Spring Seedlings 2020 - Finally time to plant them out in the garden.

Last weekend was the last cold snap in Melbourne, so it was finally time to plant these tiny seedlings in the garden. The weather is warm and gentle enough for the seedlings to survive. And they are so eager to be outdoor, the zucchini and pumpkin seedlings are tall and robust.

Red Russian Kale:

Cimmaron Lettuce:

Cos Lettuce:

Perpetual Spinach:

Beefsteak Tomatoes and Black Beauty Eggplant:

Herbs, parsley, coriander, sage, basil, rosemary and oregano:

Kent Pumpkin and Lebanese Cucumber:

Zucchini and Butternut Pumpkin:

Snow Peas Plants that Keep on Giving.

Snow Peas party in the household last week. These plants keep on giving. So grateful for them...

Nasturtium Trellis and Finally Some Broad Beans Pods

Since we've been working from home I've noticed the Nasturtium bushes are growing rapidly during winter and they finally reached a good height for me to train them along the horizontal trellis along the fence. This has been a long awaited moment and it's finally happening. It looks like it won't take long until they reach the whole length of the fence. I'm so excited.

Some of our broadband are finally showing some seedpods as well. Lots of new flowers are popping out as well so maybe we'll get a good harvest this year. 

Potatoes Bags Stand from Repurposed Wood

My new potatoes bags stand made from repurposed wood. It's super awesome and fits the bags perfectly. I can't wait to see how much yield we are getting from these.

The Poppy Flowers Are Here and the Pomegranate Tree is Back!!

My mixed coloured Poppy flowers are finally here. I sprinkled the seeds under the Olive tree and they look so perfect together. The Poppy flowers look like floating butterflies in the wind. 

The Pomegranate tree has started growing lots of leaves as well and a few tiny flower buds had popped out. We trimmed this tree last Autumn to maintain a manageable height and width.

We froze some of the pomegranate seeds last summer and use them during winter. I hope we can store more this year so we can get Vitamin C boost throughout next winter.

Finally Some Snow Peas! Spring is Here!

Finally a bowl of snow peas from the garden. The long awaited pods were very welcomed in our household. We've been enjoying the pretty white flowers for a few weeks now and they have finally turned into pods.

My Little Helper Made Paper Seedling Pots For Me (Burgon & Ball Paper Pot Maker)

Super late post, this is my little helper rolling paper seedling pots for our Spring seedlings. I bought this paper pot maker a few months ago and it has been amazingly helpful in making these paper pots. I previously used shot glass 😂 to make them.

The Burgon & Ball paper pot maker has 3 sizes and perfect for those larger seedlings, such as zucchini, cucumber and pumpkin.

The steps are super easy even a six year old can do it.

Mid Week Fresh Cooking: Broccoli Leaves Pesto Fettucini, Chickpea Garden Salad Sandwich and Lentil Daal.

Our mid week fresh cooking last week was super quick and simple to prepare.

I used the last harvest of broccoli florets and leaves from the front garden and made pesto for a quick vegetarian lunch. 

For the next day, I soaked some dried chickpeas and boiled them before crushing them with a bit of canned chopped tomato, lettuce leaves, parsley and mayo. I paired that with lettuce and kale leaves from the garden for a quick sandwich.

The majority of the canned chopped tomato went into this yummy vegetarian dinner of lentil daal. I used lots of onion and ginger for this to support our immunity during the cold blast in Melbourne during that time.

Early Asahi Tulips and White Californian Poppy.

The first Asahi Tulip had popped up in our garden. Their stems look short this year for some reason. I didn't pull the bulbs out of the garden from last year, so it looks like they grown in a bit of a cluster this year. I'm excited to see how they look, but I think I will pull out the bulbs this year and replant them, spread them around the garden. I absolutely love the colour of this Asahi Tulip. 

My daffodil tete-a-tete had also popped up. They're so tiny and cute this year. I need to to pull up the bulbs as well and spread them around the garden.

Another favourite of mine in the recent years have been these Californian Poppies that I planted under the Olive Tree. I bought them as seeds of mix colour, they're gorgeous but their seed pods spread the seeds all over the garden, haha. So it's really hard to keep them in one spot.

This is the first poppy this year:

There will be more coming up and that section of the front yard is going to burst with colour.

Meet Our New Garden Tenant!!

My wish had come true!!! I finally have a ladybird in the backyard, yay!!! I was having a break from work and wandering around the backyard to check the plants and saw something tiny crawling near the Nasturtium bushes. I'm so excited!!

I hope there's a whole family of them in there somewhere.

They're supposed to be the natural predators of aphids. Come to think of it I don't see any aphids around the garden maybe the ladybirds have been eating them.

Keep Calm and Drink Tea. Lemon and Calendula Tea That Is!

I have been feeling a bit under the weather in the last few days. My tropical genes is struggling with the sudden chilly winter blast this last week. I started to have a bit of sniffle and cough. 

This homemade immunity booster tea is my go to drink to help alleviate the cold symptoms. I made quite a few at the start of winter to prepare for this kind of situation and we have been brewing them as needed. 

I added a few dried Calendula flowers in it. It was very refreshing and I'm glad to report that I am now feeling better.