In the garden

 

Haven’t been able to do much in the garden of late.  Last week it rained pretty much everyday and over the weekend.  Now it’s lovely and sunny but with a gail force wind.

The only thing good about that is that my washing is drying very quickly lol.

Ethan likes to play outside and has been very grumpy with me for not letting him  but he is only just getting over a nasty cold and still has a touch of a cough.

I thought I better let him have a quick run around today while I put a load of washing on the line.

One thing that has been happening in our garden is the girls have a flower growing.  It was funny when they found it.  We had planted some bulbs last year and the girls waited patiently and checked everyday but nothing ever appeared until this year.

Jorja shouted for joy that her sunflower was growing but I had to explain to her that this pot was the one we but the bulbs in.  Yep one lonely little bulb has decided it wants to come out for the girls.

It is going to be a lovely surprise when it flowers and we can’t remember what was planted and didn’t keep the packaging.

Will keep you posted.  Have a lovely day!

Link Party Likes #24

 

Lots of goodies to be found amongst the Link parties last week.  Here are a just a few of the ones that I liked:

1. I have a few more cushions to make around the house so couldn’t resist this blog post by Southern Lovely. I love it when someone thinks outside the box and there are some beautiful place mats out there, you know the one’s you don’t want to by cos you don’t want to make it dirty.
2. Where can I get me some of this Washi Tape.  I have noticed a few posts around using this stuff but I have never seen it in the craft shops.  Ginger Snap Crafts has a great tutorial on how to use washi tape to make this checkboard clipboard.
3. And if I can’t find the washi tape in the shops I can always head on over to Nifty Thrifty Things to make my own.
4. Miss G has decided that she is no longer a dress kind of girl and needs to wear a skirt everyday so I think I might have to make this lovely skirt over at The Life of Jennifer Dawn.
5. Themed birthday parties are a very big thing with the kids so what do you do with the table cloth that you bought especially for the party after it’s finished.  Well why not make an art smock out of it.  You can find the tutorial over at Vixen Made.
6. When picking up some library books the other week the Librarian mentioned that she does Quilling and was thinking of holding some classes in the library at the end of the year.  I have dabbled in paper toll before but never quilling and thought it was a great idea.  So it was lovely to see this butterfly picture over at Wesens-Art after just having this conversation.
7. Homespun with Love has a great post on how you can have a herb garden in your own home. I’m thinking about putting some herbs in hanging pots, especially the ones that don’t like a lot of sunlight.
8. And Just 2 Birds has got me in the mood for the weekend.  It’s our 8th wedding anniversary next week and we are heading out for dinner at our favourite restaurant Cactus Jacks and catching a movie.  Can’t wait!!

So there you have it, some more great posts and blogs that you can head on over and checkout.

Happy Surfing.

In the garden

I love our big old tree that is beside our house.  It's huge and so are the branches that come down.  We have had a few near misses and I tell you they would have done some serious damage.

We have had someone out to checkout the tree some years ago and they told us that the branches that are left should not come anywhere near the house.  But anything is possible.

What I love most about this tree is all the wonderful birds that come to visit or setup home in it's branches and the holes left in the trunk after losing a branch or two.

Today while checking out my protea that has flowered I turned to see what was making all the noise in the tree today.

We have our resident cockatoo's that are with us all year round and there were a few Corella's squawking into a hole that is usually a nest for some Gala's. 

Just love living out here.

Linkup Party Likes #23

 

Well there goes another week and how have you all been.  At our house we all seem to be getting the flu.  My poor little man had it first and with a runny nose and a terrible chesty cough he still manages to give us a big smile.

(this picture was taken by my sister a few weeks ago.  Didn’t fancy turning everyone off with a picture of him with a runny nose lol)

I have decided that I am going to change a few posts around so that I am not late with any tutorials that I have planned.  Trying to get them done during the week is just not happening.

I’m thinking that Sunday works better for me as then I have daddy at home to help me out with the kids so that I can get things done.  I also want to be able to do a few tutes on anything that I like in books that I find.

But back to what you have all been up to.  I have noticed this time round that there are a few links to DIY’s in the garden which is great.

Here is what caught my eye:

1. What a great way to recycle an old wooden bed frame.  First it was a stage for the kids and now they have turned it into a raised garden bed. Awesome, Pondered Primed Perfected
2. Another great idea and something that I have been planning to do to my veggie garden beds only with netting, is this little green house over at Love and Laundry.
3. Andrew and I hunted around for an old rocking chair for the nursery before Jorja was born and ended up buying a brand new one, oh well.  Just love this revamp over at Aprons & Ambition.
4. Another lovely remodel is this cane chair at The Cards We Drew, makes me think of Spring.
5. An no I have delved into the land of sewing quilts just yet but I love this pattern over at Sew Sweet Cottage
6. Soap in a pouch, this is a great idea and definitely one that I will be making for the kids to use, especially when camping.  I found it at Vanessa’s Values who found it over at Whimsy Love.
7. And last but not least, this French bread recipe is one that I am going to try especially as I have started to bake my own bread on weekends with the bread machine.  You can find the recipe at Just 2 Birds.

