Hi Em you must try a rose so easy to grow well they are for me and some of the most beautiful flowers with such a huge variety of colours.
I am just listening at all the amazing birds outside my bedroom window on my garden all seem happy this morning.
Happy gardening,
Mark.

Hey Everyone!

Great rose mark!!!

I uploaded a pic of the pink roses I have - Hopefully it gets approved haha. They are beautiful.

They seem to be going well, I have to repot a few of them but they should be ok for now.

The only thing Im a little concerned with is the amount of sunlight they are getting. I live in a ground floor apartment with 2 little patio areas and they only get about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight per day. I'm pretty confident they should be ok. I am very happy with them!

Im growing cherry tomatoes too! I picked my first ripe one last night!

theres something very fulfilling about watching things grow?

Hello you beautiful people!

Oh the sun is shining and my heart is crying- it doesn't seem right. I should have been crying while it was raining!

Em, my daughter hasn't acknowledged me...yet...but she did talk to T about her wedding, and said she'll organise something with nan (my mum) to get her there. So, well, it doesn't look hopeful really that I'll be seeing my eldest get married. And hence my breaking heart. But I will not give up! I'm not sure, but maybe my letter (and T's bday card) had something to do with her organising a catch up with T. Thing is, it could be next week and no one in my family would tell me.

Oh the antics of chooks! I might go and visit them Watching them busy around is so good for my soul.

I haven't worked for awhile, and am hopelessly unprofessional/(creative and messy) at the best of times, so have decided on a full frontal approach when I go job hunting in the new year. Can't quite face it yet- it's been a big year! Having no experience in the field makes it difficult so I'll need to be extra determined and resilient. I'm really super nervous actually. Yikes!

LOVING the sound of the arts and craft circle! I shall hunt for it later. Good on you!

Mark do you find that roses need lots of light? I have mine in the only full sun on our block, and it thrives. I'd love to move it and replace with screening natives, but I want to keep it as it's got such a lovely smell. Having it near where I sit would be lovely. At the moment I pass it on my way in and out, so that's pretty good.

Oregano is really resilient, I really must try planting it somewhere else. If it's not too late! I didn't know they didn't like too much sun- I guess mine is a bit shaded in the afternoon. Not much tho.
Em, that is so sad about your machines. He is lucky to be alive by the sounds of it. What a jerk! He should be locked up. Cruelty to ppl, as well as useful objects. I'm guessing he was cruel to animals also 🤬 More on your "sewing thread' lol!

I made a wreath for our front door with vines I cut in the local bush, and gumnuts a friend collected, and beautiful gumleaves and red leucadrendron- which are an african native but are so at home here they're often regarded as Aussie. I'm quite impressed with how it turned out, and it smells fabulous when walking past.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

J*

Hey Gambit- Oh your post reminded me of my time in the city in an apartment! So fulfilling to have growing things in a concrete jungle.

Our fave thing to do after a big nite was to cruise around the nursery. I still love that experience. So calming and joyful, and there's always something to buy within the budget. cool and refreshing too, mostly. All that water being sprayed about.

I wonder if you can sometimes take your roses out with you in the sun! I had a mental pic of you sitting on a park bench, while you both get a daily hit of Vit D lol! I'll be interested in what Mark says about sun and roses.

So happy for you and your lucky plants!

J*

Hi Jstar and Gambit roses need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.I have some that have full sun all day and some only get sunlight.They are all doing well.I think they will be ok if they are not and a really shady spot .Then they can be prone to pest and diseases like black spot and aphids .They love manure and organic material in the soil with good drainage .
I must go and cook a roast duck and vegies for my kids Christmas dinner today.
Happy gardening,
Mark.

I am wondering what gardening presents everyone is going to get.I already got some dwarf bean seeds which is great as I need a legume crop in my empty bed to fix nitrogen in the soil.I also got a cute little pot
Happy gardening,
Mark.

Matchy69 said:Hi Em you must try a rose so easy to grow well they are for me and some of the most beautiful flowers with such a huge variety of colours.
I am just listening at all the amazing birds outside my bedroom window on my garden all seem happy this morning.
Happy gardening,
Mark.

