Spring stuff

 Who says lettuces can't be decorative?

My first cherries have started growing, as have my apples. You have no idea how excited I am.

cherries

baby apples

Behind the fruit trees we've put up a trellis for the kiwi fruit plants and passionfruit.  My sister had the wonderful idea of using plastic coated clothesline instead of wire so they don't get too cold in the winter.

 We've been overrun with snowpeas, which is not a bad thing really.  I just wish they came in small doses throughout the year, rather than all at once.

It's that time of the year, and some of my peas and snowpeas have started getting the dreaded white mold on them.  I have a number of peas dotted around the garden, so they're somewhat quarantined, but I remember this happening last year around this time.

Lastly, I originally made this sign for my beetroot, but it kinda fits for the red onions.

fruit tree awakening

Japanese Plum

My Japanese plum tree sprouted first, and the nectarine and apricot have weakly followed.  This is their second spring in my garden, so I don't have high hopes for produce this year. 

The daffs are showing off with their massive bright heads, and the rhubarb plants are enjoying their new freedom. They've settled in well, and I now realise that rhubarb is pretty hardy. I delayed moving them in fear of killing them, but they seem to be happier than ever, despite my brutal hacking (and it was violent and bloody - I still have the scar). Unfortunately, they now seem to be celebrating by seeding. 

Nectarine buds

Apricot

Is this a bluebell?

black pansy

The damn rhubarb plants keep trying to flower

I'll come back when the bulbs are flowering

bulb-surrounded naked fruit trees

As my previous posts indicate, I've been dancing round the other hemisphere for a couple of months. There's nothing like 2 summers!  My lovely sister house sat for me, and not only looked after the garden, but planted half the current garden.  At Easter, I blogged about digging up the massive patch of bulbs, which I then stashed away to replant a couple of month later. Of course, I didn't get around to it, but Clo did it while I was away. House Elf to the rescue!

from the paved area (spot my lovely new mandarin and magnolia trees)

daffs are a sproutin'

My family trekked down to Tassie for Easter, and I put them to work (picture me with whip).  Collectively, we built this whole landscaped side area, and I transferred the rhubarb from the square up the back, to act as decorative (but delicious) border plants around the scallops.  They're starting to sprout back, as you can see from the photos.  I should give a giant shout out to my dad, who did more grunt work than the rest of us combined. He's a star.

Pip's helping to garden by devouring a bone twice her size.

Clo bought this little guy today. He's meant to be scary.

 Below you can see House Elf's (oh sorry, Clo's) amazing vegie garden effort:

beetroot

fennel

pea

 

 

 

 My Japanese plum has broken through and is the first of my budding deciduous trees for the season:

for the living room

Eggplant and Further Rhubarb Adventures

I ate my second homegrown eggplant today.  It's a big deal because Tassie is not the best place to grow eggplant - it's often considered too cold.  I bought two puny seedlings last year from the bargain bin at my local nursery (perhaps not the best way to start life either). They somehow survived two snow falls over summer, and one of them has produced 5 small eggplants.  The other produced beautiful purple flowers, but no 'eggs'. I can't explain the difference.

I grilled the eggplant and ate it with Shakshuka Eggs and haloumi, which accommodated my homegrown garlic, a few of the late season tomatoes, and silverbeet.  Silverbeet has become a true staple for me - it's so easy to grow in any season, easily reseeds, and can be cooked in a wide variety of recipes.

I thought I'd also post this bizarre photo of me splitting and replanting the rhubarb along the new garden beds. My aunt knitted me a 'plant' beanie, which I think seals the deal.

Sculpting the Garden II

In my previous entry, I posted pictures from the first two days of the Easter Garden Sculpting Extravaganza (as it is now officially titled, headline style and all).  I'm a bit overwhelmed by the lack of greenery in the new garden beds, but the layout is pretty much finished (5 minutes before the parental units were due to be driven to the airport).

Here are the pictures of the last day and a half in chronological order:

My dad smoothing out the sand that the pavers will sit on for the seating area

One of the dogs (Sage this time, I think) walked through the finally level sand

Just as most of the pavers were laid, Pip walked through the very small unpaved area. Again.

Pip looking constructive

The finished beds

purdy shapes

'steps' up to the contemplative spot. I will be sticking my refurbished tipshop bench up there under a magnolia tree

view to the domain/eastern shore (and ugly garden shed) from the contemplative spot

"there's a wolf in my garden!"

And for my next task:

my poor rhubarb plants waiting to be split replanted in their new home

Sculpting the Garden: Easter Project

I've got the family down for a good holiday digathon. At Christmas I lured my family down to Tassie with offerings of turkey and homegrown vegies for a similar reason: cheap labour.

The task for Easter is to sculpt the side area of my backyard. It's been vegie garden beds with an uber functional aesthetic since I moved in (although it was originally all weeds apart from the rhubarb square in the corner). I don't want my garden just to be functional, as in purely for fruit and vegetable production. I also want a place to sit in, study, eat, enjoy. So I drew up a plan which has nooks for seating areas: one near the house for table and chairs, and one up the back where the rhubarb (and the best view to the north east) was for solitary contemplation.

Here are some photos from yesterday's construction efforts. I stupidly forgot to take a 'before' photo, but imagine a couple of large beds with overgrown leeks, silverbeet, weeds, strawberries, raspberry etc etc.

The head digger:


My uprooted raspberry cane, sitting in a bucket of water and liquid fertiliser:


The rhubarb patch. It needs to be totally uprooted


....and a view from the other direction:

bed removal:


And some photos from today:


Bunny, my sister's Jack Russell, is helping:


Will post updates tomorrow. This afternoon we laid out tiered beds and I dug up the rhubarb, placing them in buckets of water and liquid fertiliser before we plant them out as 'decorative functional' border plants along the new scalloped beds. I just forgot to take photos at the end of the day. I hope hope hope the rhubarb plants survive, because they've been spectacularly productive the last 18 months. I also hope my attempts to split the bigger ones go well. If anyone has any rhubarb hints, let me know.