It rained on Saturday night, not a lot, but a heavy thunderstorm that got the ground moist again. So I got into the new beds and sowed a new lot of seeds. In this pair of steep narrow terraces I put in a repeat crop of brassicas; radish champion, radish early scarlet globe, daikon, and turnip gold ball. In the rich looking level bed next to it I put a second sowing of some of the salad greens that have poor shows from the May sowing; mustard osaka purple, endive…
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First orchid.
My first orchid to flower in the new place. The yellow and burgundy Oncimiums have been gracing (and perfuming) the living room since we moved, but they were already in flower. This one has gone from spike to inflorescence, and survived the possibility of being chewed by whatever lurks under the house at night, although it did lose a terminal bud or two. Until I can secure my greenhouse, I’m glad to get any flowers. This is the lesser, Winter flowering, so I hope to get more in late Spring. I…
Read MoreNew beds
These beds will be a change. Flat land is not a feature of this property, and here I’ve tried making two small terraces with a goat track in between. This is the last of the beds made by the previous owner, which have sat covered in black plastic and cardboard for some time. Mum and Dad helped me pull that off, exposing this sloping plot beneath a corrugated metal retaining wall, but inside the old fenced area. There was at least one big ants’ nest underneath, so we pretty much…
Read MorePerformers at 4 weeks
It’s four weeks today since my first vegetable sowing, and there are some standout early starters. Choi sum is up and going; it’s used as flowering stems. Bok choi is looking good too; it’s used as little cabbages. Behind it is Wom bok, the tall chinese cabbage. And also a Brassica, Mibuna is looking like it will be ready to pick for salads in a couple more weeks. Some vegetables that I expected to be quicker, particularly the radishes, are still coming along, although looking good. The bed was very…
Read MoreNursery and gift plants
It’s been a week of plant nursery visits, and fortunately there are a lot to choose from around here. We took my parents to Kingscliff, a beach town, on Saturday, because the markets were on and it’s just a nice place for coffee anyway. The markets were true to form and we picked up some shade-loving plants for the South-facing front of the house where we will make a formal entrance. At the moment it’s a bit wet underfoot as it sits at the base of a cutting and is…
Read MoreNew veggie patch.
We have fenced the veggie garden. It became a priority because the broad beans I had sown in a rough bed came through earlier than expected, and the sprouts were being eaten by chickens and possibly night -time visitors. Fortunately my parents arrived on Thursday, and they have more experience than I with fencing, so they helped get a chicken wire fence round the developing veggie patch. It’s not your classic patch, as there is no level ground of any size, so the far corner of the rectangle goes way…
Read MoreStrelitzia
For toughness and presence, Strelitzias are hard to beat. Mine is in a harsh spot, up against a glass wall in full north sun and lots of wind, but it does well and flowers from late summer. A bonus is that every year it has a couple more flowers so it’s nice to watch it grow. I remember as a kid I used to think that they are messy flowers, and didn’t see the attraction (they are very common in Perth, reflecting their resilience to hot dry weather and wind).…
Read MoreNative bees
There are usually bees around whatever is flowering on the balconies, and I had never had a close look until the other day, when a conspicuous large brown and hairy bee was hanging around the rosemary. A quick search got me to the excellent Aussie Bee website and I found it was probably a brown carpenter bee. Then I realized that the rest of the bees that feed from the rosemary weren’t plain old honey bees, but blue barred bees. Right here in the middle of Sydney! It’s good to…
Read MoreBonsai
They’re undoubtably lovely, but bonsai are hard to keep on a balcony in Sydney. The problem is you just can’t leave them. I always lose them over the summer holidays, when a dry spell will combine with a breakdown of the automatic watering system. This is a maple that was a present a year ago. Deciduous bonsai are the worst. They are bare for a good 6 months, and if you have remembered to water the sticks over Winter and they come good in Spring, then you have to step…
Read MoreMiltonia
I asked the back yard orchid guy if he had any Miltonias, and he rather too keenly sold me this one. It is, to be sure, the real Miltonia, but what is usually called Miltonia, and what I was expecting, is the much more showy Miltoniopsis. Still, this one has been an interesting addition to my collection, and fills a flowering gap in later Summer. It is not right for an indoor display though. The colour is not particularly showy, and the flowers are somehow unspectacular. It also has a…
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