Dear Mark, your Birds of Paradise sound beautiful! I love them but some people don't, that's ok. I'm yet to decide where to plant some in my back yard BUT I WILL! I want to create an "Indonesian Style" feeling, being born in Asia, this is the most 'relaxing' feeling for me. I have fruit & nut trees. Veggie patches that I might pull down & re-use the sleepers for .... IDK terracing maybe. I intend on planting veg in all spare spaces amongst other plants ;-)
Tbh I can't stand buying plants lol. I will, but 99% of what I grow is from free sources. I give plants away ALL the time, plant them at work etc ;-)

A friend has AWESOME Birds of P and they are splitting her huge pots open. Many plants I get from the roadside, demolition sites, via social connections.

I LOVE propagating from older trees. I've had success with Figs. Ours grows lovely juicy fruit.

I love what you do Mark, dividing your plants, using a laundry tub! You have gorgeous memories associated with your plants. I have lots of family memories alongside gardening. I should share a study on plants I once read about.... later.

I've seen laundry tubs look SO super trendy as planters, spray painted glossy colours. I prefer patina looks, old, like unearthed treasure. If I ever see laundry tubs free lol... I'm DEFINITELY picking them up. I want to use them to create height behind other plantings in my Indy garden, later....

OMG YES! I had a friend who called our gardens "Spider motels" there were like 15 stories of webs above our heads lol! Love spiders. I name them inside our house! Frank or Francesca. The kids say "Mum Frank is getting too close to the kitchen table" and their friends say Who's Frank? hahaha
For my eldest daughter to leave our home at night, she asks Who's doing spider patrol? Someone has to go out with a long umbrella and circle in front of them down the path like a Knight with a sword lol.
Then the birds moved in and balanced things out. We still need Spider patrol for some people to enter & exit.

The lorikeets came onto my balcony out of the rain today. It's like these personalities know me, cheeky things. "Let's go to Mama's, she'll feed us". I had a big seed bell and put it on the back path so they would leave my balcony and eat noisily together. And they did.
I'm pretty stubborn, I don't 'feed' them until Autumn when the bush, and my garden, is running out of food.

I love your pic of your rose is it? On your name space. I aspire to be more like you :-)

EM

Hi Em,

I guess it helps to have a little ecosystem going on. Which is what your place sounds like. I am not too fond of Spiders. We had one that seemed to live in the letter box when I was a little girl. It was a huge brown and ugly one. Huntsman maybe?? Our milk was delivered into the letterbox. If it was my turn to get it. Well it was scary business. I would put my hand in there very quick like to grap hold of the plastic milk container. Then pull it out quick like too.

It sounds like there is a lot of happenings at your place too. I like the leaf mulch/compost idea with the picket stakes. Are they the metal looking stakes? Guessing you buy them from bunnings?

And you can have this bird of paradise plant of mine if you would like. Its huge. It is growing right near the front steps. It is very healthy looking.

Mmm yeah about the compost I have with the black ants. I did not put in any cardboard. Did not think too. Just has tons and tons of raw vegetable and fruit scrapes plus old compost that you get in a bag from the garden centre. Maybe it needs more carbon. I will see what I can do there.

I really like lorikeets. So cute that they know you like that.

I too am extremely inspired by you and your garden Mark. You really do seem to like being in it.

I also like the aluminium tag idea and the old laundry tub idea. I am guessing the tub is like a concrete looking one. I have seen one like that with herbs growing happily out of it. I liked the look of it. Not sure if I could buy one up around here though. And they look rather heavy. Maybe at a garage sale or something.

It's awesome how you grow all those vegetables. How do the eggplants grow? Like on vine?

Hi Em yes my profile picture is a standard rose with light pink flowers that is growing here.That one gets heaps of flowers and i have made rose petal jam out of them in the past.

I helped my elderly neighbour today in the garden.She had an old bbq and helped her shift it and make it into a planter.She is really into recycling to.She has chook house and is going to put quails in it now for something different.I remember my mother telling me she use to breed them when she was kid on the farm along with her chooks.

I have a fig here i got one good crop on it a couple of years ago.Last season it really struggled in the drought.I love figs and love making fig jam.

I use to make bird houses and bird feeders mostly out of recycled wood and galvanise iron.I use to sell them at the markets and a couple of craft shops along with my jams and a few other things i made.

Happy gardening everyone,

Mark.

