Spring is coming

I have bought myself a mini greenhouse to set up to grow the lovely heirloom seeds I bought from Yilgarn Traders who work in a garden in Geraldton, so I have great hopes for tough-to-WA plants! I have had only patchy success at growing seeds and potting on, so it is time I got my skills up on this important task.

Yilgarn traders have a website here.

I have three kinds of tomatoes, a capsicum, some 7 year beans, and catnip! My cat has never shown much interest in it, but perhaps if it was fresh?

My 'green manure crop is up in the new raised garden bed -it will seem strange to turn these lovely plants into the soil in a month or so, but this is where the tomato seedlings are going to go and it should give them an excellent start.

We have been harvesting broccoli, which is almost finished and just this week got our first cauliflower. I was amazed at how crisp the fresh cauliflower was -just goes to show the stuff we usually buy has been wilting for days before we get it. The cabbages are just hearting now -must remember to start earlier with them for next year.




The new pomegranate trees we planted a month ago are now shooting forth the most gorgeous red leaves -you can just see them in the picture above-they are going to be such a good addition to the front garden, as they will offer fruit and flowers and shade for some plants during the summer, whilst letting the sun get through in the winter time.





We have had two weeks of rain -such a joy after so many dry years -and everything is looking great. The picture above is a 'happy wanderer' which has happily made its home in my backyard -don't you love volunteers -especially when they look this good!

On the negative side, we have found white ants (termites) in the wood surround of our front door. This was a pretty scary time as I found myself worried about the roof frame being affected, but not wanting to dose everything in the garden with chemicals -the usual treatment. Fortunately we found a company which takes the low impact approach, with targeted baits and low toxicity poisons which are safe for animals etc. This treatment was a lot more expensive than the chemicals but when I said to my DH "I don't want to drench the soil with chemicals as we are growing vegetables and fruit" , he replied "Of course!" Love that man!

It will take about six months for us to be sure that the termites are no longer active, and at that stage we will need to replace the door and its surround. On the positive side, that means an opportunity to get something prettier than the 1970s orange glass sidelight that the house now has. I am thinking of something with decorated glass and a door with glass insets which let more light into the entrance.

All of this extra expense has come at a time when we are still recovering from the driveway project -which was one third more expensive than we imagined-and at a time when the breadmaker, the dishwasher and the clothes dryer all need replacing! (the dryer is only used to finish off the clothes we dry under the eaves but there are times -like when it rains for two weeks-when it is important) . We have replaced the bread maker and the dryer, so hopefully the dishwasher can be replaced soon and we can then start saving again.

That is life, though. I am aiming to keep concentrating on all the good stuff and celebrating every growing thing in my garden and my life.

Thanks for coming by to read my blog -I am quite a fan of blogging - I find it a great network of people all sharing their lives and their stories, their failures and successes. Please feel free to leave a comment.