So there you have it, some great new things to try and fantastic blogs to read.

Have a great day!!!!

In the garden!!

 

I love being in the garden.  My hubby and feel very lucky to be able to raise our kids on 2 acres.  They have the freedom to run around and have great adventures.

The other great thing about having a big backyard is that I have an endless supply of goodies for my compost.

I have just started a second compost bin as we have nearly used the other one all up. Just needs some sides to be added now.

I like to go around after hubby has been on the ride on and rake up all the dense patches that the mower has left. 

 

We use the compost in all our planting as unfortunately where we are we have a lot of clay in the ground.

Things I like to put in my compost are:

• grass clippings
• veggie scraps
• newspaper
• cardboard (nothing that has a waxy print on it)
• egg cartons
• a handful of manure every now and then
• oh and water if it is getting dry

Things I don’t put in are:

• citrus
• anything with seeds
• onions
• garlic
• chilli

Do you have a compost heap?

Happy Gardening!!!

PS  I have a few custom orders at the moment so the Wednesday tutorial will be on Friday

In the garden

 

My magnolia tree is finally flowering.  I just love these big beautiful flowers.  I had it in a pot for ages after I bought it and when hubby finished the retaining wall out the front and we made the garden, I decided to transplant.

 

It has been sitting doing nothing for about 1year and half now and finally there is five new buds and one has opened for me today.

 

 

Just gorgeous!

In the Garden

 

I little while ago the girl’s decided that our veggie garden needed a scarecrow, so with Daddy’s help they made one.

They used one of Daddy’s old flannel shirts and an old pair of jeans from mummy.

The hat was left over from my husbands 30th birthday (we had a country theme) and a pair of old garden gloves.

I think they did a fantastic job.  Worked for awhile but I busted 6 King Parrots eating the tomatoes today lol!!!!

Happy Gardening

In the garden

 

Happy Valentine’s day!!!!

Here are some beautiful roses from my garden just for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you all were spoilt rotten!!

In the garden

 

Wow are the days getting really hot here in Queensland.  Everyday I wait for the usual 3pm storms we usually have this time of year but as yet we haven’t had one which means when id does hit it’s going to be a big one.

I have been watering some of the pot plants first thing in the morning to help them cope through the day.

We have 3 water tanks and no connection to the main water supply where we live so we rely on the rain.  I think we have only had 3 truck loads of water delivered over the 8 years we have lived here, so we have been pretty lucky.

So with this heat I have not really been in our veggie garden as much as I have liked much to my hubby’s disappointment.  He just loves home grown veggies.

As I mentioned in a previous post I am going to try and keep our veggie garden as organic as possible.  I am planning on only using our compost, worm farm and good old chook manure in the garden beds.

Have you got a veggie garden in your backyard?  Would love for you to share any great tips you have.

Happy Gardening!!!

In the Garden

It’s spring time again and I just love this time of year as it means all the lovely birds that love to nest in our big old tree have returned to nest.

This year we have a family of Galas nesting in a hole in the lower half of the tree trunk.  Our resident cockatoos have returned to their usual spot in the hole left from a broken branch and somewhere up there is a mummy possum and her little one. 

We also get a lot of lorikeets that have a feed on the bird feeder that hubby built for me.  We only feed them on the weekend after we have finished working in the garden all day and are relaxing, enjoying the sunset.

This spring I am finally getting back into the vegie patch.  I stopped planting last winter as we went on our big trip to the tip of Australia and then I feel pregnant with Ethan and I just lost my gardening mojo. 

Hubby finally got around to putting up my little shed that has been lying in a box on the floor of his big shed for the last 18 months and that I have been parking the 4wd over, Thanks Hubby xxx.

He also managed to get the 4th bed made up for me too.  It will mean more vegies to fit in and better crop rotation.

The girls decided that they wanted their own little garden to look after, pretty flowers that is, so we have planted some pots of colour for them outside their cubby house.

I am planning on making the vegie patch completely organic and also plan on following a moon calendar, so their will be lots of post coming your way on how I will be doing this.

So its off to the vegie garden I go, well after I finish my cuppa.  What have you been doing in your garden?.