Hi Shelll

Oh getting milk from a Spidery place as a child, not good for a healthy relationship with them lol. It may have been a Huntsman, yeah. Indigenous women here tell me that visits from a Huntsman is women's energy reminding you of your own and from Ancestors past.

So we think that when we get a visit and thank them :-)

Ok thanks! I'll take your Birds of Paradise lololol. I understand we can have a love / hate or either feeling towards anything growing in our garden.

Some people have looked at my huge section with weeds growing and said "you need to get rid of THEM".... well actually they're telling me a lot (yeah here we go again lol). Before, only HUGE lantana was growing there. Then I removed it. Then it was bare soil. I liken that to Mother Earth having exposed skin, not good. So when weeds grew I said YAY!!!

Oh I love the job that weeds do! They AERATE the soil with their lovely roots. They attract worms underground. They COVER the earth when nothing else will. They're GREEN so are working for our oxygen, cleaning the air.
And they put the most wonderful things back INTO my soil, enriching it more and more UNTIL the soil is healthy enough to sustain grass.

Believe it or not I like the job Lantana does too. But when it's time to go, it's time to get rid of it. I've probably removed around 400sqm of it now and have the scars to prove it lol! Only about 20sqm left. But unless something else grows there fast, I'll be facing it all over again. Thankyou weeds!

Compost: Yeah I would put wet newspaper torn in strips. But you can pull it all out and layer it in even layers. Anything like veg scraps is all nitrogen. Compost needs a 50/50 balance of carbon and nitrogen. Things that speed up the process can be grown in your garden like Comfrey and Arrowroot. I grow them nearby the composts and rip a bit off and throw it in the layers.
Plus there are hot and cold composts (amongst so many others). So sometimes I think yeah - a hot one this time, usually after Christmas when I have a ham bone/rind. I make 50/50 layers and once I sink the ham bone etc in the centre, I cover it all up with sheets of cardboard and wet it too. Then leave it for about 3 months, not turning.

Hope this makes sense!
EM

Hi Mark, ROSE PETAL JAM! lol if it doesn't move at your house, you make jam or pickles out of it, YOU ARE AMAZZZZZING lol. Oh and thank you for chiming in on the easy recipe thread! It's "cookin'" lol.

Ahhhh I think wistfully of your garden, the roses look beautiful. So does your rose petal jam taste like Turkish delight?

My daughter actually made a lavender and Earl Grey cake! She used her own lavender :-0
Secretly I was afraid she would poison someone lol but everyone survived.

I know Shelll is keen to grow herbs and I read your talk about eggplants. That made me think of heaps but do you do any companion planting ? I can't plant things without having the companions ready.

Mainly because sometimes we plant things together (or they just pop up and we can see how they react to each other)… and they are NOT friends. I have a prime example with healthy potato plants, popped up from my peelings wrapped in newspaper and buried. Then long lost chilli plants decided to grow there too! Just from me shovelling up dark soil and filling the pot up.

Wow did the Chillis win! I know what you're thinking Mark CHILLI JAM lol, have the lot. It's almost like the chilli USED up all the goodness the potato had and grew like nothing else, it's almost 1m tall! The potato died down ofcourse. I didn't bother digging up the potatoes because I wasn't sure if there had been some type of weird chemical reaction between them as potatoes can become quite toxic. So they are composting in the pot lol.

My PLANNED companions are when I plant out my blueberry bushes (yet to get them, and YES I shall buy them when Green Harvest decides to re-open). I want a fresh start for them. I've been preparing a closed garden bed for the right soil. But I've decided to plant strawberries (culled from Community gardens) and parsley underneath and around them to deter weeds and provide food for nature. These will be eaten by the birds but I'm hoping to intuit a good protection for the blueberry bushes, so we can have most of them.

I've got a long piece of PVC piping & want to drill circular holes along it in gradient sizes, largest at the end, so I can pour rainwater into one end and it waters along to the end. It's a very dry area and kind of under a high eave.

EM

Hi Shelll and everyone,

Leaf mould
You'll need:
4 metal star pickets - you can get these from Bunnings. Not cheap but can used lifelong.
Chicken wire is best or shade cloth if you have it is great too.
Cable ties.
A lump hammer to hammer the pickets in.

