I've been very lucky to have enjoyed the past few weeks away from work to spend time at home with the Sonofaguns, the weather and the garden.
Our tomatoes are producing quite well. The Diggers Heritage breeds do much better than the standard ones.
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| Tomato 'Black Cherry' (and a few blackberries) |
And this Lebanese zucchini (also from Diggers Seeds co) is pumping out heaps of produce.
The strawberries are growing in a large patch but despite bird netting, the cheeky buggers are still finding their way in the devour most of our delicious strawberries! Any leftover strawberry carcasses go straight to the guinea pigs!
I absolutely love my blackberry plant. The real fight here has been with the weather.We have had an occasional horrid hot day where the temperature flies up over 40c and a hot wind blasts through turning almost ripe fruit into desiccated lumps.
At some point the Bear threw some seed potatoes in. I kind of ignored them. They didn't seem to do much apart from a bit of green above ground. But the other day he did a bit of prodding around in the soil and filled a bowl with these wonderous treasures!
The Mariposa Plum tree put on a lovely show of flowers in Spring followed by a profusion of baby plums. But most of them dropped off leaving just 3 to keep growing. Every couple of days I would check to see if they were still there. I watched them grow.
And grew they did! A few days ago I finally thought, "YES! It's plum picking time!" Which would last only a few seconds because there was only 3 but it would be 3 GLORIOUS SECONDS of PLUM PICKING!
Some little bastard bird had already destroyed one plum leaving the mashed remains on the ground. The other 2 looked ok.
I picked them and discovered to my horror that little bastard bird had a go at both remaining plums on the other side!
Now I know it sounds a bit gross but I cut them up anyway, threw away the picked at bits and we sampled the 'good' leftover bits. They were delicious and sweet!
Our pergola outside is now mostly finished. It's lovely out there now. The Bear found a 2nd hand projector and screen as well as a proper pool table. I been reliving a youth well spent in pubs playing games of pool, and curling up on cushion filled chairs watching movies on the big screen.
I have been making Amazona Parrots, Stevie Birds and Pearly Hummingbirds using the Scheepjes Catona which I was gifted for Christmas. They are much larger than the originals but look gorgeous in the bright variety of colours!
This morning I took a little drive with a very dear friend and her daughter to The Garden at St Erth in Blackwood, just 55 mins out of Melbourne.
Would you like to come for a little walk with us?
This beautiful Clematis was near the cafe where we had coffee, Elderflower Sodas and scones.
I love this gate made out of garden tools.
Lots of New Holland Honeyeaters and this pretty Eastern Spinebill drank nectar from the flowers.
I loved this beautiful Copper Beech tree. It wasn't as 'coppery' as you expect.
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| A magnificent Copper Beech |
Check out the bark!
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| Tromboncino squash |
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| Too. Much. Pollen. Can't. FLY! |
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| Hellebores growing under apple, pear and quince trees. |
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| Lichen on the apple and pear trees |
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| Apparently these are a type of sunflower! |
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| If you know what these are, let me know. They didn't have a label... |
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| Echinacea |
So that's what I've been up to lately. What's been happening in your part of the world?
Louise
Red Haired Amazona
The strawberries are growing in a large patch but despite bird netting, the cheeky buggers are still finding their way in the devour most of our delicious strawberries! Any leftover strawberry carcasses go straight to the guinea pigs!
I absolutely love my blackberry plant. The real fight here has been with the weather.We have had an occasional horrid hot day where the temperature flies up over 40c and a hot wind blasts through turning almost ripe fruit into desiccated lumps.
At some point the Bear threw some seed potatoes in. I kind of ignored them. They didn't seem to do much apart from a bit of green above ground. But the other day he did a bit of prodding around in the soil and filled a bowl with these wonderous treasures!
The Mariposa Plum tree put on a lovely show of flowers in Spring followed by a profusion of baby plums. But most of them dropped off leaving just 3 to keep growing. Every couple of days I would check to see if they were still there. I watched them grow.
I picked them and discovered to my horror that little bastard bird had a go at both remaining plums on the other side!
Now I know it sounds a bit gross but I cut them up anyway, threw away the picked at bits and we sampled the 'good' leftover bits. They were delicious and sweet! 
Our pergola outside is now mostly finished. It's lovely out there now. The Bear found a 2nd hand projector and screen as well as a proper pool table. I been reliving a youth well spent in pubs playing games of pool, and curling up on cushion filled chairs watching movies on the big screen.
I have been making Amazona Parrots, Stevie Birds and Pearly Hummingbirds using the Scheepjes Catona which I was gifted for Christmas. They are much larger than the originals but look gorgeous in the bright variety of colours!
This morning I took a little drive with a very dear friend and her daughter to The Garden at St Erth in Blackwood, just 55 mins out of Melbourne. 
Would you like to come for a little walk with us?
This beautiful Clematis was near the cafe where we had coffee, Elderflower Sodas and scones.
I love this gate made out of garden tools.
Lots of New Holland Honeyeaters and this pretty Eastern Spinebill drank nectar from the flowers.
Check out the bark!
It was fun to see the midsummer in your half of the world. Loved seeing your fruit and veg, yum. And bravo on all the pretty tropical birds you've created. What a talent you have! Here, it's cold and foggy but we're cheery by the fire and I'm enjoying a new puppy (see post tomorrow) and crocheting on my Sweet Pea blanket.
ReplyDelete((hugs)), Teresa :-)
It's snowing here! Absolutely freezing - thinking of hibernating..... so wish I was back in Oz even with the 40 degree heat!
ReplyDelete