The potential of spring bulbs

It's bulb planting time!

I'm slowly getting my act together and am planting more bulbs in the garden. I'm also going to grow some inside in a vase, like last year.

So, this year I am planting pink and black (dark purple) ranunculus, white tulips, purple freesias and a bi-colour anemone, which is a blend of white and blue. Exciting! I must drag out my daffs and replant them as well.

I did discover that I am somewhat allergic to hyacinths. Touching them caused a terrible, burning itch all over my face and neck. A google confirmed I am not crazy and certain people can find them very irritating. So beware!

What bulbs are you planting this year?

xx

Cheery yellow

Oh my goodness, I just realised it has almost been a week since my last post. How times flies! I'm not even sure where all those days went.

It has been a little grey here today so here are some cheery yellow roses. I bought these and the Easter daisies a  week or so ago, on Easter Saturday and they've brightened up the lounge room ever since.

I adore all roses but there is something about yellow ones. The lady I bought them off tells me they are called Eureka. Do you have a favourite colour?

I am currently trying to work out if I have any room in the garden for a couple more rose bushes. Over last weekend I planted agapanthus (thanks Jane), lobelia and pansy seedlings and some variegated anemone corms - so I will be looking forward to seeing those in Spring. In also ordered some more anemones along with pink and black (dark purple?) ranunculus. Exciting!

A busy week for me this week. We have a lot happening at work so I'm doing a 7 day stint. Think of pay day Sarah :)

I hope you are all well.

xx

Easter gardening capers

One of the few things flowering in our garden at the moment are the Japanese Windflowers, though they have been bashed around a bit by the wind.

We have been rather busy in the garden over Easter. Quite a few jobs were ticked off the list.

We sorted through and divied out compost around the garden, we trimmed the lollipop tree (my name - it's a New Zealand native that I cannot remember), re-potted plants, planted out my lemon tree that refuses to grow and swept like nobodies business. 

What have we been doing here you say? Someone decided that a pop-up spray watering thingamabob was in order and spent hours digging up the back lawn, only to discover that we do not have enough water pressure to run the darn thing. They didn't pop up properly and just gurgled. Major fail. Man of the house was not very happy, to say the least.

After another trip to the hardware store, he ripped up the system and dug a new, single route and attached a single 360 degree automatic pop up sprinkler that actually works! It even reaches my garden beds. Woohoo! Success.

In the next few weeks we want to top dress this area so the excavations won't matter :)

Have you been busy in the garden too? Doesn't it help you sleep soundly at night?

xx

Friday flowers... in the garden

It has been ages since I have posted any shots of the garden.

Here is the flower bed down the side fence out in the backyard. The roses are all in bud, sweetpeas are flowering, as are aquilegia, cornflowers, the last of the spring bulbs and foxgloves. It's fairly unruly but I like it.

The foxgloves, if you ask Lyndon, are a huge pest, but they do flower well and provide nice height in the garden.

Out the front, the icebergs are starting to explode into bloom. My two standards are so heavy with buds I wonder how on earth they stand up. In fact, the one below is tethered to the house to stop it falling over! The lobelia below it is so pretty, but the spent bulbs in amongt it do make it all look a bit messy.

Out in the vegie patch I have a few things under way.

Here you can see my raspberries and broad beans. Sheesh, look at that bloody ivy in the background. Out. Of. Control. Must attack that soon...

I've also got zucchini, corn, silverbeet, lettuce, peas, potatoes and runner beans on the go.

This year we have planted our tomatoes in pots. In the couple of weeks I have potted them up, they are growing well.

I have a big yellow variety, mini black Russian, one that I can't remember the name of but is very tasty, and two 'new to me' heirloom varieties - one is Deutsche Fleiss and the other I cannot remember at the moment.

Exciting!

What have you got growing in the patch?

Have a lovely weekend friends. I have the weekend off work, but will spend it making bits for my market stall. It's only 3 weekends away!

xx

In the garden + safety warning

The one downside to having a good number of roses in the garden is all the pruning that one has to do in winter. I had done one or two bushes out the back recently, but with Sunday being a nice, sunny day (or at least parts of it were) I thought I'd make a dent in the rest of the pruning.

You may remember we have 20 Iceberg rose along our front fence.

