Time to put down the clippers

I love to prune.  I love this time of year when pruning is fun and it shows rewards quickly.  I pruned back our wisteria vine - hard - about two weeks ago.  It has sprung back beautifully and the flowers are going to be lovely.

The veggie garden is powering on.  Some lovely carrots which has been a nice change from the weird ones we produced several seasons ago (planet-carrot).  Just proves a bit of effort and TLC does work!

This is different wisteria vine, growing on one of the sheds and just coming into flower too.  It is a native wisteria which can be seen in another post (here) with photos taken later in September.  It is a nice vine to have, because although it has rambling growth, it does not lose leaves and creates a nice shady vine in summer.

Some nice jonquils have popped up.  Such a nice surprise when they do.  We planted some bulbs purchased on a visit to Armidale NSW.  As is it so much hotter here we weren't sure if they would take or not - but they they have just been getting better and better.  Not much scent at all last spring, but quite scented this time round.

However, enough garden talk.  Time to put down the clippers for a while.  Hubby & I are off on another grand adventure.  This time a fly/drive trip to South Australia.  Neither of us have been there before so it will all be new to us.  We have a few ideas of things to do, and a rental car waiting for us at airport, but no real plans.  This seems to work best for us, unplanned and spontaneous.

Transitioning to retirement is such a great phrase isn't it?  I sure my husband rolls that idea around in his head at least a few times a day, lately anyway. He has taken some long service leave, so we don't have a fixed return date, nor any return travel plans, but will be away at least 3 weeks.  I have to add that I am so much younger than him! 

A running joke in our household is that I used to tell our son when he was young my age minus about 10 years.... which was fine until he could do the maths.  Then in one conversation he overhead me saying that I was 5 years younger than my husband.  He piped up with 'well if you are 5 years younger, why is he 10 years older than you?? Oh well it worked for a while.....

Personally I am transitioning to being an empty nester.  Our son will be house and pet minding while we are away.  Although we will be in touch via phone/text (probably more then he would like) I'm finding it easier to think about him leaving home sometime in the near future - if we leave home first. Reverse psychology at play?

cheers for now
Wendy

Play on Words

Word of the day is Leaning


From a gardeners' journal ........

I am leaning toward thinking that this year has brought us the best crop of broccoli we have grown for a long time.

From a childs reading book (or maybe an adventure movie)

Look!  The clothes line is leaning!  See Wendy run (not pictured)

With apologies for my weird sense of humour.



cheers for now
Wendy

This Time of Year

Ahh.  The simple things in life.

a little gathering from the veggie garden, including a bouquet of greens.  Kale, silverbeet and parsley.

 Some lovely tomatoes at last.... it's been a while.

Flavour of the day - on rice biscuits with cottage cheese and avocado - with a sprinkle of salt and pepper!

 
a few small pumpkins which have been very sweet indeed.

My favourite (and it seems, only) flowers at the moment. Nasturtiums.

Then there is this......... the warmer weather means that carpet snakes think it must be time to make a move. Maybe a spot in the sun somewhere whilst deciding on dinner material.  Just stay away from my hens big fella!  

There is definitely merit in having the house safely screened (I hope)!!

Cheers for now
Wendy

When Life Sends You Chokos

and you are just a little tired of steamed, fried, grated, juiced, stir fried or baked choko.  When it seems as that the choko vine keeps churning them out at a rapid rate of knots.

Then they are easily disguised as apple and blueberry crumble!

I know that a lot of people have grown up only knowing a choko which has been firstly overboiled and then swamped in white sauce.  Not a good look (or taste).

In my opinion, there is nothing sweeter than a young choko quickly steamed and tossed in a little butter and pepper.

However, this is a good trick if incognito is required!  When the family gets just a little tired of the never ending green vegetable making an appearance at yet another meal.

I just made up some poached fruit - in this case sliced chokos and apples and added some frozen blueberries for a colour change!  For sweetness, just the usual dash of vanilla

and covered with some crumble, just some rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and a bit of cereal mix.

Who would have thought they started out like this - well I didn't add the beans.   The truth of the matter is the humble choko is really a bland flavour which will take on another influence very easily.

My little kitchen secret - and no one was any the wiser!  The trick is to slice the choko and the apple the same way and not too thickly - and the addition of quite a few blueberries or another berry.  Enjoy!

cheers for now
Wendy

In the garden - this/last week

I am a bit slow with this post.  I was all set to join in with Jacqui's dusty country road Friday link up.  I have found this to be a great incentive in taking photos around the yard, and a good way to keep track of what is happening too.  A bit of appreciation for what is around never goes astray either - I'm definitely guilty of that - particularly in summer when it all becomes a bit much.  Winter blues?  no way - I suffer from summer blues!

All photos (bar the top left) are the newly planted winter veggies in the now cleared shadehouse.  Planted are: tomato, capsicum, silverbeet, cauli, kale, broccoli, tomato, beans, snow peas, carrots, lettuce.  I think that's it.

The photo top left is a cape gooseberry bush - growing on the fence next to shadehouse.  It's the first big crop by the look of things.  We've tried this in the past without much success.  Love gooseberries!

Going clockwise - top left is our prolific passionfruit vine powering along on the front fence.  First time we've had success with the purple variety too.  We've had lots of the yellow ones in the past.

My first asparagus in the ermmm rose garden.  This garden is in our front driveway and has been firstly used as a herb garden, then I converted it to a rose garden - without too much success.  Although it gets lots of sun, it's also in the shade of a gum and the roses never really did well.  So this winter I plan to transplant the roses elsewhere and revert back to a herb/ish type garden.  The asparagus was planted there by my husband, not sure why he thought to put it in that particular spot!  However now that it is actually producing I guess I'll leave it there.

