'The master plan' so far....

For those who don't remember or didn't read about the 'Master Plan' it is all about my garden and how it is going to provide my husband and I with an abundance of fresh healthy produce throughout spring, summer and into autumn.

The plan went something a little like this!

August:

• Plant green manure crops into empty garden beds.NO SPACE FOR THIS...
• Plant out raspberries and new plants from garden show into large pots. CHECK
• Purchase small greenhouse. NOT YET - NOW A SEPTEMBER JOB
• Finish harvesting winter vegetables.ONGOING
• Plant out beetroot and lettuce seedlings.CHECK
• Plant another polystyrene box with carrot seeds. CHECK
• Plant the following seeds in seed raising mix in the greenhouse and keep protected until after the last frost: amaranth, artichoke, basil, beans , beetroot, burdock, capsicum , carrots, celeriac, celery , chilli, chives, coriander, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce, yam, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, rocket, rockmelon, rosella, shallots, silverbeet, spring onion, squash, sunflower, corn, tomato, watermelon (always wanted to try growing these babies) and zucchini. (According to the Gardening Australia vege guide, some of these can be planted out during August...so I'll see how I go). Planted tomato seeds and used half softdrink bottles as mini green houses...
• Deepen the front gardens gradually and add Magic Mix to plant vegetables in amoungst the flowers. Leave the gardens with the sweet peas as they are for the time being. STILL DECIDING HOW TO ACHIEVE THIS..

 

 

 

September:

 

• Dig green manure crop into garden beds
• Purchase small green house
• Buy seeds for all of the plants not underlined from August...didn't have seeds so couldn't plant them.
• After last frost, transfer seedlings to home garden beds or to gardens at the community garden.
• Set up compost bin.
• Organise a storage area for preserves and jams.
• Replant seeds a month after the ones planted in August to ensure continued produce.

 

Other jobs:

 

• Take regular photos
• blog about the progress and process
• keep track of produce and make sure to find recipes to use all fresh produce.
• take surplus which can't be preserved or dried to the Roma Farmer's and Artisans Market to swap at the Community Garden Stall.
• Summer: purchase stone fruits from Farmer's market and Sam the vegie man to preserve for throughout the year.

I'm very pleased with my progress so far!! It's all very exciting really!

Emily xoxo

Child of Nature - In progress

So I have made a decent start on my plan to finish all the half made smocking projects in my sewing room. I got the lovely Charlie to model for me!!!

All I have to do is put the buttons on and button holes in the straps, put the binding around the legs of the knickers, and elastic in the waistband and they will be finished!! Not bad for a days work!!

Unfinished smocking projects!

I'm following the lead of my friend Debra who has posted all of her UFO (un-fininished objects) onto her blog and is ticking them off as she goes, until I figure out how to do that I figured a post would probably do it just fine. I have divided the unfinished projects into 3 groups according to who owns the book it is out of...Serena, Lisa or me. Items from Serena and Lisa's books will have priority!

Serena's books:

Australian Smocking and embroidery issue

#56 - Morgan p. 44 - 3 pairs of frilly pants to finish, buttons and lace on dresses.

#54  - Bella p. 4 - pale green fabric

#59 - Beach Baby - only picture smocking done

#58 - Miss Daisy p. 18 - 2 one green gingham one blue gingham.

#53 - Child of Nature p. 20

#53 - Sunday Best p. 6

#59 - Coquette p. 36 - can't find the original pattern so will use this one to try and finish this dress.



Photocopy -

#59 - Sherbet Fizz



Lisa's Books:

Australian Smocking and embroidery issue:






My books:

#40 - The Birthday Girl p. 17
#70 - Birdsong - smocking and embroidery finished - needs to be sewn up

Can't find:
Cassie's dress or Angel...will have to keep looking!


So that is LOTS to finish in a short time!! Not any from Lisa's books like I thought though. So, now to prioritise and I have NO idea where to start...I may need some time to sort this out...


Ok update:

How stupid am I??? Well it took the gloriously intelligent Becc to point out that while I may not have enough ink in my printer/scanner to copy all the patterns, I could (AND WILL) scan them all to my computer so I can give all the books back!

Now this doesn't mean I don't want to finish some of these off, because now that I'm into it, I'm a bit excited to get them done. So today, still going to do some sewing, tomorrow I'll scan!!

