Veggie Gardening in Raised Garden Beds

Backyard Makeover

After 20 years it was time for our backyard to have a makeover. Weeds had grown wild - we do have a bit of a wild garden. A few years of ill health also attributed to the growth of the weeds. 

Mr F got his digging shoes on and dug out all the weeds. He was pretty ruthless. 

Mr F hard at work. Me having fun with the camera

Next he built some garden beds. I have never seen raised beds so artistically angled and designed to fit the space perfectly. They are so well made, they will not break down.

Building archetecturally designed raised garden beds

Next it was time to fill the beds. We had over two cubic metres of soil that we screened to get out all the weeds and stones. I could not believe we had so many stones. The veggies certainly would not have gained any nutrients from them. 

Pea straw as a base for the soil in a raised garden bed

First, in goes a layer of pea straw. This will rot down and give nutrients to the soil and attract beneficial critters to it. On top of that went the soil, manures, coir and mushroom compost. Within days, the bed was ready to plant. I had some old potato pieces that had grown shoots. I kept them with just this situation in mind. So in they went as out first planting. Here they are coming up a couple of weeks later. They look small now, but believe me, they grew to be over 60cm tall (2ft).

Our first potatoes

Mr F had to take out a tree that was causing problems and sending out shoots everywhere. He had to dig down 1 metre (3ft) to get rid of the root. he filled the hole with lots of stones we had screened from the soil for the garden bed. It was heavy and hard work. Note the resting chair and some of the roots.

The all-important resting chair

It didn't take long for this to happen. We collected a lot of zucchinis from here. 

Zucchini is all pervasive. It covered everything else in the bed. 

While in the garden nursery, I found a sweet potato plant. It went into the largest pot I could find.

Sweet potato growing in a large pot

 Here's a little bit of the produce we have been reaping, - zucchinis, potatoes, tomatoes, and beans.

Produce from the garden in less than three months

And the broccoli is growing really well. 

Broccoli with its blue green colour

Perennial Gardening in Australia

The garden is lovely at this time of the year. The weather is warm on the southern coast of Australia. It is a lovely time of the year to be able to get outside. 

Geranium

My new geranium plant is looking magnificent with 15cm head of flowers. Each flower is about 5 cm in diameter. Such a pretty colour. 

Geranium

Rhubarb

The rhubarb is magnificent now in January with gigantic leaves and big, strong, red stems. Leaves are about 40cm long and 30 to 40cm wide. They make great fans in this hot weather. 

You can eat the rhubarb stalks after they are stewed. Remember NEVER to eat the leaves. They are poisonous.

Rhubarb stalks can be cooked and eaten

Fuchsia

We have a large fuchsia with multiple hot pink, dangling ballerina flowers. It is about 2 metres tall. Its stem is about 12cm in diametre. It is nearly 20 years old. It is very hardy and has profuse flowers. 

Tall espalliered fuchsia

 These three plants are perennials which means they grow year round. They are all hardy and drought tolerant which is very important during hot weather in Australia. Please consider these in your garden if you are looking for tough, hardy plants. 

Some varieties of plants and seeds are for sale and can be accessed through my website www.mygardentreasures.com.au
They are only available in parts of Australia. Not available internationally.

Enjoy your garden. It brings lots of peace and happiness. 

Backyard Gardening

I love the old fashioned flowers for my garden. 

They have stood the test of time. 

Old fashioned plants are often drought tolerant, needing little water. They are good at keeping the weeds down. 

They are good at flowering, often repeat flowering.

Flowers are good colour therapy. We plant the flowers that we are attracted to in shape and colour. 

Colour is very important in our lives. 

 Australian hibiscus - Alogoyne, flowers in the summer months.

 Beautiful golden rose.

 

Belladonna lily flowers in summer before the leaves come.

Echiums grow into a big bush. 

They have lovely blue, stately flowers. 

They look just as lovely when the blue flowers fade and the large head is all green. 

I never need to water these flowers. 

This hot pink pelargonium is bright and stunning.

 It flowers for many months. 

It is very drought tolerant.

The Sustainable Garden by Bevan Vahland

How to plant a vegetable garden

Follow Chef and gardener, Bevan Vahland as he plants his spring garden with vegetables and fruit trees for summer and autumn harvest.