I took the photo of the chook pen before the mulberry tree lands on it!  I feel sure that it's going to topple soon, but in the meantime it has provided a lot of summer shade.  We have several mulberry trees, none have ever really produced prolifically, and to be honest I find them a bit of a pest.  I'm always hacking away at them and asking husband to chop them down next time the chainsaw has an outing.  So far he has declined.

The last photo is the remants of the outdoor sunflower patch.  More news on these next time, plus the lovely storm we enjoyed last night, with lots of rain - 55mm in 30 minutes.

Sorry Jacqui - hope to be back on track next week - I mean this week!

cheers for now
Wendy

In the garden - some rain at last

I'm linking in with Jacqui over at Dusty Country Road today.  I've been thinking of joining in the last few Fridays, but now at last I feel a bit more inspired.  We've had some rain, it's a little cooler (humidity stay away please) and I wandered about and took a few photos.

Wow - and my first mosiac too!  I've been aware that my photos have been looking a bit ordinary so I'm aiming to 'up the ante' wondering at the same time what that expression actually means.

So I stumbled upon reference to this site and managed to fumble my way around enough to make my first mosiac.  win win.

Back to the garden however!  Photos are as follow -

1&2 - Before and After sunflowers (see the sunflower experiment).  It's amazing what a brushcutter can do!
3&4 - Some rain in the gauge at last (only about 110mls over 2 days - not as much as some but more than we have had for a long time).  The humble start to this winter's veggie crops.  A rather hurried planting before the rains. Hopefully more time in the garden this weekend.
4&5 - Tamarillos powering on; our first coconuts!  We are in south east Queensland, in the sub-tropics so we weren't sure if this would ever fruit.

Thanks Jacqui for a bit of a push into appreciating the garden a bit more!  I hope to have more exciting photos next time of the progressing veggie garden.

cheers for now
Wendy

The Sunflower post I've been meaning to write

We have sunflowers aplenty in our veggie garden at the moment.

all part of a planned 'experiment' in improving the soil for the future planning of our winter vegetables.

The shadehouse was emptied of last season petty remnants.  A soil test followed and some missing minerals were added.   Husband rotary hoed it, then planted basically this mix.

Wild bird seed from the produce.  I had a 20kg bag already purchased for feeding the lorikeets.  I realise that feeding wild birds may be a contentious issue, but we do it sparingly (might not seem so with a 20kg bag I know).

Husband sneaked out a few kilos of it and hand sowed it straight into the freshly dug up soil.

before long it started to look like this

and the outside area had been planted up as well.  It was no surprise that this section took off more.

inside the shadehouse is now pretty crowded and it's difficult to get a good photo

however, outside is just blooming. There are other varieties growing as well - sorghum, maize, millet I think  - but obviously the sunflowers dominate.

The place is alive with bees at the moment. 

and  I've found that sunflowers last very well as cut flowers.

However, the sunflower garden is about to meet its' demise.  This weekend is scheduled as cut and plough time. The main purpose of this was to enrich the veggie garden as a green mulch.  I imagine the chooks will love getting in there once it's cut!  Lots of insects and goodies for the short time they will be allowed in.

It's been an interesting (bright and colourful) experience.  However I'm also looking forward to the winter veggie garden and all that it brings.  I haven't really enjoyed this summer - it's been way too hot!

I'm not really one for the garden in summer, so I haven't been outside much at all, but I have been doing some decluttering - which has to be a good thing.  To be honest I haven't had much enthusiasm for that either. Bring on the cooler weather here in SE Qld sometime soon please!!

cheers for now
Wendy

Not much in the garden at the moment .....

I made that comment in the last post, that nothing much was happening in the garden.  So now - the other extreme ............ photo overload.

This morning I went for a bit of a stroll with camera and took these snaps.  Have a look at our November semi-rural sub-tropical garden into which we have adapted a new garden design – I've dubbed it part permaculture and part lazy style.

Poor photo quality as usual, but it did make me appreciate what is going on all the time here.  In this place which I often think of as very ordinary, is possibly more appreciated on reflection.

Coffee trees in flower again.  Each time they are in flower I think – must do something with coffee beans one day ......

 

Shadehouse recently cleared and new plantings, mainly lettuce and tomato, beans.  Cannot take any credit, husband digs around in here when he has time.

 

This tamarillo tree going great guns, despite the crazy  lean-to.  Must prop it up or put on some sort of frame this weekend before it snaps and we lose the fruit.

Lots of brassicas – always do well with the broccoli.  Not so much success with cauli.  Some cabbages too do ok.

The flowering gum in the morning light.  Not so many parrots this morning now that they are taken most of the blossom.  Lots on the ground through.

Coconut palm (one off). 

Gardenia, agapanthus and lily.

My new batch of tomato seedlings.  I try not to visit the big 2 supermarkets very often, but I do like these little perino tomatoes, and the seed can't be bought.  It seems that Coles/Woolies have the monoply on them. So I thought I’d have a go at growing some on - straight from a single tomato.  Seems to be working a charm. Take that big 2!

That's about it - and btw for those interested - MRI showed clear (as anticipated).  ENT fellow said well done, come back in a year.  Tinnutis and blocked feel should be gone by then.  Thank you very much!

cheers for now Wendy

Monday veggie garden tally

 

 

 

 

Pretty average photos, but happy with the produce roll call - carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes and some small sweet potatoes and beetroot.

Things to look forward to include broccoli, cauliflower and corn.  Ongoing are more tomatoes, carrots, silverbeet, kale and lettuce.

Sweeeeweet!

cheers for now
Wendy 

muppy

I'm obviously a simple cook -your cooking is so adventurous!  Wonder what the secret to the cafe porridge is?