Community Gardens, week 19

Another week in the garden has been completed, which means we're another step closer to creating a beautiful green space that attracts people. 

Some of the people keen to get involved this week are rather little. Getting kids involved and interested in gardening isn't hard, especially if you allow them the opportunity to discover and do things themselves.

I don't think I've ever quite met boys this excited about planting carrot seeds! This week, these two, Zai & Hunter, learnt about recycling (egg cartons as seedling containers), how to sow seeds (great teamwork happening here!), how to be responsible (ensuring the seeds are watered twice daily until germination), and patience, as things take time to grow.

Judging by the attention to detail, we are in for a bumper crop of carrots!

My little Belle has had a rather rough week of sickness combined with getting her 2 year molars, so she enjoyed a day gardening with her mum and dad instead of going to care. She was most helpful, like pulling a shovel down on herself here.

Hubby and I tag teamed caring for her as we attempted to garden.

She thought it was a great day and gave us plenty of exercise as we ran after her.

I love seeing her face as she discovers flowers , birds and bugs. I never want to discourage this wonder in her, no matter how filthy and feral she gets :)

The front flower garden is growing incredibly well. The recent soaking rains helped. Even with weeds, this garden looks so pretty.

The boys, Mick & Shane, did a brilliant job laying carpet down by the newly cleared creek pathway. They then managed to mulch a section of it. 

Hopefully, I will be able to plant it out this coming week. I say hopefully, because we've had a bit more rain, and not everything is dry yet. 

Fingers crossed the water doesn't overflow into the gardens once again.

Despite having Belle with us, I managed to edge, weed and clear most of this by myself.

Go me!

I called on hubby to help me with the last section. My poor back and shoulders-this is hard work.

The part I love is planting out time! Still keeping it simple, I fell in love with these bright and cheery Marguerite Daisy plants (argyranthemum to be precise). They grow around half a metre tall and wide and are low maintenance. I just love their colour!

Here is the newly created bed, planted out, but not mulched just yet. I went around collecting several free bulbs growing around the place. Hopefully, they grow well transplanted into this bed. Since they were thriving on neglect, I'm confident they are the perfect choice for here.

I also planted more Rain lily's, yellow this time and as plants, not bulbs. 

This will (hopefully) be a simple bed filled with colour in spring, and one I really want to put a little pathway in leading to a tree stump chair. Sitting among flowers and reading under the canopy of shady tress sounds like heaven to me :)

And there you have it, another week done and dusted. I hope this inspires you to make a difference, even in a small way this week.

Until next time, thanks for reading :)

Community Gardens week 18

After last weeks crazy rain, we weren't sure how gardening would go this week. Surprisingly, not too bad. There was still a lot of water around, however, it had subsided considerably. Yay for sandy swamp land.

Thursday was primarily rubbish clean-up day. With so many leaves and dead branches everywhere, the space looked super messy. Many branches had landed on new plants too. Glad I picked super hardy species.

I was surprised at how little damage occurred on my bromeliad beds. I replanted several-some of which had floated away, up-righted a few more and gave them a water with super smelly, but I'm guessing super fertile swamp water. One of the beds still has wet patches. Not sure how brollies go with wet feet. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

After this was done, I worked on the newest garden bed, the day before, hubby and I emptied the trailer load of mulch onto a large carpet square-we needed the trailer to move my biggest girl into her new abode. So now, my job was to put this mulch onto my newly planted out garden bed, one shovel load at a time. Talk about the never ending story!

As I was cleaning up the bed prior to mulching, I came across some large ants-called jumping ants. These guys are aggressive little darlings! Glad I was wearing my newly purchased mens gumboots (because the ladies ones were 4 times the price?!!!), had my gardening knee pads on, and was wearing long gardening gloves. I must say, it made mulching fun, and an extra great cardio session. Working quickly to avoid a painful sting is just the motivation some times :)

http://www.abc.net.au/ M. nigrocincta is common in SE QLD and northern NSW. For more information see section on venomous ants below. Pic: © Alex Wild/myrmecos.net

And now, for some images. Not a lot of  pics this week, but rest assured, a lot was done!

The swamp between my brolly beds. Smelly, boggy, fun to walk through with gumboots on, and a haven for all the birds.

The bridge is still in its new resting spot and not covering the creek. Not keen to see how far I can jump just yet.

Hubby worked hard removing yet more of the persistent tree stump. He managed to get through a huge amount in a few hours.

Shane and Mick were great helpers today. After their awesome clean-up effort, they helped me out by getting 3 barrow loads of extra mulch as my trailer load wasn't quite enough. Then they swept out the edging and cleaned up the rubbish piles beside the bed. 