Awww that sound is wonderful!

I'm enjoying the sounds of Summer here, cicadas in the bush nearby and frogs in my back garden!

I was saw some large birds swooping in my back yard late at night over a few nights and I'm not sure if they're eagles or hawks.
BUT they seemed to be catching mice or rats across the different neighbour's properties.

I was thinking about how maybe you could attract predator birds including kookaburras to your garden to CATCH those mice?

Lol... hope something natural works for you soon!

EMxxxx

Hey Gambit! OH YES! There is most DEFINITELY healing in watching things grow!

YOU BEAUTY! Don't you just LOVE seeing those gorgeous leaves sprout up and call to papa?
Lol or mama, whatever the case may be. 😂

I know 100% for sure that happening upon my gardening exploits / adventures healed my depression. The little d (I prefer not to give it much notoriety lol) tries to flood in every now and again but I've got my backpack of strategies to push it away now.

It absolutely includes turning to my plants, nature, my garden, the ocean, the sand, the earth.

Becoming "one" with nature and being in tune with the seasons is a rhythmic process that brings it's own health benefits.

So happy you're enjoying this journey and SHARING your joys with us!

EMxxxx

Hey J*

Remember the Serenity Prayer.

I often run myself ragged doing my best THEN bundle it up and give it to God.

There seems to have been progress somewhat with Daughter #2 being invited.... I'm very happy they were able to have time together.
We can be grateful!

Your wreath sounds AMAZING!
Maybe you can copy and paste that in to the Crafting Circle thread?

You'll be fine in your new career, remember we all suffer from "imposter syndrome" for a while.
But you've done the training, so watch out world!
I ALWAYS find that "dressing for job" helps me with that professional side (armour perhaps) to look the part.

I take the facade off when I get home lol! But it IS part of me, that professional side, so I embrace it also.

Oregano, yeah go for it!
Mine is near the most brutally HOTTEST part of our garden. Reflective heat off a long drive way UGH... cement retaining wall etc etc but the natives are growing over the top of her so she'll be fine.

Love EM

Hey Mark

Roses aren't happening any time soon in my garden I foresee...

MAYBE one day when I need to remove the huge conifers in my front garden, maybe then there'll be a place for them. And enough sun out the front for them to survive!

I LOVE white flowers like gardenias (and white roses) in the front garden because at twilight when I'm coming home, the white flowers light up and give off a natural guide to the front paths.
They GLOW.
Love that.

It's more of a European, French front courtyard garden. I made a Potager garden there once.

The back yard will be a Balinese styled garden with terraced areas to help me cope better with the slope into my coming years. Roses won't suit Balinese style down there.

I'll mainly be growing perennials like ginger, turmeric and huge leafy plants.

IF I can get a dog that keeps foxes away, then the chooks will return to their shed.
I want to grow any leafy greens and strawberry towers etc in a Permaculture green house next to the chook's shed. That's much later!

And then there's the developing Cabin's garden that tenants should probably maintain (lol tell her she's dreamin'! ) but I'm mostly concerned about installing lots of eco friendly systems in THAT garden, so it's all easier for tenants to manage. LOTS of separate composting systems. Some for Dog poo because I want to allow dogs. Others too.

I'm still dreaming of that time when all things are repaired, rebuilt and set up in the NEW ways I want them.... it's pretty exciting actually lol.

Love EM

Hi all,

Just thought I’d say I’m thinking of you all here especially when it’s such a difficult time for some.

Even those who read this and haven’t posted - I hope you find comfort in reading about plants and gardens (and gardeners) here. Sometimes just the sight or smell of a lovely flower or some beautiful foliage, or rich compost, can help our hearts I think. And it’s been lovely to connect with others here.

Lillylane

I gifted myself some strawberry plants! They have such beautiful pink flowers.

I was going to plant them in some old drawers but realised the bottoms of the drawers are chipboard so wouldn’t last long.

So I’m looking around for something else I can use for pots to put them in.

Hi Lilly Pilly!

You're so sweet saying that to those going through rough times, it's what brought us ALL here at some point!

Hey peeps just reading, WE MISS YOU! lol, come join us!