Directions:
Measure length of chicken wire because the pickets need to hammered at the right distances from each other.
IE if you have over 4m of chicken wire then the posts can be 1m apart.
Hammer posts in a square. 1m apart is ideal for maximum composting.
Decide which side of your design will be the "door" - easy access for removing awesome soil at the end.
Attach end of chicken wire to THAT first door post, with cable ties.
Wind chicken to next post and affix with cable ties, then next and so on.
At the handle side of the door side, you can use string or cable ties which will need to be cut at the end.
Put ANY amount of leaves inside this.
If the leaves are VERY dry, then water them a bit between layers. I've never had to do this, but it all depends on what's happening weather wise where you are.
Do not disturb or push down, just keep adding leaves.

We made one where I worked once and it was approx. 7m long and 2m wide lol. It was ENORMOUS!
There were so many leaves from so many varieties of trees and eucalypts too (:-0) which is not usually recommended, but we did it lol.
We cheated a bit and used a metal, boundary fence as one side. But this fence was on the UP side, so any excess moisture from rain drained away down into the mould and away down the hill to the vege beds.
Just leaves, leaves and more leaves for 6 months over Autumn / Winter, nothing else.
Seriously, NONE of thought this was going to work.

Come Spring we opened it up and had lots of workers to shovel out the thick, rich, black soil. So many of us jumped back when we thought there were snakes in the pile but they were WORMS. Much longer than our arms, it was incredible. This had attracted native worms and we were in shock.
But this is what the Australian Bush can do if left undisturbed. Our landscape has never been solely eucalypts until more recently. It's always been diverse.

Happy Moulding lol.

EM

I love gardening too, its gives me so much peace and joy to see things grow . I Had a garden for many years and so loved collecting new plants . A few years ago I moved interstate and currently live in a apartment so limited to things in pots and things that like shade so a bit tricky to find flowering plants that like shade. :( Through the last months when I have spent so much time on my own, I've realised just how much a garden means to me.

Sounds like you've got quite a challenge with your garden however what fun and joy you will have getting it right. Although a garden is like a painting never quite finished always to add or to do . Look forward to hearing what your planting and planning.

Hi Choko! Welcome to the gardening thread, it's great to have you here. Thankyou so much for posting.
It's a real compliment that your 1st is here! Awesome name btw CHOKO! I love chokos.

I hope you get a lot out of the BB forums :-))

I agree, a garden of any size can be SUCH a comfort in stormy times throughout our lives. Then you wake up one day and notice some new green shoots from a plant or a pretty flower, it's LIFE and we are loving that moment. My Nanna lived in a 1 b/room apartment for 20y or so. The tiny balcony was CRAMMED with plants lol, we could only just open the sliding door and LOOK, not step out lol.
At the same time Nanna gardened in all the gardens around the apartment complex!

Now we have more Community Gardens, do you have any nearby Choko?

We have a few nearby and years ago I was really into them. Then fulltime work took over lol.
I think it's awesome that anyone can pick the food anytime. yay.

My garden atm.....so much work ahead. I had my first appt with a Specialist Trauma Psych yesterday and I'm not allowed to do anymore immersion therapy by myself lol. Once she described it to me and how harmful it is to me atm, I'm wondering ummmmmm am I allowed to garden?
ONLY with a gardener with me to kind of co-regulate. He is such a distraction and is a powerhouse but so gently spoken. Loud noise is a big trigger for me BUT I CAN listen to the Screaming Jets and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers loud lol, my plants like that music.

You talked about shade loving plants.... flowering ones ARE hard to find but I got given a full garbage bag of the most unusual Bromeliads recently, I'd never seen these ones before. It's not like they are my FAVOURITE plant in the world, but I can really appreciate what they do. They are almost 'air plants' or epiphytic lol never written that word before, so they don't need much soil. I started putting them in the forks of my trees and they look lovely. They LOVE the shade and turn a nice, deep green there. They FLOWER yay. They multiply. And once my Nanna showed me a FROG in her Bromeliad on her 2nd floor apartment balcony lol. When planted in the ground, they deter weeds and grass growing. So they're winners in my garden now.

Hello everyone!

This is a lovely little thread!

I'm 17 and I've never really gardened but I'd love to get into it, I live on an acre property with plenty of room to start a little garden and plant some veggies/fruits. I'd also like to put some indoor plants in my bedroom. Taking care of plants and such sounds like such a relaxing and rewarding task, something that I could really benefit from right now!

