Ready to Go

Day 250   September 18th The first of the new tomato plants is ready for transplanting into the big world of the garden bed.  I'm hoping there won't be too long a gap between the last tomatoes of the old batch and the new ones.  I"ll be putting a basil plant in at the same time ready for bruschetta.

Pale Sun

Day 249   September 17th
Back home.  There must have been some fires or maybe an inversion; it was extremely smoggy.  The good part about polluted skies is the beautful sunsets, and this one was spectacular.  Unfortunately I couldn't capture it on my camera. The sun was a vibrant red ball, not an insipid pink one.  Apparently there is a feature on the camera for sunsets, but I didn't mess around looking for it; the sun was fast disappearing.

The Very Tree

Day 248   September 16th
Thankfully the bush turkeys chose a different tree the next night.

Bush Turkeys

Day247   September 15th
We shared the campground with several bush turkeys, more than I have ever seen together in fact. I imagine the easy access to food has swelled there ranks; they certainly seemed to feel that our hanging rubbish bag was there for their benefit. None of them had the yellow stripe and red wobbly neck skin so I presume they were all females or just too young. They spent a lot of time perched in the trees (when they weren't foraging for scraps) and apparently spent the first night in the tree above our car. In the morning it was smeared with bird poop.  Obviously they mistook it for their bathroom.

Our Cottontree View

Day 246   September 14th
We spent a few days camping at Cottontree, Maroochydore; this is the view from our site.

Back Home

Day 245   September 13th

I've tidied up after the plumber, spread the bark and finally the sculptures are back home.

Spuds

Day 244   September 12th Sometimes it feels like all I write about and photograph are failures.  They're not a true representation of the garden. We have tomatoes and yams for Africa and enough herbs to make exotic teas for all of Welly Point, but I can't take pictures of each tomato.  It's the mistakes that are most interesting, if less satisfying. Anyway these potatoes were not a mistake.  The bottom styrofoam container contained these plus a couple more.  Not a bad yield for one box.  Pity about the top floor.  Next time I will just plant each box seperately.  Bungalows rather than highrise.  Because I grow so few I make a fuss of them when we eat them. These were boiled with mint, served with butter and a sprinkle of black pepper and eaten with boiled eggs and avocado. Yummy!

Day 243 September 11th
The potato skyscaper experiment has not worked. I removed the top layer and the soil and found not one potato: Nil, zero, zip. The plants appeared to flourish but were obviously not inclined to reproduce, at least not upstairs.

This is Not My Tree (sorry Rene)

Day  242  September 10th I've been spending too much time in the Surrelism exhibition: Now I'm channeling Magritte.  But it really isn't my tree.  It's a Norfolk Pine down at the Point.  It must have been damaged and now appears to be bleeding a waxy sort of sap. None of the other trees are doing this.

Out of Sorts Orchids

Day 240  September 8th Orchids thrive on neglect, or so I've been told.  But it must be a very special kind of neglect because my brand (the I don't know anything about orchids variety) hasn't worked too well. One by one the flowers have turned a soggy brown and dropped off. It doesn't look like the shrivelled end of bloom brown.  It's more a sickly disease type of brown. What now?

Tiny Bugs

Day 240   September 8th
I don't know where they came from. This is an indoor plant. Actually an almost indoor plant. It lives on the screened plant.  Somehow, something got inside and left all these tiny bugs on the capsicum.

Abundance

Day 239   September 7th

Red Lettuce

Day 238   September 6th
The mystery seedlings were indeed lettuce.  Well I hope they are because I've been putting them in salads.

Starting Over

Day 237  September 5th
Basil and tomato.  I'm trying to stagger the tomatoes so we have a steady supply instead of feast or famine.

Alyssum

Day 236   September 4th

The flowers confirm it is Alyssum.

Southbank

Day 235  September 3rd
Unfortunately this tidy, organized garden bed is not mine. It is on the River Walkway at Southbank. It's not what I expected to see;  vegie gardens must be in vogue. My garden is nowhere near as tidy as this one, but I was pleased to see that even the gardeners at Southbank cannot prevent their coriander going to seed.  I hope these vegies get given away and eaten.

Peeping Kumara

Day 234   September 2nd
The yams grow in the soil then migrate to the surface, almost asking to be picked.

Too Weighty

Day 233  September 1st The weight  of the fruit caused the plants to tumble?

Hibiscus

Day 232   August 31st
Totally neglected, never watered or fed, but it still produces stunningl flowers

Beautiful Berries

Day 231   August30th
More beautiful inedible berries.

Aubergine

Day 230  August 29th So many flowers but so far only one tiny fruit.  Beautiful colour though.

Alyssum?

Day 229   August 28th
I think this unlabelled seedling is Alyssum.  Looks like the others so I've popped it in beside them.  But why did I grow some in pots?

Toy Parade

Day 228  August 27th
These appeared when the plimbers were laying a drain.  I recognize the tortoise but where did the snail come from. I hope it's not an actual size model!

Windy Day

Day 227   August 26th

Yellow to Orange

Day 226  August 25th
The yellow pepper is turning to orange.  It must be time to eat it. So hard to decide how to serve it when there is only one. I don't want it to be lost in a stew or a salad!

Mini Beets

Day 225   August 24th I finally gave up on these beetroots growing any bigger.  I could feel that they were small by groping the tops. Maybe they are a small variety.  They are certainly miniscule compared to those I knew (and didn't greatly like) as a child. I'll serve them with anchovies, goats cheese and sauteed leaves.  They will be small but special.

Day 224  August 23rd Well, the potato experiment has not been a success. Digging into the soil revealed zero potatoes.  The technique produces beautiful vigorous plants  but no potatoes (fruit?).