Where's Wally - or - Seeing Snowpeas

While I was away I had a wonderful friend look after the balcony garden, and she did such a great job. She popped around just before I left and received all the instructions on watering, hand pollinating and general care of the garden. Munching on the few ripe strawberries available from my wintering strawberry pot, we wandered around discussing the ins and outs of each plant. Although, as I informed her, the carrots, most pots of lettuce and silverbeet were still too small for consumption, the lemons, broccoli and snow peas would be in abundance and to harvest as she saw fit.

Thing was, I forgot to tell her how to harvest. I guess I didn't consider it a difficult thing; simply cut and cook. Given the details of the instructions on what to water, how often, and where, she got worried that harvesting was as complex as a neurosurgeon's daily outing. Not wanting to damage my plants she decided to leave them uneaten. So I came home to a burgeoning broccoli complete with edible side shoots just waiting to burst open.

So too there were an abundance of bulging snow peas. Except in the case of the snow peas it was not a feared ineptness at harvesting that left them uneaten. Apparently she couldn't find them! Now I don't think they packed their bags and moved to Mexico, nor were they just a special brand of invisible snow pea. It seemed, for my poor balcony sitter, that they were simply playing an elongated game of hide and seek. Upon my return they jumped out, said surprise!!! and were consequently eaten up (something I'll post about very soon). I just feel bad that my more than competent garden sitter never got to enjoy their sweetness. Is a snow pea really as hard to find as Wally in a Where's Wally book (or Where's Waldo I think it is called for my Northern Hemisphere counterparts.) Here is a picture and I'll leave you to decide. How many snow peas can you see?

One last thing about Adelaide

While holidaying in Adelaide besides playing in Mum's winter garden, sewing a bunch of odd clothes and presents, and watching way too much television I did this

and this

and this

The jigsaw puzzle obsession knows no boundaries. I particularly liked the first one, 1000 pieces, which Mum and Dad picked up at a country market stall for $2, which actually had all its pieces intact.

Back to the Balcony

And so I'm back, back to Melbourne, back to the balcony garden and back to much more regular blog updates. Despite only being away for two weeks the garden grew in ways I could not have imagined. Some plants stood stock still, others took on triffid-like transformations. The indoor tomatoes were the most surprising of all. This is what they looked like before I left. And this was how they were when I got home!

They are nearly hitting the ceiling, and would you believe it, they had quite a lot of green fruits on them.

Can't believe how well this winter tomato experiment is going. The purple sprouting broccoli was huge also, it seems to be trying to take over the balcony. Let's hope it produces something edible soon, and is not proven to be, as I fear, a year long plant. It's days are numbered as the spring tomato crop will be planted in a couple of months, and they will have to vacate their pots.

Flowers sprung up all over the balcony. From pansies to more snapdragons and violas it really is alive with colour. GBBD July should be fun.

So this is a bit of a picture of how it all looks now. I cleaned up a few things, got rid of the giant sunflower as his height made him a target for strong winds and he was getting tangled everywhere (the flowers are in a vase in the living room.)

After fixing the balcony garden up it was time to enjoy the spoils, and these little treasures went into my first lunchtime salad after my trip. Just divine!

Unleashing my Inner Rabbit

When I visited Mum and Dad a few months ago I convinced Mum to plant carrots. Heirloom carrots, of multiple colours. They grew a lot quicker than mine, and my folks have enjoyed red, orange and white carrots for sometime. That was until I came home. With a tendency to eat salad with every meal I went through those carrots (and the holy cos lettuce) until one day ... ooops ... there were none left! I managed to find one hidden in the ground with only a small amount of leaves left on it (hidden carrot) but that was it. They tasted absolutely delicious!

Now to try and convince Mum to grow some more. I've already promised to bring back some bush bean seeds next time I am here. But more carrots, now that would be lovely!

The Tomatoes Left Behind

I have decided to head back to Melbourne soon, and as I consider the 10 hour long bus ride (no flights at a reasonable price as it is the end of school holidays) I think about what will greet me when I get back. In particular I wonder about the indoor tomato plants which poor Second Totally Awesome Balcony Sitter was left to pollinate with an electric toothbrush. She suggested they were fruiting well but missing me (an interesting message to interpret.) When I left I had just repotted some of the indoor tomatoes. A Big Pineapple tomato went in to join the Siberian tomato in the study.

Here too I potted up a large pot with both a Big Pineapple tomato and a White Tomesol tomato. I did not stake them properly before I left, gambling on the fact they would not grow too big.

