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]

Hi Mark, wow it must be wonderful seeing all your plants budding and some ready for harvesting!

Aren't cauliflowers SO PRETTY when their little heads start peeping out? The bright green little heads with bonnets of leaves protecting them. I've seen gardeners on TV shows growing caulis as ornamentals lol!

Bush lemons are so hardy in Australian gardens and they're so delicious. Not as juicy as a Meyer lemon which are my total favourites but bush lemons are worth their weight in salt because we can almost neglect them here and they just keep powering on. We have that "accidental" Bush lemon growing from the graft of our Kaffir lime. They are like conjoined twins and about 3 metres high each. I asked the gardener to leave the bush lemon, as he wanted to cut it off at the base / graft area, so as to allow the kaffir to grow better. But it was AS BIG as the kaffir lime and atm far more beneficial to us than the kaffir lime. Kaffir limes are mainly ONLY used for their leaves and maybe the rind of the fruit. But the fruit is dry. If you really want lime juice then a Tahitian lime is best. We have one of those growing too. Mark do you ever prune your bush lemon?

Just reminding everyone lol, that we are finding these trees in our garden under massive bushes of lantana. I'm SO surprised they've even survived. TBH if you read Back from Brink - Peter Andrews, you may thank lantana for it's "service", I have in my garden now! Ofcourse I'm removing it (poor things lol) but for almost 10y it grew up the garden and over everything. Considering the extreme droughts & extreme Summers we've had in that time, the lantana actually saved my other trees' lives. It shielded them from the heat and provided mulch when nothing else was being provided. The birds and insects who nested and ate the flowers provided fertilisers too.

It's quite exciting and delightful that my garden is emerging. This morning as I look out at the huge strong trees and see the beautiful Autumn leaves all around, I'm accepting it's present condition due to "past trauma" ie being neglected / overgrown (and abused by others) etc. It hung in there! It has shown it's resilience and I'm so grateful.

My gardening pursuits are pushed back by recent events but I know it will be there when I'm ready.

Love EM

[Matchy69]

Hi Em the bush lemon is a great lemon to grow.Some old farmers wives told me it was the best lemon for setting jam thats why i grow one.I dont really prune mine only the odd branch that i dont like where it is growing.Yes they are used as root stock for grafting other citrus onto.A very good root system.I have a kaffir lime here and a native gympie lime wich is very thorny.I use to have a West Indian lime at my old house.The fruit goes yellow when ripe.I might get another one of them.

The cauliflowers are very pretty and you can get a pinkish one.It is always exciting to see things developing in the garden.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[Airies]

Hi folks, another mad gardener, a passion from my Mother. I'm into growing heirloom veggies, ( eBay or collect my own seed ) I have 2 raised beds. Bromeliad collection , simply love them and my worm farm.... Worms are my little pets. I've a flow through system made out of a big wheelie bin. Some dwarf citruses in wine barrels and that's it. Downsized to a newish house, user friendly garden. Glad I discovered this thread. I try and garden by the lunar callender and use other garden apps to help ,

cheers

[ecomama]

Oh how sweet Airies! I smiled SO BIG when I read your post!

I think it's the enthusiasm, the love, the memories and the deep connection we have to nature that brings me joy.

I'm SO keen to hear you have a "flow through system", can you please tell us more?

I have lots of quirky systems that really work and reduce my human energy output. Well I had them "before" then they were destroyed and now I'm discovering what's left and recreating / repairing / rebuilding etc. I have no idea what I'm going to call this era of my life of rebuilding but I'll think of a name...
I've decided that it's all going to be "better" this time and more tailored to my family and my time allowances lol. I really do need spotlights so I can work into the night.

Heirlooms - thankyou for your service! They're going to save the world one day. Well done. Have you heard of the Seedsavers groups? Ours runs through our local Permaculture group. What a gorgeous and generous bunch they / we are.

So in this ERA, I know I have SO MANY thousands of seeds, from seedsavers, permies, friends etc.
I have no idea of their viability BUT I'm thinking of doing an Anastasia method with them in each season, depending on when they were supposed to be able to grow.
I don't want to "waste" them but I know most will be defunct. STILL I know some will grow. And the chickens will love whatever grows lol.

SO happy to have you with us.

Happy heirlooming!

EM

[Matchy69]

Hi Airies great to see another brom grower on here.I group up with them.My mother got her first one of her mother in the 1970s and became edicted to them.