Emily xoxo

The dreaded GASTRO

Yes, the dreaded Gastro struck my home, and more importantly me, on Sunday night. I have not been so sick in quite a long time and it has really knocked me about. Today is Thursday and I actually ate some breakfast this morning. I have been vomit free for over 36 hours and have not been living on the toilet for over 20 hours...progress. Thankfully the kind doctor took pity on me and gave me the whole week off in a doctor's certificate. Phew.. so today...well in the mail I received a note to inform me that the water would be off at my house from 9 - 3 for mains repairs (all I could think was thank goodness this didn't happen monday when I could have lived in the toilet instead of bed). So instead of another quiet recovery I got up ran a bathtub of water (for toilet flushing and the like), did two loads of washing, washed up from last night (too tired last night), made breakfast, hung out two loads of washing and am now exhausted....perhaps tomorrow I won't be up to working.

So today I am going to put on a movie and pull out some unfinished smocking projects. My two friends who lent me their pattern books want them all back, and while that is slightly tragic for me, it is a great reason to hurry up and finish some dresses!!

I will certainly be posting pics!

Emily xoxo

Planting Raspberry Canes

When I was at the Garden Expo in Nambour over the school holidays, Becc and I went halves in a pack of 4 Raspberry Canes. Becc (being mad keen as she is and also living in a house they own) has already planted hers weeks ago, however I have been weighing up the pros and cons of planting them in pots or in the ground at our rental property.

This morning I found this information from a quick google search. Basically it says that growing Raspberries in pots is possible, so I'm going to give it a whirl. I need a container that is 15cm in diametre and has a 5 gallon (18.95 Litre) capacity. I recently bought some of those colourful flexible containers to use as pots (here) but I don't think their capacity will be close enough to 18.95L AND I only have 1 left. I was in Crazy's the other day and they had the same flexible tubs in 24L - perhaps too big. But I am going outside shortly to investigate.

Once I have them planted I will need to create some kind of  trellis that can support the canes as they grow. I don't want them going crazy and spilling all over the place so that we get our clothes caught on them. I am thinking about placing the tubs along one of our fences so I can simply tie them to the fence.... will update with photos and decisions!!

Emily xoxo

Progress on 'The Master Plan'

In my last post I discussed my "Plan" for my garden and desire to produce heaps of home grown goodness for my hubbie and I. And here is how far I have progressed:

August:

•Plant green manure crops into empty garden beds.

•Plant out raspberries and new plants from garden show into large pots. Can't decide where to put them!!

•Purchase small greenhouse.

•Finish harvesting winter vegetables.ONGOING

•Plant out beetroot and lettuce seedlings.

•Plant another polystyrene box with carrot seeds. CHECK

•Plant the following seeds in seed raising mix in the greenhouse and keep protected until after the last frost: amaranth, artichoke, basil, beans, beetroot, burdock, capsicum, carrots, celeriac, celery, chilli, chives, coriander, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce, yam, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, rocket, rockmelon, rosella, shallots, silverbeet, spring onion, squash, sunflower, corn, tomato, watermelon (always wanted to try growing these babies) and zucchini. (According to the Gardening Australia vege guide, some of these can be planted out during August...so I'll see how I go). Planted tomato seeds and used half softdrink bottles as mini green houses...

•Deepen the front gardens gradually and add Magic Mix to plant vegetables in amoungst the flowers. Leave the gardens with the sweet peas as they are for the time being.
 
 
Hmmm....so I've started...not a great deal accomplished, but I'm on my way. This morning I got outside and planted up a polystyrene box with carrot seeds and planted six little asparagus seeds. This is a major long term project as it will be about 3 years before I can harvest asparagus spears, but I figure you have to start somewhere.
 
Becc and I have planted 1 year old crowns at the community garden and they are developing well. The thing is that you can't harvest spears for a couple of years, so my little seeds that I planted today should start producing a year after ours at the community garden. I'm planning ahead!!
 
I have also decided where I'm going to plant out my little beetroot seedlings and lettuce seedlings and have planted bean, sunflower, pea (I think - didn't label them) and some other surprises that I can't quite remember. I was also at the nursery through the week and they had some very sad looking seed potatoes which I got very cheaply, chopped them up and dried them so that I could plant them out and I planted them yesterday. I really hope they survive. The last batch of potatoes were going very well and I was extremely excited about the prospect of home grown potatoes..but then the frost hit...a heavy killing frost...and my potatoes were no more... I finally gave up on them reshooting this week and emptied out the bag they were growing in and found about 20 baby potatoes no bigger than a bantam egg. As disappointed as I am that the frost killed the plants, I'm thrilled that we will get to eat some lovely little potatoes tonight for dinner. I just hope this next lot of seed potatoes yeilds a bigger crop.
 

I am still planning on purchasing a small greenhouse from the local cheap shop, but will have to wait a pay or two. Once I have it I'll transfer newly germinated seeds into the greenhouse from the plastic boxes I have to use to keep the seeds safe from the mice until they have germinated.
 
So, let the master plan continue!!!
 

Emily xoxo