I would love some tips on what sort of things I could plant in my yard, particularly things that can handle the cold and rain as I live in Victoria and heading into winter it is getting quite rainy and cold! I would love to start a little veggie and herbs garden, so I could grow stuff to use for cooking! Also would love some recommendations of easy to take care of indoor plants that preferably don't need much direct sunlight, as I only get direct sunlight in my room during the morning.

Hahaha I just realised how funny it is that I have the word "sunflower" in my username yet I've never gardened! I love sunflowers, would love to plant some one day!

Hi spontaneous sinflower,i love you user name and welcome to this thread.It is great to see someone your age keen on doing some gardening.I have been gardening since i was kid.My mum use to have a vegie garden in the back corner and we use to harvest so much and mum use to bottle it or freeze it.I remember the lovely corn it seemed to be the best.

I am glad your keen on starting your on vegie garden and herb garden.Put a lot of organic matter in the soil.I use compost and horse manure and plant away.With these cooler months you can plant anything in the brassica family that is cabbages,brocoli,cauliflower and my favourite brussel sprouts.Does anyone else love them or is it just me.You can plant chinese cabbages like bok choi or lettuce.Leeks are good.Carrots and radishes and swede and turnips for root crops.You can grow any of the peas or broad beans for legumes.Plenty you can plant and more i havent mentioned.Good to plant a variety of crops and rotate them every year as they give different nutrients to the soil.

Herbs are great to grow.I have a herb garden ot scent garden as i like to call it in my front yard.Some things get hit with the frost here and get knocked back and reshoot in spring.My favourite herb is rosemary and i love the scent of it and planted it near the tge gate so when i go out i rub my hands on it and i smell ofbrosemary.Good for colder climates.Lavender is great to plant.A heap of different varieties and i allways have parsley and mint growing.I would plant other varieties in spring so they can get established before the cold.

Happening gardening,

Mark.

Hi em i saw you mentioned Bromiliads and that you goy some Tillandsias and put in the trees.If you notice in my picture my sign says Brom-Haven which came from my mothers place.She was huge in Bromiliads and had hundreds of them.I have a few here and i have one that was named after her which is my pride and joy.A neoregelia with blushing red pinkish centre.The brom family contains the edible pineapple to the more unusual like the old mans beard that you see hanging in trees.

You mentioned chillies in jam.I have never put it in jam but have put them in chutneys which was a really big seller for me.I know other people put chillies in jams.

I think because of my ocd i dont do much companion planting.I do have in gardens around the vegie garden marrigolds.Companion planting is really a good idea for pest control and giving the vegies the nutrients they need.

Happy gsrdening everyone,

Mark.

Hello spontaneous sunflower! Indeed you are! Your post was so gorgeous.

The brains trust here is like no other lol. This thread is a new one but it's a lovely warm place to come to.

You can take or leave ANY suggestions we make, but I'll respond to your post, in parts. I'm so happy to have you here because you'll find a sanctuary in gardening that could well be lifelong & health sustaining, I hope so.

Like ANY gardening the most important thing to do first is OBSERVE your potential spaces.
The other thing when starting out is to see / ask what neighbours have success growing - that's a fast fix.

Herb garden
Now it's coming into Winter, many herbs aren't too keen on being planted at this time BUT you can build your beds up with LOTS of yummy nutrients now, so that when your herbs are planted they will literally JUMP out of the ground with joy lol. You can make a compost or leaf mould (avoiding eucalypts / pines) in the beds now.
The beds need prepping anyway so now's a great time. This way it's super cheap too, so you can spend more on lovely seedlings and seeds, maybe an 11L Bucket with lid or 2 for your delicious "weed teas", which you can start anytime.
Write a list of ALL the herbs you LOVE to eat. You can post here and or Google best times to plant.
You can draw a plan of your herb beds. Then Google companions to eg coriander... or sage, if they're on your favourites list like mine. Also consider whether you REALLY want perennials (that you plant and can grow for years) or annuals (which are SUPPOSED to be planted once per year...).
Here herbs can grow well most of the year but it's MUCH warmer and I know the "hot spots" in my garden.
I once had a Italian Basil that is an annual but it was in such a perfect spot that it lasted FOUR years, omg such a shock and so yummy lol.

