Game time!

Anyone want to guess what these are?
You can click on the picture for a larger image.

 

Collected last weekend in Pokolbin NSW

 

No prizes except bragging rights! (I may have a clue or 2 up my sleeve).

 

UPDATE:

This is what the next stage will look like:

 

 

And then this! Crinum pedunculatum, or Crinum Lily. 

 

 

Mauve Monday

Today ventured out into the garden to see what's flowering after all the rain we've had, and I'm noticing a theme... deja vu anyone?

 

I've heard that flowers in this colour range are great for attracting insects (and therefore insect-eating birds) and the insect diversity definitely seems to be increasing, so I must be doing something right!

 

 

Melaleuca decussata

  

Melaleuca thymifolia

 

Lagerstroemia hybrid

 

Allium sp.

 

Bearing fruit

 

Tasted the first apricot from the tree yesterday...

 

So good.

Getting more than I bargained for...

I first saw white Waratahs for sale a few years ago when working at a local nursery, and I thought the flower must be the most elegant thing in the world! After we moved in, I just happened to find one when looking for windflowers in May 2013. Months of waiting ensued, as the plant took a little while to settle in, and then began forming a bud. I had high hopes for a first flower and would have been devastated if it had only produced leaves, but sure enough, the white started to show. I was not disappointed in the least.

 

 

 

Watching the flower unfurl slowly was magical enough, but I have been extra blessed to discover that the flower produced 2 more buds from within itself and gave me three for the price of one! 

 

 

 

 

 

This particular variety is called Shady Lady White, and is growing happily on the cool, shady southern side of the house. I've since invested in a Shady Lady Crimson to keep it company, and will wait equally patiently for those flowers! There is a yellow form as well, but it eludes me...for now.

 

I've always been taught that you should prune Waratahs back after flowering, but this one seems as though it has branched from right inside the flower, so I'm reluctant to cut the new 'branches' off.

 

Would you prune it back or let it grow?

To bee or not to bee...

 

We've been enjoying some late brassicas as our spring greens, as the purple sprouting broccoli and Romanesco cauliflower become ready. Unfortunately for me, this means other plants in that family have given up growing leaves and have turned their attention to flowers in the heat, including our kale and rocket.

 

 

 

This year, it's actually been really exciting rather than disappointing to see this happening. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all! The flowers are edible and make a pretty garnish to a salad or stirfry, but it's the wider effect of the flowering that's really drawn my attention.

 



 

I've been doing some beekeeping research since my birthday in July, when we decided that bees would make a great addition to our home and garden. Thankfully there is a beekeeping shop and club nearby in Newcastle, but as luck had it, on the day we ventured out to buy our hive, the shop door closed right as we drove in. Not deterred, we went to a local bookshop and found a book on the subject instead. Here is where things got interesting, as I soon realised this was a major undertaking including checking the hive fortnightly (involving a full bee suit and smoker) and processing huge amounts of honey at just the right time... not to mention the fact that we're in a normal suburban street with neighbours on either side and swimming pools to deal with. Once I got to the section about swarms and stings I was pretty intimidated, but thought I might check out the Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers website for inspiration. There I found links to information about stingless bees, and all my problems were solved.

 

 

The Upsides:

 

1. Environmentally friendly

These stingless bees are Australian natives, and the species we are getting lives naturally in this area. This means there are no concerns about introducing more European bees into the area and the various problems they bring.

 

 

2. Low maintenance

It's best not to open your hive at all, except a year or two down the track if you want to split them to create more hives.

 

 

3. NO STINGS!

Just in case you missed the point earlier! Apparently they can bite you with their little jaws, but it's only if the hive is disturbed and not nearly as painful as a sting. This means no bee suit, no smoker, and no cranky neighbours.

 

 

4. Fewer pests and diseases

Many of the pests and diseases affecting European honey bees are not an issue for these little fellas, so you don't need to constantly be checking their hive. They are excellent guards, so many pests attempting to enter the hive are destroyed.

 

Tetragonula carbonaria (note the white fuzzy face)

 

The downsides:

 

1. Sensitive to extreme temperatures

The European honeybee can live and function at both higher and lower temperatures than many of the native bees. Tetragonula carbonaria are the species most commonly kept, and I wasn't sure they would survive here due to the cold winters. You can imagine my excitement when I saw them feeding on our rocket and kale, as they only forage 500m from the nest, that means they are alive and well, not far from here!

 



 

2. Lower honey production

European bees are so popular for their epic honey making ability, which outperforms the native bees by many times. A stingless bee hive may produce 1 to 1.5 kg of honey per year, provided the temperatures are suitable and there are plenty of flowers to collect honey and nectar from. This pales in comparison to honeybee hives, but is also more convenient to collect and process.