He had a great harvest last year so we look forward to even more produce this year as his garden space has grown.

Enjoy

(Remember to click Like and Share please)

 

The Power of Red

Red Energy

Red is a very powerful colour. It has the lowest vibration in the visible colour spectrum of light. When you look at a coloured picture or painting, the first colour our eyes pick up is the colour red. 

Artist's Red

There are three primary colours from which all other colours can be made from. These are 

• red
• blue
• yellow

Secondary colours which are made from a mixture of these colours are

• red + blue = purple
  blue + yellow = green
  yellow + red = orange

Complementary colours are opposites on the colour wheel. The opposite of red is green. So when you put red and green together, they sparkle and they make each other stand out. 
  

Advertising

Red is used as an advertising colour to make things jump out at you. Think McDonald's fast food chain. Red gets you moving through quickly. 

Red attracts, but you don't want to hang around it very long.

GrumbleTumms food van

 Energy

If you are feeling down and tired, put on some red clothes. This will cheer you up and get you energized. 

When little children get agitated and irritable, if they have red clothing on, change it to blue and it will help them to calm down. 

Red in the Garden

Red flowers are very strong. Red hibiscus and red roses will grow very well in hot sunshine. Other red flowers are nasturtiums, dahlias and poppies, tulips and salvias. They bring strong colour into a garden. Generally, bees are not as attracted to red flowers. So, it you are allergic to bee stings, add some red flowers into your garden. 

Chakras

Chakras are energy centres of the body. There are 7 main energy centres and numerous minor centres. Each of these main energy centres are assigned one of the seven colours of the rainbow. The Base chakra is located at the base of the spine inside the body. The colour associated with this is red. 

Red Crystals

Red crystals are used on the red Base chakra for healing. These red crystals are a reddish brown to black colour. They are red jasper, red calcite, garnet and ruby. They balance the energy of the ares and help the blood inside our body.

Red Food

Red food is important for our body. The bright red colour has special nutrients which help us to stay healthy. Some of these foods are tomatoes, red peppers, red capsicum, beetroot, strawberries, raspberries, apples, rhubarb and cherries. 

 Graphics and designs by Therese Vahland

Six Secrets of Green Garden Design

Garden Greenery

Looking out into my backyard, the overwhelming colour I see is green. It is the beginning of Spring here now. We had rain yesterday after some warm days. The garden has come alive. 

 

 

Green garden setting

Lawn

Often the first thing people think of in a garden is a lawn. It can be made of all sorts of grasses, clovers or weeds. You can get slow growing lawns or quick growing. They need regular cutting to keep manageable. The rest of my garden is awash with green, from low growing plants 30cm high to large bushes 2 mtrs high to trees 3-4 mts high. They are all covered in green.

Spiny grey green leaves of Aloe vera

Create Interest in your Garden

To make this greenery interesting, take into account

1. height of plant
2. shape of plant
3. shape of leaves
4. texture of leaves
5. aroma
6. shade of green
7. colour of leaves 

• The height of the plant is important. Plant tall plants at the back of the garden.

• The shape of the plant is important. Look for narrow plants for narrow beds. It is annoying to have to be always trimming back a plant because it is always in the way. 

Turk's Cap, 2 metres tall with large rounded green leaves

• Vary the shape of the leaves on your plants, like round leaves of Nasturtiums, long narrow leaves of a spider plant, large, frilly leaves of rhubarb or star cut edges of a maple tree. 

Spider plants can grow inside or outside.

• Texture of leaves can bring interest to a garden. Lamb's ear's silvery grey leaves are soft and furry and invite you to bend and rub them. Borage leaves have hairs all over them but they are not prickly.

• Bringing perfume or aroma into the garden is a pleasure. Lemon scented geranium leaves have a beautiful perfume when rubbed as do lavender leaves and rosemary.

Bamboo

• The colour of leaves can change, starting out burgundy and ending up green as in some roses. Leaves can be emerald green or variegated in a green/cream mix, or blue/green of many Australian native plants. 

As you can see, green in your garden can be interesting, as interesting as you wish to make it. You can be the artist in your garden.

Easy Grow Borage

Borage is easy to grow

I'll tell you a story of my borage. Some years ago I had a borage plant. It grew to about 40cm tall (about 15 in) and I treasured it. Borage is a herb that attracts the bees. It is also known as star flower. It has beautiful, blue flowers. Borage also self seeds. This means that it drops its seeds and they will come up again by themselves - no work for you. 

