Category: Gardening

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Barbie's garden Do it yourself Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

My own Compost

Since I have started my organic gardening craze and the blog as well, I have been purposeful in keeping it all natural and organic. I raise chickens for their great personalities – oh, yes as well as beautiful eggs and the natural manure to feed my pesticide-free garden. I have learnt so much but if I do not put it into practice, then I am just a big wind bag of hot air! I need to pursue what I believe is good for the earth and it starts with ME!

So – I am so excited when I can take my heaps and heaps of garden and kitchen and chicken refuse and turn it into gold! The great smell of sweet earth makes me smile! It’s not a glamorous job but it is very rewarding!!

The first and very active composting heap is in the Chicken Run. Every week I rake up the straw and poop and add it to the heap. I sprinkle with compost activator and leave until broken down – about 4 – 6 weeks. The ration of carbon (straw) to nitrogen (chicken manure) should be balanced 50/50. Oxygen is also important to produce heat.  Keep the heap damp and water when dry. This makes for a great compost!

[one_half]Well broken down compost[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Collecting for the garden[/one_half_last]

I hope you can turn your garden waste to something useful! AND it’s for free!

Happy Gardening xxxx

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What’s growing in my backyard

After a week of work committments, my head has hardly moved away from the computer. This has left me with the feeling of “cabin fever”! I was so pleased that we had a holiday on Wednesday – International Workers Day (Labour Day) – and I was NOT going to spend another moment sitting! I was in the garden, playing with the newbie chickens and Skollie (who has calmed down quite abit!) and filling holes and racking leaves. Just your normal “getting-back-the-garden-feel” activity! All was looking quite alive and still a few flowers around. There was some new growth too!! Here are some photos of the back garden activity!

Dietes Grandiflora is blooming

Here, the Dietes is amongst flowering Stevia. Now stevia is used as a natural sweetner. I add the leaves to my herbal tea. It has a distinct taste, but the benefit of a non-sugar sweet is always a bonus!

The busy bees are still harvesting the nectar! Hey – leave some for me!

I love the Mexican Petunia in this patch of the garden. I think it prefers the cooler months in my neck of the woods!

One of my favourite favourites! Borage is growing again. This is a self-seeded plant!

I like Tansy alot – it is soft and gentle and the bees also love it. I can cut it down and within a week or two it is back! The leaves are the best in making a natural pesticide. I make a tea with Tansy and Artemesia! Works really well! I also add some soapy water!

I was worried the Ice cream bush would not last the hot days of summer, but here it is!! Bushy and beautiful. I love the colours and these change as the seasons move on.

As you can see under the Ice Cream bush I have a patch of re-planted thyme and my new solar light. I have 2 dozen of these in the garden and they light the way when I need last minute herbs for dinner!

Oh wow! My Chasmanthe is growing!!  Can’t wait for these to flower! This is their first grown since I planted them last season. They are bulbs that grow every year.

My grasses are in their autumn colours now – I really like this yellow look!

I hope you have lots growing in your garden.

Happy gardening xxxx

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Barbie's garden Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

The Gardening Blog in the News!

I was so excited when Christine told me that “We are in the Fair Lady Magazine!!” It was such a surprise to the both of us that our “little” blog made it in one of the top woman’s magazines here in South Africa! We are both grinning from ear to ear and had to share this with all our gardening friends!

[one_half]The Fair Lady May Issue (cover)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Article on the Gardening Blog![/one_half_last]

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And the Article reads:

“Life long friends Barbie and Christine are working moms who both developed a passion for gardening in their 40s. Their busy lives meant the didn’t get to visit each other (or each other’s gardens) as much as they’d like, so they decided to start a blog to share their successes, discoveries, photos and advice with each other.

The result is a warm, chummy blog packed with personality! Of course, you can get information anywhere, but what makes this site shine is the way Barbie and Christine – amateur gardeners, just like us – engage readers in their daily gardening lives, with beautiful photos to match. They also encourage readers to share their gardening successes and advice.

Visit www.thegardeningblog.co.za to catch up with them.

Look out for Barbie’s fabulous “1 Minute Tips” videos.”

