to go in the garden today, if only I wasn’t surrounded by all those human things that insist on staring at me, or worse still, TALKING TO ME! I’d love to live in the middle of nowhere and potter about unobserved to my hearts content. What a beautiful garden I would have. 5 days ago

I got more plants for the front porch, and am maintaining that pretty well.

Some of the basil is surviving, in spite of being devoured by something. I think I left the lettuce too long. The chives all got eaten by something, but they are growing back. Weird.

The tomatoes are going crazy. I’m letting them flower now. I bought some 6’ bamboo poles and am creating a supplementary frame with twine because they outgrew their cages. Excited to actually get some tomatoes. I have no idea what they’ll be like because I didn’t plant these – they were volunteers. The picture below doesn’t have the frame I built up yet.

Got some advice on the grape vine and cut back the out-of-control parts. There seem to be lots of grapes! Keeping an eye on them because Blitz shouldn’t have them. Hoping he won’t show any interest – he has not been that into fruit so far.

The strawberries are doing well. Never did get the planter hung on the fence due to logistical problems, but it seems to be doing fine on the ground. Waiting for the second wave of berries.

Got something to edge the garden along the edge of the house, but way underestimated the length needed, so I’ll have to go back to the store and get more. I still want to plant flowers in that area eventually, once summer vacation starts, perhaps. 1 week ago

off my plants!

And one hanging basket looks great. The other is struggling, and it needs deadheading, I think, but I don’t know how to efficiently because it’s tons of tiny flowers. Not sure how to make it look better. I started by moving it to a new location. I’ll see if it perks up.

My basil looks terrible. It’s all being eaten by something.

My tomatoes are doing OK. I’ve been hand-killing aphids, but need to spray with soap for more efficiency. I had these awful black caterpillars eating everything. I picked them off and squished them with great distaste. I’m excited to say they haven’t come back, but I suppose I probably need a better solution if they continue to be a problem. BT probably. I’ve been picking the buds off the tomatoes so they can focus on growing roots and growing taller. A couple of the plants are doing really well and I may be able to let them actually flower soon.

The grape vine is going crazy. I have no idea what to do with it. 3 weeks ago

and pruned the bottom branches off the bigger tomato plants, and pinched off the suckers and early buds to encourage root growth. I have aphids already – found a ladybug and transferred it over there. Hope it eats lots of aphids. :)

My basil and lettuce is being majorly eaten away by something. Can’t see what is eating it. My chives are coming along in their planter.

The grape vine is going crazy right now!

One of the strawberry plants has an almost ripe strawberry. Blitz caught a whiff of it today and went to eat it and I had to stop him and lift the planter up onto the table. Need to get it hung on the fence – I deliberately got one that is meant to be hung, but haven’t got around to it.

My hanging baskets are doing well.

Need to remember to take some pictures. 1 month ago

go and buy 16-16-16 1 month ago

I finally prepped the raised bed, working in some new soil, and then transplanted and caged my tomato plants. I also transplanted a bunch of basil from the planter into the other garden bed. We’ll see how many of the transplanted plants survive.

C is weeding and digging up the garden bed next to the house. :)

Blitz is helping by lying around and keeping us company. He hates when I use the “shower” setting on the hose (or any sprinklers for that matter – he gives them a wide berth on walks. I think it is the sound, movement of the water, and the wetness combined.) Therefore, he goes and lies by the front gate when I water. 1 month ago

with whom we share a fence said the climbing plant (the one I thought was dead at first) is a grape! I was wondering because it was sure looking a lot like a grape vine. She said it bears heavily. That’s exciting. 1 month ago

though not as far as I thought I’d be by the end of the weekend. Strawberries are planted, but the planter isn’t hung. I did most of the weeding, but didn’t put the new garden soil in the garden areas. I didn’t hang the baskets or thin/ transplant the basil. 1 month ago

I bought two hanging baskets – need to rig some better hooks for them, since they are too large for the spaces that are there.

I bought a lined wire planter to attach to the back fence, and four strawberry plants to try planting in it. That needs to go up, soil needs to go in, plants need to be planted.

I bought some garden soil to improve the garden areas, at least where plants aren’t already volunteering. :)

The basil plants in the planter need to be thinned, and I’d actually like to try to transplant some of them to the garden areas.

