Hi hope4joy!

You are so VERY welcome here and I disagree.... there can never be enough rambles on here lol!!!

Brambles no, rambles yes!

Ramble away my dear, to your heart's content! I love hearing about your gardening antics lol and anyone else's too.

I think you'd love to read Peter Andrew's series "Back from the Brink" and "Beyond the Brink"... freaking AMAZING texts on helping to protect our precious Australian landscape. In a COMPLETELY Australian way as only he can.

When you read and absorb his writing, it could give you a complete paradigm shift in the way you view the landscape. He really helps us understand capturing water and holding water in the soil. I'm a total devotee lol.

Back a few pages, Shelll mentioned a free Course she was doing online. I think quite a few places are opening up free online Courses re: nature and gardening.

Oh how sweet to be buying your own place! I hope you let us know about your journey all along the way.

I'm re-creating my garden after a terrible person destroyed it over years.

Then the lantana came in thick and fast.

So it's a slow process for me. Sometimes sad and poignant knowing how it used to be.

But should I get to the bare basic soil... like ever lol.. then it's got patches of "clean slate" here and there to sculpt.

So just like any :fresh start", I'm doing things differently. Still incorporating the loyal natives, fruit and nut trees that survived under all that lantana but hoping for a peaceful place to look at.
Also rebuilding probably only one bath worm farm (I used to have 3)... and I am composting in tyres atm but will use recycled PVC pipe as worm towers to compost in. I've already made the worm towers. I'll also get my seaweed tea up and running soon. The weed tea is working a treat atm.

The chook shed is now a garden shed since foxes moved in to the neighbourhood. So I am looking forward to organising that space for my ease.

Tonight I saw my Isabella Grape vine leafing up again and thought it would be cute to espalier that around my garden shed. Why not lol.

I have to do things as cheaply as possible so if I can propagate plants I already have and from others and get plants for free then that's what I'm doing.

I'm so happy you love gardening too.

EM

Hi EM

Thanks for such a warm welcome. I’m super keen to start on some herbs now!

The one herb I actually have already is Rosemary - it’s huge! It’s near our carport so the kids like to pick some as they go past and I find Rosemary leaves in various compartments of the car haha. Thankfully it has a lovely fragrance.

I’m thinking the other herbs I like to eat are:

Thyme, Lemongrass, Basil (love the idea of a Basil forest!), parsley.
I love anything with a lemon flavour too so perhaps lemon balm?

Hi to hope4joy too, I’ve just seen your post and like the sound of lemon myrtle tea :)

L.

Hi Lillylane!

You're most welcome for the welcome lol. I'm very excited to have some new members on our thread and it's SO healing to garden. I wish more people could 'catch the bug' lol.

Oh you know what....
I'm thinking if you're going to bother thinking you may as well think BIG.

So can you ONLY plant in pots?

Have you thought about planting a Lemon Tree in a pot?
I shy away from planting trees in pots but people do!

I have lemon grass growing. I got a clump from somewhere years ago lol and it spreads.... I love it. The long stalk leaves make a wonderful infusion / tea. Yummy!
I was thinking if you could plant it anywhere in a garden space then if you have to leave, you can pull up a clump and take it with you.
It's SUPER EASY to grow in warm climates. Tbh I think I'd have trouble killing it - haven't watered it ever.

Lemon balm would suit a pot very well. Mine is growing in a little nook in the garden and it responds beautifully to a splash of weed tea (nitrogen) now and again. It can grow so much in a week!

Thyme likes it's own space I've come to learn. It copes with some neglect after it's established and it's pretty water efficient. Similar needs to rosemary but likes a bit of a richer soil.

Basil - well yeah it LOVES warm weather. Plant now in a warm spot. Seeds directly onto soil and brushed in. My most successful basil has been in the garden sprinkled between tomato plants - they're great companions.

Parsley - we mow it lol, along with the mint growing instead of lawn! The curly leafed parsley is hardier IME but the flat leafed variety is almost as hardy. You can try growing both and even in same pot.

Anything with alot of green likes a nitrogen feed every 3 weeks in warm weather. You can make a weed tea which is free. That's what we do.

