PALMS

In our garden we have 12 palms. They are planted in a cluster around the pool area and are all mature and tall. So tall that now when the palm fronds die it is impossible to reach them without a ladder. Two of the palms are Bangalow Palms and have self shedding leaves but the rest don't. Now if I was planting palms I would choose all self shedding varieties because it is a pain in the but to cut the dead ones off. Eventually, after a few months they break off the tree and come crashing down to earth. By this time they are very hard and dry. The palm fronds are are real nuisance. They are too big and woody for the compost and take hurculean strength to cut through them. But on saying that I do love the palms, I love laying in the pool and looking up at them and imagining being on a tropical holiday.

Up until recently the fronds used to get broken up and put into the compost or we would wait until there was a bulk garbage colection and put them out for that.

But now that I am now longer throwing garden waste into the bin (gulp) I have found a use for them.

They are the retaining sides to my no dig garden beds. As more fronds fall down I raise the sides. I am working on my third no dig garden now. All green waste like fern fronds, grass clippings and other prunings gets thrown into the bed.

Speaking of the beds, the no dig garden beds are going wonderfully. The first one I made is growing pumpkins and there are a few pumpkins growing nicely. The vines have gone crazy and are rambling everywhere.

The second no dig garden has watermelon growing. In the photo above you can see the pumpkins at the back and a watermelon plant towards the right bottom of the photo. There are more plants there no since this photo was taken. No watermelons yet but the plants are growing nicely.

The no dig beds are on the other side of the fence (not our land but a council walkway/reserve). There is no water supply other than rain but every couple of days I have been taking a bucket or two around the side and watering them. Mainly though they are going well with the little rainfall we have had.

I am so pleased with this reclaimed area being put to good use. And I am dreaming of all the pumpkins and watermelons.

M xx

LITTLE FROG

How cute is this little frog! Zippy found him while pruning the plant he is sitting on - not sure what it is (the plant that is, but I think it related to the ginger plant somehow).

Zippy and Superboy helped me in the garden today. They pruned for a while then made swords from the prunings. Then they helped me build up the no dig garden for the pumpkins and to plant them out. They helped water the pumpkins and then made up this funny game with a bucket of water - they asked each other questions and if they answered wrongly they had to dunk their head into the bucket. It was hot today - 29 degrees so perfect way for them to cool down. They even went for a brief swim in the pool in the afternoon too (along with 4 other boys from the neighbourhood).

I really haven't got anywhere for the pumpkins to grow in my garden. So I decided to try growing the pumpkins outside our boundary. There is a walkway betwween our house and our neighbours running along around two sides of our house. The land is never used and is maintained by us. We mow the grass/weeds and have planted natives out there. The soil is clay so the only way I can see them growing is in a raised patch. There is plenty of space for pumpkins to ramble out there. I will just have to remember to water them -hose wont reach so will need to bucket water them.

While Zippy, Superboy and I were doing this, Mr Gadget and Guitar Dude were around the back finishing off the raised vege patch. I posted about the dilemma of the treated wood for the raised garden a few posts ago. We decided to seal the wood on the inside and then also covered it with black plastic. As a further safety measure I wont be growing any root veges there. But I am much happier now with using this garden as a vegetable patch.

M xx