I really like the sound ofbthose heirloom vegies you are growing.I use to grow a lot years ago but seem to grow more the modern ones these days.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[Airies]

Hi folks,

thanks for the warm welcome. Em was lucky enough to purchase one from a chap who made them locally. Basically a wheelie bin , vents up the top. Front bottom a cut out for access/ airing. Polytubing slats . Not the best explanation just do a Google search. I feed mine cardboard and horse manure from the top. If I need to harvest I reach down the bottom and its there through the slats. The worm farm you buy from Bunnings etc are not the best. A flow through system is bomb proof.. Worm castings are the best fertiliser known to man. I use it on everything .

Matchy I found broms by accident. My sister in law had a few. Brought some others on gumtree from a passionate collector. I've about 50 and growing lol. My gardens pretty user friendly.... Santa anta couch which hardly needs mowing as oposed to my old Kaku , low shrubs opposed to my old gums, natives and pebbles in the front. I love my gardening but a bit older in the tooth.

Ecomama sounds idyllic with your chooks. Picture a very rustic lifestyle. Would love some but yard lifestyle doesn't permit plus my little foxy couldn't contain himself,

cheers all

[ecomama]

Hi Airies and other members of the green brains trust lol, IDK what to call us, I just make up silly names constantly... hi guys...

OH so a flow through system is a WORM FARM? Wow. In a wheelie bin, awesome.

I completely agree that vermicast (worm castings and worm wee) is like black gold, better even lol.
I also completely agree about the black stand on 4 legs ones from Bunnings and the price of their worms! Ughh when you can get them for free from a Community Garden! I try earnestly to discourage anyone to go down this track. They are smelly too and lots of other downfalls - like attract too much heat and kill worms.

I used a wheelie bin as a water tank for a long time. It was "made" for that purpose and traded through a local trading group called LETS. It's an international group and awe-some!

I only have one neglected worm farm in a bath tub now, it's under too much lantana atm. I used to have 2. It was turned upside down by a horrible person.

Ahhhhh so I could explain how to set up a bath worm farm up, if anyone's interested...

But with recent events, I may be starting a Vlog soon... meaning I'll be choosing a specific site to set my empty bath up as a worm farm and I'm pretty excited about that. It will be videoed.

You can get unwanted baths from Freecycle or Gumtree. I got both ours for free and delivered for free too lol, I'm laughing because I bet they couldn't wait to dump them for FREE.
Plus 2 screen doors for the top for free also.

Anyway better get on! Things are a happening here...

EM

[Matchy69]

Hi all I did some work in my new garden.I put in some drainage which is good because its pouring down rain now.

I harvested the rest of my radishes.Planted some more strawberries and leeks.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[Airies]

Matchy, it poured here so gave some plants liquid kelp and went for a ride. I try and spend an hour a day. I need the Suns Ray's . Never had luck with berries, the birds ate them. Growing garlic, coloured Beetroot, silver beet and various salads. Last year all Winter my wife and I were adamant we were eating dilverbeat. Turns out it was Beetroot leaves we were eating. Regardless very nice in a pie.First day of Winter. Not a fan it can't pass quick enough

cheers

[ecomama]

Lololol Airies and all, cute that you guys were eating beetroot leaves as silverbeet, they're both yummy!

That reminds me of a hot beetroot salad recipe for the recipe thread lol.

Sounds like things are still happening in the gardens of our forum.

I had to use pent up energy yesterday and moved a stack of branches on top of each other. Green bin gets emptied tonight yay!

The chickens LOVED scratching in the dead leaves left from the branches lol.

I decided to sweep the Autumn leaves from my very long sloped driveway and it looked great for about a nano second lol! Then I looked UP and realized there's about 60% yet to fall....
I cleaned out the huge gutter in front of the garage. If that blocks then downstairs floods in the rain. And I have teenagers living down there... they love their "den".

I wanted to keep the leaves for a leaf mould but I decided to put them in the dibbits in my back yard because there's PLENTY more where they came from lol! There's also a beautiful carpet of Autumn leaves in the back yard from this week's falling. Plenty for a leaf mould. The rest can sit where they fall, because there's little grass anyhow and it helps bank up the slope where the chickens have dug around tree roots. Little DARLINGS. Grrrr. Hopefully the leaves rot and give more substance to the exposed roots to be covered.

The leaf mould may only take about 15% of the leaves, but as it rots down, I just add more leaves. Still only about 15% in total lol. Excess can go into my tyre composts which are temporary structures until my 3sq metre one is reconstructed. Eventually I'm making an earth ship type retaining wall from tyres down the back.

The plan is to create more gently sloped terraces, starting with the tyre wall. And a more flattish type area for a cabin.... maybe... one day lol.

No shortages of projects here. I have to choose where I expend my energy.

EM