Trials and Error

Attempt #1
My first attempt at growing plants from seeds were cornflowers. I love the stunning colour of the blooms of the cornflower plant. It is rare to see a seedling plant at Bunnings so they seemed like a good option for my first try.

I used cheap potting mix in seedling trays with no protection.


It was a delight to watch the little seedlings pop their heads out of the soil, some with the seed husk still attached. They grew up quickly, straight and proud.

Then disaster struck in the form of a destructive kitten. I came out one morning to find 10 or so seedlings had been uprooted. Not eaten... just uprooted.

So I was much more careful about where the seedlings were left around the house. The one day I was negligent, the other kitten jumped on the box, knocking dirt and seedlings into the carpet.
The few remaining seedlings were planted out the front and back. Now, a few months on, I have 3 plants at the front and 3 at the back of the house growing.

Attempt #2

My second attempt at growing from seeds was cheap Caspicum seeds, Heartsease flowers and Catnip. Not one single seed of the Catnip germinated. Only two seeds of the Heartsease sprouted. Most of the Capsicum flourished.

To protect these little guys from destructive kittens I bought a Yates mini greenhouse seedling protector. This helped out the Capsicums but still no further growth from the catnip or Heartsease.
Then I went on honeymoon and our house/kitten sitter forgot to water everything. When I came back most of the capsicums had wilted beyond repair. The tray was put outside to get some sun and aphids got in and ate the leaves off the remaining capsicum seedlings.

Total failure.

Attempt #3
I bought a 2nd seedling protection greenhouse and planted a variety of seeds, including Dwarf Peas, Marigolds and Forget-Me-Nots.

The peas grew faster than I would have imagined and were transplanted into a planting box with pea-sticks (aka sticks from the trees in my front yard!). They no longer seem to be thriving so well, though they have started flowering in the last few days.


This could be due to the fact that peas are supposed to be planted where they are to grow rather than in seedling trays.

The Marigolds and Forget-Me-Nots are doing well enough though their growth seems laboured compared to the speedy zoom of the peas.


Attempt #4

During my last Bunnings visit I was distracted by the seedling mix. I considered why people would use a specialised mix instead of just potting mix. It seemed that seedling mix was finer, alowing tiny and weak roots to penetrate the soil more easily. The potting mix I had been using was closer to compost with large pieces of bark and organic matter in it.

So I bought a coir-peat block and spent some time yesterday afternoon expanding this and filling some seedling trays with the smaller-grained stuff.

I planted out Diggers 7 colour capsicum mix, leftover Heartsease seeds and some Cut-and-Come-Again Lettuce seeds.

I'm excited to be trying something new and will be interested to see how successful it is.

Tomato! Tomato!

I found something unexpected at my local Bunnings.... seedlings from Diggers Club. There weren't many different varieties of plants but what was there sold out quickly as I found very few left when I went back a second time. With such popularity, hopefully we'll see more Diggers heirloom seedlings cropping up around there. Pun intended.

I bought four different varieties of tomatoes.
The Black Russian
Lemon Drop (Yellow, round tomato)
Green Zebra
Tigerella

They are thriving well, especially the Lemon Drop which has jumped up like a magic beanstalk! Each plant has started flowering already and two of the four have started showing signs of fruit.

You can see two little fruits started if you look closely!

For a new gardener who has faced plenty of distressing failures over the last few years having such success is thrilling.

Getting back on the rails.

I haven't written much in this blog for a while now -but I did have good reason. I was busy getting married!

It is amazing how much your lifestyle can slip when you're gearing up for such a major event. My housecleaning went out the window. My diet became full of processed food, junk and cakes. I relied on packet meals for the first time in just over a year. My worm farm was ignored to the point of mass wormy-genecide. I bought lunches and take-out..... this is starting to sound like a confessional session!

Though the wedding was wonderful and memorable, my whole life and being sighed with relief when it was over. I could finally get my life back on-track and invest my time and money into the projects I had been hankering to start.

I've attacked my garden with great relish. Rhubarb, basil, peas and four types of diggers heirloom tomatos have all found a place in my garden. I discovered the joy of mulch and swooned over a diggers catalogue which unexpectedly came in the mail. The urge to plant MORE is sometimes overwhelming so I keep myself away from Bunnings except when I have a purpose!

This morning I discovered one of my little tomato plants had started to show fruit amongst the flowers. I was delighted and pointed it out to my kittens. They looked confused at my enthusiasm over nature doing it's thing.