Don't you just LOVE the yummy smell of rich fresh, well rotted compost?
OH YEAH!

It smells like it's just rained. Gardening Australia comperes have said things like, couldn't you just curl up in it? LOL!

I got to pull out some HUGE weeds today and it was fun.

Your new strawberry plants sound so beautiful. Little pink flowers awwww. The drawers idea you had sounds great actually! Do you need borders or to plant them into containers?
Tbh the chipboard might help keep any grass and weeds OUT of the strawberry patch for a while anyway.

Pinterest has some great strawberry planter ideas. Bit of fussing and we have lots of unwanted building supplies in our garden to use.
I loved the "Strawberry Tower" idea I saw there.

I've also seen them being grown in old jeans! Old gum boots too lol... whatever flicks your switches. I once used my old leather gardening boots to plant in.

I hope the perfect containers come your way.

Btw it's STILL raining here, our garden is soaked.

EMxxxx

Hi all my gardening can wait I am feeling a bit flat today.Strwberry plants with pink flowers sound nice.Mine just have the normal white flowers on them and I planted a few different varieies for my son who loves them.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Hey Mark

How you doing now?

I rested alot today in between cleaning up. Had 2 naps!

LOVED IT.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking my dog for a walk to the Community Garden around the corner.

It's hard not having alot of veg growing in my garden atm, lol sound spoilt don't I?

But for many years I did. So I want to do a happy, replacement thing and utilise those veg growing in the CG.

I think I have nice things to gather from my garden. Probably a bowl full of cherry tomatoes and some lemons and limes. Not sure what else, guess I'll see tomorrow!

I plan on making an Asian soup for dinner tomorrow night with an array of veg found in all places including my fridge!

We have lots of leftover meats so I think I'll put some turkey in there to use it up.

An omelette for brekky with ham, tomatoes, spring onions and cheese thrown in. I only have 1 chicken laying an egg when she feels like it lol remember they're rescue (battery) hens, so were only taken in by us to give them a peaceful retirement. No pressure to lay eggs!
But we have plenty of eggs atm.

I can hear the frogs croaking in the fresh rain water they love.
A sweet sound to fall asleep to.

Nighty night everyone!

EMxxxx

Hi Em I have woken up that tired and I might manage a walk around the garden and and a lay day on the couch on front of the tv will be my day.

Hey Mark, rest up dear friend.

Do the kids come back to yours soon?

I can imagine they're always full of energy!

We have a clear blue sky for the first time in ages and it feels kind of strange lol.

My tanks are full!

The cicadas are singing happily.

My elephant ear plants have sprung back after being pecked away by the birds down to almost nothing.

My neighbour is using her electric lawn mower this morning quite early lol! It's not as noisy as the petrol powered ones but I can hear it getting bogged in the soggy soil, so she may give up soon.

I was thinking of buying an electric lawn mower, I can't stand the smell of spent petrol.
IDK I barely have any grass atm so don't really see the point just yet.
My whipper snipper does a good job of the tufts of grass here and there.

Does anyone have any plans for their garden to share?

I'm concentrating on gathering a prepping healthy food today.
So a dog walk to the Community Garden soon before it gets too hot.... just feeding the chickens atm.
And a shopping trip to get some bits and pieces including mozzie coils! They're HUGE and hungry lol.

I woke up suddenly about 2am and took my empty glass to the kitchen for more water, checked on the chooks and when I went back to the kitchen... OMG I saw THE hugest spider on my kitchen cupboard... it was as big as my spanned hand...

I felt physically ill at the thought of getting close to it which is not like me... I needed to stay calm, they seem to run away and hide when there's a carry on... I wedged opened the front doors,
got a long handled dust pan and it crawled on to it then as I predicted, began to crawl UP the handle....

Erghhhh it's long stripy, hairy legs moving quickly... I threw the whole thing in the front garden.

Can't see it this morning thank goodness.

Hope you all have a great day!
EMxxxx

Hi all,

It was almost cool outside yesterday. Did some much-needed weeding.

Glad to hear your tanks are full EM. Must be a good feeling.

