February is for... reaping what you sow

 

 

How do you make sausages and mash into a delicious and nourishing dinner? Make it with loads of love, and quickly dash out into the rain for some silverbeet, snake beans, purple king beans and spring onions. Add them to your potatoes after mashing and cook for another minute or so. I promise you it will be amazing.

I have never been one to shy away from eating greens; my mum may tell you it took me years to warm to zucchini, but it's now a regular in my kitchen. And frozen peas will probably never float my boat, but the tender little ones you grow yourself are another experience altogether! I tend to find that there are many veg that can be added to almost any meal, and growing them myself means that ingredients I wouldn't have bothered to buy are there to add extra flavour and vitamins to most of the things I cook.



Mixed heirloom tomatoes, fresh from the garden

Sometimes they are even the star of the show! I love a good spinach pie and last week made one from silverbeet, leeks, basil and thyme. And the heirloom tomatoes from this summer have made many a colourful salad or cheese and tomato toastie. I had high hopes for tomatoes this year after building them trellises to climb from the old fence pieces we pulled down. And there were plenty to go around, until the heat hit us! I have cut back a few of the bushes and crossed my fingers, but have also sown some more seed a fortnight ago to see if I can extend the season a little. 'Amish paste' was the only variety that didn't skip a beat and is still loaded with fruit. I am banking on it to crop well so that I can try out my Pop's recipe for tomato sauce, I remember it being so tasty when I was young and am hoping I can do it justice.

In any case the cucumber, chilli, silverbeet and eggplant are powering on, and there is more basil than I can poke a stick at. Growing them against the fence has kept them nice and warm, and helped to find a use for the old fence panels.





As well as these beds we have planted out an old bath and a gutted out fridge and filled these with beans, spring onions, chives, chilli and sorrel, with some carrot and radish seeds coming up in one and the perennials asparagus and galangal in the other.



















One regret from this summer is that I haven't managed to grow any pumpkins, but I don't think it's quite too late and will keep my eye out at the nursery for a seedling or 2 to give it a whirl before it gets too cold. I do love a good pumpkin fritatta. Or pumpkin and pesto pasta. There are still armfuls of basil, after all...

January is for... turning over a new leaf

I have a confession to make. I've been accused of being grassist. In general I can find something to appreciate about most of creation, and plants especially, but for a long time grasses have left me cold. It's just that I find their strappy leaves predictable, the lack of colourful flowers a bit uninspiring, and most of them you can't even eat! Part of the problem is that I feel like grasses and grassy looking plants are overused in 'modern' or 'low maintenace' gardens without much thought going into the combination or design. Once my garden discrimination was pointed out, I felt the need to find some sort of common ground with grasses so that I could better appreciate their unique qualities. Over the last couple of months, a few major benefits have come to light.
1. Finch food
One main objective of our garden design is its ability to attract and feed birds. I have a couple of wonderful books to guide me; my favourite being 'Birdscaping Australian gardens' by George Adams. I've learned that different birds all eat different food, whether insects, fruit, seeds, nectar or other garden goodies. To provide for a variety of birds, I will need a variety of plants. Simple, right?

At work I have been taking more notice of where I see my favourite birds regularly visiting. The white-plumed honeyeaters and eastern spinebills seem to love chinese lanterns and salvias at this time of year, and the blue wrens, silvereyes and yellow thornbills seem to form mixed groups, hunting ferociously in dense bushes where the best little bugs hide. The red-browed finches and double-barred finches, however, feed in flocks as they carpet the ground, eating grass seeds in the open areas. I have seen a couple pass through my garden at home, stopping only for a drink in my little waterbowl. I would hate for them to feel left out of the grand plan!

2. Pool maintenance
My next project is the garden that edges the pool area, now that the fence is up. Now as much as I love being outside, cleaning the pool is really not my thing. We have a great gadget that crawls around on the bottom vacuuming everything up. He's not perfect, however, and I'd like to make his life as easy as possible by not planting things around the pool that will drop too much leaf or flower matter into it. Most grasses will be perfect for the pool area, I just need to avoid any with big fluffy seed heads.