I'm glad your rosemary is loving life and the kids pick it. It's supposed to have calming qualities, so it's great your children touch it and smell it often. I say don't mess with nature, it's telling you where it likes to live so be happy!
I have an accidental cherry tomato growing like a mountain near our garage door!
Pity there aren't more flowers in my garden to attract bees, I think that's it fruiting deficit atm.

I'll have to throw out some marigold seeds to attract the bees. Community gardens give away so much.

EM

Hi Em,

Thank you for the warm welcome. I just placed 'Back from the Brink' on hold at my local library. I really like the idea of creating a garden that is ecologically beneficial - especially for insects - as they're so important. When I have a place I'd love to buy a native bee hive - although would need to research more to make sure I could look after them property. I mean those cute stingless ones that people get to help with pollination - there's no honey collection.

And Lillylane I think you'd like the lemon myrtle tea - it is really delicious (if you like herbal teas?) - i put to to three leaves in a big cup and can use them twice. My little tree (<1m tall) is very happy growing a pot - I guess growth is just slower than in the ground.

Hi wonderful gardeners lol

I have a HUGE tree that's a mystery to all people who've tried to ID it, even supremely confident botanists and even the Botanical Gardens. It was here when I bought the property a few decades ago. It's deciduous so not a native but it attracts thousands of native bees... it's lovely.

Our native bees will help save the world, the world of humans at least.

hope4joy - I've had friends over the years who became apiarists. The first thing they did was to ensure flowering plants in their gardens and different ones that flowered throughout the year, very well, in different seasons. This is to prevent the bee colony becoming exhausted flying long distances to gather pollen.

Planting this alone is a feat in itself. I understand apiarists who care for their bees, inspect the property before handing colonies over to ensure this is the case.

So it's taken my friends 2 -3 years to set their properties up for bees. The plants have to mature. There's been quite a bit of research involved but ALL worth it for all of them.

I'm sure your devotion will suit whomever lives in your garden well. lol.

My uncle has saddened me with his plans for my home. My intended Blueberry patch would be demolished if my uncle has his way.

I don't think I can let him do it. From my observations this place is the best place for blueberries in my garden and I should be able to control the ph levels well as it is confined. Not that I've ever bothered checking things such as ph levels, there are indicators all around as to the balance of nutrients etc in the soils.

There are also microclimates AND different soil balances depending upon what's growing / sun exposure / water availability / animal deposits lol.

I'll try to negotiate with my uncle about another exit from that room where steps ALREADY are.
I don't see the point in demolishing perfectly good work in order to reconstruct what's already there. But that's the Permie in me coming out lol.

EM

Native bees are great and they are stingless as well.A property years ago I had they were living in a pepperina tree and I found them to be a great polinator especially on my lychee tree.That mystery tree sounds like something I have growing in my front yard and it is deciduous to and nobody knows what it is.

Dear Matchy! SO WONDERFUL to have you back on the gardening thread.

So YOU have the same tree too? Wow. Mine has been chopped off the top lots of times (not by me) ....not sure how long it's got left to live, although it looks pretty strong atm. So does yours have leaves shaped like Canadian Maple leaves?

When I've tried to see what all the bee activity is about, the flowers are NOT obvious at all, then you can see these incy wincy tiny little flowers on it lol, but only if you go up REALLY close and hold one in your hand. HUGE tree with the tiniest flowers I've never seen before.
Little yellowish bit of fluff almost.

Is yours like that?

I LOVE the leaves it drops. Great for making leaf moulds. Not that we need any more leaves tbh but those ones break down to great soil.

You are the FIRST person to have ever told me they have one too.
Yay!
I tried for years to have it identified but no one can.

Better go, we have appointments today.

Thankyou for coming back here and I Pray for your recovery all the time.

Best wishes
EM

Hi Matchy69 and Em, thank you for the comments on native bees. That is a really good point about needing flowing plants all year round. I recently sold off some of my grevilleas when I realised they have quite a short lifespan and would all flower at a similar time - I'm planning to diversify more - which is a good start to keep the bees happy! We had a native been hive at my uni campus and people wrote signs so people wouldn't harm them and knew they were stingless - they're such beautiful creatures. And very helpful for fruit too! I like the idea of it being a goal to design a garden to have flowers all year round, sounds like a great project to aspire to. I'd love it if black cockatoos moved in too but that is less likely, hardly see many around here. But as a kid we had a big banksia tree in our front yard and the black cockies would come every year without fail to eat the.... flower heads? seeds? I'm not quite sure what they ate off the banksia to be honest! :)

It's a VERY exciting adventure for you to be going on hope4joy.... just lovely!

