Self fertile or not?

So I got a kiwi berry from Bunnings... now I am concerned I might need to find it a friend or not get any fruit... I don't usually impulse buy for a reason!

Good bye lilies!

 My little curry leaf tree is looking well; the rosemary and thyme are also looking happier.  This is in the side front where my monster sweet potatoes (white fleshed) and sick looking cape gooseberry are.

 My flowering prostrate rosemary is a constant lunch bar for the local bee population... who don't seem bothered about me at all.

 In my postbox bed we have globe artichokes which have resurrected themselves now the weather has cooled down.  We have also put saffron in near the top corner and put two rows of garlic in coming straight down that edge and across the bottom.  The leggy plant in the foreground is a Lemon Verbena which will if it thrives make some nice lemon tea and scent the house nicely of lemons as the breeze blows through.

We have our first (okay second but first not to get knocked off by an excited junior gardener!) lemon!  Fruit Fly is a problem here in Western Australia and so to avoid the problem and NOT spray any chemicals on our fruit we are employing exclusion bags.  This one is a jewellery bag but it will do the job until the lemon gets a bit bigger.  The nutrient deficiency has been treated (pale leaves) but it takes up to a year for the leaves to show improvement so we will keep on feeding the soil - it got a lambs heart yesterday just for good measure!   The rosemary hedge is starting to take shape.  In the mid-shot is the postbox bed with rosemary, globe artichoke, a mandarine tree and some chives. 

Passionfruit!  Well I was worried that these were NEVER going to fruit... Hubby decided to threaten them loudly with being chopped and composted.  I guess they were paying attention.  I still need to figure out which is gold and which is red... I suppose time will tell!  I am thinking maybe the first one might be the red... it is a little darker green?  That vine is in the background... it used to be over an arch but they don't build archways like they used to!
  In the fore-ground you can see the remainder of the sweet potato after bandicooting and a good cut back.  Ignore the plastic bags - they were from the lambs hearts, fry and kidneys - we were attracting the flies to our Orb spider web so they didn't bother this gardener! ;-)  I just planted a Lots-O-Lemons at the front of this bed so more fruit here we come!

 I am thinking these might be from the Gold Passionfruit?  They really took Chris' threat to heart and are producing like nothing else!  My dirty-garden hand is dwarfed by the fruit... such a pity I don't like passionfruit... but Chris and the boys will be happy!  As well as the neighbours with the amount of fruit setting!

 I ran wire through star pickets when the archway broke and apparently the passionfruit is much happier occupying this against the nice warm fence!  In the foreground you can make out lots of Sage, some ruby chard - not much as the crickets like it as much as we do.. some ornamental viburnums that we plan to eventually remove and replace with fruit trees and Sugar cane that came from a cutting at Jetto's Patch... it now has 4 stems on it and so far I have managed to keep everyone at bay - Chris wants to pull it out before it takes over and the boys want to cut stems to eat!

 This is my current work in progress - messy aren't I?  Top of the bed is asparagus then sage, then Midyum Berry, Sage, Midyum, purple sage and then right at the bottom of the shot is the new liquorice.  In the rear of the shot is the Ice-cream bean which we will bend along the wire - espalier.  There are also broad beans that Brandon planted all along the back of the bed - we are still waiting for them to show us where!  This whole bed was full of very scruffy looking Dietes Lilies.  So we are making progress!

 The passionfruit is making its way down the fence to meet the ice-cream bean.  The Dietes clumps are still on the lawn in the foreground - they were painful to remove - thanks Chris for the help!  The bed is looking a little bare right now but it will be worth it as everything settles in.  I would love to expand the bed forward but the water, power, council keep on digging up the lawn.

 So the Ice-cream bean went in  and got a new bed mate - a Pineapple Guava which will also be espaliered (maybe) along the fence.  Some of my Kale and chilli's can also be seen in this shot.

 I still have 4 more of these clumps of Dietes to dig out to make room for more Ornamental edibles...

 I managed to keep two rosella bushes alive and they are currently a mass of flower buds, flowers and more importantly seed pods.  Besides them is the last remaining Pop-pop's Super Tomato... Hopefully this one will not seccumb to wilt!  Behind it are some Diggers Mini Capsicums that have been producing nicely and in the front right is a ground apple - Yakon.  I have yet to try one of these so I am really hoping it manages to produce after an extremely slow start. 

 In this bed we have a Tangelo at the back since the boys tried them at Jetto's Patch and decided they were a MUST have!  I am not going to argue with boys wanting to grow and eat fruit! To the left there is another Passionfruit - because we thought the others may have been Nelly Kelly - thankfully I found a label the other day and they are simply "Red" and "Gold"... so we may end up with passionfruit for the whole neighbourhood!  To the right of the Tangelo is the Kumera which I hope to encourage to grow up the wire support.  In front of those are two dwarf pomegranates that are slowly finding their feet after transplant.  In front of those are Kale and Globe Artichokes... and dwarfed at the front is a tiny Goji berry plant which hasn't done a whole lot - we will see! I might need to get Chris to threaten to pull it out.

