Space savers

We love fresh produce, but not having a lot of yard, we've had to be a bit smart about it. Planting four feijoas along the back fence as a screen was a brilliant suggestion from someone whose opinion I value. Eventually, they'll provide privacy, plus a lovely lot of fruit. As a bonus, they look pretty, flowering in winter when most other plants in the garden are not at their best.

I also have my potted cumquat, which is now over twenty years old and is bearing a lovely crop. Then there's my herb garden and a few bird's eye chilli plants. Again, pretty and useful.

Our lack of space prompted me to try my hand at espalier, something I'd never done before. My lemon and kaffir lime are doing well, and I think I'm getting the hang of this pruning caper (with a little help from some experts I found online. God, I love the internet).

So, continuing my one year on theme, here's the lemon:

Just after planting in March 2010:



January this year:



January again, after pruning:



And this week. You can see that the leader is just about up to the third wire now. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more growth before the colder temperatures slow things down.



And the kaffir line is going great guns, now that I've overcome my scaredy-cat tendencies when it comes to pruning. Immediately after planting in March last year:



And now:



This one really hates Melbourne's winter, but at least now I know it bounces back nicely. The bonus of shaping it is that we get to use all the pruned leaves in delicious Thai curries.

Limited space is no excuse for not using your garden in a productive way. :)

One year on - part 3

One year on - part 2

March 2010:



Today:



And a closer view:



Yep, those tiny wisps of dichondra "silver falls" on the right of the first photo have gone crazy, as you can see. I'm going to have to get busy with the secateurs to stop it swamping the dwarf mondo grass...

One year on

March 2010:



March 2011:

Planting completed

I finally got the bamboo in the ground. It doesn't seem to have suffered too much from being left in black garbage bags for almost a week....




A few finishing touches are still required. I'm thinking a Balinese-style statue of some kind, plus some groundcovers or very small shrubs in between the clumps.

That just about completes the planting in our garden now. I can sit back and watch everything grow for a while. :)

********

Remember the alien eye-stalk? Turns out to be a rather pretty flower spike. They've become so tall that some are having a lie down now. Anyway, they have these small but attractive orangey-pink flowers all along the stalks:



Succulents always amaze me with their flowers.

Free stuff!

Thanks to the generosity of Aaron and Erin, I'm now the proud owner of four giant clumps of bamboo, probably over $500 worth, FREE.

They dug out a huge mass of the stuff from a relative's yard and kindly offered some of the surplus to anyone who wanted it. Of course, I very quickly said "Yes".

I had planned to plant bamboo along the fenceline outside our sliding door, and now it's all lined up just waiting till I have the time to deal with it.


Those are 4m tall canes!


Yes, I took the pics through the (dirty) glass. It's raining out there!

It's lucky that the weather has turned cool and wet this week - no chance of the plants suffering heat stress before I can get them in the ground.

Christchurch earthquake appeal

I'm copying this from my other blog, to get the message out to as many people as possible:


I know we've all been digging deep recently to help our fellow Aussies affected by floods and cyclones, but please if you possibly can, dip into your pockets again and give a little something to help our Kiwi cousins.

Christchurch is a small city by world standards and as such, has limited resources. Emergency funds have already been stretched to the limit by the September earthquake, and now this latest and far more serious quake has left many folks destitute and in need of all the help they can get.

Remember, it's not just those who've lost their homes and belongings, but many, many people who don't have jobs to go to because their city workplaces have either been destroyed or are off-limits due to the danger of further collapses.

Whether you can contribute financially or not, if you're a blogger you can still help by posting a link to the global appeal website, which is here: http://www.christchurchearthquakeappeal.govt.nz/

Even if you don't have a blog, please spread the word by posting the link on Facebook or Twitter.