                                          Anigozanthos 'Bush Diamond'

And so, I began shopping around for plants with just the right attributes. My first choice was a lovely kangaroo paw that has been catching my eye around the nurseries lately, called Bush Diamond. Its velvety white flower is held above the strappy leaves to bring a bit of brightness to the garden and attract nectar feeding birds.

 

                                            Anigozanthos 'Bush Pearl'

I also bought a few pots of Bush Pearl, its cool pink cousin, to add colour, and the taller black kangaroo paw for some height in the back corner. Aiming for a cool palette,  the silver-blue Festuca was a must. Small and feathery, it will be mass planted to tie the whole garden together. Lomandra 'Shara' is a native that looks a bit like a larger version of the Festuca, so I will use it to fill out and accent areas.

                                          Festuca glauca

To soften the effect of all those spiky leaves, I have made sure to plant in curves and waves, and have also added some mound-forming native plants for their lovely rounded shape. Acacia 'Limelight', Banksia 'Rollercoaster' and a lovely endangered plant called Zieria 'Carpet Star' will be dotted singly through the bed.

                                          Zieria 'Carpet Star'

                                         Banksia integrifolia 'Rollercoaster'

As per usual the month has flown by and I would have loved to include a finished photo of the bed, but January has somehow escaped me and it is not yet complete (a good gardener knows that a garden is never finished!). I will include a finished photo as soon as possible, until then I will leave the rest to your imagination...

December is for... Christmas miracles!

So it is Christmas eve, and my neighbour has brought me a bunch of Holly to put in a vase in the kitchen. The christmas tree is up and decorated, and there is some of my Mum's delicious fruit cake on the table. Along with the usual hive of holiday activity, we received a call from the fence people last monday to say that they could fit us in before closing for christmas, after all.
Organising the fence has been a bit of a drama, as we knew it needed replacing but were a little naive about the costs involved. After an appalling quote to replace fences around the pool, side of the house and front yard, we needed be more realistic. We chose a simpler design, opted to remove the old fences ourselves, and decided that the roses along the front would provide enough of a barrier for some privacy.

The old fence along the front came down without any trouble, as the panels were simply wired to wooden tomato stakes! The garden now looks so much more open and light without the heavy brown lines and I haven't had a single regret. The front garden bed is looking more colourful all the time, with the Alyssum and Lobelia filling the gaps with blue, white and purple, and some favourite perennials such as Penstemon, Dampiera, Campanula, Angelonia and forget-me-nots between the roses. A good layer of lucerne mulch has finished it off beautifully, helping cut down the watering required (still carting watering cans through the house, but not as many!) and deterring the pesky weeds. I gave up my search for the Rhapsody in Blue rose, as I am too impatient to wait until next winter/spring when all the nurseries will be full of stock again. Instead I happened on a lovely Angelface while shopping and was happy to plant it in the last empty space.









The pool was more of a challenge, but with an even more satisfying result. I have never been a fan of colourbond, but I understand that it has it's place. That place is just not in our yard, running all the way around the pool and blocking the view to the rest of the garden! The brown and olive green colour didn't help the situation, nor did the rusting posts and gaps almost big enough for our dog (or a small child) to get through.















Having looked into the legal requirements for the new pool fence, I am thankful that the council never inspected the old one as we would have found ourselves swimming in fines. Pardon the pun!
Matt has been a knight in shining armour, buying a grinder and spending his break time in between shifts at the restaurant to cut down the panels and posts before the 5 day deadline.

At short notice it was impossible to find kennels that could look after our dog, Olive, for the crucial few days when we had no boundary fence. After all, the weekend before christmas is their busiest time! My heartfelt thanks go to our wonderful friend Leah and her 2 dogs for being so kind in sharing their house!


And by some miracle it was finished on Christmas eve! The new fence is a cream coloured tubular design with a decorative scroll at the top, and taller colourbond sheets along the boundary fence to comply with legalities. From the back patio area you can now see into the pool and beyond. As you can imagine, I am itching to start working on the gardens around the pool to finish it off!

 

As promised, here are some pictures of the other roses as they showed their first flowers:


The irresistable Angelface, to fill the last space



The ever-so-classy Lagerfeld


Young Lycidas, my only David Austen rose


Pascali, apparently very popular for bridal bouquets

 

 
And Blue Moon, right next to the mailbox.