We have lots of cheeky sulphur crested cockatoos visit our home and chew on my timber balcony railings lol.

The other cockatoos mostly chew on neighbours front lawns but they get rid of grubs so everyone's happy.

We have flocks of black cockatoos visit my work and they are SO LOUD and so beautiful.
I think they love to play. Seems like it.
My work is set in virgin bushland and there are klms of bushland for as far as the eye can see... I'm sure that's where they live.

We also have echidnas visit which is SO cute.

But in my garden not so cute things lol... I've found a few varieties of snakes and a few dead funnel webs. I found a brown snake skin in my lemon grass (talking of lemon grass lol) and it was metres long. Hmmm but I had one slither over my boot for a long time at my friend's farm and that was a test in staying calm - FOR SURE. It was loooooooooooooooong.

Lots of adventures with wildlife to recall but hopefully none to worry about in my garden atm lol.

Btw I brought up more branches to burn today (2 kids helped for about 20 minutes - thanks kids!) and in amongst all the lantana we cut down I think I found another baby lemon tree growing.

Wish I could give it to you Lillylane...

I'll talk to my gardener to make sure that's what it is. I may have to put it in a pot. IDK.
Maybe I could plant it in the intended cabin's backyard?
Pretty tricky decision.

Anyway I think I have to buy a reciprocating saw. I can't do the hand sawing like I've been doing.
The mini chain saw hates me lol. Always bucking up when I need it.

I just have to get more done.

Fire's out now. Done with burning for today.

EM

Lantana update: lol

Dear God who introduced this to Australia... ughhh.

I had around 600sq metres of the stuff growing this time last year. It was weaving throughout ALL of my fruit trees up to 20m high in the sky. What a mess! There are still some dead lantana stalks hanging precariously up that high lol!

IDK how much is left, maybe 30sq metres?, but my hands are swollen and the scratches on my arms are red and sore from reactions. And I wore gloves and long sleeves.

I couldn't find anything online about the toxicity of burning the cuttings. I have tried to burn it before VERY unsuccessfully. It wasn't dead enough.

When I pile the cuttings up, I can wait a week in hot weather, then crunch it with my feet - kinda like squashing grapes for wine! I have to wear steel capped garden boots up to my shins.
It's THAT spiky.

I have 7 BIG piles of it now in various stages of decomposition. 2 covered in old carpet. I found that spreading ashes from old fires over the piles deters the brush turkeys from scratching the pile apart - yay found a deterrent!

I have 3 large piles dead enough to burn.

Bonfire tomorrow plus last chiminea balcony fire. I dug out a tree stump and it's on the bonfire ready.

It's a freaking MARATHON but I can see the finish line.

Then maintenance which I know will be no mean feat.

My gardener is coming only for a few hours next Wed. Yay! Hopefully the rest of the lantana above ground will go that day.

I'll need my bladed mattock I think it's called to pull out the runners that are as thick as my arm in some places. The bases are sometimes wider than my leg. UGH.
It's a tentacled monster.

My Uncle is bringing his reciprocating saw for cutting more branches ugh, but it needs to be done. It'll be a year before those freshly cut branches are ready for burning.

Meanwhile my green bin is ALWAYS full to overflowing. Every single fortnight.

I might even find my retaining wall down there underneath everything..... I can HOPE!

It's pretty darned exciting to be seeing the end in sight tbh. It's such hard work. The sweat was pouring and dripping off my face again today. Par for the course really lol.

GETTING THERE.

EM

HI gardening peeps!

What's everyone getting up to in the garden?

Have you got any NEW plantings to adventure with?

The weather is WARMING up so it's good to get the heavy duty chores out of the way before the heat sets in relentlessly lol...

Yesterday I was bonfiring and clearing lantana with family and heard my back fence neighbour calling out to us... UGH... I haven't seen them for 10 years lol!
Now the lantana is gone from the back fence we can see their 2 storey house!
What a surprising convo we had.... we thought she was going to go cranky about the lantana and the fire! no.... not at all, quite the OPPOSITE in fact. What a relief!