This little plant and its babies flowered on for two or three years, then it disappeared for a few years. Another plant appeared, a thin, spindly plant. Then we had a drought for ten year.No more seedlings appeared during those years and I thought 'Well, I have lost it this time.'

Vibrant blue coronet of Borage herb photographed from above

 

No Borage to a Surplus of Borage

Recently we dug up the garden in that area and built a chicken house. The ground around it was bare. A few months later some borage seedlings appeared. Wow! I was excited. I'm sure the borage fairies hovered in the area to make sure these plants grew. 

Now we have the most amazing, sturdy, large, tall patch of borage you could ever imagine. This has grown to nearly one metre (3ft) by about 1.2 mts (4 ft). It has been covered in beautiful, blue, nodding stars for a couple of months now. 

The large happy plants of the Herb Borage. 

How to use Borage

Borage flowers can be frozen in ice blocks and used for cold drinks in the summer. They can also be used to decorate dishes of your favourite food and can be eaten. The leaves are dark green and hairy, having little spiky hairs all over the leaf. These are not prickly although they look it. The leaves can be dried, ground and used as a tea. 

How Borage Benefits the rest of the Garden

We need bees in the garden. They pollinate a lot of plants. Lots of vegetables need to be pollinated by the bees so we can get their fruit, for example pumpkin, zucchini and tomatoes. 

Borage brings bees to the garden. Bees especially love blue flowers, so will gather in abundance, enjoy the borage flowers then buzz on over to your vegetable flowers. Then you will get an abundance of vegetables. 

There is no need to be frightened of bees. Welcome them into your garden. Say 'Thank you for coming' and just stay away from your blue flowers while the bees are working in the hottest part of the day. 

Benefits of Borage

The seeds of this lovely blue flower are also collected, crushed and the oil from them is used in the cosmetic industry and as a supplement. Borage is filled with essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Borage is soothing and calming and helps the adrenal glands. These are affected when we are under stress. 

Photos by Therese Vahland

Spring Gardening - Blue Flowers

At the beginning of spring all of Nature seems to burst into life. New leaves on trees appear from nowhere. 
One day the limbs are bare, a few days later the tree is covered with leaves.  
Flowers burst forth in their short burst of glory...

Pink lavender and blue borage flowering together

 In all the colours of the rainbow. Yellow brings sunshine into the garden and looks good when side by side with my purple flowering Hebe.

Bright, yellow, daisy - osteospernum

Bright yellow daisies bloom, bringing sunshine into the garden ..... 

Blue flowers abound in my garden this year. Below is some Borage and Echiums making a show and attracting all the bees. This will ensure a good seed crop for all my other flowers too. 

Stunning blue Borage flowers happily beside Echium and Nasturtiums

Blue Echium always makes a stunning show

A bright deep yellow and brown Australian native with it's pea shaped flower

This year I have re-potted many plants into self watering pots. I find these so great any time of the year, but especially during the long, hot, summer days when you really don't want to go out to water. You know your precious plants can last a couple of days.

Frogs in the Backyard

I was heading out the back door to lock the chickens up for the night. It was already dark. 

Just as I was about to take a step off the step I noticed something on the doormat. Sitting there quite calmly was a brown frog. He sat still while I went to get my camera, waited kindly until I had taken some photos, and in a flash, quicker than a blink, he was gone. He was so quick, I did not see him go, only heard the rustle of a sound as he jumped into the plants. 

Little Aussie brown garden frog come for an evening visit

Frogs in the garden

I always like to see frogs in my garden because I know that the garden is healthy when this happens. The absence of frogs is one of the first signs to let us know when the land is sick. 

Froggy Restaurant

Many years ago when we lived in another house we had frogs climb up on the windows in the evening. The bottom of the windows were about 120cm (4 feet) off the ground. When the lights were on in the evening, the insects were attracted to it. The frog thought this was a free for all and enjoyed climbing up the windows and having their fill.  

When we were in China we were served a plate piled high with small mountain frogs. Not for me thank you!

The Crafty Frog

I was given this lovely frog that has had mosaics lovingly applied to it. He doesn't get outside much though. I'm afraid he might hop away.