Looking forward to what the new year will bring!

 

November is for...taking time to smell the roses

If you had asked me 5 years ago how I felt about roses, I would have mumbled something about thorns and continued along my way. After having the pleasure of working with them in the nursery and the garden, I can honestly say I've had a change of heart. Recently at work I found myself chatting with some lovely older folks from the local Rose Society and gushing over photos of their prized blooms, wondering how much space the dog REALLY needs to run around in...

You see, I have learned that roses are just about the toughest plants around and reward every ounce of energy invested in them. Give them a sunny spot and they are happy, and if you manage to feed and water them and remove the old flowers, most will bloom for 9 months of the year! What great value! I have even come to love the stark neatness of roses after a winter prune, as tidy and refreshing as a new haircut.

So there are no prizes for guessing what I have chosen to grow along the front fence of the house (if indeed we replace the front fence...that story will have to wait for another day!). There were a few roses growing here already, but they have all gone to rootstock except for one. I have always loved cool colours in the garden as they are so calming and relaxing, and am planting a row of mixed purple, mauve and white roses as the front border. These will be underplanted with a variety of flowering annuals and small perennials in blue, white and purple. So far there are mixed alyssum and blue lobelia starting out, and I scattered some mini daffodils bulbs from the old house through for a bit of brightness next spring.

Most of the roses have been bought and planted, and include a list of very distinguished guests; Charles de Gaulle, Margaret Merrill, Lagerfeld, Pascali, Young Lycidas, and Neptune along with Fragrant Plum, Ebb tide, and Blue Moon. I am still seeking the elusive Rhapsody in Blue and may have to settle for a Big Purple, which I am assured lives up to its simple name. This will replace an existing La Sevillana in the garden, which is a striking lipstick red, and while quite stunning, doesn't really fit in with the look I am going for. It will find a good home with my friend Megan once I finally make a decision and dig it out.

So this is the garden as it looks today: not much is flowering but I am sure once I have mulched and the roots have settled it will be a different story. I have already been blessed by flowers on some of the roses, and they do say patience is a virtue. And yes, the grass really is that brown! Having no tap at the front, I have been faithfully lugging watering cans of water through the house and out to the thirsty new plants. The lawn has not been so lucky, but just as I was beginning to think it would never rain again, there are reports of a 'deluge' later this week. That should give me some time to get on with painting inside!

Until next time, here is a sample of the roses that have flowered for me so far;

Charles de Gaulle- one of my favourites,

Margaret Merrill,

Ebb tide (this picture doesn't quite capture the deep purple colour),

Neptune - one I had not seen before but well worth the gamble,

and Fragrant Plum.

I am sure the rest will be worth the wait!

October is for... fresh growth!

My partner and I have just bought our first house, and lately there is not much that captures my attention like dreaming up new plans. Mostly for the garden, but since we have to LIVE inside, I suppose it has some importance as well!
We live in the Hunter Valley of NSW and I am a horticulture student nearing the end of my degree, while putting ideas into practice in my job as a gardener in a large display garden nearby. Somebody once told me that the nicer a job is, the smaller the amount someone will pay you to do it... so considering the amount of joy I get from spending my day with the birds and flowers, you can imagine our garden will be constructed on a budget! Luckily for me, Matt is also horticulturally trained and will be able to give me a hand. He said recently that I would provide the brains and he would provide the labour, and I intend to hold him to it!  Having recently changed careers to begin an apprenticeship as a chef, growing herbs and vegetables in the garden will help him to prepare wonderful food from the freshest ingredients, and I will faithfully be there to taste it all. Selfless, right? I am hoping to build vegetable beds along the driveway fence and in the backyard, leaving the front garden as an area to express my love for flowers, since this is the 'face' of the house and should be as handsome as possible.
Another priority for me is the use of Australian native plants, for their beauty, hardiness and attraction of a range of insects and birds that will help to keep pest numbers low and provide me with hours of entertainment.
So here we go, let the fun begin!
Oh...and the house is pink. So we will begin painting when funds allow!