Tag Archive for gardening

single happy moment

September 9, 2011 Happiness No comments
lemons from my lemon tree

A bowl of sunshiney happines, from my very own garden, helped to quell the drearier days in the final months of winter.

lemons from my lemon treeThe delight that I can actually grow things hasn’t worn off yet, even though we moved into a garden house almost a year ago now. A YEAR! Can you believe it? I haven’t thought yet of what we’re going to do to commemorate our move, but I am thinking the planting of yet another plant, maybe a magnolia. Any thoughts? We have a part sun, part shade corner of our backyard that’s just begging for a tree that would be pretty!

single happy moment: garden joy

June 30, 2011 Happiness, Home & Decor No comments
home grown tomatoes

I’ve always been a bit useless at gardening, but since we moved into our house-with-scary-garden 8 months ago, I’ve really taken a shine to it. I’ve been experimenting, with varying results, with flowers, annuals, perennials, fruit and vegetables, creepers, herbs, hanging baskets, mulches and fertilisers – all terms and things I’d previously had zero knowledge of.

Mostly though, I was just a little bit tentative about my foray into gardening, and so for the most part, tried to leave it as the old owners had left it to us.

I did make one huge change though – my ultimate pride in the garden for the first summer I had with it, was harvesting some delicious tomatos from my 2 plants I bought as soon as I moved in and found a sunny spot.

home grown tomatoes

pride and joy!

They were just regular tomatoes from the nursery, Burkes Backyard ones I think, but they were the single successful thing I grew that then gave me the confidence to tackle other plants, and even a bit of a landscape makeover (which is still in progress!)

Delicious, and inspiring. What helped you gain confidence as a gardener when you first started out?

proud parents

April 22, 2011 Home & Decor 2 comments

ok, hold up, relax. This isn’t what you think. Yesterday, S and I became the proud parents of…

an eggplant.

Yes, the very first eggplant we have harvested off our tree and grown from flower! Whoo hoo!

Back story: 3 months ago, when we were at the height of our gardening frenzy, I sighted this eggplant tree at Direct Plants, my favourite nursery. Chantal, the owner, assured me that they were easy to grow and would bear wonderful deep purple orbs of goodness.

purtill eggplant tree info sheet

this was the tree's info card

Me, being a total garden newbie, decided WHY NOT, after all, I like eggplants, and I like useful plants even more. I also knew I had the perfect spot for it by the side of the house where S would NEVER notice it. Why was this important? Well, when we started clearing the jungle that was our garden for proper planting, I started getting superbly excited about veggie patches and growing my own fruit, but S disallowed it, citing veggie patches as ugly, and homegrown veggies and fruit as over-rated.

Of course, ME being ME, this made me crave the growing of the edibles EVEN MORE, after all when you tell me specifically NOT to do something, I want it even more. Ask my parents – my dad begged me for years not to take up that dancing rubbish even as a hobby, and now I own a dance school! HAHAHAHA!

So I started planting little pots of herbs – basil, coriander, thyme, and spring onions. And then gradually the pot collection in the sunny spot of the yard started growing, with tomatoes and a chilli plant, then a lemon and lime tree.

my herb pots

my sekrit herb and tomato section!

And he didn’t even notice at ALL except to note I was giving some weird EXTRA care to certain parts of the garden. When I first handed him a freshly plucked tomato, he was INCREDULOUS that I had managed to do this all right in front of him. Sometimes I get frustrated that S doesn’t notice new haircuts or dramatic changes in my look but this was one time I ADORED his lack of observation skills.

Slowly I added the eggplant tree, even successfully getting him to PLANT it for me in the ground without him realising its err, EDIBLE attributes! Ahh, the joy of feminine wiles!

Fast forward a couple of months and yesterday I harvested, exceedingly happily, our first eggplant from the tree, and it is huge, glossy deep purple, and almost perfect.

first eggplant tree harvest

look at it! aww shucks, I feel all glowing and proud.

For size reference, here it is next to our TV remote controls!

eggplant

huge!

When S saw my facebook post about our eggplant, he proclaimed himself its proud father – so I guess that little quip has stuck, and I now can tell you all on the interwebz that we are proud parents, to our eggplant.

BOOYA, and hooray for novice gardeners!!!

