Under the weather and other things...

For the past couple of weeks the spawn have been playing catch with some sort of cold/flu/virus that keeps on lurking around, even my poor mumsy has caught a good dose of whatever it is, the doctor ordered a nasal swab to rule out whooping cough, which according to my mumma is a more than unpleasant experience. I am happy to report this is not what we have. So while we've all been under the weather, I have made good use of being unwell. Every spare moment I've had to rest has been spent saving the universe from reapers in Mass Effect 3. I am loving how choices I made in ME1 and ME2 impact on the story, and apparently the final outcome, though there's been quite a bit of outrage from fans about the ending. I'll let you know when I see it, but so far this has been my favourite, and I can't imagine that after all of the hours I have put into the Mass Effect world, I should find myself disappointed by the end of this journey.

On my food growing journey thus far I am a little disappointed, it's all a learning experience so I'm not going to be too hard on myself,  I think the main issue has been a late planting, I didn't start planting until nearly January, and now that autumn is acting like winter, almost everything is dying. I ripped out the broccoli due to bug issues and overcrowding, the cabbages were planted too early, and the cucumber plants are all wilting, except for the one I planted the beans near, could be a soil issue? I know beans add nitrogen to the soil...  It's too cold for the capsicums now, and the zucchini leaves were covered in some sort of powdery mildew, I cut the affected leaves and stalks off, hopefully they'll survive, there is a lot of new growth happening at the moment so we will see. 

I didn't plant enough beans so we'd get more than half a handful at a time, same with the strawberries. I do have some tomato plants left, and there is a lot of green fruit there, I don't know how they'll hold up with the cold, some leaves have gone brown and others are heading that way. Snails ate all of my carrot seedlings, I'm brainstoming ideas to avoid that again. I still have my celery without issues but it's still not ready to pick, the pumpkin flowers still won't open, and that looks to be wilting and dying off too... I am not giving up. 

Last week I planted some brussel sprouts, climbing beans, and peas, this week I will start my attempt at tomatoes and capsicums in the greenhouse, thanks to some hard work from Justin and soon to be 13yo spawn, my green house is ready to use. I'll be planting swedes and cauliflower seeds out into the garden. 

Every now and then, there are little moments, I glance at my spawn and think, if  only I could keep this moment forever... If only I could remember you just like this, in this moment, just as you are..

I love that technology had come so far in my lifetime, there is always a camera nearby to capture my spawnlets whenever the mood takes me. 

They grow up way too fast, I want to cherish every moment I am gifted with, even when they aren't well... 

I am off to snuggle under some warm blankets...

Goodnight, sleep tight, and stay well.

Bek.

How is my garden growing?

Manic Monday's are almost my least favourite day, Wednesday takes first place though, I just need to be more organised, less chaos, or at at the very least I'll settle for some organised chaos. That is one of my goals this year, along with de-cluttering, and using less resources. It's rubbish day tomorrow, and all of my bins are full with more waiting to go in, so my immediate goal, is to use less, or more importantly, waste less. Buy less packaging, start composting and make sure no food is wasted. I am giving myself 1 month to have this much in place, and putting it up here might help me stick to it. I have already started by not buying dog food, I am making 3 days worth of Murphy food at a time, and he and I are both much happier, no tins for recycling, and yummy food my dog can't wait to eat, it smells better too, at both ends. *grin*

I promised garden updates, so here they are. 

I planted these capsicums and lavender on Saturday, after attacking this clay filled garden bed and working through some organic compost and well composted cow manure, finishing off with organic sugar cane mulch. These are store bought seedlings, I had tried to grow capsicums from seeds, and feeling I'd failed bought these ones. Then I read a blog, (I can't remember which one, sorry,) that said, don't stop watering, Capsicum seeds can take a really long time to wake up, So I kept at it, watering the depressingly blank soil, and last week after 6 weeks I have a result! 

Only three of the eight made it, but I'll still take that as a win, 1 of them has only just broken the surface, maybe next week I'll have more? 

The pumpkins and some sort of melon are growing like crazy, the pumpkins were planted just after Christmas, but as of yet no flowers. I had thought I saw buds, but it was just new shoots, keeping my fingers and toes crossed, and limiting the watering, I've read that this might help.