 At the very end of the bed I popped in some garlic and leeks at the front of the bed and more Mini Capsicums and chillis.  Oh and another Yakon.  To the rear of the bed are some ornamentals that have a reprieve until I can replace and some lemongrass to supply my neighbour as rentals don't allow grow-your-own!  Anyway thats part of the front at the moment. The blueberries and mulberries are plodding along and  we will add more as we go I am sure.

Oh and when I am not looking after my garden I look after a friends twins and meander through her garden... I found one of this years baby bobtails sunning itself by the vegetable bed.  Good bye slugs and snails!

Perth Garden Festival 2015

Today I went to the Perth Garden Festival 2015.  With Chris home sick and the boys at school I spent the entire 9.30am until about 3.30pm in the Garden Festival and I took my time.  I probably did at least 3 laps of all the exhibits and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Anyone considering going I would highly recommend it and I would also say make use of the parcel pickup feature.  I was carting around bags of plants and the awesome people at Tass1 Tree's filled me in as I bought two Midyim Berry Bushes... they popped them in a box along with my purchases from oh so many places, filled out a card and ta da!  No more heavy bags... they were waiting to be picked up when it was time to go from outside the show with a drive in facility so no heavy carting.  Brilliant idea!  The other tip I will give is the waterwise people were giving buckets near the turf display.  The bucket was awesome for putting all the pamphlets and seed packets in and even had some freebies in!

There were heaps of exhibits, lots of stalls, lots of plants and a library of free information.  I even attended some talks. There were plenty of ornamental plants but also a huge range of edibles - which we know is my passion!

I loved the bright colours and the sizes of these pots... I just need a different garden for them to go into!

One of the garden displays .. this was ornamental but completely spectacular!  I so need a bigger block!  (click the photo's to see them bigger)

 Did I mention I was in paradise?  Plants in all directions... some just pretty... some edible... so many plants, so little money!

I was so tempted to get the Dwarf pear however I did not see a dwarf pollinator so I left that for further investigations...
These guys had an awesome range of other things including lots of edibles!

 There were some cute displays!  Some got right to the point.  (Sorry even I groaned at that!)  Plenty of roses were on offer.

 If only I had a bigger garden... I would LOVE some Heritage Apples but having to make room for two may be a bit much right now...  it might be time to lose some more ornamentals!

 Tulips With A Difference are great and there were so many varieties of bulbs.  I got mine a while ago for my Birthday via mail order from them... Saffron Crocus.  I am waiting patiently for my flowers... Ok not so patiently but I am waiting!

 There were stalls a plenty, garden tools; turmeric to make your joints less achy and you more mobile in the garden; shoes to wear in the garden; gloves to garden in; cook pots to cook your home grown veges in; wine to drown your sorrows when the caterpillars eat your brassicas before you do!  You get the idea... lots of stuff to go "Ohhhh" at!  Even some big mulchers , mowers and I did droll over a mini-digger / dingo that I would love but I know it would be wasted on such a little garden... but the mulch would be moved! lol  I restrained myself!

Hot Chilli Peppers anyone?  I actually brought a few plants from here for Chris' Chilli addiction.  They had some of the super duper, knock your socks off chilli plants.  The sort that I cannot eat but Chris and Brandon... I guess they like breathing fire!

It was around here I was given my bucket with water wise timer, information sheets and fertiliser... while I admired the gorgeous sods of lawn and considered how my Granddad would frown upon the people walking all over it!  

 I then proceeded to admire some more garden designs... I do love the architectural aspects of this one... if only it had edible plants ;-)

 The wood on these feature boxes looked quite rough.. I guess if you were on a budget you could make them out of old pallets and give them a lick of paint.  I thought this looked really smart!

Click to see larger images.

 I loved some of the structural techniques!  I think the corner triangle beds would need to be bigger in reality.

 I LOVED the Yates Beyond Blue garden.... and Brandon (my Junior Gardener) saw the photo of the seeds available and was totally blown away!  Lots of Edibles, lots of flowers... lots of structure and form.  Did I mention I really liked this one?  Oh and lots of competitions too (and have you all signed up for the free garden club Yates run?  It has some interesting tips in the emails.

 Now I would love this filter for my aquaponics set up but its a little beyond me at the moment and I love the living walls!  I so could live with this at home.

The Shire of Victoria Park's entry was a waterwise front garden and verge.  Sadly it does not contain edibles but it's nice to see a variation on lawn.