(and yes, I have some idea of how annoying we will be as parents of young kids because I’m shoving our EGGPLANT news in your face. don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

 

day 2 after epidural – update

March 20, 2011 Lifestyle 2 comments

I just thought I’d let all of you know after my last post, that I’m feeling much better.

Saturday was a really hard day, with combination of pains and a pretty bad fever in the evening that lasted hours. It got to 10pm, and I was pretty hot, sweaty, and weak, and S told me not to go, but in the end I just made it to our anniversary party and I’m SO glad I did (even though I don’t remember much of it!) – it was lovely to see how many people came down to celebrate with us, and our teams and couples performing so incredibly.

If you were there and I failed to say hello to you – I’m very sorry! I was seriously delirious! I was almost in tears seeing so many of our old and new students all there in our gorgeous space, and it was amazing, when I asked who in the room had been students of ours from when we first started 4 years ago, and to see so many hands go up. In particular, it was lovely to have so many of our pro team members from over the years up there with us. Everyone has contributed so much to our lovely little community, and for that I was so grateful to have been there to see it.

 

Today, the pain has been much better – I’ve managed to be off painkillers from after lunch, and after a 15 hour sleep last night, shrugged off the fever. I can still feel twinges of pain down my legs and where the needle went in, but it’s totally bearable. Also managed to cook us dinner, so I must be feeling a LOT better! I also got to enjoy some of the last of our warm weather out in the garden, watching my lovely man get all dirty and manly with a shovel.

 

roses

the new roses S helped me plant this weekend

By tomorrow I hope to be in barely any pain (coz the cortizone should’ve kicked in) and I want to start my daily swim. The idea is, I use this 2 week window of pain relief to get my body up to strengthening some. S tells me to chill for another day, but I reaaaallly want to, even just a gentle swim. Mental note: 2 weeks of pain relief is NOT the time for me to dance like a crazy lady, and I MUST establish boundaries for myself!

Thank you EVERYONE for your lovely well wishes. It has truly been an overwhelming weekend, with turmoil, pain, happiness, joy, gratitude, love, anger, sadness, and a WHOLE lot of WOW.

of herbs and spice

January 18, 2011 Cooking, Home & Decor No comments

I know this whole green thumb thing isn’t going to last that long – I’m sure it’s a strange fluke or that nature is simply being kind to me in my betrodden state. Whatever it is, I’m not only going to keep taking advantage of it, but also going to rub it in your face any time I have any kind of success with the dastardly business. I’ll take the little victories. Even if they have nothing to do with me.

I’m really enjoying the process of learning, as I always do, and mostly, I’m enjoying the directatorship sense of glee when I note that my actions directly impact the plants. *rubs hands together*. It’s also pretty magical when plants go from boring green things to flowering, budding, sprouting and growing, sometimes overnight!

My garden herb pots are flourishing, and the other night I made a thai curry with its offerings (and some store-bought ingredients like chicken and vegetables!)

herbs from garden

basil, jalapeno chilli, spring onions

The chilli was surprisingly potent – I like spicy as much as the next Asian, but man, this one little bugger in a big pot of curry and it was still a little full of mayhem. The curry turned out good though, if not one of the best times I’ve made it – proof is in a man eating over 2 dinners, what was measured out for 4. I give the fresh herbs credit. Kind of. I think he’s getting a little weary of me taking herb cuttings, then SHOVING them under his nose and DEMANDING he declares how wonderful it is that I have fresh! garden! herbs! to cook with!

All said, it’s very gratifying cooking S a good meal – he is at once heartily pleased and adorably grateful. He lauds its praises and then makes me feel like a domestic goddess (which I am far from). A while later, I can expect him to ask me to cook it again, complete with gratifying begging and joyful fist pumps when I agree. Sometimes love is blind, but in this case, love is glaringly obvious and wonderful.

the way to a man’s heart…

January 13, 2011 Cooking One comment

One thing that’s been pleasing me a lot lately is gardening. Yes, everyone step back in horror, I’m suddenly enjoying this little new hobby. I’m actually taking time to learn a lot about it, and it’s teaching me a lot of patience. And the beauty of watching leaves unfurl, buds blossom and the miracle of growth, is incredibly joyful! Previously black thumbed me hasn’t gone away, I’m still learning a lot everyday, but I can say confidently it’s getting better.