China frog with beautiful mosaics on his back

Frogs in Literature

Frogs have featured in literature for hundreds of years. We have the famous story of The Frog Prince by Brothers Grimm and the Chinese story of The Frog in the Well. Aesop, who was a great Greek teller of fables from long ago told of The Scorpion and the Frog. The Wind in the Willows is another famous English story by Kenneth Grahame that has become famous with Toad and other characters living at Toad Hall. A toad is a variety of frog. 

In the Australian aboriginal history, the Dreamtime story of Tiddalick The Frog is an important and famous story.

Frogs are also remembered in music

A Frog went Walking

A frog went walking on a summers day

A hum, a hum

A frog went walking on a summers day

He met Miss Mousey on the way

A hum, a hum, a hum, a hum, a hum.  etc

See if you can find some frogs today.

Gardening at Easter

It was busy and yet quiet at Easter this year. Some days were very busy and others were quiet. On the quiet days I enjoyed pottering in the garden. It is Autumn time here on the south coast of Australia and the weather has been more stable. We had a week of light rain then a week of warmer weather and sunshine, just the weather to make plants grow.

I have been working on replanting a garden bed in the front yard. This bed faces south and so it gets pretty cold with icy southerly winds for six months of the year. The other six months of the year it gets baking hot. The soil gets so hard that it is impossible to get a spade into it.

I am not one to water my front garden much so the plants MUST be very hardy. There are a couple of roses that have lasted there for years, a daisy bush - can you actually kill daisy bushes? and some red valerian. That is so hardy. It has thick roots under the ground that nourish it whatever the weather.

It is a good time to plant bulbs so that they will be ready to flower in springtime. I had bought five big, plump, round hyacinth bulbs. I am looking forward to the deep purple colour and the magnificent perfume in the future.  

To get these bulbs ready for planting, I soaked them in water and homeopathic 'Plant Strengthener' for 24 hours along with a little hydrogen peroxide. These were then drained and left to sit for a couple of days. Tiny white roots started to emerge like a corona from the bottom of the bulbs. 

I took a sheet of paper towel, dampened it, and sat the bulbs on it for another couple of days while I watched the roots growing. 

Self Watering Pots

On one of the quiet days over Easter, the bulbs were planted in a self watering hanging basket. I just love self watering pots. The plant always has access to as much water as it wants yet doesn't get waterlogged. Air can still get in between the bottom of the soil and the water level. Also watering can be intermittent. They are good for the forgetful gardener.

Preparing the Soil

The soil was also especially prepared. I used the following:

• potting mix
• vermiculite
• perlite
• blood and bone
• water saving granules
• epsom salts

This was mixed up and the bulbs were layered into it. They were well watered and left to sit in a sheltered spot for a few days. They will find their new hanging space when they start popping out of the soil. 

Grooming Young Gardeners

One of the youngest members of our family, a little two year old, checks out some pots of bulbs each week when she comes to visit. She is so excited to see how they have grown each week. It's a great way to instil a love of gardening into the next generation.

Plant Strengthener is available here

A Healthy Garden

Signs of a Healthy Garden
The sign of a healthy garden is the visibility of the insects, beetles and living creatures that live in it.

'Plastic' gardens have nowhere for the insects to hide. Plastic gardens are so neat and clean, and look blow dried, as though they have just come out of the hairdresser. When you go to the hairdresser your hair gets washed, cleaned, brushed, combed, trimmed, conditioned, dried and sprayed. A hair would not be game to be out of place. 

So with a garden. A healthy garden needs somewhere for spiders to spin their webs, flowers that attract insects, birds to eat the insects, beetles to .... just what do they do? But I like beetles.

Beetles

When I went out the back door the other morning a very large beetle was scurrying along the mat towards the door, coming to visit. He had 6 strong, armour plated legs.

Frogs

A few days later I was digging a hole to plant a flax plant in my chicken's garden and a little brown from jumped out of the ground. 

den

How is your garden?

Water Play for Children

Children Love Water

Children always love playing with water, whether it is playing in the baths, playing while they wash their hands, splashing their drink on the floor and playing with the spills or playing in the swimming pool. 

You can turn this favourite activity of theirs into a benefit for you. Get them to water your outside plants.

Watering the plants and learning what plants need

It doesn't matter if the children spill some of the water when they are outside. It will all dry up. Even their clothing will dry if it is a warm day.