 

 While all of these edibles were still in pots it does go to show what effect edibles can have as landscaping elements.  So many ideas and some of these looked like they were knocked up from old pallets.. which I know many people are into for recycling.

I love this archway with seating... I soooo can see this in my garden!

One of the award winners... I showed Junior Gardener this photo and he wanted to know why I took a photo of a dog! hehe

Did I mention there were plenty of beautiful flowers including roses?

 There were plenty of good deals including on raised beds on several stalls.

Benara Nurseries put on a pretty display of ornamentals.  There was some gorgeous use of structural plants and features.

 I fell in love with Tass1 Trees!  I must admit I went back 4 times to drool over the various fruit trees!  Many I hadn't seen here in Australia and some I hadn't heard of so I took photos for future research.  Noni Fruit being one of them!

 Medlar Fruit we had seen on River Cottage but I definitely don't have room for this one!

 There was Arrowroot which I would love in the garden... a little later perhaps.  Juniper Berry... again another day... I couldn't fit it in the i20!

 Paw Paws Galore and a grove of never ending citrus surrounded by a wall of Pome Fruit trees... I think I went to heaven!

 Now I am certain in the future I will find room for two of these somewhere in the edge of my garden in half barrels.  When an Avocado costs between $3 and $5 I am sure they will pay for themselves.

 The Custard Apple would be welcome addition to my garden too... did I mention that Tass1 Trees was  fabulous?  I need to research the Black Apple Tree... again I hadn't come across it before.

 I nearly got the Tamarillo for Chris... again the cost would quickly pay off with the price of individual fruit here.

Fickle Prickle had a very busy stall with very cheap succulents and cactii.  Some of their displays were amazing!  They were also very informative - I bought two venus fly traps for the boys and were great about care instructions!

 There were some great Native Plants if that is your thing!

 The Muchea Plant Farm had Proteas as well... I had to get a white one for a lovely friend.  This way when its flowering time she will have both pink and white.

 Did I mention there were lots of edibles?  Including lots of organic grown seedlings?  Lots of variety too.

The Guildford Garden Centre was beautifully represented.  I missed out on wasabi so I will have to go visit!  They had lots of pond plants, ornamentals and edibles.

 There was a beautiful elephant!

 Swan Valley Nurseries is generally wholesale but they had a stall open to the public... so I made hay while the sun shone and got a fair few pots.

Eat early or eat late... it gets busy!  Oh and the Crepes were devine O:-)

 I found the frogs information brilliant.

There were Dinosaurs, Cicads and Palms.

Stunning sculptures that I would love in a bigger garden!

Since I was by myself I even sat through 3 talks; One on Garden Design; One Question time that I learned a lot in, including to maybe rethink using Dipel as it contributes to Alzheimer's! and a final segment on Aqua and Hydroponics.  So all in all I had a brilliant day.

 Did I mention I brought a few plants? In my defence they are not all of me... all except 4 are for me! hehe.  The tree is a Black Sapote, I have tried to grow this several times from seed but been unsuccessful so I splashed out since this is my very, very, very favourite fruit... it is also known as chocolate pudding fruit!

 I bought some organic pest control for the kitchen and the boys think they are Fang-tastic! (Sorry!)  Apparently you should never touch the plant with your fingers as the oil kills them so I giggled last night watching the boys putting flies they caught in tweezers to feed their new "pets".

 I added a new mint to Brandon's collection... Lemon Mint.  I added some unusual Romanesco and italian broccoli varieties to our garden... now to keep the bugs off.  I got land cress as the caterpillars are supposed to go eat that and die (please!).

I got some super hot chillis for the hot heads in the house and some purple sage as we use sage a lot so the more the merrier right? 

Perpetual Spinach and corn salad, liquorice, land and water cress (maybe I can keep my watercress un-caterpillared this time! and two midyam berry bushes.

 These are for a friends garden... she has a beautiful bush block full of flowers and eucalypts.  She is installing a slate walkway with gaps in between so creeping thyme meandering between the slate will be just stunning.  A white Protea to go with her existing Pink one.

 A few seeds... Red Russian Kale, Chioggia Beetroot, Clemsons spineless Okra, Dragon Carrots, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Borage and Pumpkin - Turks Turban.  I thought I was very well behaved!

Did I mention freebies?  

 Fabulous information about so many products...

 My very favourite freebie - a bucket!  Sounds funny?  Well when you get handed something at nearly every stall its nice not to have to juggle everything.  Then you start shopping... oh look... ohhh *put it in the bucket*... I need one of those... and one of those... hands full again... in the bucket we go! *chuckle*

I almost forgot... I got garlic too... which went in the ground this morning while I waited for my extraordinarily slow internet to upload all these pictures... well I hope you enjoyed my trip to the Garden Festival!  Have you been? Happy Gardening!

*hugs* Sarah