Garden of Eden

I just discovered this wonderful online film about how gardening the way the Garden of Eden was made. Sometimes I think we do fuss too much!  Gardening was never meant to be hard!

http://backtoedenfilm.com/index.html#movie

It is fairly long but oh so true, and just makes me want to get going on planting my vegetables right now... You might remember that just before I went away I dumped a whole lot of the wood chip mulch on my veggie patch. Not normally what one would do, according to all the gardening gurus I see on the TV shows and gardening books.  They all use sugar cane mulch which is nice and fine and breaks down very quickly, and they always tuck it around the new seedlings like a soft downy blanket.  I purchased a bale of sugar cane mulch over the weekend, along with a big bag of chook poo.   Now, when I was sprinkling the chook poo around I was thinking that I should dig it in.  Why I had that thought I don't know, because I do ascribe to the lasagna gardening technique, (loosely, you know) and that requires just adding layers and layers of organic matter which the worms and nature will eventually mix up and break down into rich soil.

I guess it was because I thought that the wood chip mulch was too course, but when I started to mix it in I discovered more worms in my garden than I could ever remember. After seeing this film I am going to get the rest of the wood chips out of that pile and use it on my veggie patch.  I do need a few fresh greens added into the mix, and will add a few comfrey and lemongrass leaves and any other leaf clippings I have at the time. I do have the sugar cane mulch and will use that around the newly planted seedlings, since I think that the more variety in what we feed the soil the better, and I am certainly not going to throw away something I paid good money for.  There is a rather thick layer of mulch on the garden right now, so I might put it into a pile somewhere and add it later, once my veggies are up and established, but from now on those humble wood chips definitely have a place in my veggie garden.

I got a lovely e-mail from Mr Fothergill's telling me very gently that I had not spelled the name correctly, so I do apologize and here is the link - they have a great selection so check them out.
MrFothergills web page 
He looks like a genuine farmer type doesn't he?

I think they will be sending me some more tropical heirloom and organic type seeds to replace the ones I gifted out, so I am doubly blessed.

The few seedlings I started out have been doing well.  I must say that the lettuce seeds in the little jiffy pots under the plastic cover are amazing... I always thought it would make the atmosphere too hot to be under plastic, but I guess they like their little sauna.

 These are the same seeds planting in seed raising mix without the plastic cover.  This is after 5 days.

 These are the MrForthergills silverbeet seeds in jiffy pots after five days, so I think the plastic cover is the key.  I have planted them in pots because traditionally I tend to lose my silverbeet to dieback once I plant them out.   I will make sure they are good and healthy before I plant them out into the garden.

I may be starting my seedlings a bit too early as we have been getting lots of rain, and it is still hot and humid, but these are under the eaves, and I am anxious to get going with my veggies this season.  Open leafy greens are more likely to thrive in this weather.

A give-away ... paying it forward

As you know I got a lovely surprise package of all sorts of yummy seeds sent to me by Mr Fotheringills seed company.   One thing I am learning in my garden is that growing the right plants for the right areas and in the right seasons will lead to more success.  I am just so incredibly blessed to live in the tropics where it is really easy to grow a multitude of beautiful flowers and fruit and vegetables.  Some of them are rather strange, but that is another story.

Soo..... some of the seeds that I have been sent, while really lovely, are not suited to my climate.  I have always loved the idea of passing along good fortune, and so I have some seed packets to pass along.  We are not permitted to mail seeds overseas so this is only open to my Australian readers. (sorry) Pretty much anyone that is not living in the tropics should be able to grow these, so just post a comment and tell me which seeds you would like. First come, first served.  I will get them to you posthaste so that you can get them into the ground.

The seeds on offer are:
Cats paw
Parsnips

 You can send your address separately by e-mail - my e-mail address is at the very bottom of my blog page.

I also have two packets of seeds from my desert rose that I will include in the draw.  These huge seed pods appeared and then one day they just exploded and I gathered up the tiny seeds.  I had been meaning to tie a packet over them, but never got around to it.. Anyway they weren't flung too far and wide, and I managed to salvage some.

 This is the desert rose in bloom. - wow the garden looked very bare in this photo - must have been taken a while back ;)

I still haven't been able to work out the random generator thingie, so just whoever comments first gets the seeds until they all run out.

Doing the hard yakka

In Australia the term yakka means work and hard yakka means the type of work that is not too appealing - muscle building work.
I have had a few projects that keep getting pushed aside.  One day this week I came home from work and decided to get stuck into the Mandevilla/passionfruit/weed vines that had taken over the support over the herb spiral.  Originally this was just for the passionfruit, but as the lower branches died they just lay there looking brown and horrible with the new growth on top.

 Then the heavy Mandevilla leaned itself over and got into the mix.  I didn't really mind as suddenly there were always lovely flowers, but in the back of my mind I knew that eventually something had to be done.   Slowly the supports were collapsing, and I also want to plant somethings in the herb spiral and for heavens sake they were going to need some light!