At the same time as having fun with water, children learn something about gardening. They learn that plants need water to survive, just like we need water to drink. It's a simple, subtle way to teach them things.

Free Apps for your Photos

Free App for Photos

Recently I found a great FREE app for your phone to manipulate your photos. It presents them very nicely with lots of variations. 

I started with this photo

Then I used the InstaFrame app to make 

and this

Warning

I just have to let you know that this app is addictive. I spent over an hour trying out many variations and decided that it was well worth sharing.

Cecile Brunner - The Sweetheart Rose

Cécile Brunner

Here is a lovely rose growing in my garden.
It is flowering prolifically at the moment and I couldn't resist taking a video of it.

The Cécile Brunner rose is named after the lady who bred it 100 years ago.
It was so pretty and perfumed that it was also called The Sweetheart Rose.

It was a favourite in the gardens of our Grandmother's times.

More details below the video.

Enjoy

Height

The original rose grows about 1 metre (3ft) tall.
Mine is a tall variety growing 3-4 metres tall (9-12ft).

Flowering Time

The original rose flowers for a month in springtime.
The tall variety has many flushes of flowers throughout the year. 

Varieties

Bush rose growing 1 metre tall - 3ft
Climbing variety
Tall variety growing 3-4 metres tall - 9-12ft

Visitors to My Back Door

There are some new flowers flowering in the garden at the moment as it's springtime here in Australia.

I try to keep a photographic record of all my flowers but sometimes miss a few. Here are my latest.

A fuchsia, lobelia and buddleia. They are all looking lovely at the moment.

Fuchsia

 

Lobelia

 

Buddleia

 

The butterflies like the buddleia. Each year we get more butterflies.

 

Visitors to My Back Door

Yesterday when I opened the back door a butterfly flew right in and in the evening as I came back from feeding the chickens I spied a sparrow flying out the back door. He must have been having a look around as I keep the daily food in there, all sealed. So he missed out on some easy tucker.  

 

Every afternoon my little bantam hens come visiting about four o'clock. They must be feeling a bit peckish. They get a handful each of corn or seeds then off they go for a couple of hours until it's time for their evening meal when they come back again.

House Painting

We have just had the painters in for nearly two weeks. The outside of our house had not been painted for a long time. It's amazing how the walls get dirty from the rain and garden soil, insects and spider webs.

I have a very busy garden and many, many plants had to be cut back severely to allow the painters to get to the walls. Lots of the remaining plants came off the worst for wear as well.

But I can't complain too much because the house needed to be painted. Now it looks fresh and clean. I console myself in the thought that in twelve months the plants will have grown back. It will also give me the chance to remove some and replant with something new.

Sorry to disappoint you if you think the above picture is my home. It's not.

You may like to see some photos of my garden.

Creepy Crawlies, Slugs, Snails and Spiders

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

 

Slugs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

 

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

^{(with thanks to Wikipedia)}

Leopard slug

 

Leopard Slugs

Slugs and snails have been plentiful in my gardens over the years. The slug pictured above is called a Leopard slug because of the markings on its body and head. I first saw these slugs when they would visit the area where my little dog was fed each night. Ruby was a black and tan Australian Terrier.

 

Ruby, our little Australian terrier

 

These slugs lived under and around Ruby's kennel in the garden.

 

Dear, difficult little Ruby is no longer with us but we still have her kennel. It was put to use recently as a little coop for some chickens and their mother. They stayed warm and cosy in there.

 

However, one evening when I was feeding the chicks I saw one of these slugs again. Oh, so you are still around, I thought.

 

After the chicks moved out to a new and larger home, I turned the kennel over and found some Leopard slugs living under it.

 

Late last night, about 11.30pm, I was on my way to bed and decided to check on the chicks as it was drizzling rain. As I went outside with my little LED torch, there were three leopard slugs heading for the new chicken shed, charging across the damp grass.

 

These slugs were about 8-10cm long (3-4in). They can reach up to 20cm (8in) in length.

 

So today the kennel was removed further down the yard. It was turned on its side and the last I saw, our two fluffy silkie hens were eyeing off all the spiders, snails and slugs on its base.

 

When I went down the yard to put the hens away this evening, all the creatures were gone from the kennel.