Day 29

29?  Really?  Wow nearly a month of vege gardening!

Our morning began with Tom disappearing out the back door about 7am for strawberries and he managed to find the first radish!  Interesting breakfast... I was offered but passed.  I need my coffee first hehe.  The Strawberry was sour and the radish was peppery but nice.

 The Brown Onions are up well three of them are... Brandon got all excited as they had seeds already... I had to explain it was the seed casing that they grew from ;-)










  Strawberries are still going strong even if they are being taxed every morning hehe.  I was going to grab this one but decided to leave it for the boys in the morning to save my radishes (hopefully!).

We had a trip to Bun-bings (bunnings to everyone else) since we got a phone call to tell us that Brandon's (Yes Brandon's) Chocolate Mint was in!  He has waited for two weeks.  So of course we got the Chocolate Mint and a few other things... we got a punnet of Rhubarb to replace the ones that have not done so well out the front, some parsley since we can never have enough parsley and some coriander since we always need coriander!

Oh and Brandon required us to stop at the seed department for oregano, thyme and strawberry seeds.  We also got some hanging baskets to start maximising our space!

 I must say some days I think I have brought my boys up to be too independent lol  Brandon potted up the chocolate mint into a hanging basket all by himself. *sniff* *sniff*  He did a great job!

We then moved onto the other hanging baskets. We popped in the three surviving strawberry plants from Julie, put in a parsley at the back of one of the baskets.  Then started potting up the mint... and Brandon sure was right when he said the mint had made itself comfortable!

 Being an ADHD household things tend to spiral soo... we started by wanting to plant the rainbow chard in the garden so here are the rainbow chard...
 Which led to the recognition that the irises are in the way... so the irises got dug up which lead to the Ornamental Grasses being dug up and put in pots so we could put the irises in their place.  So now we are giving the ornamental grass away since they don't look pretty or can be eaten lol.
Oh then we planted the rainbow chard and moved the stepping stones.

 This is how the garden is looking at the moment...  still very early days.  I wish we could put planter boxes up on that wall and we are still looking at ways of putting planters along the top of the fence.

Brandon's new seeds.  Oregano, Thyme and White and Red Strawberry mix.  I planted the strawberry seeds in the "milk bottle planter" and put them in the green house with Grandpop's Tomatoes.  In the meantime Brandon put oregano seeds in the white pots.

That's it for tonight *hugs* Sarah

Day 28

Mr Brandon was too sick for gardening today... so his other passion became the order of the day...

The legoland rebuild is underway in his room... and this Mum get's the joy of being chief sorter of all the blocks lol how did that happen? hmmm

*hugs*  Sarah

Day 27

Ok so by this afternoon I stopped coughing enough to get outside in the sunshine!  Woo Hooo... started with the watering out the front and....

THE FIRST POTATOES ARE UP! hehe Ok so it is just 4 tiny shoots but with how soft the seed potatoes were from bunnings!  So from memory these are the Delawares...  Boys are jumping for joy that there is progress after frequent checking! :-)

Brandon Came home from school and could not wait to check out the broad beans!

 

Went out the back and watered the potato bags and discovered either my coir has shrunk/sunk or my potatoes were "dug up" near the surface when Brandon went looking!  They are making progress with roots and shoots :-)  These are royal blue... still no kipflers up but they had no eyes when I put them in so might take longer.. *waits*





Checked on Brandon's many, many seeds... his rocket was up... when Brandon found out he had to run inside and tell Dad lol  "Dad I grew YOU a rocket!"

 The chives are starting to stand up tall... the seem to be more successful than the spring onions that still have not made an appearance.




The Ceylon/Malabar Spinach that was eaten by crickets is not doing too bad but is throwing out lots of seeds so hoping it will propagate some more :-) More for Brandon to plant lol

 The "Brandon's Grandpop's Lazy Housewife Bean" that germinated first and gets the boys running out to make sure it didn't die from cold every morning has now started curling and climbing...

 The Mint plants that Julie gave me are naturalising quite well... One is even trying to escape out the bottom!

 The Rainbow Carrots and Easter Egg radishes are progressing despite the crickets.. as seen in the lower half of the photo on left... and this is where said crickets go when I catch them... having a rescued insectivore does come in handy sometimes!
 The cricket was gone momentarily!

  Going through the seedlings there are lots of signs of life!  More chives are up along with more Rainbow Chard.  I still don't see any Orange only Red and Yellow so I hope for the boys we get a few different shades!








The lettuces are going great guns!  I hope everyone doesn't go off salad this time!  I can see us potting them up VERY soon!  Tom is chomping at the bit to get them into the hydroponic box they made so he can use the salinity and PH meters... I will be glad when they are so we can expand the learning about what plants need (and what we need too!).



We have some Kale that has come up but not sure it is looking so well... hopefully it will come good since we have never grown it before!  It is early days so lets hope things pick up!  Still no baby curry leaf trees :-p

 The Ceylon/Malabar Spinach (plant 1) has made itself at home and is looking better... as are the peas in the background... the boys want them to hurry up... they want to pick them!

 Tom's bed now has heaps of carrots and beetroots much to his delight!

The boys came out after/during homework for an official inspection... there were lots of "and... and... ands" LoL  So glad they are enjoying it and are getting enjoying being "Just like Granddad and Grandpop!" lol I do not even get a look in :-p

Tom inspected the hanging basket (that they grabbed from the side of the road lol)  I potted up the pink flowering strawberries so I am hoping they will come on since the boys are still doing a very cold dash for breakfast fruit... I even got TWO slices this morning woo hooo 

 Since the balcony hanger wont go over the top of the fence (the fence is too wide :-( ) It has been popped on the side of the kennel... there are only Nasturtiums in there at the moment I daren't risk anything else until I know the dogs aren't going to get up to mischief!

Well that is it from me... its all slow and steady here until my cold goes away *hugs*  Sarah