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A year of flowers

A Year of Flowers; October

13:28:00
October would have to be Christmas for gardeners. It is the best time and here in my own garden it is when everything looks its best, right before the heat of the sun begins to kick in heading into Summer. 

Everything is just growing and blooming like crazy and it is all very glorious for the senses to behold and the birds and the bees are loving it too.

Apologies for the inconsistencies in the photography. Some days it really was too bright outside for photo taking but I have to take my opportunities when I can these days and I havent been able to edit as much as I would have liked to. 

Nonetheless, there is an abundance of plants in bloom and this year, my Roses have surprised me. I didn't give them a big prune over winter as I thought they needed some size on them and I think they are saying thank you for being so kind. I have also helped them along with some pest and disease management. 

The Gerbera's just keep on coming and the ones that I purchased at the Benalla Market last month are loving their new home both out in the garden bed and in a pot at the back door and new blooms are popping up each week.

Im also loving the little guys, the little ground covers in Dianthus, Sweet Williams and Gazanias that I have been given from other peoples gardens and those that I have split and replanted hoping that they would spread and do their thing. 

This is also our last Spring here in town and the last time I will get to see all these wonderful plants on show. So I am glad that I am keeping this record as not only have I learnt a few names of plants, but ill know what they will uncover come Spring for next year. I plan on transplanting as much as I can. I have also learnt that a decent flowering garden bed is a good three year process from scratch. 

Enough chatter from me. Ill leave it to you so just keep scrolling and enjoy the flowers.


Coral Bells 'Firefly' - Still flowering and growing next to the Gardenia.


Self seeding Sweet Peas. They are beautiful once again, though are very much coming to their end now. 

Despite the kids pushing tractors, cars and even the odd bike through this garden bed, the Lavender lives on and with only a few broken branches, it has come back well and abundantly flowering. They are defiantly winners for toughness. A few purple Crocus bulbs also pushed through.

I am so glad I planted out the pots with a variety of blooms as it really is nice to see all the colour as you look out the back door. Here are the pretty Violas.

Blooms from the Lemon Tree.


Gerberas and beautiful Iris. 

A view of the front garden bed at the beginning of the month.


 I love these Roses. I just wish I knew what they are called. 

 More happy Gerbera's by the front door as well as that purple Sunseeker Gazania. How beautiful is the Slim Dusty Rose bush just behind them. 

Kangaroo Paw. I took a tiny clump from out the front and placed it in this pot. It grew and grew over the following months and it has put on a great show of flowers this Spring. The best is the flowers last for ages.  

Im not a big fan of this Rose bush by the front door, but when it comes to Spring again I always end up loving it all over again. 

 Pretty Dianthus. I have these all over the place. They are easy to split and replant and do not require much maintaining and are great for borders. 

 Another pretty Gerbera. 

 Sweet Williams given to me from Margot. These have spread a fair bit and have beautiful bright pink flowers. I have also discovered white and pink ones.


Elderberry blooms. 


Do do do...Lookin' out my back door. (You just have to sing that!) Told you it was a pretty sight. Violas, Daisies, Petunias, Verbena, Cosmos and Sweet Peas. 

I feel so happy now having looked over this post. 
Love my flowers.

Whats in bloom at yours?

Thanks for visiting today.
Elisha xx

gardening

A Tomato Growing Venture #2; Planting Time.

08:29:00

Hello again! 

How is your tomato growing going at your place?

Its planting time in these parts. Only just yesterday in fact.

I heard the back gate rattle yesterday afternoon whilst we were sitting inside watching ABC kids, keeping cool. Geez it was so hot yesterday. 

Now the only person who generally comes to our place via the back gate is Cam's dad. However, when nobody came in through the back door shortly afterwards I was left to wonder. Hugh went out to see who it was and low and behold, it was a visit from my neighbour Norm with his tomato seedlings. 

It was time to plant the tomatos. Yippee!!

A simple process right? 

Yes it really is simple and easy to do. There are certainly a few steps involved and a few tricks of the trade that I did not know before, but it certainly isn't hard and I was the perfect student asking lots of questions and was nodding along with the greatest of interest and intrigue. 

Which brings me now to today where I can bring you Part Two of my Growing Tomato Venture; Planting time. 

I took as many pics as I could to make sure I recorded every step of the process. 

Here we go....

1. Give the veggie patch or pot or wherever you are planting the seedlings a good soaking of water. Norm was very impressed that I had followed all of his tips on all the soil preparations from last time and that everything was ready to go. 


Here are the Mortgage Lifters and Grosse Lisse tomato seedlings. A little wilted here, struggling in the heat, but we got them in and Norm was adamant that they are going to be fine. I am happy to report that they are standing up nice and tall this morning.

The Windmill Paddock

2. You will need a bag of this magic potion pictured below; a simple tomato growing mix that you can purchase from your local Mitre 10 or Bunnings store.  It contains a wetting agent and all the nutrients that a tomato seedling requires to grow.


3. Dig a decent sized hole. Id say probably a little bit deeper, and as just about as wide as the height of the actual seedling and then back fill a third of the hole with the growing mix.


4. Fill the hole with water and gently scrape over some of the dirt back into the hole.
These last two steps I was totally unaware of or knew about, so I was mightily impressed with it all as you could imagine.

The Windmill Paddock

5. Take your seedlings out of the tray or pot and be very, very careful with them. Norm told me I had to look after these plants better than I do my own kids. He really does love his tomatoes. He he!!

