.

PS EM, I'm with J*, if I were there I'd happily help with building your chook palace (or maybe get distracted cuddling your lovely chooks, hehe).

[ecomama]

OMG seriously I INVOKED your help without asking Blue hahaha!!!

Group Greenie HUGS lol.

It went UP in ONE DAY! Saved me SO MUCH MONEY, we estimated 2-3 days which would have cost a fortune.. the Palace already did lol.

The handyman noted that my chooks are so fat, they wouldn't be able to fly very easily lol!!
They are big fat HAPPY hens.... they cried for me all day pottering around OUTSIDE their stingy coop but I told them everything we were doing was for them and then fed them more lol.

My babysat babies come home at 6:30am tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see them and give them lots of hugs from Aunty Blue and Aunty J* and uncles and aunties everywhere.

THEN at 10:30am (lol yes, we keep a tight schedule here) TWO WHOLE sons are going to help me set up their veritable wonderland!
Hopefully by noon I can move them in.

We have to disconnect their roosting boxes from the old one.
I'm making a "Circle" like a ladies egg laying circle lol, out of old tyres.. to get their boxes as high as I can from the ground.
Then getting our heads together as to what materials we can re-use from about the place (thanks demon lolol!)..

I need to scrub down one toddler's pool I emptied today - this will be their sand pit.
Chooks love "dirt baths" where they flick dry dirt or sand into their feathers to reach their skin.

I'll see how many of the 4 salvaged min garden beds will fit comfortably inside.
This will grow their Clucker Tucker mixes and other medicinal yummies for them (I bought these for my birthday present lol). I have lots of chicken wire to go across each & tent pegs left over from the build. They can stand ON them on the wire and peck through, not killing the plants, well that's the plan anyway.

Also for my bday, I kindly bought the girls a tall seed feeder & waterer. I hope they learn how to use these quickly.

I was worried about their protection from rain from the WALLS. There are 2 tarps over the top covering 2/3 of the roof area.
THEN tonight I remembered a brand new Green house I got for a present such a long time ago... I hope it hasn't rotted.
I can erect this OUTSIDE, closest to their boxes in case it rains over night. Otherwise I kept new mattress plastic bags "for something in the garden"... could be attached to walls... IDK.

H'man joked they'll miss their water views.. crikeys never thought of that lol.
It's very protected from the wind, I'm sure they'll prefer this space.

HAPPY DAYS!

Thanks for all your help today!
EMxxxx

[Guest9337]

Yesterday at about 230 pm ish, I sat on my wooden box in the back yard and read Ezekiel Promise of Restoration and enjoyed the sunshine and the quiet and the birds.

The Garden of Eden is here and it's quite nice.

[Paw Prints]

Hello Em, wave to everyone,

Yay you!!! the new chook palace sounds huge... so pleased for you that you managed to put it up in just a day... I'm tempted to put on a chicken suit to try blend in with your girls... this palace is definitely starting to sound far more swish than my house...

I finally managed to be outside this arvo... I spent two hours repotting some existing plants & I started to pot up some of the plants I have been buying online... it was nice watering them into their new homes.

Quite a few of the plants I already had on the verandah hadn't made it... as I was going along clearing them out I found one plant (a daisy) that has looked dead for weeks has started to reshoot... yay... & despite being drowned by all the rain we've had my chives are reshooting too... my plants are good at surprising me...

DnG - sitting in the sun reading sounds a lovely way to spend an arvo.

Hugs

Paws

[ecomama]

Hey DnG that sounds very peaceful. A garden of Eden - lovely.

Hey Paws, I'm telling you now, I'd like to live in that Chook Palace too! lolol... it's such a sweet spot down there.

Did you enjoy repotting your plants today?

It took us HOURS longer than we thought it would to set things up down there, woah hard work. We pulled apart the hidden 3 column tyre composts up the front at the highest point of my property. I got covered in mud all over yuck (and yummy at the same time lol). I had a leaf mould compost right there to empty it all into, SO many worms. Then rolled the tyres them down the back.

We used 12 tyres to make the chicken's roosts as high as the roof permitted, then long planks across them & put all sorts of containers up there for them to lay and sleep in. Even an old kids play centre lol. We used an old screen door on it's side as a "ladder".

With the tyres in a semi circle & the screen placed on an angle there's a cute hiding spot for them to run to if they're scared. They all fit in there easily. I got to witness Brush Turkeys harassing them from the outside. Hopefully over time, my girls will realise the turkeys CAN'T get in & relax more. We lined the entire perimeter with bricks to seal the wire & boundary.

When the boys & I carried the girls down there, wow they were SO EXCITED. We all watched them for ages in delight. They pecked the grass so eagerly, won't be much left tomorrow lol!

The boys attached the clever feeder & waterer, & tried to "teach" the chickens how to access their seed & water, it was so funny. They were huddling up right near them, SO CUTE. They have to peck a little blue lever to release water, I THINK they've worked that out, will check tomorrow.

I put one mini vege bed in there, there's still grass in other areas. I have LOTS of soil to move, so there'll be nice soil to put in to the vege beds when I set them up.

I want to set up my "new" green house somewhere on the outside to create a "wall" of some type for them.
And grow some seedlings too.

They've already picked their dust bath spot! lol.

I needed a long hot bath tonight. So sad I'm back to work on Monday (well Sunday night really) ahhhh we did well today and I'm SO happy we set this up for our baby girls.

Might turn the old chook shed into a pretend tiny house lol! Like mama's own cubby.

I'm starving, off to make some food
EMxxxx