Many years ago, when I first wrote about planting out irises, I barely knew anything about them. I touched on the topic but didn’t have much experience to share. Now that I’ve had bearded irises growing in my garden for years, I’ve learnt what actually works, and discovered how wonderfully tough and rewarding they are. So, I thought it was time to revisit the topic properly and share the basics I wish I’d known back then. Bearded irises look fancy, but they’re surprisingly easy to grow once … [Read more...]
Growing Zinnias: Easy Tips for Colourful Summer Blooms
If you’re looking for a hardy, cheerful flower that thrives through the heat, you can’t go past zinnias. Growing zinnias is one of the easiest and most rewarding things you can do in the summer garden. Zinnias add such joyful colour to the garden. We get everything from rich reds and pretty pinks to burnt orange and all sorts of purples — and this year we’ve even had a pale yellow one appear out of nowhere! They’re wonderfully beginner‑friendly and will bloom their hearts out even when the … [Read more...]
Easy Plastic Plant Markers
I have enjoyed growing my own vegetables immensely over the last few years. It is so rewarding to plan out what you want to grow, care for the plants, and then harvest your vegetables. I have even contemplated planting vegetables that I don’t like that much just so I can see if I can grow them! No matter what you are planting though, one thing that comes in handy in the vegetable garden is plant markers! If you are sowing lots of different seeds then you need to keep track of which ones … [Read more...]
Growing Salvia Plants for Easy Summer Colour!
Salvia plants add wonderful colour to a summer garden. They require only moderate watering, they can handle extreme heat, and they flower for months. Summer in Australia tends to be very hot and dry. Where we live temperatures close to (and sometimes over) 40 °C (104 °F) are not uncommon during the summer months. This extreme heat can be hard on our garden so we try to choose plants that can tolerate these conditions. Plants that require lots of water don’t tend to last too long in our … [Read more...]
Rabbits in My Garden (What They Will and Won’t Eat!)
We live in a semi-rural area where the houses are on big blocks and there’s plenty of native bushland. The upside to that is we enjoy seeing plenty of native birds and animals. The downside is that we also have to deal with pests such as rabbits. They don’t live on our property, they have they’re burrows in a bush block behind ours, but they like to venture into our garden to eat and dig! I love animals but I’m not a big fan of rabbits at the moment. The damage they do to our garden, … [Read more...]
4 Easy Ways of Preserving Plums So You Can Enjoy Them All Year!
Backyard plum trees often produce more plums than their owners can use. Here are 4 simple methods of preserving plums that I use to get the most from my plum harvest! We have a blood plum tree in our backyard that provides us with delicious plums each summer. It is not a huge tree but it can hold lots of fruit. This year we have had a particularly good plum harvest. The plums are nice and big thanks to some good spring rains we had last year! Even though we love eating plums and I love … [Read more...]
Using a Soaker Hose to Water Your Vegetable Garden
Watering the vegetable garden can be quite a time consuming job in the middle of summer. You can however save lots of time just by using a soaker hose! I have always preferred to water my vegetable garden underneath rather than spraying the leaves of the plants. I learned from my parents and grandparent that this gives the plants a much deeper watering. This in turn enables them to cope better with the hot summer days. It also saves water because it is delivers the water directly to where the … [Read more...]
How to Grow Cat Grass from a Surprisingly Simple Source of Seeds!
We adopted our two cats (Maddy and Wally) almost five year ago now and they have always been fond of eating some grass. Initially we didn’t have actual cat grass. Instead the cats would eat some of the grassy weeds that would inevitably pop up here and there. They also liked to munch on some of the longer buffalo grass in the lawn. A couple of years ago we purchased a pot of cat grass to give them another source of grass to munch on. But to say that it wasn’t very popular would be an … [Read more...]
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!