I’m excited.. had to share.. even though..

It’s NOT green thumb Thursday..

Guess what I just brought?!

I’ll show you!

More vegetables and a FRUIT!! Dutch carrots, Sweet Potato (never even though to grow any kind of potato) and I went to buy Mint and herbs to create a wild place in the corner behind the pond where no one goes… I was going to let herbs run wild there but only got mint and then I found.. ROCK MELON!! my Star son loves Rock Melon!! not me so much but hey smoothies could be good!

Then I went out to the back yard and happened to spy “Bella” she is a Totem Ballerina Apple tree, which simple means she is tall and thin for smaller gardens and she has babies!! LOOK!

The Bloke stands 5 ft 10 in and she is way taller than him!

So I apologise to anyone who is not enjoying my Gardening tales.. I’ll be back later to post something else but I was “excited” is that the same as “joy”?

Excitement (ɪkˈsaɪtmənt)

n- 1. the state of being excited

2. a person or thing that excites; stimulation or thrill

joy (dʒɔɪ)

n- 1. a deep feeling or condition of happiness or contentment

2. something causing such a feeling; a source of happiness

3. an outward show of pleasure or delight; rejoicing

4. Brit success; satisfaction: I went to the bank for a loan, but got no joy.

vb- 5. (intr) to feel joy

6. (tr) to make joyful; gladden

[C13: from Old French joie, from Latin gaudium joy, from gaudēre to be glad]

Alright..not the same but let me say I feel “Joy Filled” at the excitement of these new plants, tonight I will plant them in the cool of the evening!

Green Thumb Thursday…

 

Remember all those challenges… well this isn’t one.. this is my own one.. how original.. but since I am attempting to grow food in my garden to eat cleanly as part of my Daniel Plan it all ties in nicely.. Green thumb Thursday flows after Weight-loss Wednesday..

So this week in the garden I am delighted to announce..

• I have baby strawberries.. count is up to four.
• Finally got something happening on the tomato front. I was worried because I gave a tomato plant to my cousin and hers is double the size of mine
• Purple capsicum.. there were four.. but stupid “Green thumb wanna be” touched it to show my Bloke and it broke off wahhhh… only three purple capsicum now!
• I’ve extended my garden bed digging and have made over the area around the garden pond, “Prickly Place” where the succulents live.
• Removed an old rose-bush.
• Pruned and wedded a new section of garden and laid down sugar cane mulch
• Garden beds laying empty are awaiting something… maybe some herbs, where they are they can’t take over anything so it would be OK for herbs.

Look how big my corn is growing, so far only lost one.

new garden bed, pruned the Golden Genista and dug up all the weeds and laid down sugar cane mulch.

“Prickly Patch” where the cacti/Succulents live around the pond.. looks so much nicer with the mulch down, in the bed above that still awaiting weeding I am thinking will be the herb garden.

So that is this week’s update on Green Thumb Thursday. I am so glad I was up and in the garden at 5.45 am on Saturday morning when I couldn’t sleep. I spent some lovely quality time chatting to the Lord about the purpose of snails.. and as I sprinkled salt on those that were happily eating my Zucchini, I am not sure I got an answer from the Lord about why I should “not” kill the snails.. so now I’ve laid down pallets. I got some quality digging down, weeding done and pruning, I was up “Before the birds” literally because the Magpie told me off for disturbing him, so I threw him a salted snail!

 and here is me after that gardening session, before my shower.. it was raining!

 

 

NaBloPoMo 2014- Gardening and shaking with exhaustion…

Did you know, have you read yesterdays post… I hate Gardening… let me just repeat it in case you missed it I-HATE-GARDENING… but I do like the end result I am sure there’s a witty saying some where let me go google that… well there was this one..

Be the first in the field and the last to the couch. — Chinese (on work) not quiet the one I wanted.. hmmm…

this one is OK if I planted a Money Tree! Industry, perseverance & frugality make fortune yield.  — Ben Franklin (1706-1790)… I’ll find it bare with me…

OK moving right along I didn’t find the quote if you know of one, post it in the comments for me please!

