Hooray for me and Martha!

I was at my manic best last weekend, without the requisite come down that I'm anticipating to be around the corner. It's not that I'm wishing doom and gloom upon myself, but I've been fairly buoyant for around 6 weeks now and history tells me that it's been waaaay too long between mood swings. But while it's here, I'm riding the sunshine wave. Sooooo.... I got busy!

I finally painted those tins and, seriously, such an anticlimax. I like them because they're good storage but, meh, don't know what the fuss is about. But it did give me the chance to use the paint that Jeff bought at a school fete many many years ago.

Next to the tins are a couple of bags of seed potatoes that we picked up from Diggers a few weeks ago. We got yummy kipflers and dutch creams and they're going in this weekend. That first potato that I dig up in a few months is going to be the best!

And while I was painting the tins, I painted the potting table... Martha might be proud!

I repotted the hoya that an friend of mum's gave me a year ago. Bad news... I decided to look up what to do with a hoya AFTER I repotted it. Seems that hoyas don't like to have their roots messed with and prefer to be rootbound. Well, talk about doing things ass backwards. I can't even bring myself to say what I did to its roots so I have everything cross that it won't die. CRAP. Moral of the story - research FIRST. The aloe plant has been looking mighty sad, pale and lifeless. I thought I'd repot it and. whaddaya know, it had around 15 babies sucking from it. No wonder the poor thing looked tired. The good news is that I have heaps of aloe babies to give to friends. Here are just a few.

I also repotted all of the loquat seedlings that I've been nurturing since the end of summer. I was determined to grow them from the seeds of fruit that I'd savoured. I saved these seeds from the juiciest fruit that I had in Mildura last November. I've never had such fat, sweet loquats so I just had to grow this variety. I didn't think that so many of the seeds would germinate so I have around 10 seedlings. Two for me, which are now planted in the garden, two for mum and the remaining seedlings will continue growing in pots until they're ready for some guerrilla gardening in the neighbourhood.

So, with all this activity, all the beautifying, the gardening, the fixing, am I any better off? I dunno. I feel more accomplished. I like to surround myself with beauty. I like to tick a list.

I may not be a better person for it. And Martha Stewart really couldn't give a crap either way, but I certainly feel like my weekend had some purpose.

And, sometimes, that's the best anyone can hope for.

This weekend

I'm still on that freaking Martha Stewart list, and keep adding to it. Here's what I have left (that I care about):

• Move the geraniums from the front yard into pots for the back garden - after listening to an excellent podcast on digitdownunder I must admit that I have a new fondness for the old-granny-plant. And I'm thinking of combining two tasks by potting them in the old crates we've found around and under the house during the renos.


• Stick some happy wanderer in the ground so I don't have to stare at ugly fencing when I do the laundry - well I haven't got to this yet but I have planted a white and a purple variety on either side of the sunroom at the front of the house in the hope of improving its visual appeal - that's my compromise. Jeff refuses to get rid of it and while I HATE it, the expense is too great when only one wants it to happen (kinda like ivf and having children... oh that's another story). So let's hope the happy wanderers do their job.


• Paint around the windows of the sunroom - I tested the charcoal paint and I think it's a winner. Now, if it would only stop raining. What is this! Isn't there a drought or something?


• The mint chandelier... I just had a brain wave - by combining two tasks again! Plant them in tins with drain holes... yes, that's the plan.


• I also want to make a heap of ceramic magnets with the white stoneware that I brought home from pottery.

Speaking of pottery - I'm afraid that half of the first batch of finished work has turned out to be an ugly disaster. Some photos to serve as a reminder that I must NEVER make pinch pots again. But coiling is ok.

Next week's will be much better. A LOT of pieces being fired this week plus the ones that I'm glazing on Monday. I'm really happy with this first stage. Pottery is turning out to be quite a winner for me...

Sowing the wild seeds, so to speak

Holy crap, after weeks and months of prepping the front garden - first by removing all of the "lawn" - if you can call it that, with the drought we're having - then putting down the weed mat, getting in new yummy soil and making our little hills, we finally got mulch in on the weekend from our favourite local garden centre that reeks of cigarette smoke and I just want to get out of there as quickly as possible. We spent Saturday afternoon landscaping and I'm still in pain.





I've been collecting succulents for years so it's great to see them being used in the garden for once. They can spread out and really rustle their feathers now and GROW. And yes, when I say "collecting", this may have included some illegal activity. Here, let me practice my favourite line of defence (that I haven't had to use. Yet)

"But officer, I have NO IDEA how that plant got into my shoe/sock/underwear..."

Wherever I go, I just simply have to collect a piece. Anyway, let's not dwell.




I finally did some seed sowing as well. I bit the bullet after reading a tonne and even going to the Digger's Club seed sowing class a week ago, which was excellent and gave me the opportunity to check out the Heronswood Garden in Dromana, which everyone should check out some time (I promise I didn't collect anything at Heronswood that I didn't pay for). Learned some useful sowing tips and got a fab watering tool. Check it.


They didn't try to do the hard sell but the few products I did buy are excellent, like the seed watering nozzle above. You can use it on any plastic bottle and it doesn't disturb the seeds. Clever little invention!


We got a few more seeds, including seed potatoes, and a membership.



Did I say that I AM Martha Stewart? Looking at my sowing station might answer that question. I TRY!

Wasps in the lime and velvet in my stomach

I tried to get onto the list, I really did, but life got in the way.

Let's see:

• Use the crates we found during the renovations to make some succulent gardens. Nope.
• Stick some happy wanderer in the ground - Nooo - but Jeff agreed to planting it (he's not the biggest fan because of this fence we had that got a tad overgrown with it...)
• Make tins into containers - No but I've saved a tin.
• Move the geraniums from the front yard into pots for the back garden - No but I did compost the veggie garden in preparation of seed sowing.
• Make a mint chandelier - No but I did decide that I'm going to make a mint pot at pottery class for this very purpose. Something saucer-like... like this. It's kinda crap but it's a start.

So what's that? Zero for five. Martha would be very sad, I'm sure.

Hmm. Sure but here's what I did do.Well firstly, my dad the drama queen came bursting in after coffee declaring: "That's it! The lime tree has to be pulled out."

Me, annoyed. It's too early for this crap: "What are you talking about?"

Dad: "It's got those wasp lumps. You'll have to pull it out!"

Well he way almost right. It does have those wasp lumps or, according to my Australian Gardening Encyclopedia, Citrus gall wasps. I know! Sounds terrifying. Looks it too. The wasp lays its eggs in the young stalk and then the swelling occurs as the grubs develop. We caught them early but there were a lot of them. And there isn't a lot you can do to avoid it. Just prune every affected branch before the end of August. Got it!

And then I decided to do a spot of natural fabric dying with rose hips out of the front garden, camellia petals, tea bags and coffee grounds.

Was it worth it? We'll see when the fabric dries.

And finally, I couldn't let the weekend get away without a little bit of Martha. I promised my work some cupcakes tomorrow and here they are. Martha's Red Velvet cupcakes with light cream cheese icing.

So maybe Martha wouldn't be too disappointed, after all.