Adding to the Family

July 30, 2015January 12, 2016Leave a comment

The pups

The Pups, or in our family they are known as the Guys.

In November 2012, we made the decision to add to our family in a non-human kind of way. I’ve wanted a pug for many years now and was looking hard to find a little girl for our family, where as my partner didn’t know what he wanted and he would know when he saw him.

I found my little pug at Doonside in Sydney’s north-west and names her Squish-face, or Squishy. On our way home my husband was looking for a pooch of his own and we stopped at Tumbi Umbi on the NSW Central Coast and picked up out terrier x (aka Mystery Dog) Lampard, named after the famous Chelsea FC player, Frank (super franky) Lampard. Our lives became instantly richer and a little more stinkier ha ha. Lamps smelt terrible and was in for a rude shock we we got home… straight into a warm bath. He did not like this at all!

This is our little family.

My herb garden

July 16, 2015January 12, 2016Leave a comment

The herb garden.

Planting my herbs into a fresh bed, 2012

My herb garden, 2015

After removing all the wood chip from the retaining wall, I decided to plant my herb garden to one side. The trouble was deciding what to plant!! So, I went with the classics, rosemary, bay, sage in the three different colours, lemon thyme, normal thyme, sweet basil, parsley and of course onion and garlic chives. There was plenty of herbs I just had to plant, as they were different or I had never seen them before! Some didn’t survive, but most did and I have my herbs fresh on hand every day for cooking. Try lemon verbena in drinks, teas or even just to have dried around the house. One of my favourites is French Tarragon.. best with chicken!

I first planted my herb garden a month after we moved in, so 2011 or January 2012. Today, 2015, it has come a long way! As you can see above.

Blueberries

July 16, 2015August 10, 2015Leave a comment

Blueberries.

Blueberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and K, fibre, manganese and contain a number of flavonoids.

They love acidic soils that are friable and well-drained which are situated in semi shade position. During summer months, I found that my blueberries required a little more water as the summer went on. It may have been a particularly dry summer but I installed a small water tank to capture the rainwater so I didn’t rely too much on town water, which can be more alkaline.

If you are interested in getting blueberries but have no room for them in the garden, try them in a large pot. It will be easier to keep the soil to their liking and you can move it into and out of the sun during the year.

I suggest having two different varieties purely to increase your crop. The increase in crop size is due to cross pollination, same can be done for other fruit.

Blueberries have three common varieties, lowbush, high bush and rabbiteye.

Rabbiteye Blueberries.
This bush is a late season variety, which can endure the warm, dry and humid climatic conditions often seen in Australia. this variety suits the Queensland and Northern New South wales regions best. the name is derived from the calyx on the fruit, which when ripening looks like a rabbit eye looking at you.

Highbush Bluebrries.
This bush is the most common variety in Australia and has two popular cultivars; the Northern Highbush and the Southern Highbush. The Northern Highbush grows from Tasmania to Southern New South Wales. And the Southern Highbush grows from Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland. You can see many blueberry farms popping up around the Coffs Coast on the New South Wales North Coast.

Lowbush Blueberries.
This variety produces a decent sized crop which is full of flavour and prefers the cooler climates, preferably in the Northern Hemisphere.

Reinhard, T. 2010 ‘Superfoods. The healthiest foods on the planet’
Yates Garden Guide 43rd Edition
Australian Blueberries, sourced http://www.australianblueberries.com.au/, July 2015

The New Home

July 16, 2015March 18, 2016Leave a comment

In December 2011, my now husband and I moved into our family home in Glendale , New South Wales.

We were lucky enough to purchase a 3 bedroom house with an elevated deck on a block of 1000 square metres. It was a dream come true, not only do I get the chance to own my new home, I get to plant the block out to how I wanted it. I am pretty lucky. The garden and land is my domain, he just mows it for me if I am feeling lazy 🙂

There was an existing Orange and Mandarin tree right up the back portion of the block behind the Willow trees. I was going to get rid of them but my dad convinced me to leave them and he hacked them back, within a year they were producing the sweetest fruit, thanks dad!

Besides the Willow trees, a nasty coral tree, an Orange, a Mandarin and a few Lilly Pillies on the side, there wasn’t much to the block out the back. which in reality was a dream come true!

The first thing was to cull the tall but slim Silky Oaks (Grevillia robusta) right up the back and a dead one in the side garden. For me, they have no room in the suburban garden and present more of an issue, so out they came, with the help of the husband (poor guy gets sucked into all my plans).

The photographs below are what the property was like when we bought it. Absolutely amazing! (except for that garden bed full of wood chip mulch 😐 )