Shades of Pink

Different shades of pink, from delicate and pale to bright and deep, ...

 Pink petals of a Cranberry Hibiscus bloom.

Pale pink strawberry  smoothie.

Deep foxglove pink.

A fluffy pink puffball.

Playing with pinks for a quilt patch.

Bright pink salvia bloom.

...are such pretty variations on a sweet colour.

Meg

Very Early Spring in our Garden

Warm breezes and a different quality to afternoon's light signal a change to Spring here in our subtropical home. Although the nights have still been cool, a sense of the season turning came earlier again this year than the flipping of our calender's page to September. It is a glorious time of year here which I relish before the heat of Summer takes hold. 

Out in the garden, green-tipped new growth abounds and more and more flowers are coming into bud and bloom. The mandarin tree is covered in promising white blossoms, purple lavender spires scent the air, plump mulberries are ripening and delicious, the passionfruit  in a pot is sending out its first tendrils and the veg patch waits, under a blanket of mulch, for new plantings. 

Creamy petals and a tinge of pink on a salvia's bloom.

Ripening mulberries on our little tree.

Little native raspberries beginning to form too.

The intriguing bloom of an iris.

A mass of perfumed lavender blooms.

White blossoms on our mandarin tree.

Early growth on our new passionfruit vine.

Chocolate Cosmos has a chocolate-y scent!

This Spring, I plan on adding even more salvias to the garden, with plants gifted to me by a new gardening friend, along with different varieties of cosmos. Packets of Cosmos 'Picotee' and Cosmos 'Sensation' seeds have arrived. I ordered my seeds from Green Harvest, an Australian organic seed supplier based up in the Hinterland not too far a drive from here. (I am not affiliated with Green Harvest in any way; I just like to buy my seeds from them.) 

There's so much to look forward to in our garden this Spring! I'd love to know what you are planning to grow as the season changes where you are in the world.

Meg

 

Food Growing in our Garden

While I dream of an entire backyard devoted to growing food, in reality our main veg patch extends just down the length of our back ramp. While not the largest of patches, I still manage to home grow a variety of foods that we enjoy picking and eating. 

Little yellow globes of goodness.

These little cherry-like tomatoes are an heirloom variety, called 'Lemon Drop', that I've not grown before. I will be saving a few seeds though because I want to grow them again. They are delicious in salads and a lovely colour contrast to the usual red cherry toms.

Crisp & crunchy snow peas.

Snow peas are one of my favourite garden snacks. I can't walk past them without picking one to munch on! Besides walking around the garden and eating them, I've been harvesting small handfuls and adding them to stir fries. They've grown so well this season. 

A frilly fancy lettuce.

Lettuce has so far been a bit of a hit and miss affair this Autumn. I planted some which were bitter after a blast of heat earlier in the season. These frilly fancy lettuces are doing well though. The leaves are being used on sandwiches and in salads. 

A little purple eggplant.

I'm not a huge fan of eggplant so just planted one this season. These are a small variety and perhaps, once they get a bit bigger, will make their way onto a pizza somehow or maybe into a bake of some kind. There's no point in growing what you don't enjoy eating!

Bright green basil. 

Sweet basil is flourishing in the garden where it self seeds happily. The bees and I love it! There's been such an abundance that I've been able to give bunches away to friends who want to make pesto too. Here is a recipe for Macadamia Basil Pesto which is so delicious.

Tall spring onions.

Spring onion grows in our patch all year round. I cut some almost every day and use it in everything from our morning omelettes, salads, stir fries and I always garnish nachos with sour cream and chopped spring onion.

Leaves & stems of silverbeet.

Then there's  silverbeet. It's the most dependable veg in our patch, there's always an Autumn abundance of it and it's so nutritious. One of my favourite recipes in which to use our homegrown silverbeet is this Impossible Pie from Fiona over at Stay Home Instead. Perfect for lunches!

A garden volunteer.

This is the last pumpkin from those that grew on the volunteer vine that popped up in the garden. I picked it after I took this photo as it's time to pull the vine out now and make some more space for new plantings.  Of course, I will roast some of it as that is one of my most favourite things to eat in all the world!

What is your garden growing?

Meg

Lately

We are spending all our days at home now like so many others all around the world.  There is work and school to do from home throughout Monday to Friday. Our old wooden table is set with schoolbooks and our study is, for now, a makeshift office. Around and in between this different way of working and learning, there is much that is happily and reassuringly the same about home.

 Homemade pumpkin scones with jam & a dollop of thick cream.


  Fresh, spray-free fruit & veg in my custom-order box.

Crunchy cornflake crackles.

As always, there's much home cooking cooling on the kitchen bench. This nourishes us, sustains us and, in the case of these cornflake crackles, indulges us in a little childhood nostalgia when days did indeed seem more carefree than they do just now. While this refined-sugar free version of these honey joys, is far less sweet than those I remember from my girlhood days, they are every bit as yummy and the bottom still sticks to the patty paper case! 🙂

The first eggplant flower.