She wanted to CONFESS to planting lantana in her garden years ago (OH SO THERE'S the culprit lol) I said omg why? with laughter... she said "I have NO IDEA but sorry"... forgiven ofcourse.

Anyway I had to step up on to a tree stump to talk with her (being a slope etc) and she has THE MOST manicured little back yard! SO BEAUTIFUL!

Then I spotted them.

Gorgeous Hippeastrums in FULL BLOOM, I said how beautiful they looked and how I wished I had some like I used to have in a previous house where, believe it or not, we were neighbours there too! A few doors up but neighbours.

SHE OFFERED me as many as she could divide next year, wow!

They'll be PERFECT for my Balinese garden.

Looks like we found another lemon tree sapling AND a mulberry tree sapling too.
So happy. I can leave those there for the future cabin's back yard if that's the case.
I'll ask my gardener next week.

We also found CHIA growing too lol, in amongst all the weeds. They're loving life exactly where they are, so they're staying for now.

I think I have about 1 tonne of ashes after our HUGE bonfire yesterday. It's got burned tree stumps and long logs burned into charcoal and is about 4m x 3m wide.
Not quite sure what to do with it all but disperse it as best I can throughout the gardens.

Happy gardening everyone, it's a BEAUTIFUL day here!

EM

I put it "out there" for free plants and they're coming!

I am going to plant some Rosellas in the garden today.I make apparently the best Rosella jam going.A few years ago I was given a garbage bags full of Rosellas so I made about 60 jars of jam out of it.I was selling it in a craft shop and one day a lady came in and took the 12 jars I just put on the shelf and she said it was the best Rosella jam she has ever tasted and was going to send some to her family around Australia.And she asked me do you know who makes it and I said I do and she said I was very talented.I sold all my 60 jars in a couple of weeks when I thought I wouldn't sell it all.

Hey Matchy!!!

I love seeing your come up on posts.

How are you doing my friend?

ROSELLAS wow!

Man, the BEST Rosella Jam Maker Award goes to you!
Sounds delicious!

Do you have to have any specific type of soil to grow them in?
Do they need much care?

I was thinking of a couple of things I'd like to plant and I never thought of Rosella plants.
There's a Native Nursery about 20 mins away, I could see if they have one when I choose a spot.

I'm saving one spot for a Pomegranate tree. We are grounding some things.... ie burying them from my grandchildren's births underneath the tree. We all chose that type of tree to plant there in that special spot.

EM

Hi Em I am still in a bit of discomfort and if I over do things I know about it like I probably will today.I go back to the hospital next Friday so I will see what they say then.
Rosellas will grow in a variety of soils that got good drainage and best in full sun.My soils lovely black soil that the farms grow their crops in.I put plenty of organic matter in when I plant.They like a fertiliser high in nitrogen.

Thanks for that info Matchy!

When anyone says "full sun" lol, we have to interpret that to mean partial sun where we live.
Summer's a complete killer here for gardens.

Okay so range of soils, good!
We have PLENTY of Weed Tea as nitrogen rich fertiliser. Only ONE cup in a 9L watering can or else.... the rain caused it to overflow and it killed a bunch of weeds lol!

Next Friday hey? I really hope you get a good report on your health. I'm Praying for you every day Matchy.

I overdid it yesterday but if I don't keep active today then I won't be able to move at all tomorrow lol.
I'm getting more Epsom salts for my baths. Apparently it helps release the lactic acid build up in our muscles from over exertion. I'm going with that anyway!

If we get that Rosella tree, I'll be bugging you for the jam recipe! Unless you are patenting it ofcourse lol!

Love EM

I am starting a garden from scratch and wanted to sow some herb groubd cover like chamomile and would welcome any suggestions of what to do and suitable useful frgrant herbs to p,ant that grow quickly with poor soil and cold climate!!

EM thanks for a great thread

Hi quirky I use mint as a ground cover in my gardens and tolerates cold and the heat and really does take over.I love making drinks out of it and mint tea.I have two different varieties growing here

Em just a note on the Rosellas where I use to live their was a lot of native Hibiscus growing along the creek and they were in part shade growing more on the edge of the canopy.

