July 2017 Blog Posts (13)

I was doing so well!  I had committed to doing one per fortnight and I think I managed that for about a year.  Now, slowly but surely, life is creeping in the way and I'm not getting much in the way of blogging done.   I feel like I'm not doing much in the way of gardening either, but that's not completely true.  As usual, I've got another "project" or two underway so my vegie patch is getting ignored cause there is only so many hours available on the weekend and when your morning is taken…

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During my week long stay in Alice Springs I have gone from sceptic to admirer of this area. The town is friendly, artistic and vibrant with a real community feel and all the amenities you could want.  

Population in 2017 approximately 29,000 (Bureau of Statistics).

In summer average temperatures range from 20 - 35°C and can soar to around 40°C. January is the wettest month with around 40mm (1.5") of rainfall, however the climate is considered dry and…

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June 2017 Harvest

- 2 baby pawpaws (+1 sacrificed to possums)

- 4kg sweet potato (purple inside, pink/white, white/white)

- 3 cos lettuce

- 11 chokos

- 200g red bell peppers

- 400g purple eggplant

- 400g red eggplant

- handful madagascar beans

- 2 spring onions

- 2 baby carrots

- 5 passionfruit

- 3 french beans

- 2 radish

- 9 sourdough loaves (including 2 fruit nut loaves)



The cold… Continue

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This is the most incredible park - like a combination of Australia Zoo and the best native botanic garden rolled into one. We stopped and chatted with one of the horticulturalists doing some new planting and it was mind boggling the amount of planning that goes into each "region" of plantings.

Lots of…

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You can't visit Alice Springs without going to visit the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. I searched for information about any guided tours through the garden and couldn't find anything and asking at the gardens came up with pretty much the same answund on the gardens…

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I have to pinch myself. I'm here in the dead centre of Australia (visiting my daughter, who works and lives here) and it turns out it's not so dead. In fact Alice Springs boasts the most productive and attractive community garden I personally have seen. Semi-retired dentist Bruce is a keen volunteer and agreed to meet me at the gardens for a tour.

Bruce tells me his own garden at home is also lush and thriving (I have an invitation to come visit and I hope I can fit…

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My Palagonite experiment

 

You may remember that I planted out two identical "Rouge De Marmande" seedlings, each in a wheelie bin with identical growing mixes, except that in 1of the bins I mixed in an amount of Palagonite mineral powder as well.

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One of the kids across the road, young Andrew aged about 9, watched me put the vege patch on the footpath.  He advised me that people would steal the veges.  He was very happy when I told him that I wanted them to take them.  "You can't steal it, if I've already given it to you."  

I've been trying to space my planting out there so that there won't be sudden feast followed by months of famine (inspired by a recent tomato debacle in my yard).  Young Andrew decided that I wasn't…

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I was outback and the garden was looking so good I thought I'd capture the moment.

As you can see, I'm growing sticks too -- cuts from mulberry bushes. I use the sticks to mark where I plant seedlings and to later deploy them to raise up climbers or ramblers.'Tis an African habit.The red berets are the latest design change to my terracotta clay pots.More pots are…

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There's been some good info in the photograph comments so to keep the topic handy for future reference, I've pasted the comments into a separate post.

Andy asked what I am going to do with the cut Vetiver ...

'Short-term stockpile for mulch. I had thought of trying Ruth Stout's system of using hay, substituting the Vetiver I have for the hay I don't have. I will never be able to grow enough Vetiver to make enough hay! So I'm back to just mulching with the Vetiver and it…

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has anyone ever grown or eaten Atherton almond -  relative of the macadamia - a native - Athertonia diversifolia, commonly known as Atherton Oak, is a small to medium-sized rainforest tree of the family Proteaceae found in northern Queensland, Australia.