Pulling and tugging, and clipping and sawing.....getting bitten by green ants...this was not fun!  Eventually though I had the frame removed and a huge pile of branches to haul away.  Then it rained, and I still haven't cut the branches back as much as I should.  I remember reading somewhere not to prune back more than 50% so think I will let this sit for a while before I tie it up, and trim off the last remaining long shoots.  It was sending out long shoots because the poor plant was loaded down with all the other greenery lying on top of it, so was looking for light. I am sure it is going to be a much healthier plant now, and has freed my garden from the clutches of "the wandering vines".  I am hoping to be able to use the vine itself to create an arch shape - up, bent over, and then tied back down onto the fence. Maybe I will need a pole up the center.  Has anyone else done this?

Hopefully the passionfruit and loofah will just go straight up the happy plant and leave the fence alone.   I am toying with the idea of using that left over fencing to increase the height of the back fence for climbers.  Grow upwards - one of those permaculture rules I love as it increases the size of my growing area.

The other job that needs to be done is some paving added to the side of the house.  We use that side door to go in and out to the gazebo, and it is in shade all the time.  Somehow the stones have sunk down and it is a muddy horrible mess which gets tracked inside.   More paving stones are on the shopping list for this weekend.

Mr Fotheringgills visit

On my return from my wonderful holiday in Malaysia (last post on the trip has been added to Life in the Tropics) I found an interesting e-mail in my very full inbox.
WOW!   This is the kind of thing that only happens to other people.  This little blog of mine was "discovered" by one of the major seed suppliers in Australia - Mr Fothergills!  The e-mail said that they would like me to trial some of their products and write about it.  Well of course!  Am I going to say no to free seeds?
I received a list of what they are going to send me (I thought it would just be a few packets, but that is a lot of stuff)

Climbing Snow Pea

Basil seed mat

Coriander Lemon

Lemon Grass

Carrot seed tape

Carrot Harlequin

Parsnip Gladiator

Radish Beauty heart
Silver Beet organics

Cats Paw wildflower

Poppy Falling in Love

Jiffy Windowsill kit (12 pellets)

Jiffy Starter Set pots & qsm's

Parsley Italian kitchen garden pot

Strawberry Temptation grow pot

I wonder what made them choose these particular items, and whether I could have requested some changes.  I am about 100% sure that parsnips need a colder climate, and I grow the tropical cilantro, because the regular cilantro always dies on me.  I did e-mail to request some changes but suspect this is a set package they send out.

It arrived over the weekend, so now I am planning my veggie garden planting.  Stay tuned.  How does anyone else plan their veggie garden?  I normally rotate vegetables, especially the nightshade family, and have a loose plan on a scrap of paper.  Easter weekend seems to be a popular time to plant here, and that is fast approaching, so I have my little hand drawn list of where everything will go. We have not had much rain this wet season so far, and I do worry that we will suddenly have a deluge once I have planted the delicate little seeds.  I do have those cute little jiffy pots now to start the seeds, although most of those root crops should be planted direct.

On the shopping list for this weekend is chook poo, plant labels,  and sugar cane mulch. I also need to pick up seeds for greens - probably a mixed lettuce bag. Mr Fotheringgills has a a bag of heirloom seeds. Last year I got a bag of seed starter mix and think I might do that again - it seemed to help strengthen the young plants. I want to make sure I am ready to plant when the time is right.

Happy plants

I think mulching the garden thickly before I went away was a great idea......the garden has survived well - of course it helps that it is the rainy season and so there has been plenty of water.

My neighbours compost bin is on the other side of the fence and a nasty vine has joined into the loofah and passionfruit climbing the happy plant and the fence.  I pulled away what I could, but it really needs to be attended to at the root....  I am thinking I might eventually get rid of that passionfruit vine as it has been going for more than three years now, and they have a short life in the tropics. A new vine has started in the corner and I might start another one out front.  I do love having passionfruit - it changes regular fruit salad into sublime fruit salad in a moment.  A few little pawpaw trees are springing up as well - I have two that produce steadily - my oldest one has a fungal infection, so might have to cut it way back again, or remove it entirely?  I keep hoping that one of the new ones will be a red pawpaw.
Once I have cleared the vine away though I had a bare spot where the birdbath is.  There are  a couple of cannas there, but I keep thinking I need something with a bit more coverage in this area - what do you think?  This photo is a bit dark - I took it before work, and I start work quite early!

After I took this photo I moved the patio lime and fig trees that I have in pots out here.  They will get plenty of sunlight and  room to grow.  For now though I will leave them in pots as I am not sure I could contain the size once in the ground.  It is a balancing act to use some of the neighbours garden features (such as the big trees at the back that make my garden seem bigger) and hide other features.  does anyone else do this?
I have heard that nutrients get washed out of the soil when we have massive amounts of rainfall,  and since I came back have watered with seaweed tea.  I am not so sure I want to add anything to the soil until the wet is really over, if it is just going to wash away.  I think foliar feeding with comfrey tea, and seaweed, is what the plants will get for now.   I do worry that my plants need more phosphorus as that is what is supposedly lacking in  tropical soils.  That would improve the fruiting and flowering in my garden.  I think a natural way to add it is chook poo, so I might look for some pellets.
For now though I think all that is needed is some trimming back of the more vigorous plants.

