garden & home made notes
Beautiful day today. I have grown a globe artichoke! An actual artichoke. Oh the excitement. Now I have to re-read my recipe books and find out what to do with it.
My jerusalem artichoke plants are growing nicely.
Three of my rose cuttings are growing really well. Not sure that any of the others will survive, but three is a saving of about $60, not to be sniffed at. I am supposed to snip off the buds the first year and give the plant the chance to put all energy into strong roots. I really wanted to know what colours I had and thought I would leave just one on each. But today I accidentally knocked my one bud off. Peeled it back thougfh and saw it is a gorgeous red. Excellent. I like a bit of deep, rich, extravagantly bold, red. The yellow banksia rose I bought from the garden nursery last year (my only full price shop rose, bought with the freebie $20 credit from my loyalty card) has extremely tiny flowers and while it is pretty, it needs to be moved now I can see this. The spot I have it in needs big, bold and blowsy. I bought a five metre roll of rigid netting to stake my roses against along the warm north facing back of our house. We have already got the warratahs to hold it in place (we live not just in wetville but also gustville) and it is laid out on the lawn ready for Favourite Handyman.
I transplanted my shop-bought leek seedlings today. Last year I never got around to it, leaving the punnet lying around for months. They are fiddly and time consuming. I really should mark out a row and sow some direct from seed. I've had a couple of small salads from the garden this last week and the lettuces and other greens are now shaping up nicely for regular harvests.
At the garden shop today I said 'no! no no no way!' to requests from my children that I buy a statue of a weird robot thing, a buddha, a flax, several other small natives, a water feature pump (no, we don't have a water feature), a gaily coloured children's watering can, several roses (actually I asked myself for one of those but I was strong and resisted), potting mix and of course a goldfish. I did reach deep into my heart and let them choose a $4 punnet of six flower seedlings each though. So now we have dianthus and livingstone daisies to add to our garden.
Our glasshouse share plan is no longer. The neighbours' landlord is kicking our lovely and favourite neighbours out so he can move in. We will miss our chats over the fence with our kind and generous friends.
Lots of work to be done in the garden, plus a truckload of wood to stack. But it is term-time again tomorrow. I've been sewing as well. This morning I made button holes for the first time ever. My next step is connecting the waistband to the skirt and it appears not to match exactly. So I'm putting that off for tonight. Progress on the paua baby coat has stalled since I finished the back and then mucked up the left front. I also received an email from Mum about knitting peggy squares for Samoa which I want to fit in soon. Which means motoring on with the baby coat as I have a rule of not starting a knitting project until the previous one is completely finished.
The story I wrote for FH's niece apparently went down very well and now I would like to write one about the chooks for a Christmas present for the two sisters. If I get the camera paid off in time then Fionn and I can illustrate it with photos. I've also got writers' group in only three more nights and as I am the enforcer of the rule that we must always bring something to share... better get my creative writing head screwed on next.
My jerusalem artichoke plants are growing nicely.
Three of my rose cuttings are growing really well. Not sure that any of the others will survive, but three is a saving of about $60, not to be sniffed at. I am supposed to snip off the buds the first year and give the plant the chance to put all energy into strong roots. I really wanted to know what colours I had and thought I would leave just one on each. But today I accidentally knocked my one bud off. Peeled it back thougfh and saw it is a gorgeous red. Excellent. I like a bit of deep, rich, extravagantly bold, red. The yellow banksia rose I bought from the garden nursery last year (my only full price shop rose, bought with the freebie $20 credit from my loyalty card) has extremely tiny flowers and while it is pretty, it needs to be moved now I can see this. The spot I have it in needs big, bold and blowsy. I bought a five metre roll of rigid netting to stake my roses against along the warm north facing back of our house. We have already got the warratahs to hold it in place (we live not just in wetville but also gustville) and it is laid out on the lawn ready for Favourite Handyman.
I transplanted my shop-bought leek seedlings today. Last year I never got around to it, leaving the punnet lying around for months. They are fiddly and time consuming. I really should mark out a row and sow some direct from seed. I've had a couple of small salads from the garden this last week and the lettuces and other greens are now shaping up nicely for regular harvests.
At the garden shop today I said 'no! no no no way!' to requests from my children that I buy a statue of a weird robot thing, a buddha, a flax, several other small natives, a water feature pump (no, we don't have a water feature), a gaily coloured children's watering can, several roses (actually I asked myself for one of those but I was strong and resisted), potting mix and of course a goldfish. I did reach deep into my heart and let them choose a $4 punnet of six flower seedlings each though. So now we have dianthus and livingstone daisies to add to our garden.
Our glasshouse share plan is no longer. The neighbours' landlord is kicking our lovely and favourite neighbours out so he can move in. We will miss our chats over the fence with our kind and generous friends.
Lots of work to be done in the garden, plus a truckload of wood to stack. But it is term-time again tomorrow. I've been sewing as well. This morning I made button holes for the first time ever. My next step is connecting the waistband to the skirt and it appears not to match exactly. So I'm putting that off for tonight. Progress on the paua baby coat has stalled since I finished the back and then mucked up the left front. I also received an email from Mum about knitting peggy squares for Samoa which I want to fit in soon. Which means motoring on with the baby coat as I have a rule of not starting a knitting project until the previous one is completely finished.
The story I wrote for FH's niece apparently went down very well and now I would like to write one about the chooks for a Christmas present for the two sisters. If I get the camera paid off in time then Fionn and I can illustrate it with photos. I've also got writers' group in only three more nights and as I am the enforcer of the rule that we must always bring something to share... better get my creative writing head screwed on next.
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