A delicate little snow pea flower too.

In the veggie patch, the seedlings I planted weeks ago are growing taller and leafier and the first flowers on the eggplant and snow peas have emerged. The buzz of honeybees, blue-banded bees and teddy bear bees, begins early in this north-facing part of our garden. Our own teeny-tiny little native bees are there among the flowers too but they are just quieter. I am harvesting homegrown lettuce, spring onion, herbs, mandarins and spinach and can't wait to pick the first snow peas to munch on!

A novel & one of those cornflake crackles.

Everyday, I find myself with a book (or three) in my lap which is not that unusual in less extraordinary times either. The pile of books I borrowed before the libraries closed is dwindling. Some of the novels have been ho-hum but I am very much enjoying In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O'Shaughnessy.  It's been quite fascinating to learn more about the life of Marian Evans, who wrote under the nom de plume of George Eliot. Perhaps, when there are no library books left on my bedside table, I will seek out one of George Eliot's Victorian novels to read. 

Little blue & cream drawstring bag.

While my bedside table is emptying of novels, my sewing table has a growing pile of old linens from which I am making little drawstring bags. These are my favoured project right now. Each finished bag is tucked into my present box for later gifting. They are perfect for holding a washcloth and bar of soap or a few packets of flower seeds and a card. While I am often 'distracted' by sewing up these bags, I have made some progress on a couple of unfinished garments too. (If I ever finish them, I'll show you! 😄)

Early morning light along the path.

Each and every day too, there are early morning and late afternoon walks, with each other and our lovely Sir Steve dog, along the winding paths of our leafy neighbourhood. The Autumn light at these times of day is gentle and soft. Quite a way along one path, nestled safely into the fork of a tall gum's branches, there is a precious koala. With a handpainted sign at the bottom of 'her' tree, letting us all know she's up there, this fluffy native has become quite a neighbourhood celebrity! Can you see her way up high in these branches?

A fluffy koala in a gum along a neighbourhood path.

Just as this koala is settled and snug in her tree, so too are we in our home. In these uncertain times, I would not want to be anywhere else. 

Meg

So Many Butterflies

Flitting through the air around our garden and neighbourhood have been ever so many more butterflies.  These delicate insects are, as always, ever so hard to photograph with their fluttering wings and dizzying flight paths but, every so often, when they alight upon a favourite plant, they stay still just long enough to capture something of their beauty.

A beautiful Blue Tiger Butterfly.

Dozens of Blue Tiger Butterflies, with wings that remind me of stained glass cut-outs, are gathering around one heavenly-scented blossoming tree in the park. 

The female Common Eggfly on a mandarin leaf.

The Common Eggfly and the Orchard Swallowtail are favouring the lone mandarin in our garden. I spot them from our kitchen window as they weave in and out of the glossy green mandarin leaves.

The closed wings of the Common Crow butterfly.

In the warmth of the morning,  Common Crow butterflies flit and flutter around our star jasmine. We often see these butterflies in our garden.

The bright blue wings of a Blue Triangle Butterfly

Flashes of the most exquisite bright blue signal the flight of the  Blue Triangle Butterfly. They seem to like the salvias in our garden. Even when these butterflies are feeding, their wings constantly vibrate so they are rarely still.

A little butterfly bag.

These butterflies, and others of their fluttering kind, bring such a sense of delight and wonder at just how beautiful and perfect nature can be. I even discovered a butterfly, stitched in purples, on a piece of vintage linen. So many butterflies!

Meg

Saturday's Simple Things

In a world where right now things can feel as though they are constantly changing, I'm glad for some small and simple things, here in the space of home, that bring a little contentment, a little joy, a little comfort and a little peace...

Watering the garden in the early morning light.
(I love the sound of water splashing onto these large Queensland Arrowroot leaves.)

Collecting fragrant Frangipani flowers that fall onto our lawn.
(Free perfume from a neighbour's tree.)

Knitting a few rows every now and then.
(I ❤ the deep sea colour of this simple shawl-to-be.)

 Planting little seedlings in the veg patch.
(The promise of homegrown food to come.)

 Watching the bees  plunder our garden's flowers.

(This is a noisy native Teddy Bear Bee.)

Home baking for now and for later.
(Is there anything more comforting than the scent of a baking cake?)

What are you making, growing, watching, baking or listening to during these rather surreal times? Is it bringing you a little peace too?

Meg

Three Things from My Garden

A delicate spray of sweetly scented blossoms, a bunch of fragrant homegrown herbs and a simple bouquet of little flowers are the joy I brought inside from our lush and green garden this morning...

Homegrown flowers and herbs.