Well, I got stuck into them and they're all done now, as well as the two massive standard roses out front as well. I didn't cut them well back as we are after a sort of hedgy look.

I couldn't bring myself to chop off this huge rosehip. The colour is a deeper red in reality.

Molly with the pile of prunings

I have a bit of a safety tip for you all. If you want to be a stubborn woman and chop kindling for the fire, do yourself a favour and wear safety goggles and perhaps a helmet.

This is me on Thurday evening. It was a very close shave!

The latest avante garde eye look

I got to go to work the next day looking as though I had been in a pub brawl when in fact a piece of timber I split, flipped up and split my eyelid and bruised the outer area of my eye.

Would you believe that I managed to do it again over the weekend? Molly, Lyn and I went out to collect fallen sticks to use as kindling and whilst snapping a stick in half a piece managed to flip up and hit me in the forehead! I now have a scab there as well. This time I was wearing my big sunglasses so that was handy in protecting my eyes.

We did have a laugh but really people, be careful :)

Look what I found out in the back yard just now. I pretty blue anemone. I just adore these.

Have a lovely week friends.

xx

Looking forward to spring

Taken almost a month ago. The roots have just started to grow.

I'm trying something new to me this year. I'm attempting to grow a hyacinth in a bulb vase. Have any of you had success with these?

Taken very recently. See how much the roots have grown?

I have had it in the cupboard under the sink for a quite a few weeks and the roots have started to grow. I also have a smaller vase in the fridge with a crocus bulb in it. I'm interested to see what happens.

Somehow I also managed to find a little bit of room outside for some more ixia bulbs and have planted a small bed of lemon and purple fringed tulips.

I already have so many of my spring bulbs starting to emerge. The poor things will get a shock when winter sets in.

Like me, do you feel sorry for flowers that bloom out of season?

xx

ps was excited to see Downton Abbey back on the screen last night. Do you watch it?

Lazy days

The weekends have been pretty nice down here in Tassie lately.

We've spent a lot of time outside in the garden.

At the end of the day we'll sit outside and cool down with a drink or two :)

Miss Molly likes to shadow us. Wherever we are, she is not far away. Particularly if there's some stinky compost or fertiliser in use.

I couldn't help myself and had to get some cute shots of the girl wearing my hat.

She was being particularly tolerant as usually she would have attempted eating it.

So cute!

Aww, it all got too much!
The poor girl had to visit the vet yesterday for her booster injections but to also have her sore leg looked at. It appears she has Degenerative Joint Disease (djd), most probably through wear and tear. It's an osteoarthritic condition that covers a range of things such as arthritis and ligament damage. Molly is going to have a course of injections to help improve and maintain the cartilage in her joints but the doc thinks there's s good chance she may need some surgery at some point. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Our little girl was a bit sooky after her doctor visit yesterday so I had to get myself back in her good books with lots of treats :)
Well, can you believe it's February already? Crazy!

xx

Lamingtons and ivy

Hi friends, the title conjures up images of pretty garden tea parties, does it not? Unfortunately there was no pretty garden party here over the last couple of days.

Yes, I did cook lamingtons for the very first time and they're delicious! A bit sticky but nice and moist inside. Yum. I'm delivering them around the family tomorrow and taking them to work to share.

How about that pretty Mozi plate and tea towel? I'm a bit obsessed by pretty tea towels.

Wow, the ivy, what a monster.

I'm so pleased our helpful neighbour started on his side as it made it a lot easier to rip it out from this side of the fence. Though, in parts I think it's holding up the fence!

The area in question is the back corner where one of my vegie patches is.

The ivy does look pretty but it really has taken over, even growing into my patch which means less room for vegies. We can't have that!

Mollsie is always in the thick of the action.

Here is one side after a bit of work. Yes, that's the roof of our neighbour behind us. There is a retaining wall on the fence line and their house is a few metres below our ground level. Quite handy.

There's poochy again surveying the damage. We still have a way to go. Things slowed down a bit when Lyndon sustained a big, deep cut to his hand. Nurse Sarah fixed it up but it meant no more ivy attacking for him.

Today we took two big loads to the tip and I reckon there's at least one, maybe two more to go.

Look at the poor old fence! The ivy has split palings in parts. We are going to pull some palings off and replace sometime in the future. That will also allow us to cut the big ivy trunks off at the ground.