Indoor plants
If you have sunny spots then THOSE plants would be different to plants that need to live in shade all or most of the time.
Cactii are great to start off with. Don't love them too much or we can kill them with kindness ie over - watering or soil that's too rich. Usually people are happy to give you their cuttings and they are BRILLIANT to grow. They like sun but I've found that when indoors, not full sun.
See how you go. If plants begin to look insipid and lose their GREEN colour then they need more sun to photosynthesize.
Mother-in-law's tongues LOVE shade. I've found they like shade for quite a while.

Happy gardening!
EM

Hi Mark

What a lovely memory about your mum and her bromeliads. I love their beautiful flowers, they're all spectacular.
Great name for your house too.

I do grow pineapple plants in our garden, cut off from Supermarket bought pineapples and rooted in a glass of water on my kitchen windowsill. I've only had one miniature pineapple grow lol but the plants are still beautiful (and free :-)

I used to make jams but with so many EATERS in our home now, most fruits are eaten quickly but I do love to use our food dehydrator to make fruit strips. EG if our neighbor has excess mangoes (I did load up 4 wheelbarrows full once - nearly drove me crazy), then I blend up the fruit and lay it out on a food dehydrator then slice it up. It lasts for ages this way and is great in home made muesli. I give most away.

It's funny you mention OCD in the garden, hopefully that's a benefit to you! I think I can guarantee I don't have OCD in the garden by looking at it. My taxes are done like a person with OCD but not much else.

EM

Hi Jesicca! Welcome to our gardening thread and I hope the brains trust (I hesitate to call everyone the GREEN brains trust lol) will chime in soon and give you STACKS of tips!

I think that's AWESOME that you want to get into gardening, yay!

I think we're developing a greenometric Q & A for people here....

Sooooooooooo what did you want to do?

Would you like to grow FOOD or ORNAMENTALS?

Do you want to grow things in POTS or in the SOIL?

Do you have land around your home or are you in an apartment?

Could you describe your climate for us....

Mark listed a whole array of yummies to plant right now, so he's the one to ask. I'm too busy freaking getting tree loppers etc to FIND my garden lol!

A great thing you can do straight away is to ask people you know who garden near you, what they grow?

If there's a Community Garden near you, have a peek in the daytime and take pics or list some things that you'd like to eat there BECAUSE if things are growing well there, then they would most likely do quite well at your place given the right conditions.

Jesicca we are SO GLAD to have you here! We look forward to hearing more about your ideas and feedback to the Q & As then we can dig right in lol!

EM

Hey Em, you are sweet. Thankyou for the instructions for the leaf mould. I think I will copy and paste all that. Along with your post about growing herbs.

You really do seem to have a passion for all this, which is awesome. Its like you live and breathe it sort of thing.

Shell

Awww Shelll, You're so sweet saying that.

I wish I could live and breathe gardening all my waking hours lol. But I would miss the other parts of my life I love too.

Although I started a number of organic gardening things at work in the gardens there. Composting, worm farms, vege beds. It's taken around a decade but now all of a sudden, others have shown keen interest. Maybe the covid restrictions precipitated things such as these.

Simple but grand to walk past in the mornings and see as I leave work.

Things have fallen apart for one my adult children this week. I've been there for days. We've done some trimming pot plants etc. I'm not sure what hope looks like for my darling child but observing the life in the garden helps I Pray. We found small mandarines growing.

Gardens can bring hope to see things flower, fruit or mature in the future. We can also fall in love with the rhythms of the seasons and look forward to the next.

These are my hopes for others also by sharing here. When all else fails, we have the garden.

Are you having any ideas about your garden Shelll?

Happy gardening.

EM

Hi all after doing a little pottering in the garden i am really pleased with how well everything is growing.My cauliflowers have little caulies coming on.I have been harvesting silverbeet like crazy and been given some away and also give some to the chooks they love it.I am going to harvest the rest of my radishes today and have some more strawberries for my son to plant.My neighbour is giving me some more cabbages and cauliflowers to plant so full steam ahead in the vegie garden.

I have started picking mandarines and my Tangelos are starting to ripen up.The bush lemon is just loaded and been picking them for the last month.I will have to make some lemon butter soon.

Happy gardening everyone,

Mark.

Hi Mark, wow it must be wonderful seeing all your plants budding and some ready for harvesting!

Aren't cauliflowers SO PRETTY when their little heads start peeping out? The bright green little heads with bonnets of leaves protecting them. I've seen gardeners on TV shows growing caulis as ornamentals lol!