 

I'm convinced that they're a much better option for us, and we've ordered our first hive!

 

We attended a workshop this week with Tim Heard and Tony Goodrich to learn about the bees and how to keep them, and were all the more excited and inspired to meet our new 'pets'. Pictures were taken on a phone, so apologies for the quality, but that spiral hive is such a beautiful creation.

 

Tony demonstrating splitting a Tetragonula carbonaria hive.

 

 The top half of the hive

 

 The bottom half

 

If you're inspired (and I hope you are!) Tim's website is full of great information, and his workshop was invaluable. John Klumpp's book Australian Stingless Bees also has lots of great information, and I highly recommend it.

Now to find the perfect place for our hive while we are waiting for it to arrive!

Because weeds are flowers too



 

I've studied a bit of weed science and have always found it funny that it's near impossible to define a weed beyond 'a plant growing in a place it was not intended'. The dandelion for example, is a plant with edible leaves, bright flowers that attract and feed insects, and a strong tap root that helps to aerate compacted ground.

Not to mention the joy it brings to children (and adults like myself), blowing the seeds and making wishes...

What a thing of beauty! Such a shame that we chase them out of our gardens...

And don't get me started on clover chains.

 

(PS I say this with full disclosure that I sprayed my Bindiis a few weeks ago, but they are a whole other creature).

 

1

Photo of the week - celebrating Spring!

 

My favourite sign of Spring - the generously fragrant Jasmine. 

 

And from the native garden:

 

Hardenbergia violacea

 

Lechenaultia biloba 'Big Blue'

 

Homoranthus decumbens -  first flowers!

 

Rhodanthe anthemoides

August is for - taking new ground

It's the first day of Spring, and I'm SO excited. We all know that winter is not my thing, which might be part of the reason I haven't been motivated enough to write the August post until September... oops. But that doesn't mean nothing is going on!

We've been up to our eyeballs in snow peas and sugar snap peas, with plenty of kale to go round as well. Cabbages and broccoli haven't matured in the strange winter weather, so I'll give them a bit more time to see if they do anything, and probably throw them in the compost to make room for summer tomatoes.

The veggie beds have benefited from the compost, with a scattering over followed by a good layer of Lucerne mulch to keep in the moisture and hold back the sneaky spring weeds. The last few weeks have brought some great rain and everything has grown beautifully.



Earlier in the year we added the new native garden, and I loved the effect but felt it just didn't sit quite right in the yard. The square edge jutted against the lawn and it seemed like there were so many different areas that didn't connect. Our solution was to extend the garden to meet the pool area, with a large curve that swept around the clothesline. Here are the before and after shots:

Pool corner

 

 
Garden corner

 

 

I can't believe how much it's grown!

 

 

 We sprayed the grass and built up a layer of garden soil from the landscape yard after it started to yellow off. The plants are similar to those in the native garden, with a few new favourites and some from the pool area to tie the two together. Think more Poa, Westringia, Brachycomes and kangaroo paws. Hopefully they come up as fast as the others, and it'll be a complete garden in no time!

 

Photo of the week - Winter rose

The cold snap has come... maybe all it needed was some teasing from me? In any case it has bitten with a vengeance and the apricot and nectarine trees are bare, the apples are finally starting to look a bit shabby.

 

I won't pretend to like Winter, and I'll admit to a touch of melancholy on cold dark days. So when I find a reason to celebrate the cold, I'll cling to it.

 

This is the beautiful Hellebore, or Winter Rose. I planted a few of them on the shady side of the house and almost forgot they were there. One was just a slip collected from the garden of a friend, and I doubted it would survive. Now it has grown incredibly, and has plenty of lovely, delicate flowers. I love the way they hang upside down like lanterns, but the inside is lovely too.

 

 Helleborus sp. 

 

As they grow and multiply, I'd love to pick a handful and float them in a bowl of water inside... but I might need to grow some other colours for a real show (there are black, white and all shades of pink and purple to choose from...)

When life gives you green tomatoes

The late yet abrupt change of season has left me with pile of green tomatoes that may never ripen... luckily I'm a fan of pickles in general, and green tomato pickles in particular.

We used Sally Wise's recipe from her book 'A Year in a Bottle', which worked wonders 2 seasons back when I reluctantly pulled up unripe tomatoes due to a garden bed being removed. It seems this recipe comes in handy when I'm harvesting against my will - the ultimate comfort food in times of horticultural heartbreak. Nothing like a cheese and pickles sandwich to brighten your day.

Loved ones - we have a few spare jars, so let me know if you'd like one - first in, best dressed!

