Vines run amock

Its amazing how much things can grow in three weeks. Just check out these.

This passionfruit has been with us

for about three years now, and only went into the ground this year. as yet we have had no fruit.

The parent plant has taken over a friends fence four times and has been completely demolished each time, only to return with a passion each year.

The loofa is a strong little darling, an amazing producer. Looks like this year I am learning how to make loofa soap.

Queensland Blue Pumpkin

This blue has been in an old Brisbane family since the twenties. They have lovingly saved the seed and handed it down through the generations, and now I've got it.

The flesh is a deep orange and is excellent for baking. Having been grown for smoother grooves on the outside makes it easier to peel.




I think I might just pop a couple of seeds in the groung today and save a few for next spring.

Winter Brassicas

Last years silverbeet bed now ready for winter caulis and brocs. As I handn't walked on this bed it only needed a light hoeing, then generous ammounts of well rotted cow manure and a decent sprinkling of blood and bone.





6 meters of 15mm PVC pipe was cut and joined with a sundry of bits and pieces, and capped at the ends. I didn't glue the pieces together for ease of cleaning the pipes and for access in case roots get into them. Tiny, and I mean tiny, holes drilled 20cm apart for the drip line. Now all I need to do is fill the pipe from the standining entry point, which minimises bending and allows me to see if it needs topping up.




The pipe is semi buried in the soil and mulched to the max. All I need to do now is plant it out, then it's on to the other half of the bed, being the closest to the back stairs it will remain the cooking herbs bed (just got to get rid of the feral pumpkin).

Supervisor Little Mong

Introductions all round.

Little mong, this is the world. The world, this is Little Mong - Supervisor of all gardening expeditions.

little Mong was given to me by an axe murderer (true) and she was in very bad shape. A trip to the vet found that she was not "sick", just very malnourished and had rickets.

Three months of kitten physio had her walking, albeit her back legs usually went in a differnt direction to her front. She can jump now and you cant see the bone deformities because of all the fur.

Little Mong does not have inner eyelids and as a result she is cross-eyed. Sometimes you can see that she is deciding which one of you is real (she sees double).

For a feral whos mother didnt want her, she has become a kind and loving member of the family and there is no job done without her stamp of arroval.

Introducing my garden

There is a fair amount of work to do and I anticipate that it will takes years (hopefully, Id hate to run out of things to do).

Today I will be working on the new ornamental bed deside the shed. Its approximately 10mtrs by 600mm and already has a nice cordyline near one end.
I am hoeing the ground and endging with very old railway sleepers from the now defunct Coominya line. The bed will be back filled with very well rotted cow manure and it recives good light in the morning with complete shade in the afternoon.
Canna lillies, bromeliads and comfrey rootlets have gone in today. Dwarf hyacinth, delphinium, heartease and coleus to be sown in puntes fpr future planting out.
Climbers, to be decided on at a future date, will grow up trellis attached to the side of the shed to soften its "old world appeal" - slang for doggy home job made thirty years ago from odds and ends.