Dirty hands...

I love planting -- the rich smell of soil, the cool splash of the water and the anticipation of the pleasure of flowers or fresh produce.

Naomi loves planting too -- running around the nursery looking at statues, getting very dirty hands and the fun of washing under the tap afterwards.

The catch is that I am not too good at the growing and maintaining bit.... But here is our latest attempt. Basil, parsley, chives and some pretty flowers. I am hoping the cooler Atherton weather will be kinder to my gardening ambitions than the coastal heat and humidity was....

WIP Wednesday (on Thursday)

I find myself with a few hours to myself, thanks to a very good friend who has come and collected Naomi to take her to the park this morning. So I thought I would actually post my works in progress, rather than just admiring everyone else's!

This first one is a patchwork piece that I have had going for, um, at least 2 years (pre-children days!). I pulled it out on the weekend, looked at the soft muted colours of the background and decided to add the flower applique and cream border. I think it will turn into a cushion cover, in due course. I have never been particularly good at applique, and all the curves in the flower petals were a challenge. I am calling the style "rustic and naive"! Hoping that this will make it charming, rather than just clumsy!

As for the garden shot, Naomi and I worked for weeks chopping down the tropical jungle of weeds and overgrown plants that was cluttering the garden in front of our lounge windows. It is the front of the house, and was not making any good impressions. I have slowly planted it out with what should be a lovely fragrant low hedge of mini mock orange plants, some brunfelsia ('yesterday, today, tomorrow' plants), and various daisies etc. Naomi loves to point to the garden and say "Made this together, Mummy".

The smell of the new pine bark chips wafting through the front windows is particularly lovely -- but not helping keep the weeds down as much as I would like! But we did have our first bird actually use the bird bath the other day -- Naomi was thrilled, watching it from inside the windows.

Sweet as a rose!

I love gardening. But I am not really too good at it. So when the trailing rose that I bought in full flower didn't get any new blooms after the ones that came with it died, I rang my father-in-law, who grows beautiful roses.

He suggested trimming it back and putting.... a banana peel in the pot. Apparently roses like potassium, to flower well. And a great source of potassium is decomposing banana peels! I am pleased to report that my rose soon produced another flush of buds.

So, my WFMW tips are:

1. Put banana skins around your roses (or bury them near the roots, if you don't like the sight / smell!); and

2. Give even strange-sounding advice a go, if it comes from someone who has demonstrated expertise in the area!

A cosy morning

What better way to spend a few minutes than blogging, while listening to the rain water the garden, sipping a cup of tea and with a scented candle burning on the bench? Oh, and don't forget the dulcet lack of sound which is a child's nap time!

This is how I find myself... wondering how all my stars have aligned to give such a blissful moment? Hmmm... don't think... just enjoy!

I had every expectation that my meagre efforts at gardening would have perished during our week away in the Big Smoke. (I have previously been dubbed "The Butcher", as a result of the tendency that plants in my garden have towards... well... dying). The weather had been hot hot hot, and all my tender new plantings were wilting by mid-morning... even things in the shade! I love cottage gardens, but such temperate plants are difficult to coax in the tropics... unlike weeds, which grow like wildfire!

But I had not reckoned on the monsoon returning in full force, and record rainfalls coming that week. So when I got back, not only were my plants not dead.... some of them were even putting on a very pretty show!

I love agapanthus, for its cool climate cottagey feel, and this is my first ever flower spike from my potted ones. The variety is called "Wavy Navy".

Also this runner vine, which I believe is a relative of the Allamanda. I was digging this garden bed a coupe of months ago, and chopped up some roots of the mother vine, which runs along our pool fence. Numerous runners have sprouted from the chopped root sections, and I am going to transplant them to along our border fence. Hopefully they will cover the view of the neighbour's hideous house extension. But that is another story.