Self care by growing a garden

[Smc]

@Appleblossom, plenty of weeds here too. But I try to treat them as a "free resource" and put as many as possible into compost piles. They turn into beautiful soil... I try to catch them before they start flowering to reduce next year's load, but even if they do reseed, the soil from the old weeds composting is soft and it's easier to pull them out. I avoid putting runnering weeds like kikiyu in. They get left to dry off so they can't regrow.

Have planted more podded peas this morning, some melon varieties, and some beetroot plants. Wanting to put in carrot and parsnip seeds today as well.

It's that crazy time of year where you're planting the veggies you want to pe picking over the next 3-12 months!

[Appleblossom]

Yep. @Smc  My approach too.  Bit by bit.  

[ArtistZ]

Today's garden gifts 🥰 sweet peas, spray roses, a single cosmos (the others I'm leaving for seed) 

have a good day everyone 🙂🌸🌼🍀

[Smc]

Beautiful @ArtistZ. 🙂

I've got lots of sweet peas planted, plenty of buds, but not quite flowering yet. I did see the first wisteria flowers today though. And the lilac's flowering too, so lots of purple.

[ArtistZ]

@Smc 

how exciting - I wonder what colour your sweet peas will be? 😃

The ones flowering here at the moment are supposedly 'royal white' but they have a soft pink tinge to them (very pretty)

I also am trying to grow some bijou sweet peas which are supposed to be short but they aren't flowering yet  and are fighting against any staking - they just want to grow across the ground.... a bit strange 😂

this is my first season of successful sweet peas so it's all a bit exciting - I have lots of childhood memories of them 🙂

How exciting to have so much purple in your garden 😃 that sounds gorgeous!! 

[Smc]

@ArtistZ, my dwarf "groundhugging" varieties didn't come up. Pity, I was looking forward to having some low level colour as well as climbing.

I've got crimsom flowered ones from a friend's house, "Galaxy", which are mixed colour climbing ones, a climbing mix from a very good very keen local gardener, "Metaphor", which is a white+assorted colours variety, some self seeded "Cupani", the old fashioned purple and crimson ones... and one other whose name eludes me at the moment. 🙂

I've commented before now that if the supermarkets really wanted my "impusle buy" money, they'd replace the chocolate bars at the registers with seed packets... 😉 I want to get some sunflower and cosmos seeds in sometime soon. Can't grow either in the open yet here. We had a zero degree night last night, and neither of those like frost. Loving seeing baby tomatoes coming up in the greenhouse, eagerly watching for the zucchinis to do likewise.

[ArtistZ]

Hi @Smc 🙂

sorry I took a while to reply - I looked up all the types you mentioned of sweet peas - super wow!!!!!

I agree with the seeds in impulse buy sections 😂👍

I have some cosmos that came up from last year - I planted cosmos daydream last year and also versallies (spelling??) red and I think they cross pollinated and I have some colours this year that I didn't last year 🤔 

I also planted some Texans cosmos - the brown and yellow cosmidium - they are still tiny 🌱

Also a couple of sunflowers that are about 20 cm tall.

Im in sw Sydney so very little chance of frost for us but high chance of summer getting to high forties again this year so I have to go early for any spring planting otherwise I end up with fried dead plants and a deep sense of sadness 😂😂😂

have a beautiful day @Smc  😃👍

have a great day too to anyone wandering past 🙂

[Shaz51]

Hello @ArtistZ , @Smc , @Appleblossom , @Zoe7 , @Faith-and-Hope , @Dimity 

Boy I have let my mum's garden go, need to get back in and start cleaning up the garden beds 

Too many of them 

[Zoe7]

Just do one small section at a time @Shaz51 It can become overwhelming looking at it overall so concentrating on just one part at a time helps to alleviate that.

[Dimity]

Hi @Shaz51 thanks for the tag. I'm tackling some overgrown pots atm. I'm going to try striking my ivy leaf geraniums to rejuvenate them. The roses need deadheading and rose spray. I shudder when I look at the backyard, I hardly know where to start. I used to love the garden and looked after the common areas until neighbours mowed down the garden beds, they only want mown grass and lollipop shrubs. I was very upset at losing the indigenous plants the Council had awarded me. We've lost most of the native birds too. Perhaps this year I'll refind my mojo.

Dimity