I think it is just great that we managed to put together a blog worthy of being mentioned in the FAIR LADY!

Happy gardening everyone! xxxxxx

 

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Annuals Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Mid-Autumn in Two Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

The weather is changing and so has the gardening energy. The tempo has died down to a slow pace. The time to reflect and review has set in. The blooms that have decided to stay are still delighting the soul.

Here’s what’s blooming in Barbie’s garden in April 2013

The enthusiasm has been packed away and replaced with a more relaxed view of where to go from here. Funny, that autumn always brings this out in me. I reflect on my ordinary life and see so much magic, but I tend to miss it at the time. So I am grateful for the few pleasures and the few blooms that hang around. Enjoy them with me.

 

[one_half]My Tansy bush is back to life[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Violas in full bloom – so pretty[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Tomato blossoms – signs of things to come[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Fennel-as pretty as a flower[/one_half_last]

Just loving my roses – not many flowers, but the feeding and mulching has brought lots of buds!

[one_half]The Calibrachoa is always blooming![/one_half]

[one_half_last]The chicks are not fussed by the limited blooms[/one_half_last]

An artistic view of the roses in my garden! Used a fancy lens!

[one_half]This is done with a 500mm lens[/one_half]

[one_half_last]This is done with PhotoShop![/one_half_last]

Happy Bloom Day to you all!!

About Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Join Carol and friends over at May Dreams Gardens to see what other gardeners around the world have blooming in February! And if you haven’t joined yet and have some blooms you’d like to show off, please join in the fun of showcasing your blooms! We’d love to see what YOU have blooming in your garden right now!

Thank you for joining us!

PS: Please join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter – we’ll be so happy if you do!

Happy gardening xxx

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Earth Day clean up

I normally miss all these important dates – like “Earth Day” and “Water Week” and read about them in the news paper I lay in the chickens bedding weeks later. So I decided that Earth Day (wednesday, 20 March) was my day in the garden. I spent time cleaning up and looking at ways to help the Earth in my own backyard. We have been thinking of adding a greywater system for the fruit trees and the non-edible garden and to harvest rain water for the veggie patches. More and more we are seeing water as a precious commodity that one day will be too expensive to use in the garden. So that is the plan for this year and to go solar as well will make a big difference to our electricity bill. I already have solar garden lights lighting the paths and creating glowing fairies in my trees.

So much to research and plan, but all good and necessary if we want to contribute to healing mother Earth.

Ok, back to the garden clean up.

The Back Garden

[one_half]Before[/one_half]

[one_half_last]After[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Before[/one_half]

[one_half_last]After[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The area is looking all neat now[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cleared the walk area[/one_half_last]

Here I added indigenous shrubs – Confetti Bush (Coleonema Album) the lime green bush in the centre of the photo and Salt Bush (Rhagodia Hastata) the silver round leafed bush behind the Irises. Both can be trimmed to create round balls – kinda cute.

[one_half]Need a bench in this area now[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Such a nice part of the garden[/one_half_last]

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[one_half]Cleared and neat with new stones in the back[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Grenadilla vine is now happy here[/one_half_last]

[one_half]This bed needed lots of clearing[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Tea Tree filling this area[/one_half_last]

The Front Garden

[one_half]New Dietes-mulched and fed to conserve water[/one_half]

[one_half_last]New Carex grasses to replace dried ones[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Waterwise and indigenous Dierama[/one_half]

[one_half_last]New feature for this cleared area-still deciding[/one_half_last]

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Well, everything looks great now – fed the garden with Neutrog BOUNCE BACK and mulched all the beds with bark to conserve water and to neaten up the area. I am ready to have the family over for the BIG Easter Egg Hunt this coming weekend!

Have a great week and happy gardening xxxx

 

 

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Barbie's garden Bugs & Pests Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

Scary Centipede

I had to post this photo my sister took of a huge centipede she found. Oh My Word!! It has a long tail and this one was about 10cm long without the tail. The legs, for me, are the creepy part! I get goosebumps just looking at it!

Centipedes

Centipedes (from Latin prefix centi-, “hundred”, and pes, pedere, “foot”) are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of legs, e.g. 15 or 17 pairs of legs (30 or 34 legs) but never 16 pairs (32 legs).

