Grow Your Own Sustainability
19 Mar 2024
Zebra plant – also know as Haworthias.
My one has produced some little plants (called pups) which I have cut off and re-potted with a little bit of soil and put them in a partly shaded area.
We’ll see how these pups behave and if they take root.
I do enjoy propagating succulents and adding to my collection – it really is a great hobby.
10 Mar 2024
I’ve always loved strawberries and recently Facebook sent me a reminder of something I did years ago when my son was a baby.
I repurposed the baby formula tins by poking a few holes in them and then hooking them onto the chain link fence. I then planted the strawberry plants inside these tins. The seedlings loved it and I had a great crop that year. My son loved eating them too 🙂
This once again proves the fact that you can basically have a Veggie Patch Anywhere… even an ugly chain link fence can be made pretty this way.
Keep gardening and be kind – always.
2 Mar 2024
A couple of weeks ago I trimmed the fig tree again and pulled out a couple of shoots that were growing out of the base. I decided to plant one of the little off-shoots because it had some roots at the end of it and it has taken off. It’s a lovely little tree in a little black pot. So now my fig trees have multiplied to 3 – I don’t know where it’s going to end. All depends on how much room I have in the garden I guess.
The tomatoes are all gone now. I’m still getting some scraggly little cucumbers which are still very tasty though.
Everything else now looks nice and neat. I did plant a few lettuces and spread out the strawberries into a standard pot and then I covered them with bird netting to stop the birds from digging around and destroying everything.
I’ve also decided to brush away some of the bark and soil and laid down some flattened cardboard boxes – then I covered them with soil again. This is a good way to contain some of the weeds and grass shoots that are coming through under the fence from my next door neighbour. I did this before and it works a treat – the cardboard gets wet, compacts and creates a nice barrier against any weeds that are trying to poke through. You can then cover this back up with bark or mulch and it controls a lot of the weeds while you’re also recycling cardboard boxes at the same time and doing your bit for the environment.
3 Feb 2024
It’s so rewarding watching an avocado pit sprout and transform into a tree! I’ve grown a few, but the waiting game for fruit can be a couple of years.
After enjoying a tasty avocado wrap, here’s a trick: wrap the seed in damp paper towels, toss it in a ziplock bag, and stash it in a cool, dark spot for six weeks. Once that’s done, unwrap the seed, peel off some outer bark, stick in a few toothpicks (careful, some might have roots), and let them sit over a container with water. Old coffee containers work like a charm for this.
Once the shoots hit about 2 feet, it’s transplant time. Put them into some good potting mix or your garden – just make sure they’re not getting blasted by full sun. Happy growing!
05 Jan 2024
Today I made a beautiful salad with basil, cucumber and lots of tomatoes of course!
I trimmed all the dried, lower tomato leaves and picked a few bunches of basil. With this I made some pesto that I will freeze and use in the future. I think I need two more tubs at least 🙂
The children at the day care are picking all the salad leaves and herbs in the veggie patch at work for the “Grow your own salad” project. It’s a joy watching them smelling all the different herbs, watering the plants and chatting away about their little adventures.
I will transplant the sweet potatoes into the veggie patch and see if it takes off. I have also mixed in some coffee grounds and buried some compost from the compost maker.
23 Dec 2023
Just sharing some more of the photos I took in South Africa at Babylonstoren wine estate. What an amazing place that is – blew my mind.
22 Dec 2023
The tomato plant that has drooped also has tomatoes that are being eaten by something, so I spent half an hour today just picking the damaged ones and throwing away the lost causes.
I gave all of them good a water and trimmed away dried leaves. I also spread some more coffee grounds that should do until next year as I don’t want to add too much coffee grounds either.
Fourteen tomatoes and a bunch of basil – a great harvest so far! The mint, lemon, thyme and parsley that I transplanted also worked very well. I used it in the roasting tray with some whole chicken roasted with a bunch of herbs.
Delicious!!
8 Dec 2023
Today I’m veering off the veggie garden path a little bit to tell you about this wonderful place.
In April of this year my wife and I went on a long overdue holiday to South Africa and on one of the days there, my brother and sister in law took us to an amazing place called Babylonstoren. It is an old Cape Dutch farm in the Franschhoek wine valley in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
It’s a working farm with agriculture landcare, fresh produce and more varieties off plants then you can imagine along with delicatessen hand made products, interactive activities and a wonderful cafe.
To put it mildly – this place was my heaven! We parked under an immense vine structure out in the car park. Hundreds of vehicles parked here – greeted at the gate by three very friendly donkeys. Just inside the gate we were offered some free pomegranates and they were absolutely delicious. As we walked through the building, our guide Marisa (sister in law) started giving us a tour which lasted a couple of hours or more. I was stunned at everything I saw there and I still think of this place often.
There will be many parts to this story as I experienced so many activities and sights there. Part 2 will follow soon and will be about the succulents, the snake path and open air church.
6 Dec 2023
Today we showed the children some sprouting sweet potato that I found in a cupboard. We wet some paper towels and placed them in the bottom of a large jar and then placed the potato cuttings on top and displayed it on the window sill. Lovely hues of pink and orange – they look very nice.
Watch this space for updates on these potato cuttings.
28 Nov 2023
After visiting a big hardware store and seeing the fly catcher bottles, I thought I could make my own instead of spending $14.
Sugar, apple cider vinegar and a drop of dishwashing soap was all I needed.
Cut the top of a soft drink bottle, put the liquid inside and put the top upside down into the drink bottle.
I made a hole in the bottle and hooked it onto the fence, an hour later there was already a fly in it so it’s definitely working!
It’s a very good way to reuse plastic bottles. The liquid won’t keep all of them away but it will get rid of some of them. Being surrounded by farms, cows and horses is great but the flies are a nuisance so I had to do something and this seems to make a bit of a difference so I’ll keep you posted.
Veggie Patch Anywhere 