But this post isn’t about gardening. Pfft. People, it is entitled “the way to a man’s heart”, and I can assure you that if I come home with ANY MORE NEW PLANTS, S may just disown me. Or have a hissy fit. Whichever is easier in the moment. This post is about his tummy, because as we all know how to old adage goes… Well, let’s just say I’m a lucky girl, because S is a simple man to please.

Last week I planted some herbs. I’ve never ever had success with growing anything, but the difference in these in just a week of care has been astounding! The basil has grown, the tomatoes have sprouted 3 cute little buds, and the oregano and parsley are just going wild. Incredible.

freshly potted herbs

when they were freshly potted!

Last night I took some cuttings of basil, oregano and parsley, and made a little paste to marinade lamb chops in with some olive oil and lemon juice. Oh my. I’ve cooked with fresh herbs before, but nothing prepared me for this.

herbs and tomatos in pots

grow my little plantlings!

The moment I snipped/plucked them off the plant, their fresh fragrance released, and my nose was inundated with zesty fresh promises of what the food was going to taste like. When I gave the little pile of leaves a chop and a pulse in the food processor, the kitchen was filled with aroma.

fresh herbs from the garden

mmmm...

The lamb chops turned out DELICIOUS. S actually got upset that he didn’t get to have 6 chops to himself (greedy!). He actually stared at my plate, dejected that I hadn’t given him more of them. Fresh herbs. Home grown. Wow, I’m converted.

In addition to being a total green thumbs long full skirt talking to my plants kinda girl last night, I also baked S a Banana Mars Bar cake, using a recipe from taste.com.au. He’s been hounding me to try baking a banana cake for him for months, apparently he loves it. It turned out VERY good, and is SUPER easy to make. Melting bits of chocolate and caramel interspersed with a moist banana laden cake? SUPER WIN.

The original recipe had a caramel icing that I didn’t bother with (it was sweet enough). It also said it served 12, but that’s a lie. 12 toddlers, maybe. S ate almost 1/3 of it by himself last night, but then again, he’s my gentle giant. I think it would serve 6-8 normal people (not giants), easily. I didn’t photograph it. I’m not that good a baker where my things turn out looking like Martha Stewart visited and baked for us. Plus, who wants a picture of a cake sitting atop piles of spilt sugar and flour (oh clumsy me…)!

Ingredients:
150g butter
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas, mashed
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
3 x 60g Mars Bars, chopped
1/2 cup (125ml) milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 7 x 11 x 21cm loaf pan with non-stick baking paper. Beat butter and brown sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs and mashed bananas.

Combine flour and Mars Bars. Fold into the butter mixture with milk. Spoon into pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Highly recommended serving style

Eat whilst warm or zap in microwave, and add icecream! Serve all of the food goodness up and wait for compliments and displays of love. Feel like a goddess.

proud gardeneress!

November 30, 2010 Home & Decor No comments

Well. Clearly I’m doing something right, or the conditions in my house are just THAT conducive to plantlife. Everything I have is flourishing wildly!

See these succulents below – it’s been a month and they’re already out-growing their container. I’ve never ACTUALLY had much luck with succulents (pathetic, right?!) and this is just unprecedented for me!

succulent pot plant

I hear you scoff. Yes, I know succulents are mean to be idiot proof. But look! Even my garden is turning vibrant colours:

mini rose-like shrubs

I don't know what these are, but they're rose-like and thorny...

And the ultimate win is this – Anita bought me this plant 2 years ago, and told me it was idiot proof. Clearly, she lied, I hadn’t been able to get it to flower beyond a few pathetic sprinkles here and there. UNTIL NOW! I’ve now managed to position it in a part of my house that evidently has the perfect growing conditions for it – and LOOK! It’s also grown about 3/4 inch taller – something it hasn’t done in the 2 years I’ve owned it.

flowering pot plant

I know this has been a boring post for those of you not plant inclined – but this, for me, is an achievement of huge proportions. I’d never gardened in my life, and until 2 months ago, lived in an apartment and was RENOWN for having black thumbs. I can’t tell you how many plants I’ve err… damaged. Whether it has been my learning of how plants work, happy coincidence in conditions in my house, or simply more care-factor on my part, I don’t care. It’s gratifying and wonderful.

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