See where Norm's finger is pointing at the lowest set of leaves below? When you plant the seedling, it  is this first set of leaves that needs to be buried just under the surface of the soil.
These leaves will eventually become roots and help the plant to grow and also provide more anchorage and stability for the plant. Norm tells me that the Mortgage Lifters are going to be over two meters tall so this will obviously be very handy by the end of summer.


The Windmill Paddock

6. Another learning curve on this tomato growing caper is all the protection for the seedlings that is required to protect them from the heat of the sun and also the wind.
Norm was kind enough to loan me this wind break that he had made from some offcuts and shade cloth. Genius!...and I thought I was awesome with the chicken wire fencing.

The Windmill Paddock

The Sweet Peas will also give the seedlings a bit of shade as they are starting out, and heck, they beautify the patch as well don't you think? Stunning!

We also pegged a shade sail over the top of the entire garden bed to also provide more shade from the harsh and very hot sun, particularly for the coming days ahead.
Its not pretty, but it'll do and I have a few weeks up my sleeve to look at and plan some sort of structure to cater for two meter high, giant tomato plants. Any ideas people?

The Windmill Paddock

7. Lucky number seven is to water your babies. A fine mist preferably at least over the next week as they take. Ill be watering them first thing every morning.

The Windmill Paddock

So have you learnt anything so far today?

Excellent!!

I asked Norm whether they needed any other fertiliser or Seasol for example over the coming days and weeks, but he said not to bother, and to only carefully water them over the next 3-4 weeks and watch them grow. 

Watch them grow baby!!

Which I guess will then lead me to the next post which looks like to be on pinching out leaves and feeding these beauties. 
Cant wait to show you what I learn as yesterday afternoon really was a treat. I have the best neighbours. Ill be sure to take some pics of Norms patch and share them on the Facebook page too. 

What are your tips and tricks? 
What does your veggie garden look like. Come on over and share some pics over on my Facebook page as I really would love to see them.

If you missed the last Tomato Growing post, click on the link below for all the preparation details.


See you in a few weeks time for the next segment.

Thanks for visiting today.
Elisha xx




A year of flowers

A Year of Flowers: September

08:50:00
The garden is having a party right about now and its all going OFF!!

Three years of pottering away is definitely paying dividends here at the moment. Of course if you walked pass you probably wouldn't think that much of it, but I am as proud as punch. I just looked back over the last years post from around this time and its pretty much the same which is rather amusing. Just posting the same old stuff here. ha ha!! Its good to compare though isn't it?

The last few days has seen me pulling out Clover, Couch Grass and the odd thistle or two.

I have been Seasol-ing like its no bodies business and the front yard stinks because the garden beds are full of Blood and Bone. So hardcore in fact that I even have to close the windows because of the stench that sometimes wafts inside in the afternoon breeze.

Beside this though, it really is the best time to be a gardener. There is so much going on and as always there are lots of little surprises just popping up all over the place.

I only have one tiny section of the front garden bed left to weed and tidy up and then its just looking on and enjoying it all for a couple more weeks before the de-heading of the blooms begins.

The weather is also humming things along. We are experiencing what Id say is a Spring time heatwave this week. We have had a good run of 20+ degree days and its even climbing up to the low 30's this Grand Final Weekend. Very out of the ordinary but I am not complaining as watering the garden at the end of the day is one of my favourite things to do. The bees are loving it too. 

Here is what is in flower in my garden right now.



Freesias: I had purple, red and white come up from the bulbs that I planted this year. They smell so good. Im not sure what happened to last years.


Silver Bush is just starting to flower now. 


I can't remember what colours are where since I split them earlier in the year, so the last few Iris's that are about to open up are sure keeping up the suspense. They really are my show stoppers. The white ones in the middle are from the Iris's a friend gave me earlier in the year and which I planted with the kids. We had a 50% strike rate on the flowering. On the right, Im not sure where I got that one from but it sure is pretty.


Not many gaps left and lots of colour which I love. 


I only did a tiny prune this winter as the roses were only on the small side. Over winter I thought they were looking a little sad, but with the warm weather they are going great and I should get a good flowering out of them this Spring. I have been feeding them and spraying them for Black Spot and pests to help them along too. 


These are actually my neighbours trees. The Flame Tree has been blooming for months now and has suddenly begun to be tangled by the Wisteria. I just love all the colour especially before the leaves of the Wisteria take over.


The first Rose of the season.


A great show of Wisteria cascading over the fence. It smells divine and the kids are fascinated by all the bees that are attracted to it.


Got to love the sweet smelling blooms on this...Cytisus Yellow Imp.

The new growth on the Liquid Ambers out the front. I love that the old seed pods are still hanging on.

Finally after 3 years, these particular Clivias have bloomed. 


I picked up this Daffodil at a market over the winter. I actually thought it was from some of the ones I had transplanted here and that it was just a very late bloomer. I thought it was odd that it has only flowered this week. But low and behold, what a gem it is and two of them have come up. 

That is September in a nut shell.
Thankfully there is plenty more to come this month.

October already. I can't believe it!! 

What flowering at yours?

Thanks for visiting today.
Elisha xx

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Hello! I'm Elisha



Welcome to The Windmill Paddock.
A place to share my efforts in growing my little garden oasis.
It just so happens that my family owns a vineyard too so you could say Im in the wine making business; Growing it, selling it and of course drinking it!
There is a farm, a few kids and always a good story to tell, so do stay awhile for a little glimpse of the good country life.

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