A tiny melon and cucumber, in the absence of bees I have tried my hand at pollinating, but am also planting some bee attracting flowers and herbs, in hope of bringing them in. Every summer I have had bees all over my wattle tree, I've rarely seen one this year, their absence is troubling when I read about colony collapse disorder, which is why even though I have a white fly problem, I am avoiding any pesticide. I did see two yesterday, maybe the lavender is already doing it's job, but they seemed more interested in my clothesline. I recently dyed my bright blue hair to black as I'm allergic to bees and when I was near them, they'd buzz around my head in a threatening kind of worship. 

I didn't have any soil deep enough and completely free of stones for carrots, and am fast running out of garden beds, this 42 litre container seemed like a good solution, the carrots seeds are in the middle with herbs I've grown from seed around the outside. I have three more containers to set up, one for Parsnips, one for swedes, and the other will be brussel sprouts. My spawn love brussel sprouts, my youngest spawnlet begs loudly in the supermarket for them as if they're candy, while surrounding shoppers look at us like we've grown another head or come from another planet.

Zucchini is doing well.

I really did plant all of these too close, in this 4x4 bed I have 9 tomatoes, 8 celery, 8 broccoli, 6 green Mignette lettuces, 8 iceberg lettuce seedlings, and a few mixed lettuce seedlings. Everything seems to be happy, so I'll see how it all grows there may be some sacrifices in the near future, next time I will space things out a lot more. 

A tiny little leek, and my first bean! 

There has been a little bit of seed sowing craziness, well, maybe a little more than a little, and just about every container I can find has a hopeful seed or 20 with the original goal in mind. Using less packaging, good stuff for the compost bin I still have to get/build, and no wasting food. The benefits will be a healthier family, with hopefully a little more money saved, no running out of room in the bins before rubbish day, and less impact on our planet. 

Middle spawn cut her foot checking an aqueduct for Gerome on Saturday, last night we were in emergency as it was a tad worse than first thought. A tetanus shot and some vigorous cleaning were needed and she's fine, but no school today, I'm off to hire some crutches for the rest of this week. 

The vigorous cleaning was more like a vicious tickle, middle spawn couldn't stop laughing.

'til next time,

Bek. 

A day at home

Finally a day that I can spend at home alone, as a stay at home mum, it is surprising how little time I have at home with nowhere to be, though my youngest spawn is ten.  Maybe I'll spend some of my day catching up on laundry, tidying, and dusting, but there will be blissful uninterrupted reading. Yesterday I arrived home in the afternoon to Kalayna Price's Grave Witch in the mailbox, I bought it on an amazon recommendation, a bit like genius on iTunes. I think it serendipitous, this book arrives just in time for my first day off in almost forever, a perfect break from hectic reality.

Because I have the time, I thought I would take some photos of what's growing in my garden, firstly, because I'm proud of my first attempt at growing our food. And secondly, because it's great to have a comparison for later on.

These are my dwarf butter beans just over two weeks ago, and today.  

Zucchini, These little babies are going to make me very happy! 

My tangled tomatoes, I mistakenly planted 9 of them very close together, and next to the broccoli which is apparently not a good thing. Underneath them is my basil, I have read that not only do they taste great together, but growing them together is beneficial as well.

This is the melon of some sort, found the day I started to plan out my veggie patch, and the day before I was to plant my pumpkins. 

This is what it looked like, and I, thinking I was an expert on such things, was so sure that this surprise plant, growing from nothing I'd ever planted, was in fact a pumpkin. I'm glad I didn't rely on that, knowing now it is a melon, or I wouldn't have bought and planted the pumpkins in time. I moved it from where it was and planted it in the newly turned, weeded, manured, and mulched bed, and brought three new pumpkin plants to plant with it. 

the day after I moved it, I was sure I'd killed it...

A few weeks later it looked like this and now, it's probably the happiest plant in my yard... I am happy to hear any theories on what melon this may be, Any! The curiosity is killing me. My son Micheal is hoping for rockmelon, and has already staked his claim on the fruit, I'm thinking honey dew.

The celery, It seems to be the slowest growing thing in my backyard, I keep looking impatiently at those perfect little stalks with a predatory eye. 

Our green mignonette lettuce, these have been adding some green to the spawns sandwiches and rolls. 

Lastly, my cabbage seedlings. 

The white butterflies have been busy on these tiny leaves too, I'd better start picking those eggs off.

This is not the whole of what's growing in the garden, and the other things will have their turn too, but I think this post is past long enough, I can ramble on forever about my veg, so I'll stop for now. Plus I hear the rubbish truck, and am desperate to take out the school holiday build up of recycling. 

'til next post,

Bek.