(I Never Promised You) A Rose Garden
Sep06

(I Never Promised You) A Rose Garden

The most accidental sub-project of the front yard so far. End of season bargains found on some roses while shopping for plants online proved irresistible, so while I had no intention of doing anything ‘rosy’, I suddenly found myself with five different roses that needed a home. So I thought I would need to perhaps make a dedicated extra small garden bed for them. But I couldn’t decide on an ideal location for it. At...

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Kangaroo Paws For Thought
Sep02

Kangaroo Paws For Thought

I got a couple of tubestock/starter sized Kangaroo Paws a couple of weeks ago. By the time they got into the ground, they were rather wilty, but have since picked up, although still not looking exactly healthy. Then yesterday at Woolworths I found some much larger plants (close to full-size as it turns out since these are ‘mini’ cultivars that grow to around 50cm). They were priced at $9.99 with a further 20% off for just...

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Fatsias for Foliage
Sep01

Fatsias for Foliage

I read that the Fatsia plant (also called Japanese Aralia) is great for foliage and suited to tropical themed gardens, plus also a fast grower. So when I saw some cheap I ordered a couple. To my happy surprise, they arrived in pots instead of the bare-rooted state that most mail-order plants come in. This also allowed them to arrive quite large. Like everything in my gardens they will be an ongoing experiment. You can apparently keep...

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Spring’s First Seed Plantings
Aug31

Spring’s First Seed Plantings

With Spring only a day away (or already here by some 9 days or so if you go based on the Solstice dates as I always figured you should), it must be time to get some more seeds in. Today I planted some Cucumbers (2 types) and some Sweet Corn. Those should be no problem. Perhaps more interesting, I broke out some old seeds I’ve had for a few years, so which may no longer be viable. This included Australian Baobab Tree, Cheddar...

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Spuds Away!
Aug30

Spuds Away!

I’ve been impatiently waiting for the chitting to work on the spuds and decide today it would have to do (to plant the first batch – I plan to stagger planting in three parts and hopefully spread the harvest time accordingly). Guided by Helen Razer’s excellent article/tutorial (http://bit.ly/helen_spuds),  I’ve used certified seed spuds, six to a planter bag, and my own mixture of light and fluffy growing media...

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