Dear EM and all you lovely gardening people 😃

EM, could your mystery tree be a Boxelder Maple? Acer Negundo? Your descroption reminded me of one that i know, fluffy flowers that hang in droplets in the spring, messy on the ground.

Just a thought 😘

birdy

Hi EM Birdy RX Matchy Quirky and everyone

Just seeing if anyone has any ideas for a plant that will grow over a retaining wall?

Have a great weekend everyone and thankyou EM for the thread topic too :-)

my kindest...Paul

Hi Quirky!

Welcome to our happy little gardening group! A WARM warm welcome.

SO LOVELY to have you here.... when you said 'ground cover of chamomile' awww.. what a sweet picture that painted...I think chamomile is pretty hardy! Absolutely go with that.

Would you be walking on this ground cover?

I love Matchy's suggestion omg... we MOW the mint here! But we have a section where we walk through it because it's really pretty and REALLY useful too. You can get chocolate mint and that's YUM... spearmint too, pretty fancy. It puts up with any soil IME lol.

Being in a cooler climate, coriander or cilantro is a great cool climate herb and so great for cooking.

Parsley likes a bit of sun but can grow forever lol.

Oregano, probably not unless you have a really hot spot in a cool garden. Same with Basil.

A pretty wild but awesomely successful sowing technique is to:
* buy all your seeds
* get some vermicast (worm castings) from a Community garden if you don't have a worm farm
* get a HUGE bowl - I use our big stainless steel one. A bucket is fine too
* put the vermicast in, wear gloves if you're a bit ewww about it lol!
* sprinkle the seeds all over it and mix them gently with your hands
* add water to make a slurry
* throw this out on the ground.

If you want to do an "Anastasia" thing you can put some of the seeds of the edible plants in your mouth and apparently this activates what your body needs within the plants.

Things get pretty weird here lol!

Altogether my advice is go with what you love.... over time you'll intuit which little spots are best by looking at how the plants are enjoying where they are... and kinda how they're NOT. lol.

Bestest wishes, you're going to love this new adventure!

If you do love it, we're here, if you don't then we're here too LOL.

Love EM

OMG Birdy77 I got SO excited that SOMEONE had come up with a name for my Mystery Tree for once lol....

I Searched for photos and ALAS NO it's not mine....

It has similar leaves but my one's leaves are much wider. And they get a "shine" to them.

The flowers are SO TINCY INCY WINCY TINY about as big as half my little fingernail or less.
A tiny little fluff.

And my tree is HUGE... it's 3 stories high and it's been chopped at the top numerous times.

I can't wrap my arms around the base of the tree trunk - it's pretty wide.

But if you're willing NOT to give up, I'll be here cheering for you.

Matchy, is it like yours???

Thankyou for your research!
EM

Hi blondguy Paul

I hope others will cascade in to help you lol. cascade... get it?

You know I'm gonna go with food plants, so take it if you wish... plus I live in a HOT climate. These things I suggest are in the hottest part of my garden most of the year.

atm I have an accidental cherry tomato vine growing superbly over a retaining wall..

I also have oregano growing over it too... those 2 make it look like quite the Italian garden entry.

But further up I have lovely matchstick bromeliads cascading over. They were a gift a long time ago. They multiply by themselves and are very everything tolerant - dry, wet, hot, cold, anything.
They also have very pretty pink and purple flowers. I like them alot.

I also LOVE vines but I prefer them to grow up and around a tree trunk to keep them away from tentacling through everything else growing nearby. They can be a REAL pain.

Keep greening Australia guys!

EM

Happy Plants or Dracaena Frangrans Massangeana for the experts in the group.

I'll stick with Happy Plants!

I just Googled them and omg what?? $115 per pot! No way.

These gorgeous plants are the easiest things in the world to propagate.

Just CUT the head off and stick it in a pot of soil then water.
I've done this straight into the ground.

I have some over 2 stories high (due to neglect) and they're about to lose their heads lol.
In the nicest possible way ofcourse, with a sharp saw lol.

I'm going to cut WHERE I want the next heads to grow from.
Then plant the parent's former head into the ground.