That single spray of white star-shaped flowers came from my climbing Stephanotis vine. (Madagascan Jasmine).  Its sweetly perfumed blossoms are also known as wedding flowers because they are often used in wedding bouquets. I placed my single spray in a little vintage milk bottle, along with some of my favourite blue and white treasures, atop the old hoop pine table near our front door. Its heady perfume will offer a long-lasting and sweetly-scented welcome home. 

A spray of sweetly-scented Stephanotis in an old milk bottle.

While the Stephanotis is covered in sweetly-scented stars, the herbs in our garden are covered in lush new growth. The bunch of pungent basil and savoury rosemary I picked are now sitting in a blue jug of water on my kitchen bench ready to add flavour and freshness to our meals. The basil is destined for a pasta sauce while the rosemary for a focaccia and some herb-y roasted potatoes. Homegrown herbs have such vibrant flavour!

A bunch of fresh, homegrown herbs.

Into another old jug, I placed a happy little bouquet of small Zinnia flowers. With their creamy petals and centres of golden yellow, these Summer flowers always make me smile. I love them so for their simplicity. They seem to match perfectly the crocheted 'lace' of a favourite vintage doily.

A bunch of happy little Zinnias.

This is the joy of the garden for me; the food and the flowers that we grow. Whether it's a bunch of herbs or a bunch of flowers or both, I am beyond content when there's abundance in our garden to pick and enjoy.

Meg

p.s. If you would like to learn more about growing the beautiful Stephanotis vine, here is a Gardening Australia video and factsheet.

In My Garden After the Rain

There's a little bit of magic that falls with long-awaited rain. It's there in the way it turns what was so brown and dry into that which is lush and green. It's there in the way freshness and energy return to what was wilting and listless. And it's most definitely there in the way it draws us back out into the garden.

A sweet little bird ornament nestled in a leafy nest.

Out in the garden this morning, barefoot on green grass no longer crunchy beneath my feet, it was almost sloshy in some places! I eagerly pushed aside the sugar cane mulch and found that the rain has soaked in well, replenishing the Summer-sapped soil. The rain and storms we've had this past week have brought much needed water to our backyard landscape. What a joy!

Fragrant and lush Mother-of-Herbs border.

After such good rain, there's quite a bit of work that needs doing in the growing-again garden. My first job this morning was to trim back this thick Mother-of-Herbs border. I have grown this in my top garden from a single cutting given to me by a friend. It has spread along the front edge of this garden bed quickly and keeps the soil well contained. It can take over though if not pruned back so this morning I gave it a good haircut. This was a lovely and fragrant chore as cutting it back released it's pungent scent into the air. I breathed it in deeply!

Ceylon Spinach is growing well now.

The Ceylon Spinach (Malabar Spinach) has taken off with the rain and this morning I wove and twisted it around a spare triangular frame I usually use for cherry tomatoes. I am really pleased this plant is growing well as it is very nutritious and provides a good source of greens when other leafy veg might struggle in the heat. I haven't used it in my cooking before so will need to find out best ways to prepare it. 

 A tiny mandarin on our tree.

The mandarin tree, branches drooping with lots of raindrops, has many little green fruits forming now. The promise of our own juicy mandarins to come!

Lovely little load of worm castings from our worm farm.

We raked back the sugar cane mulch from the mandarin tree's drip line and sprinkled over a layer of worm castings from our worm farm before replacing and topping up the mulch. I did the same with the orange-flowering hibiscus that my once-three-year-old son chose for the garden.  It is covered in its vibrant flowers right now. 

Bright orange hibiscus flower.

There are quite a few more butterflies flitting around in our garden now that the rain has returned. This morning I caught a flash of powdery blue, from the wings of a Blue Triangle Butterfly as it fluttered past. 

Nibbled leaves and stems on pink pentas.

Where there are butterflies though, there are caterpillars and it seems where there are caterpillars, there are magpies!

 A hungry magpie seeking out a caterpillar for lunch from leaves of tiny Pentas.

Caterpillars are munching on the leaves of my pink Pentas and I am leaving it up to the magpies that visit our garden to deal with them. I watched this magpie seeking out a plump caterpillar from the leaves of a little Pentas plant that has sprung up in the front garden. There's no need for spraying in our garden because I find that creatures like birds and ladybugs take care of imbalances when they happen. I know too that a few caterpillars will probably escape the beady eyes of these magpies and that just means more butterflies!

First bromeliad.

Our last job in the garden this morning was to plant up this bromeliad. I have not grown a bromeliad before and so I will need to learn what conditions this particular one grows best in. As it's in a pot, I will be able to move it to different parts of the garden before I decide where I'll plant it permanently. I do like its red flower spike!

It was so lovely to spend the morning out in the garden again. While it was humid and hot in the sun, we didn't come back inside until nearly eleven o'clock. Not long after, another brief shower came through bringing more  longed-for rain to our garden. 

Meg