Bush lemons are so hardy in Australian gardens and they're so delicious. Not as juicy as a Meyer lemon which are my total favourites but bush lemons are worth their weight in salt because we can almost neglect them here and they just keep powering on. We have that "accidental" Bush lemon growing from the graft of our Kaffir lime. They are like conjoined twins and about 3 metres high each. I asked the gardener to leave the bush lemon, as he wanted to cut it off at the base / graft area, so as to allow the kaffir to grow better. But it was AS BIG as the kaffir lime and atm far more beneficial to us than the kaffir lime. Kaffir limes are mainly ONLY used for their leaves and maybe the rind of the fruit. But the fruit is dry. If you really want lime juice then a Tahitian lime is best. We have one of those growing too. Mark do you ever prune your bush lemon?

Just reminding everyone lol, that we are finding these trees in our garden under massive bushes of lantana. I'm SO surprised they've even survived. TBH if you read Back from Brink - Peter Andrews, you may thank lantana for it's "service", I have in my garden now! Ofcourse I'm removing it (poor things lol) but for almost 10y it grew up the garden and over everything. Considering the extreme droughts & extreme Summers we've had in that time, the lantana actually saved my other trees' lives. It shielded them from the heat and provided mulch when nothing else was being provided. The birds and insects who nested and ate the flowers provided fertilisers too.

It's quite exciting and delightful that my garden is emerging. This morning as I look out at the huge strong trees and see the beautiful Autumn leaves all around, I'm accepting it's present condition due to "past trauma" ie being neglected / overgrown (and abused by others) etc. It hung in there! It has shown it's resilience and I'm so grateful.

My gardening pursuits are pushed back by recent events but I know it will be there when I'm ready.

Love EM

Hi Em the bush lemon is a great lemon to grow.Some old farmers wives told me it was the best lemon for setting jam thats why i grow one.I dont really prune mine only the odd branch that i dont like where it is growing.Yes they are used as root stock for grafting other citrus onto.A very good root system.I have a kaffir lime here and a native gympie lime wich is very thorny.I use to have a West Indian lime at my old house.The fruit goes yellow when ripe.I might get another one of them.

The cauliflowers are very pretty and you can get a pinkish one.It is always exciting to see things developing in the garden.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Hi folks, another mad gardener, a passion from my Mother. I'm into growing heirloom veggies, ( eBay or collect my own seed ) I have 2 raised beds. Bromeliad collection , simply love them and my worm farm.... Worms are my little pets. I've a flow through system made out of a big wheelie bin. Some dwarf citruses in wine barrels and that's it. Downsized to a newish house, user friendly garden. Glad I discovered this thread. I try and garden by the lunar callender and use other garden apps to help ,

cheers

Oh how sweet Airies! I smiled SO BIG when I read your post!

I think it's the enthusiasm, the love, the memories and the deep connection we have to nature that brings me joy.

I'm SO keen to hear you have a "flow through system", can you please tell us more?

I have lots of quirky systems that really work and reduce my human energy output. Well I had them "before" then they were destroyed and now I'm discovering what's left and recreating / repairing / rebuilding etc. I have no idea what I'm going to call this era of my life of rebuilding but I'll think of a name...
I've decided that it's all going to be "better" this time and more tailored to my family and my time allowances lol. I really do need spotlights so I can work into the night.

Heirlooms - thankyou for your service! They're going to save the world one day. Well done. Have you heard of the Seedsavers groups? Ours runs through our local Permaculture group. What a gorgeous and generous bunch they / we are.

So in this ERA, I know I have SO MANY thousands of seeds, from seedsavers, permies, friends etc.
I have no idea of their viability BUT I'm thinking of doing an Anastasia method with them in each season, depending on when they were supposed to be able to grow.
I don't want to "waste" them but I know most will be defunct. STILL I know some will grow. And the chickens will love whatever grows lol.

SO happy to have you with us.

Happy heirlooming!

EM

Hi Airies great to see another brom grower on here.I group up with them.My mother got her first one of her mother in the 1970s and became edicted to them.

I really like the sound ofbthose heirloom vegies you are growing.I use to grow a lot years ago but seem to grow more the modern ones these days.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Hi folks,

thanks for the warm welcome. Em was lucky enough to purchase one from a chap who made them locally. Basically a wheelie bin , vents up the top. Front bottom a cut out for access/ airing. Polytubing slats . Not the best explanation just do a Google search. I feed mine cardboard and horse manure from the top. If I need to harvest I reach down the bottom and its there through the slats. The worm farm you buy from Bunnings etc are not the best. A flow through system is bomb proof.. Worm castings are the best fertiliser known to man. I use it on everything .

