Friday, July 20, 2012

Frosts, Vegies and Gardening

We had vegie group at Catherine's house today.  It began with an excited young girl and a slice of delicious sponge. It ended with a short walk along a creek, and watching a male emu sitting on his eggs, he even stood up and showed off his enormous emerald treasures. Female emus really have it all worked out, them and those kooky seahorses.

In the middle, there was pruning of raspberries, rocket and fruit trees. Admiring of fat cauliflowers and abundant broccoli. Discussion of why the peas were still small, and the addition of some twine to their tee pee to provide something for their tendrils to grow on. There was shifting of soil into a new vegie patch, planting of some seedlings, and a temporary fence erected to protect newly planted blueberries from marauding chickens. Most importantly there was friends, a Friday ritual, and a wonderful sense of community.

When I got home a rare event was occurring, the sun was shining.  The birds were singing and frolicking in the garden, calling me to join them.

As Galahs plucked onion grass bulbs from the lawn, and kookaburras laughed, I shifted the magic pudding pile of sawdust. The little Bowerbird grabbed a bucket and helped build paths and stomp them into place. Here is the pile covered in frost, it is normally a lovely golden shade.

 Poor Sammy, those arthritic bones must be feeling the chill, frost on bare paws, ouch.


There has been a number of heavy frosts of late.

 The kale and garlic seems unworried by the icy hug.



  
The lemons, potatoes and passionfruit seem far less thrilled about a visit from Jack. I am most worried about the passionfruit, it took off with great excitement through spring and summer, but is now looking very bedraggled.  I may need to invent some sort of winter blanket for it. Andrea, from Harvest with Glee has installed some great frost covers in her patch.


 Doesn't look like that fence is going to be covered any time soon.


Broad beans don't mind the cold at all, here some forgotten seeds are emerging from the bedraggled potato patch.  


This year will be a big year for garlic, as long as they don't get too sodden and rot. Behind them is the rampant raspberries requiring their winter haircut. Quite a drastic trim is needed. 

My very densely planted carrots are crying out to be weeded and thinned.  There is always something to be done in the vegie patch.

A beautiful day in the garden. I even managed to drag the kids outside for afternoon tea and a spot of bird watching. Lots of New Holland Honey-Eaters and Eastern Spinebills flitting about our house at the moment. Unfortunately the little Bowerbird took some joy in chasing the Galahs and magpies away.

Tomorrow another garden to visit, a jungle to tame, good friends to hang out with, home cooked treats to devour, and a kind looking forecast. 

Linking up with Squiggly Rainbows Thursday Garden Journal. There can never be too much gardening.

19 comments:

  1. Looking lovely - if a bit chilly in parts! Have a lovely weekend in the garden, hopefully the weather will be kind. cheers Wendy

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  2. Sounds like a great day in the garden for all, your plots are looking very well tended and full of future produce. thanks for the link to my blog, another light frost overnight(new seedlings well protected) so hopefully a great day for planting trees. We are picking up 100 assorted wattles,box and gum trees from landcare this morning to plant a wildlife path through our property.

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    1. Loved the look of your frost covers, you must get some doozies. Wow, sounds like a big weekend for you, will you plant them all yourself? Should look amazing when they are all grown up.

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  3. I must say I am envious too - how precious having a Friday gardening get-together! Everything looks amazing. We just moved and I am hurriedly trying to make up for planting that should have been done a few months ago.... Today I will plant Garlic and hope it works this late in the season! xx Thanks so much for joining in! Rach x

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    1. It is precious, but really easy to get going if you can find a few willing friends. Good luck with the garlic and thanks for the link up.

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  4. Thanks so much for the fabulous tour of your patch!

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    1. Oh I could go on about the garden for hours, thanks for visiting.

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  5. That passionfruit is looking a little upset, hopefully it will come back in the Spring. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't in my experience. Your broad beans are far more progressed than mine - I am willing mine to flower.

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    1. I've already killed one passionfruit, may give up if the current two don't make it. I have a friend down the road who has the most amazing crop so I know it can be done locally, I just need a really sheltered yet sunny spot.

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  6. Good to hear what you got up to on Friday.. I missed you all.

    I fear our winter potatoes aren't liking the frosts, not sure if they'll come back or not, time will tell. The broad beans are chugging along nicely though.

    Have you got birds looking for nesting materials in your backyard at the moment? I thought the cat had been scratching our back door mat until we saw a handful of magpies out there this morning, plucking the coir fibre and flying away with it in their beaks! Soon they'll be the squalking of baby magpies again.. :)

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    1. Would you believe Kimbamel was also in Bendigo admiring sheep and wool? I got to have a look at some of her beautiful purchases, just divine alpaca.

      The tops of all our potatoes have wilted but I had a little dig and was surprised to find quite sizable Kipflers and Kind Edwards. There seems to be potatoes everywhere at our house at the moment.

      Funny you should mention the birds nesting, as I spied a raven with an enormous feather in it's mouth plucking away at Sam's astro turf spot - it looked quite the sight - should be a beautifully dog fur lined nest.

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  7. You must have been buggered after all the hard work you did in my garden following all this! I hope you had a chance to rest on Sunday. I had a lovely breakfast outside this morning admiring all your hard work x x

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    1. Actually got into our garden again, just loving the sunshine. Stephen went to the footy and was very excited. Pleased you are happy with the makeover! So nice to have weather good enough to enjoy breakfast in. We've been devouring all your yummy treats today - soup was delicious for dinner -sooo spoilt.

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  8. We've had more frosts than not this winter, I'm sure. It certainly feels that way. I wake now every morning and expect to see the icy shimmer across the yard. It's not helping the veggies at all. Nothing is growing particularly quick, not even the winter veg, such as peas. It's kind of frustrating. :/
    ~S.

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  9. Your sweet pup has the same little socks mine does! My sweet boy is arthritic too but he sure does still love being in the garden with me. Looks like yours does too!

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  10. What an amazing veggie patch that is! Ive heard potatoes dont like frost at all - but yes our kale and brocc and Broad beans are loving life i the cold ! Beautiful! *s*

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In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.
Margaret Atwood

“She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young