I haven't had much successful with taking the long middle stalk and having it strike.
But it's okay. I compost it. They compost really well.

They are a beautiful indoor plant too.

I find they're quite hardy in my garden.... but a little bit fussy about how good they look upon where they're planted.

They handle CROWDING which is what is perfect for the Balinese look.

IME they like a spot:
* out of strong winds
* sheltered somewhat from the sun by larger tree's shade
* with good drainage
* drier rather than wetter
* out of humidity.

Apparently their BIGGEST compliment is when they flowers and the flowers are quite spectacular (not that I've seen mine flower for a long time... maybe soon now I'm giving a hoot lol).

Anyone else have these beauties in their gardens?

EM

Hi EM

Thanks for the baby lemon tree!! (in spirit)

I would happily do some tree pruning in return for you if I could. I’ve been pruning our very tall Lilly pillys (very slowly).

Did some mulching today. One of my favourite jobs.

Paul, a couple of cascading ground covers that come to mind (both are very hardy once established) are:


-Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’

- Creeping Boobialla

Hi Lillylane

Wow I just Google searched that Dichondra and it's BEAUTIFUL!

Looks so gorgeous growing between pavers... I would much prefer that growing and any other ground covers instead of grass tbh.

The chickens ate all my grass anyway lol... when we had 26 of them.

I wonder if the Brush Turkeys would leave it alone though?
Won't find out unless I try lol.

I know that was for Paul but thankyou from me too!!!

Great suggestion!

The creeping Boobialla looks lovely too.
It reminds me of our Murraya growing instead of grass on our nature strip near the road (I planted it lol).
I LOVE the scent at Christmas time of Murraya, it lets me know that Christmas is almost here.

Lovely
Thanks Lillylane and yes indeed I'd love a help with my pruning of my huge lilly pillies too!
I think my new lemon tree will be staying put for the future cabin's occupants.... could be me in my old age and that would be wonderful.

EM

Em the mystery tree I have gets a different kind of leaf on it to yours,more of a normal shape leaf.It gets an insignicant flower on it which I can't remember really what it looks like to it flowers again.It is just coming into leaf now.I keep chopping the top of it of as it will grow into the power lines.I might chop it out completely next winter.Someone tried to tell me it was a camphor Laurel but it is definately not that.

I know mine isn't a camphor laurel either... those smell strongly of camphor.

Tbh Matchy it's been so long since I've seen the leaves (like a lifetime ago) that I'll check back in when the leaves come back lol.

I could be confusing the maple leaf shapes to the ones from another tree.

I planted three ornamental pear trees back in Autumn and have just noticed they have started shooting out really bright green leaves.

When I’m getting anxious, I look out at the trees. I’m grateful to be able to see something green out the window.

Difficult day. Wishing things were different. Maybe I can try and think about what to plant underneath these trees.

Hi Lillylane

I had an extremely difficult day too after some really shocking news yesterday.

What's going on? Would you like to talk about it?

I've always thought that a "Gardening Counsellor" would be an awesome thing.

Your pear trees sound absolutely beautiful. It's too hot here for apples or pears, sadly.

But a lovely surprise today was that my gardener was walking out the front way with me and asked "Why is your pawpaw in a pot?"

Wow we have a pawpaw growing. How incredibly fortuitous. I was simultaneously shocked that by chance I spotted it growing, thought it looked pretty and potted it up months ago AND the most beautiful memory of my Nana came to me... I was born in Asia and couldn't stomach the Western food here... my Nana had never even heard about papaya let alone eaten it. Yet my mother had told her that if they fed me Asian food then I would eat.

I have NO idea to what lengths my Nana went to but it was clearly her LOVE for me that motivated her to find and plant a papaya tree. Then show me the big fruit dangling and said it was just for me.

I believe it must have been sent by my Nana to be discovered at JUST this saddest of times for me today... to give me Hope and remind me of LOVE. Even when my heart is breaking all over again.

My Nana had JUST that persistent kind of love lol.

Now I'm a Nana and my grandchildren love to eat fruit I grow. They love to pick it and water it all too.

I'm so fortunate to have a garden that can grow food for us.

I shall plant my surprise Papaya soon and next to it a Beloved Pomegranate.
An Homage to the past and the future.

Many Blessings in your garden and always
EM