Back to my garden :)

So my last post was about Heronswood and this one is about my garden :)

Yesterday i planted my new fig and staked it, and i topdressed all of my fruit trees with a mix of cow manure, chicken manure, mushroom compost and rock dust. The aim of this is to  fertilize and get the plants ready for spring and new growth. I also sowed seeds

In the propogator (sp?)

• Coneflower purple (echinacea)
• Red Kale
• Lettuce mignonette
• Silverbeet (same colours as in previous post)
• Broccoli sessantina grossa

And straight in the ground

• Pink and blue mix of flowers
• Nasturtium Milkmaid
• Poppy ladybird (vibrant red with black centre)
• Red onion

Today i tidied up the garden, did some weeding, replanted some flowers that were in the way and moved a whole lot of pots around :) I also started on a cage type contraption for all my berry plants so the birds dont find them....i didnt have very much trouble last year but there were not as many of them and they were spread out...and there were less birds!!! so here it is in its beginning stages

As i said very early stages....lol...i needs my husbands help hammering the stupid stakes into the ground and devising some sort of support :) and i need more bird netting for the front :) It was a beautiful sunny day today :) perfect for this sort of work.

I also manured where the watermelons, beans and corn is going to go.

He is a pic of half the garden

I am considering adding another tyre for potatoes :) that would take us up to 6 in the garden!

Believe it or not my garden is starting to flower...the blueberries have had closed flowers for ages now but they are starting to open up



Blueberries




Rosemary




Flowers




Orchid

Last week i repotted my rosemary into the pot that held my rhubarb. I chucked the rubard in the corner as i was sure it had gotten crown rot. Which meant i thought it was dead...anyway i pick it up today and turn it over and what to i find! its sprouted again...lol....so i replanted it in a permenant position in the garden so it could stretch its legs



Well see how it goes :) the pot was really to small for it so hopefully it will take off!

Thats all for today! 

Heronswood-Dromana (Diggers Club)

I have had a fantastic day :)
There is a manor and gardens in dromana called heronswood. It is the base for the diggers club company of which i am a member http://www.diggers.com.au/

I drove down today in the miserable rain...my sat nav took me a very scenic route but i made it :) thankfully i had my rain jacket that i wear to work (thanks mum-same one we took to europe! It still fits lol). So i put that on and went inside the shop. The ladies laughed at me and said i was very brave...lol...i grabbed an umbrella and braved the pouring rain. The garden was amazing....i had a brief look at the ornamental sections and then headed down to the veggie section



Bottom left of this photo is a purple/red kale...it was beautiful




Rue and rhubarb

There was a seat under a leafy arbour thing so i sat down and took in the view. It was a few minutes before i realised


IT WAS THE SEA!!!!

They had geese (i think they were geese...maybe ducks) walking around

I wanted to show you a couple of their vegies up close

This is the purple/red kale....it is beautiful...sorry about the picture quality...it was raining and i used my phone



This is the swiss chard/rainbow silverbeet. In pink and orange



and Yellow!

If you remember i grew some of this in summer and its delicious :)

They had so many different types of fruit trees! i was so tempted to eat some of the ripe fruit! Instead i headed inside to the cafe called "fork to for" they use only produce from their garden and locally sourced sustainable food :) I had a caramilzed onion and olive tart with a salad. And pumpkin and something bread with olive oil....I have never eated anything as yummy as my lunch today... :) Their menu changes seasonally based on what they are growing and is available.



I had a bite before the pic...i couldnt resist

 
Then i went back to the shop and picked up lots of seeds, rockdust, bottletop waterers (for watering seedlings!)

A new fig called St Dominque Violette

Reportedly grown at Burnley Horticultural College in Melbourne as early as 1875 and listed in old mail-order catalogues up until the 1930's, this violet-skinned French fig is back. Sourced from Phil Shepherd, whose family have been growing fruit trees in Victoria for 3 generations, this fig is one for the collector and connoisseur of fine fruits.

and Oca which is grown similar to potatoes and tastes similar but is only ready to dig up in autumn!

And last but no least! Yesterday i got all my frozen tomatoes out of the freezer and canned them! one jar of yellow and 2 of red!

Im very very proud :)

Pheww what a massive post....again if you have any questions about gardening, preserving or anything feel free to comment of email me at natalieback@optusnet.com.au

Hope everyone is well :)