I gave myself half an hour each night because there is something wrong with me (Some have said OCD not professionally diagnosed though) sometimes I get “fixated” on a thing and will do it and do it and do it until I am bloody sick of it.. and there is a lot of garden that needs doing, So I am trying to avoid that this time. In a half an hour I can get a lot done and see results. BUT tonight I was stubborn and so was the Agapanthus!

It all started because I wanted to remove the weed matting and if it had come away nicely the Aggies would have happily been there but NO!!

The black weed matting was hidden within the Aggies and I tried so hard I probably wasted the first half an hour trying to untangle and remove the black weed matting no luck, so then my temper kicked in and I got mad!  I pushed and I pulled and I strained and then I came inside for a drink, I was so worked up I broke into a sweat and my hair was plastered to my head (So NOT a good look!) and I was physically shaking, I even had a brief thought “I might faint” when I saw the black spots hovering in my eyes. But I went back out and I could have packed up and said “That’s my half hour” but NO Stubborn me and stubborn Aggie we went at it.. until finally I pulled that B*&^%h out of the ground with a roar of triumph.. I wonder if my neighbors were watching and having a giggle.

So by then I’m ready to fall on the ground my back is killing me my shoulders are killing me I’m all sweaty and all I could think of was… “I NEED to lay that horse poo down tonight, so I can water it in a few days and turn it all over and plant on Saturday” OK, so, the OCD has kicked in! I’ll tell you something though, I got it done! the Aggie is now in the garden waste bin, which sadly is now full for a week before it gets emptied.. the horse poo is laid and the garden bed is looking much better… so I feel proud of that little achievement!

 

So the overall gardening session for tonight was an hour, but that’s all good, I am off for a shower and I’ll sleep well tonight!

 

NaBloPoMo 2014- Day 8- Gardening and Salads

So Home Sweet Home- I am using up the last of the salad makings from the pantry and fridge, using them to make interesting salads for  “She Who Rambles Salad a day Challenge”.

As I was cutting up my last tomato I was recalling when the children were little and we made over the back deck garden beds and planted veggies and how excited they were to go out and pick corn, tomato and beans and strawberries. They hated to eat much besides the corn and strawberries so we didn’t bother again. But today as I was cutting up the one lonely tomato and thinking about what other veggies I need to buy tomorrow I thought “Why don’t I plant one tomato plant and pick them as I need them?” So then it leads my mind on wonderful adventures, where to plant them? Not on the back deck the dogs would destroy them, so why not use the front garden bed which apart from my beautiful roses is full of weeds.

So I ran the idea past my Bloke and he said “Let’s go buy some!” So off we went to Big W for another thing and decided to have a look in the garden section, and there I found them, a few lonely punnets of tomato seedlings, we only use Roma, my Bloke has decided that they are the best and so I have never bothered to try anything else. I also did a quick Google search on companion planting I vaguely remember that when we planted the veggies many moons ago we companion planted marigolds and some other bits and pieces, to keep the bugs away from the tomatoes and yes it was marigolds but also parsley, So we brought that too.. although it looks like it’s on it’s last roots and not looking too good, I am hoping it needs a good drink and will come good.

We went to buy one tomato plant and came home with a punnet of Eight Roma’s and one punnet of parsley which has about I think ten plants If I can keep them alive. The Marigolds were no where to be found, so we will try Bunnings or Masters tomorrow for those.

It’s been really hot today, so once the cool change came through I went out and started weeding and clearing up the beds I want to use. The ground is very hard and dry so some good soakings and some water crystals added to the soil, we will also find some horse manure and dig that through. Also I’ve just noticed the area against the neighbors fence where the climbing rose is could use some trellis and some climbing … hmm.. maybe peas and beans. I think also I can probably find some room for some strawberries.

I am going to start small and then add to it slowly. I’m figuring on half an hour of gardening each day to get caught up. So by the time I harvest these veggies the “30 Days of Salad Challenge” will be long over… but I will continue to enjoy it because I’ll be harvesting!!

Anyone reading this have any more suggestions for small gardens and veggies to add?