Well, this has been a not so pretty "before" and almost "after". It certainly looks prettier "before", but not good for the fence or the garden. Oh well.

Well, back to work for me tomorrow. Boo hiss!

Must be time for a cuppa and some more of that lamington...

Take care

xx

This weekend

It has been another rather nice weekend, despite having to work today for a few hours.

I managed to get a few things done including finishing off my magnets for the stall (photographed here on a drawing by my niece).

I took Molly for a walk up the bush with my sister, my niece and their dog.

We spotted a number of native orchids.

The ones above are called Greenhoods.

These ones are Leopard Orchids (sorry about the blur, my iPod doesn't like closeups)

These ones are Star Orchids. Quite purple in colour but the photo is washed out.

I have no idea what this pretty plant is :)

And for the umpteenth time I flicked through my Mollie Makes mag.

Have you guys read it? I'm already addicted. Jane picked me up a copy after she discovered them in a Hobart newsagency and I have to say it's better than I expected.

I was thinking how nice their Christmas edition will be, but then realised we'll be into next year before it appears in the newsagency here!

It was quite a nice, though bit chilly, weekend in Hobart so I also managed to do some gardening. I planted a couple of ranuncs, some lobelia, pansies and more delphiniums.

Luckily I have Mon and Tues off work so apart from some crafty action I've got a date with the overgrown ivy in the backyard. Our neighbour has attacked his side of the fence, now it's my turn.

Watch out ivy!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

xx

Friday flowers and a vegie patch update

These beautiful David Austin roses called Strawberry Hills are blooming in the backyard.

They're a lot brighter than usual.

They smell divine.

Not a whole lot of action in the vegie patch at the moment.

Below are some brussels sprouts that are slowly growing. This one has so far survived the onslaught from slugs.

I also have quite a few broccoli plants that are so far doing ok.

Last year they were attacked by bright green slugs so I have begun what I plan on being regular doses of Seasol. I've heard it helps. I'm really not a fan of sprays, slug pellets or anything that kills bugs for that matter - I'd prefer to 'discourage' than kill :)

Below is my other completely neglected patch. You can see some silverbeet that I keep forgetting to use (naughty me) and baby beetroot that I have been roasting (yum!).

I must do some work here and get it ready for broad beans and lots of peas. In fact, it's almost time to start these little guys germinating.

Well, there you have it, a bit of messy reality.

What have you guys got growing in your vegie patch?

Speaking of gardens, I am excited to have planted another couple of rose bushes. But that's for another post.

Have a great Friday and even better weekend. Think of me sitting at work over the weekend freezing my little butt off!

xx

Friday flowers - in the garden

Look what I discovered blooming in the garden - a beautiful blue anemone.

It's a bit early for Spring though. I always feel sorry for plants that grow or bloom outside of their season. Yes, I know, I'm a bit silly.

I haven't really posted much about the garden, in fact I haven't mention the vegie patches in a while either.

There's not a huge amount to report with the vegie patches, mostly getting ready for sowing in July and trying to get the compost to do its thing. But I do have broccoli, beetroot and brussel sprouts on the go.

The daisies always seem to be flowering and certainly liven up the garden beds a bit.

My row of twenty-something Iceberg roses out by the front fence are still going strong, though have lost a few leaves thanks to blackspot. I'm not a big fan of spraying for anything so I put up with the dropped leaves.

It's such a classic rose. They've been growing through the pickets in an attempt to get closer to the sun. I don't mind too much and like to think the passers by enjoy them too.

Almost getting to pruning time and multiple trips with all the greenwaste to the tip. But that's ok if it means a trip to the tip-shop :)

The foxgloves did so well last year, in fact there are still a few lonely blooms.

Anyone fancy a few foxglove seedlings? All that groundcover you see here - well they're foxglove seedlings, self seeded. I've been pulling them out and giving them away but I still have WAAAAYYYY to many.

This is the lawn near the flower beds and you guessed it, all those plants growing there where there should be grass are foxgloves!!!! Whoopsie, I have to try to get rid of them before Lyndon realises what my garden is doing to his lawn. Ahem, nothing to see here Lyndon, nothing to see here...

xx

ps seriously, if anyone in Hobart wants some seedlings, please let me know!

pps what's with blogger comments? I have been trying to comment on your blogs but it just wont work!