Wordless Wednesday

Garden update

Well, some things have continued to go down hill in my patch (As they do when your not fully green thumb certified)

The tomatoes, particularly the cherry Romas, have been badly effected by wilt. I have cropped back alot of the foliage & they are still producing both ripe fruits and new flowers amazing! However, I dont hold much hope for all the plants past another 4 weeks or so. Which makes me think, perhaps might grab a few big pots and start another few store bought seedlings for quick turn around

The cucumbers have had a tough time, after fighting off the powdery mildew with bi-card spray (Worked a treat!) I then forgot to water them on one of the hottest days and came home after a long days work to a very sad looking cucumber patch, I’m such a bad veggie mum and the patch lost half of its foliage. Then came the aphids... Goodness me! Any one else want to have a go at my cukes?! All be they to are still producing and look to be bouncing back with some new foliage and fruit, little troopers!

I have to date had 1 capsicum off my bigger plant, we had quite a few fruits set but all but 1 dropped off. After not having 1 flower set fruit for over 4 weeks, in the last week or so it has set 7 new baby caps, time will only tell if they hang around and grow. To be fair to them they are (as you might just be able to see them above) buried behind the tomatoes under a shade cloth, and now knowing they prefer a sunny spot I am lucky to get anything at all from them
I also have some mini bell capsicums but find these pretty useless and more ornamental more than anything, but cant help saving the seeds when I do pick one! What on earth am I going to do with hundreds of mini bell seeds?

Then we have some new additions to the garden, my $1 potted colour buys... I pick these up at my local markets, I cant help myself for $1 and often feel the need to 'rescue' them and give them a bigger home (Even if only just slightly bigger than the seedling pots they come in!)

Lots of Marigolds , Frost Fire Petunias, ?? Unsure but looks pretty, Succulent of some variety, and some birds eye Chillies

I also have new eggplant and pumpkin seedlings in a fairly new bed.... in VERY late but hoping to get something off them before the winter frosts. And a new Zucchini tub with seedlings just stating to emerge and get their first true leaves..... but more on those later.


This time next week I will be on the road heading North to spend a lovely 10days in sunny Coffs harbour. Its going to be so strange not to wonder around my garden everyday, I will miss my fresh herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers, I will everyday think and worry about it, but it will be so exciting to come home and see the change after 10days. I cant wait, both for holidays and to return!

My yellow thumb strikes again

My cucumbers are not going so well.... they have the dreaded powdery mildew fungus. I have just been milk spraying at the moment but with no luck. I was searching for home remedies as I dont like using chemicals at all, & the withholding periods really put me off..... All up I think we have had at least 40 or so cukes off my tiny bath tub cucumber patch in around 2 weeks, not a bad run I figured!

I had resorted myself to the fact the cukes would eventually succum and die off, to be honest I am blaming myself, having planted 15 or so seedlings into the bathtub patch (Yes, I now know better- do not over croud your cucurbits!)

However today another lovely gardener form the oz grow forums suggested a home made bi-carb remedy to me. I will try the bi-carb spray and see how they go- hopefully they can still be saved, fingers crossed!

I am also watching my new pumpkin seedlings with a very close eye, so if the bi-carb spray doesn’t save my cukes it may well come in handy to save the pumpkins!

The stow away that stayed a while

I found a little stow away in the Kitchen just over a week or so ago... a fat little green caterpillar that had made its way in on an unknown vessel..... I think it was maybe the potatoes that I bought?! or perhaps the lemons from my lovely neighbour... without sighting his boarding pass I will never know! He's a pic taken of the little guy who was being a wonderful model despite recoiling at the flash of the camera:

After a photo shoot, I placed my new friend (or Foe!) on the bench and put a glass over him so I could show my dear other half our stow away visitor when he got home and he took it as in invitation to stay a while, climbing the glass and building himself a little cocoon

After watching the cocoon twitch, get fat, striped and turn white... he emerged from his slumber yesterday morning- ready to say his farwell.

Unfortunately for him he didn’t make it back to the garden, but found a lovely new home, in the lizard tank and in turn the lizard had a lovely meal for dinner…. Ahh the circle of life. So, anyone one else want to come stay at my place soon? ;)

Starting from the start

So here I am, starting my very own gardening blog. More so for myself to look at while I am not able to be in my garden and track my own progress.

I Guess I should start at the start! Here goes:

My garden started some time around mid-end October 2009 with my OH deciding I was way too stressed (or in man land I was going to make his head explode if I didnt get off his back to finish the various 1/2 finished renovation work) and needed my own little haven. Having had a small courtyard type garden a couple of years before that I really loved but sadly had to leave behind when we moved, he was 100% right. And so the garden started off, pictured below a couple of weeks in with some store bought Tomatoes- Green Zebra, Tigerella, Principe Borghese, Tommy Toe, and a Roma Cherry of some sort, Capsicum- Big red, Cherry pick and mini bells along with lettuce and Snow pea seedlings

Plus some lebanese cucumber, globe radish and carrot seedlings- The first veggie seeds I had sown myself


It was exciting times! With the addition of a new 'bathtub' garden for the home grown cucumber, radish and carrot seedlings, the garden flourished and before I could blink looked somewhat like this:

Then came my first harvest, how satisfying! And now, im hooked!! And have slowly started to take claim my very small backyard back from the dog- digging new veggie bed after new veggie bed

.... so please come along and join me on my first vegetable gardening journey!