On other fronts I've been trying to slow down and de-tech myself. Step one was to reduce the amount of time I waste on the xbox while focusing more on craft projects. I'm working on finishing a cross-stitchery by Mirabilia that I started back in 2005 when still living in Japan.

I've also been trying to get my eating habits back into line. Last night I baked biscuits, made bread and yogurt - all for lunches this week. Going to bed with the smell of baked bread lingering in the house is heart-warming!

One of the wedding gifts we received was a slow cooker. It is a sad shame that no one had a video camera handy when I ripped the wrapping paper off. I am sure the internet would have enjoyed watching me do the "OMG-I-got-a-slow-cooker-dance". I've used it twice now to make pea and ham soup and ratatouille. A few meals went in the fridge but the rest went in the freezer, ready to defrost and go.

My husband (I still get a kick from saying that!) surprised me by making an improptu decision to pick up some woodworking tools and fix our old broken couch. It was an experiment in woodworking and upholstery and he did very well! So an old couch got a new lease on life, we get some extra seating in the lounge room and my man got a mass of brownie points.

Getting back on the rails has been a whole lot more enjoyable than it sounds. Hopefully I can get some decent blogging of it off the ground soon!

Aussie Owned & Made Tomato Sauce

I bought this tomato sauce by Berenberg Farms in the last shop and cracked it open for the first time.

It was wonderful! Just the right blend of tomato, tangy vinegar and salt. I was in tomato sauce heaven.

I was also happy to know I was buying Australian Owned and Made in a glass bottle.

My mouth, the environment, the Aussie economy. All winners today.

Truly Supporting Local

I really want to support local farmers. A few of the reasons are:

• to boost the local economy,
  
• help out Queensland farmers rather than those in California,
  
• support the smaller guys rather than the corporate giants like Coles or Woolworths (often owned overseas),
• to reduce the 'carbon footprint' by cutting down the distance my food has to travel for me to eat it.

I have already stopped shopping for fruit and vegetables at the big supermarkets and instead attend fruit and veg markets. However, it was disappointing to realise that a lot of the food sold there is not local.

So I was very happy to discover Food Connect, a company which was started in the Brisbane area but now seems to have developed sister companies in Adelaide and Sydney.

These guys connect with local farmers around Brisbane (or Adelaide/Sydney if using their sites) who meet certain organic growing standards. They collect the produce from farmers, drop it to a city support family/person who subscribers can then visit to pick up their order of fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, eggs, drinks, meat, cheese etc.

I already make my own bread and yogurt (more about that on another post!). I hope soon to get laying chickens and get some vegetables and fruit trees working in my little garden. I also want to learn someday how to make cheese. In the meantime this seems like a good option for buying things like cheese from Malaney or the odd piece of meat (which I don't eat that often anymore). Even the fruit and veg is very reasonably priced for what you get - considering all the growers they use must meet organic standards. Buy all that organic produce at a supermarket and you'd pay a small fortune.

I may give them a try out and do a review on here - once I get my life in order post wedding.

Ladybird Ladybird fly away home!

Ladybird! Ladybird! Fly away home.
Your house is on fire and children all gone.

Ok! So now I'm really excited!

I haven't looked at the 'City Chicks' website for a long while, since I first wanted chickens, just over a year ago. Tonight I went to have a look at what coops they have for sale and (oh happy day!) I found they'd expanded into vegetable gardening and other sustainable goodies.

Now that's not what got me clapping joyfully. No indeed! Something MUCH better!

These blessed souls sell insect kits. Ladybird eggs. Lacewing eggs.

I look to the aphid tortured oregano in my backyard and give a wicked grin. Your time has come my little nasty aphids. It's CAT'S TURN NOW! Whahahahahahahahahaha.

1 Million Women - 1000 kg reached on personal goals

I'm not usually one for joining campaigns but the 1 Million Women campaign sparked my interest.

I believe I was attracted the fact that the campaign recognises the importance and power of women's decisions in the home, especially when all working towards a common goal.

So I joined, I set up my activity register and then I waited a few weeks before marking my progress on some of the activities.

I will admit that I chose some activities that I had already implemented around the house (like buying 10% green power, installing water saving shower heads and power saving light bulbs) but I didn't feel I should lose out because I had taken the steps earlier than the project came in!

So I haven't REALLY made sudden changes to my life in the last 3 weeks to save 1000kg of carbon emissions as per the info below.... but I have over the last few months AND I've set some new goals that I'm working towards due to the campaign.