I realised I have a couple of old laundry baskets I could plant the strawberry plants into, if I put holes in the bottom. I still need to get potting mix.

Hope you’re having a good rest Mark.

Someone a street up from us was having an all-night party last night. Usually I’m understanding of the season and all but this one had the heavy base going all night right up until 4am. So much more difficult to go back to sleep in the wee hours.

Sleep is so important. I find it hard to understand why you’d want to deprive anyone of it. Maybe they can sleep through anything and think others can too?

That was a bit of a rant sorry :p

Would love to hear what you find at the Community Gardens, EM. Hope your walk calms the nerves after seeing that spider.

I should look up when my local community garden opens/meets. It will probably give me the planting bug. I don’t have space for vege garden beds, so gradually collecting a few in a cluster of pots that I can easily maintain. I have some rocket and perpetual spinach so far.

Hey Lilly Pilly

Yeah very inconsiderate of those neighbours, ugh. Police here are pretty tough on all that lol.

We used to have that issue ALL the time in our streets but gratefully all those teens / rowdy ppl must have moved out lol!

I just play Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Silver Chair quite loud in the WAKING hours lol.
That mixed with my Christian radio station is my thing.

Oh I hope you'll find that your Community Garden is open 24/7!
We have 3 nearby and they are.

No one has to contribute to the garden work there to TAKE stuff either. Most of the time the volunteers grow heaps in their own gardens - then took their obsession into the Community to share lol.

It got too hot too quickly this morning for my prancing black poodle to be take out in that strong sunshine today, he can't cope with direct sunlight for too long. Maybe it'll cool down around 6pm, I'll see.

Love EM

Hey Em,

Serenity-Yes! I have that on my wall. It gets difficult sometimes knowing when to practice the courage bit, and when to invoke the wisdom lol! Nothing really seems to work atm tho so I guess the less said the better. Small steps and all that, which is how I feel about the two girls spending time together.

I'm feeling it today, just down and no motivation for anything. which is fine after christmas I guess. The garden deserves some love soon tho so I hope I bounce back quickly. I planted some new lettuce plants and weeded a smidge a couple days ago, so it's looking better. Not much in place for summer produce tho, and i miss not finding my dinner in the garden.

Whats everyone looking fwd to harvesting over summer?

Cheers,

J*

Hi Jstar I will be harvesting watermelons soon.Still plenty of egg plants.I have to plant my beans and get them in soon.I have been feeling flat to I think it's this time of year and not having much motivation.
Happy gardening,
Mark.

Hi Mark,

Yummy! You'll have to bring some to the cafe when you harvest ;)

Yes, best to just accept the flat times I guess. Not so sure the roller coaster is better anyway!

Cheers,

J*

Hey BB gardeners

I have the FUNNIEST thing to report.

I only just realised that the male Brush Turkey who's been busy EMPTYING my leaf mould compost in the front garden, is using IT as a HUGE mound nest!

When I came home today to see he'd emptied it again, I decided to OBSERVE him instead of shooing him away and putting it all back in.

He worked for hours more, scratching piles around the chicken wired leaf mould.

So NOW i realise what the heck he's trying to achieve (omg sorry poor Turkey), I've decided to work with him not against him.

So I'll collect what he can't scratch back up there and put it AROUND the laf mould as I can see what he's trying to achieve.

He's ONLY trying to create a safe nest for his future baby's eggs. That's all.

We all want a safe place for our babies. Little darlings lol.

I guess he decided it was a pretty cool place to have his eggs hatch. Fresh water laid on, chicken's food all the time. HIGH up and wired off, so less chance of predators.

Smart thinking!

If he'd only been able to TELL Me his plans then I would have worked WITH him alot sooner!

Luckily he was so persistent, that I gave in lol.

Off to help Papa Turkey.

EMxxxx

Hi Em I use to have a brush turkey nest in my yard at my old house.He would scratch up all the leaves and anything he could find in it .The best part was when you would see the babies.They were so cute.

My friend has a brush turkey visiting- and raping!- her chooks. She gets so upset about it as she says its very hard to watch and def looks like it's hurting the smaller chickens. They're attracted by the easy food.

