Girliness

So didn't I have a lovely day the other day.

Something for the little guy

So we splurged on the little one last night and bought him a bike! A Strider Running Bike.
Even if he doesn't think it rocks, we do!


How cool is the little lad on the left - even has a tattoo!



Herb garden and other things

Well a while ago I mentioned that we were putting in a herb garden. Well we did and it's been going great guns. Not going great guns, however, has been our internet service, which went down for over two weeks! No internet makes me a bit edgy.

The herbs are in and going well and we've already saved a lot of money not having to buy them in bunches from the shop anymore.

We have dill, parsley (curly and italian flat leaf), basil, coriander, thyme, sage, oregano, common mint, and lemon thyme.  Not all of these are planted in tubs, Some grow in patches around the garden. The lemon thyme has gone nuts all over the place and we intend having it grow alongside a lot of our paths through the garden as we don't use it much at all but it smells lovely when you step on it. Bliss!

I think I also mentioned previously that our broad beans had grown really tall but had not produced anything at all. Well, things changed (almost over night!). One day there were a whole lot of flowers that had been there for ages, the next day they were weighed down with beans!

 

We tried them when they were young and a bit small (about 8-10cm long)but they were quite astringent and a bit perfumy. We left them for a few more days to let them grow a bit bigger and then tried them again - much better. They'd lost the intensity and had become much more mellow. 

So we picked, and picked, and picked. And got a whole washing basket full! Shelling took ages, but now our freezer has many little zip lock bags with broad beans.

We also made a big decision the other day (despite planning otherwise since we bought the place) to move all our vegetables down the block.  We had previously had several smaller plots on the southern side of the house and these worked well in summer, but in winter a couple were shaded by the house and really didn't get enough sun to make them worthwhile.  The area also had the tendency to look quite shabby and being so near the house it made the place look a mess.  We had already organised one Super Bed down the bottom of the block, so why not add another?

The first Super Bed with Mark's grandfather's old Briggs and Stratton Rotary Hoe

So a couple of weekends ago we built another bed of equal size next to this one. Pics to follow.

While on the subject of the block, things grow like crazy here in spring, the sun comes out for the first time in what can feel like years and there's still plenty of moisture in the earth.  The weeds, the grass, and the seeds from pea straw previously used for mulching so nuts! 

So much so that as soon as the weather warmed up quite quickly we were left with quite a tall problem - nothing a full day with a whipper-snipper couldn't fix...

Hard to see here but this is at least a metre tall!

Finally, we've planted some seeds out for vegetables. I feel like we've missed the boat with the timing but keep reminding myself that our winter dragged on for ages this year.  So hopefully we're ok. 

  

We've got: gem squash (delicious South African squash like a sweet round zucchini), elephant leeks, mini white cucumbers, jack be little pumpkins, mixed heirloom capsicums, cayenne chillies, hellfire mix chillies, jalapeno chilllies, black krim tomatoes, spring onions, lettuce, zucchini, random heirloom variety tomatoes, eggplants. 

So far all have come up except the chillies, capsicum and the tomatoes (save a few poor excuses for seedlings). 

And Mark's pet project 'Operation Japanese Maple' is going swimmingly.  After stratifying the seeds in the back of the fridge for months (where I kept going to open the jar they were in thinking it was chili paste for tom yum) they have germinated and are on their way!

ok ok ok

So it's been a while. The other half has a new job, and had to travel all of a sudden for his first 3 weeks. So I was left, literally, holding the baby.

And it rained! And rained... and rained... so really not a lot got done.

It rained so much that one of our trees fell over.

But now the lovely weather is back (although it's still a bit cold at night time) and we can get stuck in.

Our task today is to put a herb garden in. We want this near our kitchen so will put in a half wine barrel instead of in the ground. All things going according to plan - I should have picks to put up later.

I also went a bit nuts online ordering gardening supplies the other day (plants, seeds, tools, etc) so I need to get myself organised for when they arrive. Diggers and GardenExpress must love me!


I also mentioned in my first (and one and only) blog entry that I've begun a health kick. Well it's going swimmingly. I exercise 6 times a week (hence no time to blog too!) and eat well. It seems to be working. And mad me, I've now entered a fun run (5km) for next Sunday - eek!

A few other things happening in our garden:
Mark's path. From meager beginnings, it's really starting to take shape. Our plan is to have the path wind around the vegetable garden (the ones near the house) and also to go to the woodshed.

We've also had a few dormant veg patches for the winter. We worked out, the hard way, that we don't get a lot of sun in these patches in the winter. So it was ok for some things, lettuce, silverbeet, onions, but not so good for others. We put in broad beans (aquadulce - heirloom variety) for example and whilst they have grown into quite majestic plants (over 6 foot high now) the beans have only just started to form.

We also worked out that another patch, whilst fine during summer, flooded during the wet winters that we have here. So our garlic was under water for a fair bit of winter.

But then we had some lovely points to the wet weather. Our 'lush area' as we like to call it (the bit that gets hardly any sun and a lot of water throughout winter due to run off) was beautiful.

Right then. Off to do motherly things...

Our place

We have a lovely place in the Adelaide Hills.  And it's ours (well the bank's really). So for the first time in my life I've been able to begin a lifelong dream of having a vegetable garden that can sustain us.  Simple huh?


Ah, no.


So, we have just over half an acre and it's on a relatively steep (but terraced) block.  In the 18 months that we've been here we've done a fair bit of work in the garden and brought a lot of it under control - getting rid of years and years of ivy growth, digging up random water pipes (some still attached to the mains!!), building a woodshed, rebuilding two other sheds, chopping down about 10 dead old gum trees...

We've also put in six small vegetable garden beds and one huge one. More on that later.


Oh yes! And we've had a child.  He was born a few months after we moved in.  So that certainly held us (well me anyway) back for some time.  He's only just started walking recently and stopped putting everything in his mouth so he's a bit more garden friendly these days.


So this is where I start.  I'll back track along the way to go over what's been done thus far. The trials and tribulations of trying to get things to grow.  How not to do things.  How what looks simple in books, online, on tv, etc is not so simple.  And also, the wins - how some things just take off! 


Along with this I'm also trying to give myself an overhaul - so I can be self-sustainable for many years to come.  I've joined up for an online 12 week challenge (good eating, exercise, probably going to be hell but has good reviews). So along with all our adventures in the garden, I'll probably be working with an exhausted body... for a while at least!