Matchy I found broms by accident. My sister in law had a few. Brought some others on gumtree from a passionate collector. I've about 50 and growing lol. My gardens pretty user friendly.... Santa anta couch which hardly needs mowing as oposed to my old Kaku , low shrubs opposed to my old gums, natives and pebbles in the front. I love my gardening but a bit older in the tooth.

Ecomama sounds idyllic with your chooks. Picture a very rustic lifestyle. Would love some but yard lifestyle doesn't permit plus my little foxy couldn't contain himself,

cheers all

Hi Airies and other members of the green brains trust lol, IDK what to call us, I just make up silly names constantly... hi guys...

OH so a flow through system is a WORM FARM? Wow. In a wheelie bin, awesome.

I completely agree that vermicast (worm castings and worm wee) is like black gold, better even lol.
I also completely agree about the black stand on 4 legs ones from Bunnings and the price of their worms! Ughh when you can get them for free from a Community Garden! I try earnestly to discourage anyone to go down this track. They are smelly too and lots of other downfalls - like attract too much heat and kill worms.

I used a wheelie bin as a water tank for a long time. It was "made" for that purpose and traded through a local trading group called LETS. It's an international group and awe-some!

I only have one neglected worm farm in a bath tub now, it's under too much lantana atm. I used to have 2. It was turned upside down by a horrible person.

Ahhhhh so I could explain how to set up a bath worm farm up, if anyone's interested...

But with recent events, I may be starting a Vlog soon... meaning I'll be choosing a specific site to set my empty bath up as a worm farm and I'm pretty excited about that. It will be videoed.

You can get unwanted baths from Freecycle or Gumtree. I got both ours for free and delivered for free too lol, I'm laughing because I bet they couldn't wait to dump them for FREE.
Plus 2 screen doors for the top for free also.

Anyway better get on! Things are a happening here...

EM

Hi all I did some work in my new garden.I put in some drainage which is good because its pouring down rain now.

I harvested the rest of my radishes.Planted some more strawberries and leeks.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Matchy, it poured here so gave some plants liquid kelp and went for a ride. I try and spend an hour a day. I need the Suns Ray's . Never had luck with berries, the birds ate them. Growing garlic, coloured Beetroot, silver beet and various salads. Last year all Winter my wife and I were adamant we were eating dilverbeat. Turns out it was Beetroot leaves we were eating. Regardless very nice in a pie.First day of Winter. Not a fan it can't pass quick enough

cheers

Lololol Airies and all, cute that you guys were eating beetroot leaves as silverbeet, they're both yummy!

That reminds me of a hot beetroot salad recipe for the recipe thread lol.

Sounds like things are still happening in the gardens of our forum.

I had to use pent up energy yesterday and moved a stack of branches on top of each other. Green bin gets emptied tonight yay!

The chickens LOVED scratching in the dead leaves left from the branches lol.

I decided to sweep the Autumn leaves from my very long sloped driveway and it looked great for about a nano second lol! Then I looked UP and realized there's about 60% yet to fall....
I cleaned out the huge gutter in front of the garage. If that blocks then downstairs floods in the rain. And I have teenagers living down there... they love their "den".

I wanted to keep the leaves for a leaf mould but I decided to put them in the dibbits in my back yard because there's PLENTY more where they came from lol! There's also a beautiful carpet of Autumn leaves in the back yard from this week's falling. Plenty for a leaf mould. The rest can sit where they fall, because there's little grass anyhow and it helps bank up the slope where the chickens have dug around tree roots. Little DARLINGS. Grrrr. Hopefully the leaves rot and give more substance to the exposed roots to be covered.

The leaf mould may only take about 15% of the leaves, but as it rots down, I just add more leaves. Still only about 15% in total lol. Excess can go into my tyre composts which are temporary structures until my 3sq metre one is reconstructed. Eventually I'm making an earth ship type retaining wall from tyres down the back.

The plan is to create more gently sloped terraces, starting with the tyre wall. And a more flattish type area for a cabin.... maybe... one day lol.

No shortages of projects here. I have to choose where I expend my energy.

EM