So far it has been quite the most peaceful holiday season ever, here in Australia. Not particularly warm which is good for gardening. But the heat is coming they tell me.
My cuttings collection is growing as I add Dill and Lavender ( I like English lavender which I cannot find anywhere so I will grow it from cuttings I snipped from a plant hanging into the street the other day). I shifted leggy sad roses from under the trees and planted them into a garden we can see from the couch. Then began conditioning around their roots with chopped up banana peels, smashed egg shells and coffee grinds. Dug in so nothing shows.
Here is where I learnt how to grow roses.
And here is another story that I published on the weekend. About being Alone on Christmas Day. I love this story.
This week I will invest in some pruning shears to trim this silly badly placed box hedge.
I don’t know what to do with the box hedge, it has walled in a really skinny dry piece of garden under deep eaves and you know how I like deep borders.
Plus this front garden has two beautiful big trees giving almost all day deep shade (adding to the dryness of the eaves garden.)Shade gardens are quite a different species.
The livestock has arrived!!
500 worms. And a worm farm to house them. To make my own fertilizer and soil conditioner. I am so happy to have them.
They are already looking fat and juicy and hopefully – fertile. They are placed in a shady spot and to begin we will feed them small amounts of greens and brown every other day as their numbers increase.
To feed worms: Two thirds green. (Chopped finely) One third brown. (Ripped up) A damp mat on top.
Worms eat cardboard by the way.
Next time I am here we will be ready to siphon off the liquid and begin feeding the plants. I will spray it on the foliage at 1:20 to avoid foliage burn. Or simply add it to the watering can.
Digging-in the worm casings will come later.
Worm farms are perfect for balcony gardens or small backyard gardens. They will eat up almost all your food scraps. Just not lemons and onions.
I had thousands of worms in a bathtub in the basement back in Illinois for a few years. But in the end my gardens became too big for the benefits.
The rabbits abound. And as I talk to the neighbours it appears they are favorites around here. Huh. OK. So the vegetables will go into big high containers/raised beds. And those suckers are expensive to fill.
We will begin that when I return in March: Australia’s early autumn. For now I am focused on growing the cuttings and planting up every big pot I can find.
On our walks I am seeing many abandoned large pots so I will put out a request on the neighborhood FB page.
How are you all?
Are you getting ready for your celebrations?
My daughter cooked these potatoes for me the other night.
The Kitchen's Garden 
16 responses to “rabbits, roses and lemon roasted potatoes”
Well my goodness- I believe this is the very first 3 page blog post I have ever seen anywhere on WP.
You had me laughing when you mentioned that the “livestock” had arrived! Quiet, almost self-sufficient but not really the type you want to pet or teach tricks like sitting for their food I suppose 🙂
The rabbit is as big, or maybe bigger than the cat. Who chases who I wonder? What is that tree by the road? I like the symmetry of it and also the way the sun is making it glow.
I will go to my sons home for Christmas dinner. I am making the salad and while you know my tiny garden was wildflowers, not veg, I was overcome to find some lovely greens in the grocery store early this morning and most on sale. An added bonus was finding organic asparagus- the tiny newly harvested thin stalks that you can just eat one by one, raw if you like. Half for tomorrow as I prep salad ingredients and the other half of the bunch for my day after Christmas feast of leftovers.
Asparagus is such a bonus! And will be lovely with your left overs. I think the cat and the rabbit are about the same size!
And yes – the page thing took me by surprise too – maybe a new thing on WP?
Really? I thought you were just on top of something new and very creative! Maybe if if a post reaches a specific length, especially with large pictures, WP decides you need more pages??? Interesting.
“rabbits, roses and lemon roasted potatoes” sounds like a recipe from the Levant! Beware the rabbits – Audrey showed me a video of her large male, standing up to steal Oatcakes off a kitchen chair. This wasn’t something encouraged for an internet video, he could smell them and got clever. He did it repeatedly too!
Buy lots of chicken wire and put it above and below your raised beds. Rabbits are smart!
Oh dear! I have rabbits at the farm too but not nearly as much of a problem!
I was amazed by Sneaky Pete’s cleverness 😳
Hi Celi…..Just checking in on you down there. Looks like you are “as busy as a one-armed coal miner” as my dear old aunt used to say. I know how much energy you seem to have and you always gett’er done. Just a thought about your short hedge in front of your house….we have them same thing here in AZ and it does seem to soften the house a little, but I have also taken out a section of it and replaced it with beautiful ruffly ferns. They seem to do well in both the heat and the shade. Just sharing what worked for us.
Christmas dinner is at my sister-in-laws….I’m bringing the napkins! Ha….. Something my beautiful mother told me TO ALWAYS volunteer to bring…bless her heart.
Jo
HA! Volunteering the napkins is brilliant – I might take your mother’s advice going forward – is there a story attached to that awesome piece of advice?
Potatoes look wonderful and I will try them. The house and yard look wonderful. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
the yard is going to be slow. But I have started planting the front!
You could plant clivias behind that box hedge. They like dry shade, they do well in Melbourne, and the flowers are gorgeous when they bloom. I had a worm farm when I lived in Melbourne but it perished in the stinking hot 45°C Christmas we had one year; the plastic container didn’t keep out the heat very well, despite being draped in damp sacking. I hope you have a lovely Christmas Day with your daughter, Miss C, lots of love from the hot, sweaty tropics up here. 33°C and thunderstorms forecast for north Queensland.
45 is outrageous. And yes the wet sack in the shade would have been good – in the heat you can always pop a couple of frozen bottles of water in with the worms too. Mine is such a small container we can just carry it all into the wash house. We had a worm farm that lasted years in the last house so I prefer to stay positive.
45 was unusual, even for Melbourne’s daft weather. I ended up using the worm farm structure as a raised bed, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Tidings of comfort and joy ….my worms are my pride and joy . My brother got me going on worms decades ago. They provide a lot of liquid for all my house plants and garden. Love hearing the plans and plantings you are doing with your daughter. Be well.
I love worms too – one of my sons has them too – they are perfect for a small household.