SK & I spent some time out in the garden today. Unfortunately it started raining so we tried our best to get evrything done without getting too wet! However by the time we did come in & not too wet I may add, we just could not warm up! It became so cold! Plumeting to just under 10c by 4pm. EEEeeeek!

Anyway, we managed to transplant some beetroot, it looks small but strong. Don’t know how it will fair up. We also seperated & spread out the Rolli Polli Carrots. We ditched some plants not looking so well as we haven’t been giving the garden the TLC it has been needing & without offering that level of care, there was no use trying to salvage what had already been almost spent.

We planted 6 new Broad Bean seedlings that are quite strong into a tub with a downpipe trellis & a few thin stakes. 4 new Tomatoes were planted into 2 long tubs & incased into a warm Tomato Wrap LOL. If my memory serves me correctly we have a Sweet Bite Cherry Tomato, Acid Free Roma, Black Russian & a Yellow Zebra, I am looking forward to these fruiting when they do! A new strawberry plant was placed into a fountain tower to match the one we already have growing. Then we transplanted SK’s Green Tea Tree & The Eggplant into bigger pots.

All in all we did a few other things like place slug pellets, drain the worm farm & rotate some soil etc so we were kept pretty busy for the short amount of time we were outside. I enjoy the time we spend in the Garden & wish we had more days together to do it.

On another note, we will be heading down to mum’s at Batemans Bay in 2 weeks time for a night or 2. It will be nice seeing mum again however we are taking down a new oven & rangehood we purchased on behalf of my Bro K & his wife D. I know they will be looking forward to getting it installed as the stove in the kitchen currently is almost kaput!

Tenpin Bowling has kept us busy as we have recently joined a 2nd League. Sunday nights at 6pm SK, M-I-L & myself are the Channel Surfers in a Doubles League called The Good Times League. Therefore each Sunday only 2 out of the 3 of us bow. We still bowl in Tuesday night League however there is hardly ever more than 4 teams turn up on any given night. SK got some new gear for his bday which he loves using & has pretty much broken everything in. So we are enjoying our Leagues each week & meeting new people on the Sunday night.

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One of my fav online gardening resources (as I have recently blogged about here) today released their new specials for Autumn. Have a looksee here at the Garden Express Online Offers. There may be something you would like to add to your garden or it may just offer you some ideas. I especially like the Renunculi & Cut Flower bulbs offers. Currently our finances are a little poorer than we would like them to be so I won’t be doing any shopping too soon….. unless I can sell those unwanted things from the garage LOL.

The Garden Express site & company are in no way affiliated with me in any form other than the fact I am on their catalogue mailing & ecatalogue lists & thought it would be nice to show these offers to others around me. Please enjoy :o)

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Our home garden is being tendered to by mere amateurs, being ShadowKnight & myself. However as each day spent in the Garden goes by we:

*sow & germinate new seedlings
*transplant seedlings into permanent homes
*introduce established plants bought from elsewhere
*add or remove plants as needed
*become educated on how individual plants copes under their own & current management structures
*impliment new or old techniques depending on how the plant is or is not surviving
*plan new methods for future plantings
*water & feed the plants
*enjoy the “fruits” of our labour by harvesting vegetables when ready

Our Garden is mostly Container grown due to the fact we moved from Sydney to here in the Illawarra & we are also renting the property. We don’t have any formal management system except for the typical sow/germinate/transplant/water/fertilize/harvest method.

We germinate our seeds in propagating trays inside small 2-shelved hothouses (or greenhouses). Once germinated, we tend to them inside the hothouses until they have their set of first strong leaves. From here they are normally strong enough to come into the Outside World so we transplant them into small individual pots. However, we have had problems with birds so I have been experimenting with keeping them in small pots inside the houses. So far so good. From here we fertilize them & nurture them as best as possible.

Currently I have a few flowering plants which have made it to the Outside World & are growing well indeed. These were our first seed germinated plants mainly to attract Bees. Grown simply to pollinate our future plants. Also introducing ready-established plants to the garden has helped attract the Bees. Not only do they look nice nice flowering, they work hard for us as well.

 Balsam - from seed                    

 Nasturtium - from seed             

 Geisha Girl - bought established

Sadly, it’s the Outside World that tends to create more issues for the plants in which we have to actively assist in. Bugs of all kinds invade the new plants & feast on their young & tender leaves & stalks. This is where we are still learning & experimenting. We seem to have a LOT of cabbage moth down here which are enjoying our Asian Greens & Lettuces. Also Ants are busily eating away our Lebanese Cucumbers as they almost get to harvesting size. We have managed to harvest a couple! At the same time, I believe these Ants are helping with the Pollination of the very same plant. Almost a Catch 22 situation here. The flowering plants are encouraging Bees but these have been spotted sparingly. I believe due to the weather we have been having.

I am working on implementing a new page to this site where I will post solely regarding Our Garden. Keep an eye on news to come once it is up & running.

So, here are some of my resources for the garden:

Mr Fothergill’s Australia
I have purchased Mr Fothergill’s Seed packets from the online store. I used to find myself wanting to buy seeds from Bunnings Warehouse & supermarkets each time I was in the stores, but could never stop at only buying 1 or 2 packs at a time. So I decided to go on a spending spree on the site & was not disapointed! The order arrived to me within 2 days of my purchase & I began “playing” in the garden with them almost immediately.

The Lost Seed
Here I purchased plenty of vegetable seeds. The price is kept as low as possible by the company providing simple Black & White envelopes in which the seeds are supplied. Again I received these within a handful of days & I was very satisfied with my purchase.

Garden Express
This we came across as it is the official site linked to channel 9’s The Garden Gurus. I don’t believe they have as much stock as I first expected, however they are fantastic to deal with. I receive a newsletter/catalogue 5 times a year. The website also offer specials & discounts on a large range of stock. We have purchased twice from Garden Express. Both times our plants arrived in tip-top condition & all have survived in the garden without any problems arrising! We purchased 8 Polygala ‘Fairy Lights’ & 12 Dwarf Lavender Munstead plants in November 2007, which have been growing far better than we expected! Over the New Year we purchased 2 Hibiscus of different varieties & 2 Agapanthus Tinkerbell which are absolutely adorable & nothing like the more common adult version (which SK detests)!

I do hope you find these links informational if anything. I have had success with these 3 personally & won’t mention the sites I have come across that seem to have stock or delivery issues, amongst other things. Once I have dealt with some other sites successfully, I will add those links to the site as well.

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