Spring gardening for 2013

Spring gardening a photo by margoc on Flickr.

Well, I can't recall a springy-er Spring than this one for some time - Perth is actually having a proper Spring! Lots of rain, warm days and nights, with the odd cold snap in between (well, by Perth standards at least). It's been simply lovely in fact!

So, apart from our renovations and the ongoing mess that it creates, we have still managed something of a vegie patch.

Today, Alfie wanted to plant some Beans, so we used 5 big pots (which recently housed our snow peas) to plant some Dwarf Beans and we scattered some in amongst the tomatoes and flowers (i.e. the top side of the photo here). He was quite chuffed I think.

I picked up some cheap Cosmos and Cornflower seedlings last weekend at the local nursery for some colour and insect attracting goodness. The Cosmos is already about to burst into flower.

At the same time, I found some Chocolate Capsicums, a Diggers Club variety which are small and sweet. Can't wait to try them! (Neither can Clancy who is the chocoholic in the family!).

The potted garden is looking fresh after much rain and the recent sunshine too. I've dosed up some of the larger pots like the olives, citrus and ficus with extra compost and some old sheep and cow manure. They also get a dose of worm juice too, as our worms are doing really well after being devastated following the hot Summer at at the start of the year.

And finally, Clancy's lettuce seeds have taken as well - she has a planter full of them (a mix batch) which will serve her well for her salad making adventures.

What a perfect Spring!

Capers (capparis spinosa)

Picked up some more compost and manure today and found a caper bush.
Love capers but don't know much about them as a plant. I didn't realise there were native Australian varieties as well, but called a wild orange (or pomegranate).

 

Capparis spinosa
Caper. Wiki Commons

There's an organic producer based in South Australia that is doing some nice capers, plus the caper berries and also the leaves (check out their range) - yum!

Be interesting to see how capers go in the Perth humidity. At least they require little water (once established anyhow) and a bit of compost love every so often. Now to find a nice spot in the backyard for it.

Will keep you posted!

Happy gardening!

Big Bopper is flowering!

Big Bopper flowering a photo by margoc on Flickr.

We are very excited to see our Big Bopper passionfruit in flower! Since planting it in September, we've eagerly awaited its growth and seeing flowers in full burst is simply wonderful!

Of course, we hope there are fruit to follow!

Stay tuned and happy gardening!

Zucchini problem

Zucchini problem a photo by margoc on Flickr.

Our zucchini is suffering (poor thing!). Not sure why, so seeking ideas. It's watered every day but was a bit neglected as a seedling.

What could be drying out the small fruit? They get to about 1 inch long then shrivel up!

Help!

Visual plants and ancient trees

We recently had a verge-side "bring out your dead" day whereby residents drop all and sundry on the footpath to be collected by the council for recycling or dumping (imagine old fridges, tree cuttings, items from yesteryear - that sort of thing). Leading up to the pick-up day itself, neighbours (and visitors) can be watched crawling along the street looking intently at the piles for that little (or big) treasure! It confirms the old adage "one person's trash is another person's treasure!"

I'll admit to some kerb crawling (said tongue-in-cheek!) myself and picked up some big pots and the top of a wheelbarrow to use as a succulent garden. I like the effect!



I've always been a fan of the succulent family for their ability to survive on very little attention only to grace you with a lovely show of delicate flowers! Here I've planted some Aloe (has a flower stem that grows from the centre of the plant up to about 50cm with a red poker-like flower); a red jade tree (at least I think it is); and Aeoniums, together with some yellow African Daisies (also hardy). I had some small zygocactus pieces that had struck out roots so popped them in as well (see in foreground of photos).

With Summer just around the corner, this little garden should be settled in enough to cope with the heat... ...but we will see!

A side note: Simon's aunty gave us a Ginkgo tree - these are simply lovely trees and from what I've read (as I know little about them) they are quite ancient and grow quite large to about 50 metres. Long thought of as a sought-after medicinal plant in Chinese and Japanese cultures, it has many healing properties. We'll be keeping ours in a pot and will admire its delicate fan-like foliage which turns bright yellow in Autumn.



Happy gardening!