I haven’t written about the vegetable garden for a while, but we are enjoying the home-grown produce so much. After a long time of producing a handful of cherry tomatoes, the tomato vine is beginning to flourish. These small tomatoes are packed with full flavour – so much tastier than the ones available in the … Continue reading Today’s Harvest
Tag: Plants
We have a Greenhouse!
With the exception of the front door, the greenhouse is now built. To put the door on, we need to dig out the area immediately in front of it – the land rises and prevents it from swinging open. The next step will be to build the raised garden beds inside it.
Getting Back to the Greenhouse
This week, we are preparing to construct the greenhouse. After a busy couple of months, we are finally able to focus on this. The timing will be good as it will allow time for seeds to emerge and take root as we come into Autumn. So far, we have the front and the back section … Continue reading Getting Back to the Greenhouse
Hot Northerlies, Cooling Southerlies, and Rough-Barked Trees
Over Summer, we’re forever monitoring the wind direction. This is new for us. Living in the city, we monitored temperature throughout the day, but wind direction was just a vague acknowledgement that North Winds were hot, and South Winds were refreshing and cool. Also, when the Southerlies came in on the back of a hot … Continue reading Hot Northerlies, Cooling Southerlies, and Rough-Barked Trees
A Small Plot
It has surprised me that the path to growing all of our own food has been more difficult than we’d imagined when we arrived. The existing vegetable garden is only small, and when we arrived it was newly planted by the previous owners. An entire half of the vegetable garden is still taken up with … Continue reading A Small Plot
Fruit and Vegetables
It has been a long time since I wrote about our vegetable garden and orchard. Partly this is because I became entranced by our birds and began compiling a species list, and partly it is because there wasn’t a lot to write about. Everything had already been planted – mostly by the previous owners – … Continue reading Fruit and Vegetables
Learning to love succulents
I could not understand why the garden beds were planted with so many succulent plants when we first moved in. To me, they were unattractive and at odds with the lush growth of a cottage garden, which I preferred, and also with the natural bushland, which abounds here. My initial intention was to pull them … Continue reading Learning to love succulents
Taunting Kookaburras: Photographing our environment
Every night, just when the light is too low to capture them on film, I hear kookaburras laughing in the trees. It sounds like they are taunting me because try as I might, I simply can’t get a good photo of one. During the day, the kookaburras call from neighbouring properties, or the opposite end … Continue reading Taunting Kookaburras: Photographing our environment
Inside the fernery
Many of the plants in our fernery were there when we bought the house, but we have been playing around with a few things. The cats also have free access to this area, which is shady and cooler on a hot day. This series of photos is not captioned. If you receive this in an … Continue reading Inside the fernery
Waxlip Orchid (Glossodia major)
In mid-October we had a few Waxlip Orchids flowering. They seem to be solitary, just one here and there, but their beauty certainly captures my attention when I walk past one. I’m still a novice when it comes to native Australian wildflowers, so I rely heavily on references. The one I am using to identify … Continue reading Waxlip Orchid (Glossodia major)
Xanthorrhoea Minor
A number of the plants which I thought were native grasses, have developed large flowering spikes, but others have remained flower free. Keen to find out more about this, I consulted Denise Grieg’s excellent book ‘Field Guide to Australian Wildflowers‘ which I picked up last week. An excellent reference! According to Grieg, these plants are … Continue reading Xanthorrhoea Minor
Native Shrubs in Flower
Dotted around the property are a number of flowering native shrubs which have been planted by previous owners. Many of these are just coming into flower, while others have interesting seed cases on display. I have not yet researched the specific plant names, so I have just posted the images without descriptions. Enjoy the photo … Continue reading Native Shrubs in Flower
Kangaroos and Orchards
When watering the fruit trees in the orchard tonight, I noticed that almost all of the fruit from one tree was gone, and there were telltale droppings beneath the tree. Richard identified these as kangaroo droppings. I knew we had to watch out for the birds when the fruit grew large and ripe, but these … Continue reading Kangaroos and Orchards
Preparing for the Greenhouse
On Friday we had word that the greenhouse is ready to collect from the warehouse. This is exciting news! It comes flatpacked, so next weekend we hope to construct it. During the week, our raised garden beds and greenhouse shelving should also arrive. We’ll need to order crushed rock to form the floor in … Continue reading Preparing for the Greenhouse
Australian Native Flowers
We showed a friend around our property today, and I took the opportunity to take photos of some of the wild flowers we saw along the way. I won’t pretend to know what they are all called, but the common feature is that the flowers are tiny.
A quick tour of our bush habitat
We are very fortunate to have friends who know much more than we do about the native plants on our land. It turns out that our property is rich in native orchids and native lillies. A couple of weeks ago, we had 6 species of native orchid in flower, and another six to ten which … Continue reading A quick tour of our bush habitat
House Naming Ceremony
It’s four weeks to go before we get the keys to our new house. Sitting here at my desk in the sunshine with a coffee, it seems a long way away, but I know this four weeks will fly by. I want to prepare by doing or buying things now so when we move in, … Continue reading House Naming Ceremony
Fifteen Acres 