In the main room I also put some Amana orange seeds and some Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato seeds to germinate. Around these I left the remaining seedlings (Big Pineapple and White Tomesol) in their little pots because I had no where to plant them at the time! I wonder how big they grew, as they too were not staked.

the Siberians all had lots of flowers, and I showed the housesitter how to pollinate them with the electric toothbrush.

All sooooooooo interesting, I guess I'll find out at the end of the week! As for the random tomato in Mum's garden this winter - it fruited, but stopped growing when the frost hit (not a proper frost, just a weak but slightly deadly Adelaide frost).

Pretty Purple Petunias

Pretty purple petunias on an outdoor table. I would like to take that aliteration much further but alas an outdoor table doesn't quite use as many p's to be of use. However on Mum and Dad's outdoor table you will usually find a plant of sorts, and at this point in time (at least when I took the photo) these pretty purple petunias were in pride of place (ahhhhliteration, i did it!)

Unfortunately the coldish weather and sheer volumes of rain didn't help this guy and he had to be moved to more sheltered surroundings. Is the petunia even a winter flower? I know Mum has something freakish going on in her garden, what with tomatoes flowering midwinter and the biggest herb collection known to man (I don't mean range wise, I mean size wise, those sage and rosemary bushes are the size of triffids!) Wonder what other surprises await me, and I also wonder when I am going to go back to my balcony garden, which is not enjoying the gale force winds apparently! Thank god for totally awesome second balcony sitter to battle the odds. Oh and now the petunias are gone, guess what I found lying on the table ... this guy!

Hot Stuff

Mum's garden is not just greens as shown in yesterday's post. It is good with the red, the fiery red, a couple of interesting and different chilli bushes. The first I have posted about before, it is some scotch bonnet chillis. These are hot if you eat them off the bush, but if you cook them the heat seems to disappear somewhere. The first two are pictures of the giant bush planted in the ground while the last is in a pot, obviously.

The other chillis are these lovely thai ones, which are super, super, super hot.

What other colour things can I find in this hometown garden?

The great big greens in Mum's Garden

Another quick post about my lovely Mum's garden. When I was here in January I posted about her lovely, if not giant herbs and green. She still has lots of sage

and rosemary

She now has giant parsley too

And cos lettuce (i've been eating so much of it)

And silverbeet, which will go in tomorrow night's dinner.

So many lovely greens, which look great all covered in raindrops. It has been raining constantly since I arrived here - hope some was saved for my balcony garden in Melbourne!

Update from Adelaide

Adelaide, at least in Melbourne, is not known for its forwardness. Life here is more laid back, at least for me who has been drifting between an overindulgence in pay tv and delicious morsels of food. Along with winery touring and a pub visit it hasn't been particularly fast paced.

But don't let that fool you, Adelaide isn't always the stereotype it is purported to be. For starters the weather is supposedly often hotter and drier than Melbourne. Tell that to rain that is bucketing down as I write this post or the ominous clouds congregating above Mum's lemon tree!

Indeed it has been so wet here Mum has had to cover the lime with black plastic just to keep the abundance of moisture out!

The one odd thing in Mum's garden, though, it this little plant. Look closely, know what he is?

A tomato! A cherry tomato, that survived from summer and is thriving, flowering and FRUITING in the middle of winter! Must be something going on here, genetic modification? Mutation? Because it has been quite chilly and wet. Still let's see if it makes it to full fruit. I'll try and update a bit more while I am here, but computer access and internet access is via my Dad's ancient laptop, which has a bit of a fan problem. Indeed it is so loud I keep fearing the thing will explode any second. Stay tuned for more from Adelaide town.

Quickie from out of town

Hi Everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, got swept up in cleaning the house, finishing off marking and packing up my stuff. I have headed back to Adelaide for a few weeks for a bit of R and R. No more thesis for a while, no more Nazi memoirs, no more frerezing cold Melbourne!

Instead I am in Adelaide, which isn't that much warmer than Melbourne but it has family and my parents' puppies and lots more! So I will post about my Mum's garden soon, once I have got the camera out. At present I am sitting by the fire, with two snoring Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on my lap, sipping an Earl Grey and putting a jigsaw together (my parents found it at a market for $2, bargain hunters extraordinaire!)

Enjoy the change of scenery, I know I will! (though I do miss the balcony garden which has been left in the capable hands of Totally Awesome Balcony Sitter The Second)