And there you have it, another week done and dusted. It's supposed to rain again this coming Sunday and continue for a few days. On one hand, I'm grateful- makes watering in my new bed easy. On the other hand- more water to flood the already full creek. I have been researching plants that like boggy feet-one discovery is a type of iris. I shall be looking around to see where I can purchase these babies from. If it's going to be a boggy area, why not spruce it up with gorgeous plants that thrive in this situation.

That's all for now. Until next week all, thanks for reading :)

Community Garden update

For those who read my last Community Gardens post, you may recall me mentioning that the heavens opened. I also mentioned that on Saturday, it was still raining a little too heavily for me to take more pictures of the completed work to show you. May I also mention,  at the time, the garden was not underwater.

How a day can change things.

Hubby and I surveyed the garden before church this morning. I don't quite think we were prepared for what we saw.

The bottom garden beds are completely submerged. Good-bye $150 worth of wood chip. And by the looks of it, it will be a fun game of 'find that plant' when the water subsides.

Hubby realised the bridge probably should be bolted down. Why? It floated away.

This comes at the end of a challenging week. I had my first way too close encounter with a brown snake when I reached for some pot plants on Thursday. I'm not doing anything without a big stick anymore!

I hit what I thought was an odd looking fly, only to reel in pain from hitting what felt like a thumb tack. 

I also had the worst cold I've had for ever. I was Ms. Misery Guts for days.

And now, all that hard work has washed away.

The positives: the plants that were unaffected by the flood water have had one awesome watering. We now know what area is prone to flooding, however rare, and can plant accordingly. And we managed to save our trailer and half of the wood chip. 

Thankfully, the area is sand. It should drain quickly. It was a rare, super heavy downpour that literally flooded so many areas and has left many people stranded. 

We can replant. It may be a tad messy for a bit, but nothing we can't handle.

Take a look below for images of our new water feature. 

Our trailer just managed to stay dry.

What was once a green space is now a swamp.

It's hard to see, but in the distance, the bridge is floating.

It's times like this you look back and go- wow- we put those bricks and trailer in just the right spot.

I'm pretty sure that brown stuff contains a significant amount of wood chip. Going to be fun cleaning that up without collecting noxious Singapore Daisy with it.

The evil, pointy headed fly that I swatted. Actually, it's another one. I have never seen these before, but take it from me-don't swat them with your hand!

I'm very keen to get back into the garden and make it amazing once more. I also have some adorable kids keen to plant veggie seedlings, so until we see dry ground, perhaps some veggie gardening is in order.

I look forward to bringing you the clean-up, replanting updates soon.

Sourdough Buckwheat Bread

2016 has been an incredibly busy, hectic and indulgent year already. Last month alone, we celebrated Mother's Day, watched an adored family member enjoy her 2nd birthday celebrations and her first ice-cream cake. Hubby and I were honoured to watch the stunningly gorgeous Jacqui walk down the aisle to marry her beau, Dave Ogilvy. Such a beautiful wedding in every way. And currently, we are planning an epic 21st for my middle baby, after celebrating her actual day with yummy food, of course.

This past month has also had uni deadlines for me, and truck loads of final assignments for hubby. It's mandatory that chocolate accompanies such trials. 

The chocolate would have ended there. However, my favourite season, winter, turned on me, and not only rained us in, but gave me the worst ever man flu, aka: a severe cold. Had I not have had chocolate and carbs to console me, I may not have made it through. I'd like to say that being Snotty McSnot with a sore throat and swollen glands won't stop me. In reality, I may be a teensy weensy bit of a diva, especially when unwell. 

As you can imagine, with all of this, healthy eating kinda went out the window. I tried, really! Ok, not very hard. Dang it, the lure of decadent food is at times too tempting. 

As I'd like my current clothes to keep on fitting (down to size 8 jeans people!), I need to address some addictions. If I've realised anything while trying to regain health, start out by swapping, not stopping. I heart carbs. So it makes sense I eat good carbs while I'm weaning off sugary, highly processed naughty ones.

Enter my naturally fermented, 3 ingredient buckwheat bread. It's so darned healthy, good luck attempting to eat too much of this!