Photo of the week - friends in the garden

Rainbow lorikeets in our palm tree, feasting on flowers

Photo of the week - sitting pretty

Found this lovely little chap resting on my buddleja, and he was nice enough to hang around for a photo. Butterflies love buddlejas too, giving them their common name (butterfly bush) but I'm just not quick enough with the camera to share one with you just yet!

January is for... out with the old, in with the new!

Now is a great time to celebrate the achievements of the last year, finish off old jobs, start some new jobs and make some new plans!

Back in September's post, I mentioned that the old ugly carport was being removed ( http://hunterharvest.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/september-is-for-celebrating-in-style.html ). We managed this month to finally finish up the new 'carport garden', with the last poles coming out, and the last plants going in. Before planting, we built up the centre beds with good quality soil from the landscape yard to help with drainage and to improve the compacted soil that was the floor of the carport.

The removal of the carport left quite a big opening at the back fence, which is now a large space facing into our neighbours' yard. Thankfully, we know a thing or two about living screens, and planted some fast-growing large shrubs that will give us some privacy (eventually) and provide a nice green background. This area is also designed to be bird attracting, and so the plants were carefully chosen for their habitat and food value. Think nectar-rich flowers, dense or prickly foliage, tasty seeds or flowers to attract insects. To maximise this, there is a lot of variety and little repetition, except for the clumps of groundcovers. To avoid looking too 'hodge-podge' there is a colour scheme of purples and whites, with a couple of pinks, blues and yellows here and there and some interesting foliage for year-round interest. The mix is all native plants, and consists mostly of Grevilleas, Melaleucas, Banksias, Acacias and Callistemon, with plenty of little surprises thrown in. We are hoping to build a pergola and BBQ area on the concrete slab, so I've planted some edible natives like midyim berries, ruby saltbush, muntries and mint bush along that edge for easy access.

Prostanthera cryptandroides (mintbush)

In the back corner we have marked a spot for a garden seat (there's a special one at a local nursery that we're putting money in a jar for) and the middle section of the beds are all low-growing shrubs and groundcovers, 1-1.5 m high so that we can sit in the chair and look over the garden towards the house and pool.

There is also a stepping stone path to the seat made from sandstone offcuts and some home-made mosaic pavers. I love mosaic and have mostly made pots in the past, but the pavers are great fun and not so time-consuming!

A nice thick layer of forest mulch will keep the weeds down and the soil moist, so eventually I won't need to water it much, if at all.

They are already looking better every day and the butterflies have started to visit the little native daisies, I'm so excited to see it all grow and watch the birds playing around instead of the neighbours and their dogs... they will probably appreciate it too!

I have a few favourites among the plants that I'd like to introduce:

Homoranthus decumbens

 

This gorgeous blue-green shrub grows horizontally and forms little cream flowers along the branches like icing on a cake. The colour is fantastic, and insects love the flowers when they come out in spring.

 

Acacia cultriformis

 

 This quirky wattle forms a dense shrub with these interesting wing-shaped phyllodes. The prickly foliage will help to shelter wrens and finches that may want to nest there when the garden is more established.

 

Melaleuca nesophila

A large shrub with fluffy flowers that start out bright purple and fade to almost white, so that there are a number of different shades at one time. I wrote an article about these as part of my internship, you can see it here:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2012/melaleuca-nesophila.html
Obviously I still have a soft spot for them!


This week Matt also managed to pull up the mashy-pea-green carpet in the lounge room, the surprise layer of lino underneath, and the funky layer of 1955 newspaper underneath that. Some of the ads and stories are so funny, I might have to make a collage to hang on the wall for a bit of vintage style and a nod to the house's history.

Eventually we will sand and polish the boards, but for now I'm just happy for the old carpet to be gone. There is only one small patch remaining, we are slowly making progress!

If anyone is interested in a comprehensive list of what's in the garden, knock yourself out:
Acacia amblygona
Acacia cultriformis
Actinotus helianthi
Austromyrtis dulcis
Banksia integrifolia
Banksia spinulosa 'Honeypots'
Brachycome multifida Blue, White and Break 'o' day
Bursaria spinosa
Callistemon 'Wilderness White'
Calothamnus granitica
Enchylaena tomemtosa
Eucalyptus caesia
Eucalypus macrocarpa
Grevillea 'Fruit Box'
Grevillea rosmarinifolia 'Lutea'
Grevillea 'Pink Surprise'
Guichenotia macrantha
Hakea sericea
Hardenbergia violacea
Homoranthus decumbens
Kennedia nigricans
Kunzea pomifera
Leptospermum 'Lipstick'
Leptospermum sp.
Melaleuca decussata
Melaleuca nesophila
Melaleuca thymifolia
Myoporum parvifolium
Poa labillardieri
Prostanthera cryptandroides
Thryptomene saxicola
Verticordia plumosa
Wahlenbergia gloriosa
Westringia 'Smokie'