Friday, August 20, 2010

my da(d)phne


My gorgeous tiny Daphne plants are flowering! They were a present from my darling Dad and I still haven't killed them! And if I don't kill them Mickie our Kelpie may sit on them as it is his favourite bone chewing spot. They are in a south facing acid-loving garden bed with the beautiful Debbie Camellias and yellow Day Lillies.

spring is nigh (yey!!)


It has been a bitterly cold winter in the Adelaide Hills with lots of lovely rain. The paddocks are far wetter than they have been for years with much mud under hard hooves and lovely flooded creeks reminding me of splashing around in my gumboots as a kid: racing stick boats with my sister in a torrent; building little bridges complete with twig hand rails and watercress covering; cantering through the flooded paddocks on my horse.

Spring is just around the corner (thank goodness) with some pear blossoms bursting out already. This will be the first year of our driveway avenue of ornamental pears flowering!

This is the time to spray deciduous fruit trees and grape vines for leaf curl and fungal viruses. You must spray them just before the buds burst for any success!

Fertilise spring flowering plants with blood & bone and potash.
Plant evergreens if frost has passed.
Fertilise citrus at the end of the month.
Plant potatoes, onions, parsley, peas and summer flowers.
Fertilise lawns.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

cliffs


It is such miserable weather today that nothing is going to get achieved on the farm except keeping the animals fed and drinking red wine. So I am on the net and I stumbled across these photos today that have struck a chord with me. Such an extreme view of mother nature versus us! So striking, amazing and beautiful. Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.