I found this recipe from phickle.com

SOURDOUGH BUCKWHEAT BREAD

ingredients:
2 cups (375g) hulled, whole buckwheat
1 cup water
1/2 ts salt
1/3 cup sesame seeds (optional- I used pepitas)

method:

• Rinse buckwheat, remove debris. Place into a large glass bowl, cover with water to a few cm above the buckwheat. Cover with cloth and let sit overnight.
• Drain buckwheat- Do Not Rinse. You want the slimy, fermented stuff.
• Pour into food processor with salt and nuts (or seeds) and blitz to desired consistency. I liked mine half way between smooth and lumpy.
• Pour it into the same bowl as before, cover and let it sit for 24 hrs. Yep, a whole day. It should rise slightly-not double like yeast dough.
• Pre-heat oven to 215 C.
• Place bread mix in a non stick or well greased loaf tin.
• Bake 35-40mins. It should crack on top when done and the edges will be slightly browned.
• Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.
• Slice once cooled.
• Store in the fridge- mine lasted 2 weeks, but did dry out considerably.

Fresh Sourdough Buckwheat Bread, ready to eat with avocado and tomatoes. Perfect lunch!

It's a very cakey type of bread- dense, nutritious and filling. 

Note-my loaf is pictured upside down.

The bread batter after bunging it in the processor. Even in a plastic bowl, my bread mix worked well.

There you have it, a healthy alternative to try. It does take time to prepare but is dead easy to do. No excuses, really :)

And that is all for now. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Community Gardens weeks 16, 17

Week 16

It's been a couple of busy, very productive weeks for the community gardens. Now that we are not spending every other day collecting materials, we're able to start building and creating amazing spaces. 

Mid week, hubby decided it was time to finally move the bathtubs the lovely neighbour said we could have. They were already half full of dirt, so as you can imagine, it was no easy task. Lucky my hubby is freakishly strong- growing up on land has built him for such a time as this :)

Take a look below for some progress pics...

Old bathtubs are fine, but they definitely needed cladding.

The old fence palings purchased at Bunnings were about to be put to some good use, after a trim of course.

After much measuring, frustration at discovering the bracing wasn't sufficient, some re-cutting, the job was nearly done.

And here you have two up-cycled bath tubs ready to be turned into a veggie garden. 

I painted the top black. It was forest green prior to this, as was the concrete sheet cladding beneath. 

I know of one young boy who is a bit keen to get his fave veg-carrots-planted here soon!

The area will also have a pallet herb wall added, and another planter large enough for cherry tomatoes. A perfect way to utilise old tubs and a wasted, sunny corner.

Thursday was a very productive day. Here, hubby is starting the stump removal as the garden entrance will be here.

More plant donations! Thanks to Lorraine & Holly for these beautiful plants.

Holly patiently planted the neatest row of Moses plants I've ever seen. They are going to make the perfect garden edge when established.

Ben doing his usual awesome hard work. Here, he's helping hubby dig out the new garden path.

And the same path covered with gravel, prepped for paving.

Another completed garden bed with yet more bromeliads.

Three daisy bushes were planted among the Moses plants. These babies will each grow to a metre high and wide, adding a long lasting floral touch to the garden border.

The long line of Moses plants. Can't wait til they spread out and create the edge. At a later date, I will be placing a narrow brick pathway along the top, to not only create a mowing edge, but a weed barrier as well.

My sweet toddler loves the front flower garden. And who could blame her! It's growing so well and is bright and cheery.

Week 17

As you will see, there are only two pics for this week. Let me assure you though, a huge amount of work was done. Then, the heavens opened. With a vengeance! No rain for ages, then a torrential downpour that has lasted a few days.

I am grateful. I had almost finished planting out some wild iris and agapanthus when the skies downloaded. It was heavy, but what perfect timing! Freshly planted gardens and much needed rain-yay! 

Today was very productive. The stump removal continues- it's a big'n!

I planted out a huge donation of what I think are agave's. Thanks to Danika for these beauties.

Hubby and the boys cleared a massive section next to last weeks newest bromeliad garden, and the new garden I just planted out. I just had to do some final weeding before the actual planting.

New bridge materials were prepped.

Overall, it was a brilliant day.

I had hoped to take more photo's today after my cleaning job, but it's still pouring with rain. Next week, people. Fingers crossed.

Hubby using the matic to enlarge the embarrassing job I did on making deep holes to plant into.

The newly planted agave. They are perfect for the position-full sun, and add interest to the slope, once the site of the original pathway.

It just needs a little more sugar cane mulch and it's done.

Thanks to Google images, I found a pic to show you what I also managed to plant out the front garden. These beauties (gazanias) grow in poor soil and hot sun- perfect low maintenance plants. 

We have these growing around our complex-wild iris-and I love them. Of course, they had to be used for the community gardens too.

I planted several tube stock of these guys, which are currently still being watered in well.

Thanks again Google images.

Yes, Google images again. I have been so keen to plant out my tube stock of these- purple agapanthus. They share the same large bed as the wild iris. I am so excited to see these plants establish and flower. They will add so much to the gardens.