And weeding, weeding, weeding. :)

Of course, the weather is not supposed to be very good (possible sprinkles) which could ruin my garden plans. 1 month ago

I’m not sure what this is, but it has also showed up in the garden. I’ll wait for it to grow and bloom I guess.

Weird. What is the blue bar in this picture?! 1 month ago

There are several plants which have showed up in our garden that I am pretty sure are tomatoes. The previous tenants must have planted them or the seeds were scattered last season. I have counted about 7 plants. Some of them are in bad spots, so will have to be transplanted. I’m trying to get everything weeded. I was going to add some new garden soil, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to with all these plants already coming up. 1 month ago

I’ve been so busy, I didn’t really get the whole garden area weeded, nor did I plant anything yet. However, this lettuce plant showed up recently. I’m trying to get the area around it weeded.

EDIT: the picture stretched for some reason… 1 month ago

a little slow to move on this goal, and even more lax about posting. My basil and chive seeds sprouting and are growing well. It is time to thin the basil soon, and I’d love to try and plant some of them in the garden itself.

The climbing plant I thought was dead was just dormant. It is sprouting new green branches and leaves. Curious to see what it is.

There is a LOT of weeding that needs to be done. Chipping away at it.

There seem to be some plants left over from the previous garden which are coming up. Some kind of flowering bulb. I also see what looks like a lettuce and also maybe tomatoes? But I’m not sure. Waiting to see what develops. They aren’t where I would have chosen to plant them, but if they are viable vegetables, I’ll leave them. :) Trying to clear the weeds so I can take pictures and try to get some people to identify what I have.

I am thinking of planting strawberries in hanging baskets on the fence. That way Blitz will not be able to eat the berries. :) I will go to the store this week and see if they still have plants. 1 month ago

I spent some time outside today, weeding and thinking about what I’m going to do. There is one raised bed which has clearly been used for gardening before. (There’s one leftover bulb of some kind sprouting right now – I’ll be interested to see what it is!) The soil looks like it could use a little love but is probably not too bad. Pretty much ready to go.

There is also a triangular space next to the raised bed and a strip of soil along the edge of the house. These were edged with rotten bamboo, which I asked them to remove before we moved in. There’s a tree right in the middle of it, but quite a lot of space on either side of the tree. I don’t think the people who lived here before were growing anything in there, although I’m not sure. The soil is terrible and there are lots of big rocks, which I think were placed there for looks (?!) although they don’t look all that great.

There are a couple of decisions to be made here. I could raise the beds. I could redo the edging. I could just place planters along some of this area. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to plant close to the tree or not – I could rearrange the rocks in that area to make it prettier… C has also suggested sticking those little solar powered lights in the soil there to provide some extra lighting in that part of the garden.

I did plant some basil and chive seeds in a planter box. They’re a little old – we’ll see if they come up.

Then, I would like to add some pots, planters, and baskets to both the back patio and front porch. And some more indoor plants, too. I think this will be a long-term goal, for sure. :) 3 months ago

to be able to garden again! The new house has garden beds in the back patio area. They look a bit rough and will need some work to prep before planting, but the landlord says I can do what I want with them. I’m also planning to do lots of planters. I got rid of most of my gardening stuff when I moved here, so I have to start from scratch. I look forward to recultivating my green thumb. 3 months ago

This week I am going to start working towards my goal of gardening! Friday I would like to put together my gardening bed :) 3 months ago

Since cold season is here, I went out on a sunny afternoon and I cleaned out the garden demolishing. I started to dig and add some bug stuff. Getting it ready for March to begin planting. I’m preparing to keep a garden journal of failures and success this year. I wanted to make it traditional from this day forth. 4 months ago

Our house is built on a steep slope in front of a bush reserve. There are giant gum trees surrounding our house on all sides and that’s what makes it beautiful. On the flip side it also makes it a massive pain in the butt. Today my husband and I spent four hours raking up leaves and bark. We’ve had some really hot days (40 degrees +) and the big trees are shedding their bark.

It was hard work, but rewarding. There is something wonderful about being outdoors, working hard and taking care of something you care about. Plus, it is great to look outside now and see everything so neat and clean. Of course the first big wind will change all that but for now it’s pretty great. :) 4 months ago