A key trait uniting this group is a pair of venom claws or forcipules formed from a modified first appendage. Centipedes are predominantly carnivorous.

Centipedes normally have a drab coloration combining shades of brown and red. Cave-dwelling and subterranean species may lack pigmentation and many tropical ones have bright colours. Size can range from a few millimetres to about 30cm. Centipedes can be found in a wide variety of environments. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 8,000 species of centipede, of which 3,000 have been described.

Centipedes have a wide geographical range, reaching beyond the Arctic Circle. Centipedes are found in an array of terrestrial habitats from tropical rainforests to deserts. Within these habitats, centipedes require a moist micro-habitat because they lack the waxy cuticle of insects and arachnids, and so lose water rapidly through the skin.

Accordingly, they are found in soil and leaf litter, under stones and dead wood, and inside logs. Centipedes are among the largest terrestrial invertebrate predators and often contribute significantly to the invertebrate predatory biomass in terrestrial ecosystems.

Some species of centipede can be hazardous to humans because of their bite. Although a bite to an adult human is usually very painful and may cause severe swelling, chills, fever, and weakness, it is unlikely to be fatal. Bites can be dangerous to small children and those with allergies to bee stings. The bite of larger centipedes can induce anaphylactic shock in such people. Smaller centipedes usually do not puncture human skin. Even nonvenomous centipedes are considered frightening by humans due to their dozens of legs moving at the same time and their tendency to dart swiftly out of the darkness towards one’s feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede

Anything creepy in your garden?

 

Categories
Annuals Barbie's garden Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Early Autumn in Two Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

The cooler days are slowly replacing the swelter of summer. The refreshing rains in March will give the Two Gardens a welcome time out! This is the time to reflect and review – what is coming up this season and what can we look forward to.

Here’s what’s blooming in Barbie’s garden in March 2013

I have started early with all the cleaning and cutting and digging and clearing. I feel ready for the cooler march weather and I can start sowing my new seeds for the winter. But there are still some really pretty blooms in my garden – you might have seen them all before, but they still delight me.

My new Dietes I bought and planted this week are blooming!

[one_half]I still love this forever bloomer[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gerbera[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Roses always delight![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Still blooming – Fuchsia[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Newly trimmed Hotlips Salvia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Barrow full of blommies[/one_half_last]

Mexican Petunias are blooming with my Gaura

[one_half]My Leopard Tree is looking gorgeous![/one_half]

[one_half_last]My whirling butterflies[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Euphorbia in bloom[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My white Salvia[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Tansy cut back and already blooming again[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Another view of Tansy and Salvia[/one_half_last]

I still think this useful medicinal plant is pretty in bloom – Bulbinella

[one_half]Loving this bed with Peach and Blueberry too[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My flowering Potato Bush bed is also all tidy[/one_half_last]

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[one_half]Squash flowers all over the place![/one_half]

[one_half_last]New patch with Yarrow and Bulbinella[/one_half_last]

 

About Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Join Carol and friends over at May Dreams Gardens to see what other gardeners around the world have blooming in February! And if you haven’t joined yet and have some blooms you’d like to show off, please join in the fun of showcasing your blooms! We’d love to see what YOU have blooming in your garden right now!

Thank you for joining us!

PS: Please join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter – we’ll be so happy if you do!

Happy gardening xxx

Categories
Barbie's garden Design Do it yourself Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

Throwing Stones

This seems like the week of garden activity for me! Thank goodness, I have the strength to do the manual labour needed to get this job done! But – here I had lots of help! We finally got around to throwing stones for our new Zen area. It is already taking shape and I am so pleased that my hubby is gonna be part of this garden feature!

My faithful work horse! This is going to be a tough delivery!

[one_half]Ok – this is the 40 sq.m. area we need to fill[/one_half]

[one_half_last]It is a substantial piece of land[/one_half_last]

[one_half]This is 4 tons of stone![/one_half]

[one_half_last]13mm Worcester – from Bark & Stone[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Working my butt off![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Nearly done! Whew![/one_half_last]

Zooooooom!! Who would have known that this job took us exactly 1 hour to complete!

