Saving grace

Every time that I move my place of abode, and it has been fairly frequent in the last 15 years, I declaim in my over-the-top way, that I must have dirt. I need to be rooted. Where I am at the moment is fairly expensive (and getting moreso with each contract), but the size of the outside is nearly as big as the size of the inside, and this suits me just fine. Not only does it sustain the inner me, but it also enables me to play host for play-dates with my grand-daughter, Alannah.


There have been, and continue to be, so many wild'n'wooly things happening in my 'greater' life in the last 12 months, that my daughter and I have agreed that it is time to move onto the next phase. We have agreed to find housing that suits her young family, and includes me as well. We are giving ourselves this calendar year to sort it out, and to find a property. They are all horribly expensive, and there is a specific layout that we are after. We have found one, but it is on the market now and we are not ready to action anything just yet. What we do know is that neither of us want to be involved with residental care for me, if we can sort an alternative.

But it will have a garden, and she is more than happy, nay overjoyed, if I were to take that on as my own personal fiefdom!

Schizophrenic sans paranoia

My courtyard is bordering on the split personality: on the one hand, I want it to be productive; yet, on the other, I want it to provide sheer beauty, and tumbling variety. As you know, it is not large, although it is large in context. I cannot think of another apartment which has as much outdoor space as it has indoor space. That is one of the reasons I am paying a kings-ransom I suppose. And I hav just signed on for a two-year lease. But it is everything I could wish for. I need my feet on terra-firma. I like to think that my cat's have an outside available, even though the lazy blighters do not use in anything like as much as they should. Except for Cooper, who is making up for lost ground.

I was going to show you the black bins in which I am growing veggies. You can sort of see it in the shot showing the rhubarb and the capsicum. I need to keep the water AND the fertiliser up to these bins, as most veggies are gross feeders. I will learn from this year for next.

Next week I shall endeavour to show you a long shot, from above, to enable you to orient yourself. Today's shots were taken after the first wave of storm activity. In the first grouping we have Russian-Red tomatoes, then Black-Jack zucchinis. Below them, there is the rhubarb and the (red) capsicum on the left, and a couple of strawberries on the right. Don't know what sort of strawberries. Sorry.

In the second grouping we have Corn-flower blue Lobelias, together with a tumblng succulent. Beside them there is the staghorn and the fig, both of which are flourishing. The staghorn is particularly partial to diced banana skins. Following this are two shots of assorted succulents. I like succulents as they are easy to progagate making them cheap, and they can survive in small pots.

A year down the track

My, doesn't time fly! This time a year ago, I was signing a contract for this apartment and trying to not have it cost me too much to break another lease. Now look at it! Like a rumble in the jungle ...

Prehistoric

A friend gave me a couple of cuttings of this last Christmas, and it has grown like the dickens ... mmm ... wonder where that expression comes from.


She thinks it to be an Iris. I have googled Tall Bearded Iris and it is not one of those. The TBI is like a double bloom, hose-in-hose and this looks like a totally different kettle of fish.


It is gorgeous though. And like a creature from another world. If I can tomorrow, between the rain, I will get a photograph of the entire plant. I put it up on my outside table so that the 'fronds' can gracefully dangle. It had its first flush of blooms whilst I was away. Yet about a dozen more graced me with their presence overnight.

On yer marks

The arrival of Spring is a onestepforward onestepback process. The days are slowly getting warmer, but the winds are strill and bitter. I have trimmed, repotted, fertilised and weeded. All is ready. The African Violet on the sill beside my computer is a joy in waiting.


The avocado and the fig are filled with Thomas' 'green fuse'. Remember when the avocado was but a sluice of slime in a bottle?

And the olive trees are being their usual mediterranean selves: promising much, flaunting their fertility, but wisely producing much more than they need 'just in case'. Let's hope they all thrive during my absence in La Republique.

Assistance when 'wintering' the garden

Easter is late this year

If the Christmas Cactus has rounded edges to its segments, while the Easter Cactus has spikey edges to its segments, then this is an Easter Cactus. This is the first of many blooms that will open over the next couple of weeks.

Sellie

In March 2005, Sellie was born in the cabin of an abandoned table-top truck on a small landholding on the outskirts of Sydney. She came to me five weeks later.

At the age of five, she is slowing down, sleeping more, hunting less. As she ages, she is becoming more affectionate and hungry for my company. She sleeps here, in an A4 wicker tray, beside my keyboard.

Is there such a thing as an autumn equinox?

There is much growth in my garden at the moment, not frantic clambering growth at any cost, but a calm, mature segue into the cooler months.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

Another additon to my orchard

This Shepard Avocado was so delicious that I googled how to grow avocado in my climate and figuring I could manage that (I figure I can manage most things, so long as I change the rules!), I set about striking the seed. I found me a coffee jar, broke a bamboo stick in half, and using two pointy ends, set up a cradle across the lip of the jar so that the seed just sat in the water. I guess that was about the beginning of March.


I took it out of the water when I returned from down south, to be greeted by this long root covered in slime.Figuring that to be for the good, I stuck it in a good friable soil, watered it, and proceded to sit back and watch it grow.

So, now I have an avocado, a fig, a lemon, a lime, two olive trees, and herbs (basil, oregano, parsley and mint).

Goodo ...

Getting pickled

Taking one's eye off the ball is never a good move, and leads to one's olives shrivelling. Never mind, shall still go through the pickling procedure so that I am ready for a bumper crop next year and have the gear and the procedure down pat.

Aunty provided this "recipe" which is probably as good as any.

Another step forward ...

My second purchase on e-Bay was this Eames retro-style Danish 3 seater sofa with timber frame from a seller in the Blue Mountains. Recovering is a consideration, to enable this sofa to match my existing two single sofas. It's only money.