While I'm completely grateful for the long overdue rain, it has made documenting our progress a little challenging. The strong winds have also taken a few plants out, and some branches down. Nothing too serious. As nothing will dry out anytime soon, replanting won't be too hard.

I look forward to sharing more with you soon. Until then, thanks for reading.

Community Gardens weeks 13, 14, 15

I'm so keen to share the past three weeks of community garden progress with you. It's been busy, hard work, but exciting as we start to see things taking shape. Look below to see the progress to date...

WEEK 13

Thursday

Hubby has been hard at it, clearing walking tracks through several acres of land. 

Ben is removing the screws from and old shed roof so we can use the tin elsewhere.

The front garden is starting to flourish and flower. Its so lovely to see colour from the road now- it brightens the place up.

It may be air conditioned, but it's now in the right position! It was moved to the side of church on Tuesday, and is ready to have a new roof and be used for secure storage.

Several of us helped with the removal of these internal shelving supports from the shipping container. It was a tough job, but hubby had a bright idea- the steel can be recycled into picnic table and chair frames. I like his thinking.

The shipping container in its new resting place, out of sight. The pavers from a no longer used pathway will eventually be all removed and used elsewhere too.

Saturday

Today, the church had a working bee. So many awesome people gave up their time on a Saturday to make the place look amazing. Here, the lovely Marika is beautifying the building with her soapy broom :)

The kids church area is now clean and open! The helpers moved the old shed into the shipping container, removed all of the gear into it as well, replaced pavers and generally did an awesome job.

Honestly, the amount of work that was done today saved us weeks. The tin was carried up from the back, ready for use. So much organising, tidying,  cleaning, repairing went on. We can't thank everyone enough.

WEEK 14

It's time to build a bridge. Mick did just that.

It is getting side rails, but for now, we have something wide and strong enough for even the ride on mower to cross.

This is the result of hours of hard work. Ben raked and dug for hours. I knelt down and painstakingly pulled as many Singapore daisy roots out as I could find. Then, Ben and I put cardboard and newspaper down, before hubby jumped in to help load wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load of mulch for Ben to dump and me to spread.

When it was all done, I found a new home for all the beautiful bromeliads lovely Lorraine had donated.

So happy with the result!

This is our first large, completed garden bed. I was thrilled to discover a strangler fig growing up in the centre. In ten or so years time, this will look like tropical paradise.

WEEK 15

Monday

This has been a big week!

We love council clean up time, especially when doing a community garden. We just missed out on a free, giant tumbler compost bin. But we did score free hardwood planters, hardwood lengths and some tin sheeting. Hopefully, the tin may be used create compost bays. 

Tuesday

After a phone call from Tony, the patient home renovator who has allowed us to remove a truck load of pavers weeks ago, we were back today to collect some more. 

Yes, I am in a skip full of building rubble. Hubby and I had an interesting time collecting pavers from out of the skip and moving the car repeatedly for trucks to use the driveway. At least we managed a full trailer load.

Thursday

Community garden day. Sadly, only 1 helper turned up. People are allowed days off. I do admit though, this added to my lack of motivation. But even when feeling flat, all three of us did well. Slow progress is better than no progress.

Shane did a brilliant job raking the weeds and leaves off this, and removing much of the Singapore daisy too. It made weeding so much easier- as did the curb side score of a padded floor rug. My knees were grateful!

Another garden bed almost ready to go.

The front garden looks so beautiful and has become so lush in only a few weeks. Regular weeding and watering helps of course.

Hubby and I found something much better than cardboard or newspaper for the weed matting- we found piles and piles of carpet. Thank you, council clean-up! I am so keen to get it put down, mulch over it and get the gardens planted out.

Low maintenance gardening- here we come.

Thursday afternoon, and hubby and I were back into paver collecting. This time, from a side pile, which nearly gave us a whole trailer load.

The very last load from this house will be in 4-6 weeks time. Finally, I think we have enough!

Friday

This morning, while still in my pj's, I sat myself down and patiently collected the seeds from some dried agapanthus flower heads I'd been saving.

I filled my 26 peat pots with seed raising mix, carefully sowed the seeds before spraying well with water and covering. Hopefully, in several weeks, I'll have my own collection of seedlings ready to plant out in the community gardens.

Hubby and I also decided to escape for a bit, and of course, we ended up at Bunnings, where I went instantly to the garden centre. I purchased some wild iris tube stock and more fertiliser. Even though it's worth it for the gardens, our poor car wreaks! 

I really can't wait to get some more garden beds established and begin the planting out. Hubby has said I'm responsible for the garden beds-I couldn't be happier! 

Much more coming soon! Until then, thanks for reading :)