Nice to read some positive things about them. I always used to think they were a bit special.

Cheers,

J*

Hey Mark & J* and a wave to others reading,

The little baby Brush Turkeys are adorable, like tiny fluff balls lol.

These birds are one of the least researched in Australia, surprisingly.
But I do know that once the female lays the eggs, she's outta there!
The male is then the custodian of the huge mound nest.

But once the babies are born, they're completely on their own. No parents to care for them.

In our densely populated area, it's miraculous they've learnt to adapt but I'm sure they're numbers are hugely reduced because of us.

SO even though I've photographed up to 14 in my back yard at once, and they often fight on my roof top AND they do try to mate with my chickens and don't let them eat their food, sadly, they're only birds following their instincts for survival.

I can hardly blame them or call them evil lol, like I can some humans!

They do NOT understand boundaries!

I do encourage the babies, so then they grow up and I throw food out for them at any age over in another area etc.

I have a mixed relationship with them. I use a rake or broom to shoo them away in the morning for my chickens to eat huddled around my feet. But I sympathise with their plight for survival.

It can't be easy for them having humans encroach upon their land.

Dotted around our community are other people I've seen feeding them. We have a school at the end of our street and I volunteered there for many years in lots of ways, including helping them set up their huge food gardens. I've done this at about 10 school actually!
When the end of recess and lunch bells ring, the turkeys come out to the playgrounds to find whatever food scraps the children left around.

Then the bell rings and they scurry back to the bush nearby. Same routine every day that school's in.

So there's another use for my leaf mould that the Turkeys decided upon and not me.

I know what it feels like to struggle for survival to protect my babies, so I'd rather work with them than against them. That's me, others can do as they please.

I do see them as magnificent, proud and strong birds attempting to adapt to "us" living on their patch. Not the other way round lol.

EMxxxx

Hi everyone,

It's raining today.

My gardening efforts consist of dumping a bag of manure in the garden.In a couple months I will reap the rewards!

Yes Em the brush turkeys must be more visible as the bush becomes encroached upon. There's a few species surviving and thriving even in suburbia- the one I have the most mixed feelings about are the noisy minors. I know they're native, but I've seen them bully the tiny scarlet honeyeaters out of our bottlebrush, and it just feels unfair! At least the brush turkeys are native and it's our poor chooks who are the introduced species being competed with.

Similarly the 'bin chicken' or white ibis. well adapted to foraging for food from scraps/ composts and school playgrounds. Terrifies my chooks so they set up a raucous sqwarking until I come down to chase them away.

Someone said once that they were less worried about the loss of bird species ( and the inherent cruelty due to habitat loss) than they were about the cruelty to animals bred for human use, such as farmed pigs, chickens etc.

It made me stop and think about my priorities of what I care about.

I still try to provide as much habitat for struggling species tho. There's something about the loss of diversity which troubles me.

J*

Hi Jstar it's the reason I keep my 20 aceras of natural bushland so the wildlife and bird life have some natural habitat to live.We are building out more and more of our natural bushland and our native animals are trying to live in suburan and our natives are coming endangered.We need to share our gardens with our natives.

Hey everyone!

my roses are actually going pretty well so fair. The icebergs are definitely more hardy then the other 2.

Its been pretty hot here the last few days. been keeping up with the watering.

been thinking about my next gardening project - girlfriend reminds me were in a rental haha.

Hi all,

Absolutely Mark, and our verges and school yards and council plantings. Not just natives but an effort to provide habitat by using plants that combine well, eg to provide cover for small birds, to give perches for big birds (not all together of course, different focus in different areas)There's too much going and not enough effort made to replace, except where it's become a low maintenance option, as is the case with certain grasses.

I reckon every development needs to have a native park area set aside. It can also be recreational for humans, why not! we all need some wild space. Council complains about the cost of maintenance of course.

Gambit I love it that you're not being stopped by being in a rental....go for it! Gardening Australia has heaps of eps re renting and gardening. Have you seen that guy who has like a jungle inside his home?

He's fully serious about it! Not that he's renting, but there's no reason why not. It's all in pots.

Cheers,

J*

Sorry for my rant!