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[one_half]Neatens up the whole area[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Also brightens up the area[/one_half_last]

I am super happy that we have leapt over this hurdle. Again, we have used the services of Bark & Stone in Montague Gardens. Their service is great and Dennis, who delivers the stone, maneuvers his huge truck through narrow gaps like a pro. Thanks guys, once again! Now comes the decorating. We want to put up a sheltered cover where we can sit (maybe in our hammocks) and enjoy the cool evenings or just relaxing with a good book and dozing in the late afternoons – hey? What do you think?

Happy gardening this week xxxxx

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Garden Bloggers Harvest Day in March

The summer has past and we are going into autumn this Garden Bloggers Harvest Day in March and the veggie patches of  Two Gardens will be in the middle of refurbishment. We will be seeing the last of the lettuce and the summer veggies. Now is the time for clearing out the old and anticipating new growth!!!! The weatherman is still slinging heatwaves at us, so let’s see what we have been busy with this month!

Let’s see what can be harvested from Barbie’s Garden this month

The baskets full of veggies have come to an end – pity! But we are still able to harvest some delicious tomatoes and sweet basil. The Lemon tree is bursting with fruit – this is a treat for me because there is so much we do with lemons!! I grew my first cucumber – and it was delicious!! I see a few more on the vine so we look forward to lots more. The veggie patch is bare and this month I will be clearing and feeding the soil. Not much to show but at least it is an assortment of goodies.

[one_half]Cucumber starts off like this![/one_half]

[one_half_last]And ends up like this-in a plate![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Oh look! An eggplant too[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Need to get a few recipes for this![/one_half_last]

Sweet basil is still growing strong!

[one_half]Tomatoes are small but delicious![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Small Blondekopf Tomatoes[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Onions – I usually grow red ones[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Peppadew chillies galore[/one_half_last]

Lemons for Africa!

[one_half]The tree is full of lemons![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lots of lemon juice in there![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Butternut squash still growing[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Hubbard and Butternut squash harvested[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Figs are coming to an end[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lemon Balm, Oreganum and Thyme [/one_half_last]

Oh look – I can also harvest something else ……..

[one_half]Hi girls – you busy?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Who laid the extra egg?[/one_half_last]

About Garden Bloggers Harvest Day

Please join us on the 5th of every month and show us what you’ve harvested. Whether you have a massive vegetable garden or grow a few herbs in pots or just pick a few peaches from a tree … we’d love to see! It’s all about sharing our experiences, photographs, successes and failures as we “learn to grow”.

So prepare a post on your blog about what you harvested this past month, link up to us at The Gardening Blog and then, add your link to the Mr. Linky below so we can all visit your blog and “share in your harvest”. And leave us a comment! We LOVE hearing from you!

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Categories
Annuals Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels Trees

Front garden activity

This has been such a busy weekend in the garden for me – no longer could I stand the disheveled look and the hanging, overgrown bushes. I had the energy and the will-power to get it right! With my boots and gloves on, I got out the lawn mower,  edge trimer, wheelbarrow, sheers and spade! The neighbour was thunderstruck! She could not believe that I did it all single-handedly! I even had time to fetch more apricot pips and a new (old) bench that was given to me by my best buddy! Thanks for the new addition to my front garden – it stands proudly and awaits friends to come and rest awhile!

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I absolutely love it – it fits perfect into my style of garden. Thank you again and we both wait for your next visit!

The front garden is looking good – the one Leopard Tree had a burst of growth this summer – the other always seems to be 6 months behind!

[one_half]My Leopard Tree in the Grass feature[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Grass feature looking dried out![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Barrow of flowers managed through summer[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Grass mowed and edges cleaned[/one_half_last]

[one_third]Leopard Tree One[/one_third]

[one_third]Leopard Tree Two[/one_third]

[one_third_last]New Bench[/one_third_last]

I am exhausted but pleased with the clean up! Now I need to feed the garden. I have placed an order for Neutrog (organic fertilizer). I have found it the best and gives my garden a burst of new vooma! Can’t wait!

Happy gardening xxx