The amaryllis are continually flowering and volunteering more plants which I share with my neighbours and friends.

 This bromeliad flowers a lot during the wet season, so also adds a bit of colour.

I had the most amazing trip of a lifetime backpacking around Malaysia and Borneo with my two daughters - if you want to read a bit more about that do log onto my travel blog.   It is in three sections - see the link in the sidebar .....

Sweet smelling flowers hiding in my veggie patch!

While I was away there was plenty of rain and so things grew, .............and grew, but luckily all the mulch I had laid arrested the weed development to some extent.  The pigeon peas are going wild - I might cut some branches back to allow better access and also to release nitrogen into the soil.  The one to the left has the winged bean entangled in it so that wont be cut back for now.  Why do climbing vines insist of climbing where you don't want them to?  I also thought I might have some beans on that by now......mmm.  I have a suspicion that I have plenty of nitrogen - hence the green growth.  What I need is phosphorous to promote flowering and fruiting.  I can see some smelly chook poo in my future.

 The perennial bed is also very full and lush

The turmeric is flowering - I am so glad that I moved it out here into this bed where I can enjoy the flowers

and then my nose twitched, what a beautiful scent ..... these gorgeous flowers have appeared on what I thought was galangal!  No - that looks like a shell ginger flower - do I have the wrong plant, although don't get me wrong - I love shell ginger and in fact thought I had planted some amongst the flowers in the side garden.  Oh dear.  

 so I did some research and found out that in fact it is galangal - but what they call lesser galangal.

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/galangal.html

well I certainly am pleased about that - pretty flowers and still a tasty rhizome - I don't see what is any lesser in that!  A while back one of my readers, Desiree, said she had tasted a dish with lesser ginger in it - I wonder if this could have been what they were referring to.  Gosh I will have to grind up some of that root and make a couple of cups of tea - it looks as though it fixes all ailments :) 

I could have it in my lovely teacup that my daughter-in-law gave me. 

I am a favourite!

a
IIIII have had a really hard time getting back into blogging since my return from my holiday, and then today I found a message that the wonderful Missy has given me a Liebster award.  How lovely!

Just the catalyst that I needed.



                                             


Liebster is German for ‘favourite’. The Liebster Award is given to blogs with less than 200 followers. In accepting this award, the recipient must pass it on to 5 favourite up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers.
have singled out five blogs who I think deserve to be showcased
1.  http://laurarittenhouse.wordpress.com/
  Laura gardens in Sydney, and she comes from America, and now lives in Sydney.   I come from South Africa, but via America.  She tries to grow lots of veggies, and like me battles to get her fair share after the bandicoots and possums have had more than they should.   She just had a long holiday in Germany, and I had a holiday in Malaysia.

2.   http://solituderising.blogspot.com.au/
 He lives in Utah, but his garden is miles away, in the Philipines - what an ambitious project!   He e-mails his mom with projects and ideas, and then sends funds for her to implement them!  Sometimes things don't go exactly as planned, and sometimes they work out very well - recently he purchased a huge stone carving of the good shepherd which now resides on a hilltop overlooking his parents sheep as they graze in the field below.

3. http://cazabella33.blogspot.com.au/
 The name of this lovely blog is Serendipity, Raindrops and Roses.  Grannie lives in a rural town and she and her husband deliver the mail - "posties" as they are called here.   Her 89 year old mother lives with them, and enjoys the outings every day on the mail run. Grannie has a heart of gold, she is always doing something for others - and inspires me to do some of the same, although I must admit I fall far short.

4. http://thelittleblackcowblog.blogspot.com.au/ 
One of my dreams has always been to run a B&B and through this blog I can imagine myself a part of the farmstay they are just setting up.   She has also written a children's book  which sounds as though it will be fun to read.   I enjoy reading about their farming antics.

5. http://jardim-mel.blogspot.com.au/
Zelia lives in Rio de Janiero, and many, many years ago we sailed into that beautiful harbor and spent a couple of wonderful weeks there.  She manages to grow the most beautiful orchids, and I keep hoping some of her green thumb will rub off on me!    I also just find it wonderful to press the translate button and be able to read blogs written in another language.

I hope you enjoy checking out some wonderful blogs, and now I have no excuse, I am back to blogging regularly.

Note: one of the reasons I have not jumped back into blogging is that my templates started going all wrong, and now I can't insert a link... grr.  so sorry, you might have to copy and paste the links.
Is anyone else having trouble with blogger lately?  I think Google+ is creating problems, but then again maybe it is just me :)  I know I should do things like save templates, and learn things more thoroughly before barreling ahead.... but I just don't.
Ok finished venting.
It does feel good to be back blogging again though even if it is not perfect..