Wicked Garden Beds.

I am quite excited this morning, because I have found a system I think will truly help us with our water issues over summer. The principal is so simple and once you see it, it seems so obvious.
Basically it is like turning your garden bed into a giant water well pot, those pots that you fill a reservoir at the bottom to water your plants.

I will be researching this and definitely will be utilizing this system in my garden. I am hoping that this will cut down the summer water consumption in our garden and I will be able to spread out and have more production in the future.
Summer does not seem so depressing anymore.

Here are some of the useful sites I have found.

http://www.wickingbed.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35TU5aWRNjY&feature=player_embedded

http://sustainabuildsolutions.com/wicking.html

http://eatatdixiebelles.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/raised-wicking-worm-garden-bed.html

These are just a few sites to explore, there are lots more links out there.
One of the things that I like about this system is that it can be added to containers so if you have limited space you can set up a self watering container garden. Suddenly the old concreted rainwater tanks out the back, that I had no idea what to do with, are looking really, really good.

The Diggers Club Work Shops

Went to my first, Diggers Club work shop, here in the Adelaide botanical garden, yesterday. It was on, utilising the harvest and kitchen ideas. It was very interesting and my mum and I came away from it with some new ideas and of course, books. (As you do.)
I for one loved the recipes given out by the individual speakers, as well as listening to their personal stories and experiences. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed.
I will definitely be attending some of the other workshops through the year.  The next one I would like to go to is on berries and seeing that I want to add more verities to my garden, this is one I am very much looking forward to.

http://www.diggers.com.au/events-education/workshops/adelaide.aspx

Waiting For The Change

Bunkering down for hopefully the last stinking hot day of the season. (Please, please, please!)
Everything is just so dry here and parts of the garden are resembling a dust bowl. I want to do little more than curl up under a fan, read and wait for the cool change.
I am itching to get stuck into the garden but have to wait for the first rains, before I even contemplate doing anything. The trees are already giving of the hint that Autumn is on it's way and we have had a few day,s here and there, that has hinted at the cold to come.
I have lots of projects I want to try and also lots of planing to do on how to make the garden more water officiant. With only about 10,000 gallons of water to play with during the dryer months, sometimes with no top ups in sight, it can be difficult to hold back on what you want. Instead of concentrating on what you can sustain. It can also get to the point where you have to just let go of all your hard work and give up till next time. Luckily this year things have gone well and we still have water to keep on going.
Before We started trying our hand at growing fruit and veg, I would go into my garden and tell the plants that this was it, they were on their own till the next season and those that did not survive would not be planted again, it's sad but just a fact of life in a dry climate and it is something that we have lived with for a long time.
Now that we are trying to grow edible plants, especially fruit, we have to start thinking of cleverer ways to sustain things.
So that is what the colder months will be for: How much do we plant, where do we plant it and how do we keep it alive through summer.
I still think that the satisfaction of having a garden far outweighs the hardship, life can be a struggle and things do not always go to plan, but that only makes the victories all the sweeter.

Lightning Tree

I have no idea if this is what I think it is. A tree struck by lighting.
A few months ago Winne was on the hill taking pictures in a storm when one strike seemed to come awfully close and he high tailed it back home. Just recently we went out walking and found this tree, and both wondered if this is where the lighting hit.

It is the only tree marked like this and the markings seem to be chard into the trunk.

And the weather was....Sultry!

It has been a strange sort of evening here. The weather today was hot and humid and I slept through a lot of it. Tonight we had thick cloud and thunder, but unfortunately no rain, Winnie and I have had fun taking photos, though and I thought I would share.

First shot is a rather bad one of a flock of pink galahs across the road in the playground. I used my little compact camera and of cause scared them all off with the flash before I got a better shot.

I got Winnie to take a couple of me and the new table in action. Still have to paint the frame but it works exactly as intended. I thought I would show one of me in my natural habitat, too, face stuck in the kindle.

And to be fair, one of the ever cheerful Winnie. He does love a good storm.

Here also are some of the shots that Winnie got tonight, as the clouds built up.
Is it my imagination, or does this storm have balls?

The cow just because I really liked the picture and the background.

Health Kick Part Two.

Ever had one of those moment where you kick the door, only that have it come back and smack you in the face?

Well this year has been a bit like that for Winnie and I.

A few weeks back Winnie went to see his heart specialist, he was having some concerns with chest pain. Nothing too dramatic, we weren't sure if it was muscular or something to do with his heart. Better to be safe than sorry with his history and that of his family.

So off to the specialist we go and six days later Winnie is in hospital for an angiogram, and yes they found another blockage. This time, though, it was 90% which kind of freaked us out.

It was only four years since he had the fist stent put in and now he has another alongside of it.

So what does this mean for us? Our health kick just got very, very serious. We have now cut a lot of things from our diets that are a no no and have gotten even more concious of just what is in the food that we buy.

Winnie was under the impression that he could get away with still eating a few of the things he liked because of the medication he was taking to lower his cholesterol, but he seems to be one of those that is prone to building up cholesterol very easily.

So we have gone a little extreme now, which will do neither of us any harm. I am in my 40s and Winnie in his 50s so we need to be more concious of what we eat.

So now we have even more incentive to plant our garden up with fruits and veg.

I suppose we could look at the start of this year as being negative but really it could be a whole lot worse. I for one would rather celebrate and be thankful that my husband is proactive in his health and did not ignore the signs and I still have him with me today, to carry on life's journey with me.

Nothing like a scare to get you going either, Winnie has already lost 4 to 5 Kg.

Back To Mosaics

It has been a number of years now since I did mosaics and I think the time and mood is right for me to get back into them.
I started a very simple project the end of last year and yesterday when in and grouted it and brought it home. You cant really see the colors in this shot, the green and red are quite bright.

It is nothing spectacular, just a very simple pattern using tiles that I had around the place. The table itself needs a good revamping, cleaning, painting. This will then sit on my front veranda and be my coffee table.
I am not sure what I will tackle next. I have a large concrete cylinder that has a cactus growing in it that really needs sprucing up. I also have a bird bath that is starting to look really tired and I think it would look good with mosaic.

The Last Of The Harvest

Well it is getting that horrible time between seasons here. Every thing is incredibly dry, the ground is baked solid and I am getting thoroughly sick of having to water all the time, just to keep things alive.
I am waiting for the time when I can start preparing for the winter crops, but before that happens we are harvesting the last of our summer produce.
The blackberries have been incredible. I did not think they would produce so much in their first year round. We have been really enjoying these sweet treats.

They were made even sweeter, when we saw what price they are charging for a small punnet of them in the shops, around $7.00!
I am going to miss them when they are all gone, but that will only make them all the better next year.

We have also started harvesting our potatoes. This particular one is called Royal Blue. They are a stunning color and taste so creamy.

We still have lots of tomatoes coming on, the feral seeds that came up in our corn patch are starting to produce now too. Amongst these there are two cherry tomatoes which we hadn't bothered with this year, so that was an added bonus.

The zucchini are going nuts and I am getting a good crop of them. Three plants are definitely ample supply for us.

So that is it for our little garden at the moment. I am now waiting for rain and dreaming about when everything will be green again, without me standing over it with the hose.