Posts
sweet potatoes, emerging like a zombie
Buried some time in August and since long forgotten, the sweet potato has risen and is back with a vengeance.
little big compost bins and a fancy worm cafe
This is another small step towards making the place look more amenable, as up until now, it's been looking like my …
might it be a compost melon?
A seedling sprouted amidst the amaranth plants. A generous layer of compost was sprinkled under the newspaper/mulch, s…
stink stank stunk, but now there'll be pumpkins
I was hesitant to write about having emptied the third compost bin that was becoming anaerobic because I'm not sure…
the silver lining is dried leaves
The front yard has been less than picturesque these months. The jolly juniper trees were pruned down in early winter an…
mad red brain
Like a mad red brain the involute rhubarb leaf thinks its way up through loam. "April Chores" by Jane Kenyon, fro…helpless and vulnerable on windy days
The howling winds thrashed through the neighbourhood yesterday and invaded the garden grounds. Its invisible might, as …
rainwater is finally pumped up and ready to go-go
I can safely say that I'm a decent small-scale plumber now.
milk and mildew
Powdery mildew is officially the worst "bad guy" of the garden. It first appeared on the tomatoes in the Back…first kombucha, first fermentation
The SCOBY is looking pretty healthy, so it's about time I make some actual beverages.
surprise! have a grape
On 13 July , I used a babushka technique to pot up some grape cuttings. After two months (but probably more importantly,…
miss muffet's soil bacteria (LAB culture part 3)
Treacle (aka molasses) is added to the whey to stabilise it (1:1 ratio), so it can be stored in room temperature. I pou…
LAB culture (part 2)
Previously, in Part 1 of the LAB culture series, 7-day-old rice water and milk was combined in a mixture in a ratio of …
chilli on a stick
A neighbour gave us this cutting when he was pulling up his garden. He had to clear out the whole plot because the land…big bark, bigger bite, sore muscles
Setting up a productive edible garden is hard work. There's the mandatory watering tour, then all the maintenance, …
plant identification for a comfrey lookalike
This is a plant that had popped up in the front weedy square. The leaves looked and felt a bit like comfrey, so I kept …
marigold blooms
Big bushy marigolds. I'm not sure what variety they are, but they don't look quite like the ones I've seen …
bad butterfly, please go away
There's been a couple of cabbage white butterflies fluttering around these days. Some little holes have started app…
purslane is yummy, unlike pigface
Purslane, yogurt, citron confit, cumin works well together in a tzatziki. Purslane itself when raw is really crispy and…
fermented family
Left: Red cabbage, dill, kaffir, black pepper, starry apples (thanks, Ppf). Centre: Pigface, lime. Right: Papaya, kaffir…
please come, mr ladybug
Scattered some alyssum near the kale and front gailan, and some cosmos in the peanut driveway. This garden needs more y…
LAB culture
EM, soil bacteria, LAB serum, LABS... Many names exist for a mix of lactic acid bacteria which is beneficial for the s…
green coffee bean
I had soaked and planted out a few of these green coffee beans that had been hiding in the hessian bags I had swapped f…
got some more seedlings
Raising seeds takes a lot of patience, and I just couldn't resist a run to Bunnings for some plants I couldn't …
layering mint runners
The garden mint had a lot of mould on its leaves - perhaps because it's just below the blighted tomatoes. Solution:…
chaoshi kangkong
Bought some kangkong (aka morning glory, kongxincai) from the supermarket today. Then at home, I cut the stems just be…