Sowing Seed or Planting -
Sowing:
* Sunflowers (for harvesting for seeds).
Potting on:
* Three tomatoes.
Planting out:
* Three strawberry spinach, three eggplants.
Observing:
* The dwarf coffee trees have just started to flower for the first time.
* The root vegetable seedlings I planted in the dog-leg bed are very stunted and slow-growing, presumably because of the alkaline soil mix. Must apply powdered sulphur and a worm wee/ Seasol mix to see if that helps.
* The drying beans are producing pods, including the Borlotti beans.
Planning for the Future -
* Researching when to harvest the drying beans and how to best dry and store them for cooking.
* Ordered and received a shipment of spice plants - cinnamon, allspice and curry leaf trees, a black pepper vine, and licorice root for the future medicinal herb garden.
* Ordered more plants from Daley's Nursery - two kiwi fruit vines (male and female), a black passionfruit, lemon grass for the herb garden, and a fig tree.
* Arranging with the next door neighbours to take their broken shade pavilion frame when they pull it apart. The canvas 'roof' ripped to shreds in a recent storm and since they are beginning to build a new permanent awning, they were going to throw it away. One person's trash is their neighbour's new kiwi fruit shade trellis ;-)
Working for the Future -
* Cleaned out vegie crisper and wiped interior of fridge with vanilla spray.
* Went through my old cookbooks and noted new recipes to try.
* Decluttered another section of the study and packed up two boxes of stuff to give away.
* Packed up several boxes of kids and baby stuff for my sister.
* Cleared and arranged a permanent storage space for my fabric stash.
Managing stores:
* Sorted out the dried goods in pantry so that I know what needs using first.
Building community -
* Gave away tomato plant seedlings.
* Donated two boxes of magazines to the Salvo's.
* Discussed growing apple trees in pots with several visitors.
Learned a new skill -
* Knitted dishcloths using two new patterns, Homespun Living's waffle knit dishcloth and Maggie's Rags, Chinese Waves.
9 comments:
Oh I LOVE my knitted dishcloths! The waffle weave pattern is great, it's so simple and I love how I can slip a dishcloth into my bag and carry around with me.
Wait... coffee grows on trees? :)
Congratulations on the decluttering. I find decluttering very liberating.
Hi Melinda,
Isn't the waffle weave lovely? Mmmm, I feel there's more where that one came from LOL.
Hi Lavenderbay,
Well, coffee grows on bushes actually :-) They get to about 3m apparently if you dont prune them, so I guess that's a large bush or a small tree?
Cheers, Julie
Maybe we should call them bushy trees -- especially since "treey bushes" is too hard to pronounce.
Btw, Julie, I always write little one-paragraph blurbs about new members on my blogroll. Yours is on the November 14 entry. Oh, and there were enough awards to go around for everyone on Nov 21. If you're interested in either newslet, you just have to click on the right date on the sidebar calendar.
Dwarf coffee trees? Don't tell my husband such a species exists - he'll have me filling up our greenhouses with them!
Actually, speaking of which, I'd be really interested in you doing a post on what you would consider to be the most useful plants in a garden. I know what I think, but it would be interesting to have a list from other people as well.
I just LOVE making the waffle knit dishcloths too, I think I know the pattern off by heart now. At the moment I'm making one with beige cotton and green cotton mixed together.
And you have just reminded me to sort through my dry goods before the Christmas rush.
take care
Pip
Hi lavenderbay,
Thanks :-)
Hi Daharja,
Do you mean "useful" from a medicinal point of view, or the most versatile or the most prolific & easy to grow fruits & vegies?
Hi Pip,
I love the waffle knit too, it's my fave by far :-)
Cheers, Julie
Hi Julie,
I mean useful, in whatever sense you think of as useful.
I mean, I'd think of the most useful plants as ones that produce stuff you can eat, but that's because I'm food-oriented!
However, I can also see that a person with animals might consider tree lucerne to be incredibly useful, or with a wood burner a fast growing eucalypt to be useful. And if you are revegetating land that has suffered from salinification, saltbush can be useful. So it all depends on your point of view. Which is what I'm interested in!
My list would include tomatoes, apples, pinus radiata (for fuel), hazelnuts, feijoa, olives, grapes and strawberries for starters. Plus several dozen others! I'd be curious to know what your would contain.
Daharja XXX
Hi Daharja,
Sorry to be so slack in replying - I've been thinking! My aspect would be from an urban environment obviously, where small but prolific plants are the most useful. Great topic for a post. I'm onto it and have a draft done for posting later in the week :-)
Cheers, Julie
Post a Comment