Beetroot, garlic, potatoes and eshallots around the corner

We have finally managed to organise the hesian bags which the potatoes are nesting in.  We await with anticipation their progress.  I have planted from seed some beetroot which have sprouted and are the most amazing colours.  Their deep-red coloured stems and lovely greener-than-green leaves are truly a sight to behold - I think anyway.....Mother Nature is amazing.  

The beetroots are accompanied in the pots by my garlic.  I have planted 3 so far and they have all sprouted.  You simply use a bought garlic and separate the cloves then plant root down and voila....it has worked....I am so impressed.

Another piece of amazing information I read is that eshallots can be grown from the off-cuts from bought eshallots.  Make sure that the root system is fresh ie not brown and withered and cut about a couple of cms from the root system and plant roots down in the ground of course, water and voila....they are growing too.  Apparently you can harvest them by just cutting the eshallot above the root system and it should shoot and grow again.....I am about to find out how true this is so stand by...a couple of weeks to go yet though.  Enjoy your day.....off to work now.

Easter time together

Easter is a time for reflection and family and that was certainly what I have been attending to this Easter.  You can see the two fisher people I accompanied to Manly over the Easter break.  It was truly lovely watching the boats, water, birds and people enjoying time together.  As well, Fob became a common sight in the kitchen as she cooked up a storm with her wonderful hot cross buns and gingerbread men.  Her creations were absolutely delicious and the recipes will be posted on the Food for Friends blog which acompanies this blog. 

Fob caught her first fish this Easter which was truly exciting.  It was too small to keep so it was carefully and lovingly returned to it's home in the water.  KW was the successful person to catch our first fish last year, Flounder, which I filleted and cooked on our return home that day, gosh what an exciting day that was!!!  I have been successful in catching numerous undersized crabs and ditto for an undersized fish.  We are, however, getting better at this sport and no doubt we will reap the rewards soon.  It is just lovely spending time with the family, though we do miss AB's company but I totally understand fishing is not for everyone.  Relaxing by the water and waiting with anticipation at what the day may bring is truly enjoyable ........

AND THEN THERE THEY WERE

Long time no see but I have a great excuse...I have been really busy with my other work....the one that I earn money from. However, the garden has been attended to twice daily since we last communicated and I am delighted to say that the tomatoes are being harvested and the sugar peas have also produced 1 pod which you can see for yourself. 

 

 We have also been doing a lot of cooking eg Banoffi pie, homemade pizza, Fob loves to make the dough and the pizzas are a real hit.  Fob also made Hot Cross buns over Easter so I will put that recipe on my recipe blog with some fab photos too!

 

Possums vs Wolverine (You gotta love Hugh Jackman)

Well I have taken on the human vs possum problem, humanely of course, and hope that my Lapsong tea spray and diluted Tabasco sauce spray will do the job.

According to my googling, possums do not like to eat hot things and an organic website suggested the Tabasco which I mentioned previously. I have also had my wonderful husband construct a cage for my lovely climbing beans as you can see in the photo. Of course, this is all very well but just how I keep them from consuming my vine as it grows on the fence will be my other problem hence the sprays. Oh and I have also invested in a bird net, 10 m X 4 m, (do you think that will be enough??? Yes!!!)

I am trying very hard to live harmoniously with the possum community but I do feel that as they don't understand English nor know how proud I am of my veges this is the only thing I feel I can do. I did initially invest in 8 m of cheap curtain netting which you can see and it has worked well.

Keep your fingers crossed as I really want to be able to boast to family and friends that the beans are doing well and I also want to have such a wonderful supply that I get to freeze them too! Gosh I am so excited. Can you tell?

Recycling..... you gotta love it

Apologies for not divulging this about a week ago when I told you I would.

These recycled planting cells are something I came across, one again, whilst googling whilst looking for cheap peat pots. These amazing cells are simply made out of newspaper. Find a small, fairly solid circular container to use, I use a vitamin bottle. Cut out strips approx 9 cm x 25 cm from your newspaper. Take the piece of paper and firmly wrap it around the bottle alowing some of the paper to overlap the base of the bottle area. Gently remove the cylindrical "construction" and fold the end in, just one, much like wrapping the end of a birthday parcel or fish n chips parcel so that the base is flat and secure and won't unravel. (I make up a heap and put them aside for use later). Fill them as you would with your seed raising mix, plant your seed and voila, there you have it. Place them onto a drainage cell tray and like peat pots, they will dissintergrate in the ground/pots once planted. Fantastico!!!

Peter Cundle and 60 Minutes....thank you

You see I knew I was onto something when I started this blog.....for those of you who missed 60 Minutes last night and the wonderful Peter Cundle.....shame on you. Peter and Liz Hayes were prompting us all to grow your own vegetables due to, as I told you all previously, the poor quality of produce our shops are offering us.

Peter, you make my heart sing. I thank you for your amazing enthusiasm, for sharing your incredible knowledge with us and for your all round good guy attitude especially regarding your gardening prowess....the world is a better place having you in it. Come on Australia...get planting!!

For those who missed the program or you would like to see it again....click on the below link, sit back and breath it in......

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-AU&brand=ninemsn&vid=032d7830-6331-4216-b7e6-ab12f91e8948

Possum Magic(ally stop eating my plants please)

Anyone recognise this critter? Well if found by the authorities and taken in for questioning, should he be found with evidence of two sunflower seedlings and a leaf from a climbing bean plant somewhere on it's being, he is mine! Maybe some community work would be good punishment if found guilty (as in replanting my plants?) No, I am not going to harm him so don't stress....he is protected after all.

Yes, it has happened again, the sunflower seedlings Fob only planted yesterday were again demolished last night, even with a wire cage around them and so too was a leaf from my fabulous climbing bean plant. Luckily she has planted more seeds so we will be able to replant them.

Steps have been taken this morning to sort things out. After googling the "help wanted" section for possum problems, I have found a plethora of "give it a go" answers. Here are just a few:- 30ml of Tabasco sauce to 100 ml of water, spray on affected plants; ceyenne pepper spray; mothballs hanging off plants; a dynamic lifter seaweed conentrate-soaked sponge hanging off plants; nets over plants; leave lights on over garden; some sort of reflective "cat face" ornament you can put near plants and honestly the list goes on and on.

I am therefore utilising x2 of the suggestions ie the Tabasco spray (which of course means that I have to wash it off anything I spray it on which I wish to consume) and the netting which I will put over the plants overnight. You see they don't like hot stuff like chilli so here we go!

Here is the evidence of the leafless stalk of the climbing bean. Mr Possum only ate 1 leaf out of 3 and so for that sir, I am eternally grateful.