The Everglades - Leura

I got lucky and was asked to visit this garden for work to see if it was a suitable venue for a lunch I need to organise next year. There was no view from the lookout as the mist had rolled in and filled the whole garden. Everyone I met apologised for the weather but it made the garden more beautiful.

 

 

Vegetables in bags

I've had many failures in my small courtyard over the last five years however I refuse to give up.

I've always felt that my tomatoes have failed due to lack of sunlight, short days. However this year I'm going a lot better and raised the height of the tomatoes to at least hip high and have been planted in to stock feed bags filled with my home made compost and cow poo. My real problem in the past really may have been lack of water and low humidity which encourages Tomato Russet mite. They also get wilt (soil borne fungus) when grown in commercial potting mix.

As soon as my seedlings were planted out, I dusted them with sulphur for mites and other fungal problems that I usually get each year as they are more vulnerable at this time when establishing their roots. So far no problems, my plants are huge and healthy and the recent abundance to rain proves my ealier point. Wetting the leaves not only prevents mites and but also white fly. Planting strawberrys on the side of the bag was a bad idea and I'll move it in the next few days.

I'm also experimenting with water pipes for growing herbs, this one is a bit too shaded but I can move it. They are a bit awkward as it takes a long time for water to reach the bottom. Jabbing a long piece of bamboo down the back of the pipe helps. Next time I'll insert a piece of irrigation tube in the middle of the tube and make up a more airy soil mix to make watering a bit easier.

Grow bags look great and I'm thinking of using them more often instead of lots of pots, you can also cut holes in the side for smaller perennials. Those large hessian coffee bags would look great out the front, no one could run off with them either.

Floriade 2010, Canberra

I went to Canberra on Friday (1 October) and as I'm saving to go overseas decided to just go down for the day. Couldn't really afford to stay overnight. I also visited the National Gallery with its new entrance and  fabulous new gallery of Indigenous art.

Floriade seems to have got smaller but was still very bright and colourful.  I took many photographs and hoped to do some drawing but just didn't seem to get this going. Too many people walking around meant that I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing and should be able to do some drawings from the photographs taken.

Riding a bike to Sydney Airport,  I never did find the bike rake which was meant to be in Fifth Avenue and bike access is very scary.