We had a very wet winter and early spring this year and the garden is looking wonderful! Apart from all the beautiful blooms, one thing that really stands out in my garden this year is that there are lots of hoverflies around! Normally you can see quite a few hoverflies in spring but this year there are masses of them. Not that I’m complaining because hoverflies are the natural predator of the aphid. I have seen a few aphids on the roses but this year they don’t stand a chance! Hoverflies … [Read more...]
Thryptomene Shrub: An Asset to Any Garden
I am a big fan of plants that attract bees and butterflies to the garden but don’t require a lot of work! Therefore I have a few of these types of plants in my garden. I have talked about the diosma and California lilac before, so today I want to discuss our thryptomene shrub! The thryptomene plant is native to Australia and it grows well in most climates apart from the very cold or very hot regions. It flowers in winter and spring and is great for attracting butterflies, bees, and other … [Read more...]
Benefits of Using Pine Needles as Mulch
Do you have pine trees in your garden? Or maybe you know someone who has pine trees. Either way you will have access to pine needles that you can use around the garden. We have 4 pine trees along the back fence of our yard. They are not massive trees but they are big enough that they drop lots of needles. It seems a waste to let the pine needles just lay there and rot so I thought I’d use them as mulch. I know that strawberry plants like them and I have used some around my strawberries but … [Read more...]
Low Care Plants that Attract Bees
If you like to grow your own vegetables it is a given that you will want to attract bees! Yes, there are some food crops that don’t need bees, such as carrots, beetroot, and leafy greens like chard. But with most crops you need the help of bees to pollinate the flowers. In our garden the bees do the majority of the work pollinating our peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelons, strawberries, and capsicums. Sometimes we hand pollinate some of the pumpkins and … [Read more...]
Overwintering Capsicum Plants in the Garden
You don’t have to say goodbye to your capsicums when the winter chill sets in. I have had a lot of success with overwintering capsicum plants in my garden! The capsicum plants that are currently growing in my garden were planted from seed during spring 2013. At the time I never expected them to be still growing 3 years later! The first year I was a little disappointed that the plants took until the end of the summer to really get going. In fact it was early autumn when they were at their … [Read more...]
My Garden: How I Plant Carrots
I got sick and tired of pulling up funny shaped carrots that are all twisted and hard to cook with so I worked out a better way to plant my carrot seeds! When I was a kid I used to love eating carrots straight from the garden. Sometimes they would be funny shapes, a bit twisted and bent, but they always tasted way better than the bought ones! When I got back into growing vegetables a couple of years ago a carrot patch was one of the first things that I planted. I tried to plant the carrot … [Read more...]
Growing Bulbs in Containers
You don’t need a large garden to grow lots of beautiful bulbs. Try growing bulbs in containers to bring some spring and summer colour to your home! We have most of our bulbs in containers dotted around the garden close to the house. Personally I find growing bulbs in containers very easy and quite convenient. You can place the bulb containers around the house in positions that suit their needs. Also you can position them for maximum impact. During spring, over the last couple of years we … [Read more...]
Looking for Garden Pests at Night
I’ve been gardening for a while now so I have encountered quite a few garden pests. I’ve had to deal with aphids on the roses and cabbage white butterfly attacking my broccoli. Usually it is possible to have a close look at the plants to see what is doing the damage. That hasn’t been the case for our Dutch iris this year; they were being eaten by something that we couldn’t find! A similar thing happened last year that spoilt the flowers and it is very annoying! Last year we found that there … [Read more...]
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!