A "super hot" chilli is thriving

My buddy Paul gave me a seedling and this year it will dominate.

Sometimes Brugmansia are nice

The "Angel's Trumpet" is a poisonous and mostly ugly plant. I got a variety that has a coloured flower and at least it looks nice today.

Big egg

Someone clearly wants to be the top chook in the henhouse. The more I watch animals, the more they remind me of humans.

Panko - I suppose

Mum died a few months ago. In clearing out her house I'm getting a lot of the pantry stuff.

So I got this container of "Panko" which is  the Japanese style of breadcrumb.

Always the teacher, Mum is still teaching me. And she burned bright, right up until she was taken from us.

Jerusalem Cherry: To keep or to kill?

I got this plant self seeded quite some years ago. I came to learn that is the Jerusalem Cherry. Poisonous berries that look like Jaffas, but a nice looking ornamental plant.

And hardy.

So I threw a couple of berries into a clear garden bed I had but now have a dozen seedlings. That's noxious weed behaviour. Shall I keep them or kill them?

I'll wait a few weeks but I think I'll pull them out.

To a gardener it's sometimes as good to see a dead plant

I have got on top of some creeping periwinkles. Sometimes is just as good to see dead plants as it it to see others thrive.

Lilly Pilly resurrection in progress

Mum's Red Cactus

She sent me a two leaf cutting of this a few years ago. While mum died in July, her memory lives.

Wow! Many eggs!

Each of these babies is now laying an egg a day. So in collection, you don't wanna miss a day!

Lemon: I love a good prune

Hard prune tonight. Love it. Should be fine this time next year.

Can't help but cook for them

As the kids get older and it becomes clearer and clearer that they want (aye need) me to butt out I've found plenty of other things to occupy me. That means I do a lot less cooking, especially given the way menu choices have 8ncreased tge degree of difficulty.

But the combination of a friend giving me a (fmaily sized) fish and some lamb, a message I saw about "Nutella rollups" and a lazy night at home meant that I did a little more cooking tonight.

Grafting to self seeded peaches - nice

When you see what you think is a peach tree spring up in your driveway, you're probably right. But you'd be wrong if you think it'll give you nice peaches. Stonefruit tend not to work that way - it's a team effort between the rootstock and the scion wood.

The good news is that if youve got a strong sapling then you have the first part. Then to just graft to the top.

Ive got one in the driveway where I've budded about five donut peaches and espaliered them, as well as putting a heritage "Giuseppe Masciantonio" on the upright. Both should give me fruit this year - I think I did them three years ago. Also a little one in the garden has only had one summer as the three year ago attempt failed. But I should get fruit on that too.

The experiment continues.

Probably not the cleverest thing I've done

Sure, the glypho will kill the weed. But the overspray has hurt the lawn. So, wipe on really is a good idea.

I think I killed that Lilly Pilly

I think a dry spring caught me. I went away for a weekend training camp and this lovely six year old Lilly Pilly was all fresh and flush with new season's growth.

When I returned it was BupBowww. I knew that my decision to allocate more brain tine to skydiving was going to have its casualties. Apparently this nice little plant is one of them.

We'll see. Sometimes there's a Lazarus.

And sometimes there's a Lazarus

And this Hardenbergia "Happy Wanderer" I put in a few months ago. Died off when I pruned something else giving this too much sun, unexpectedly. But it's back. That's nice.

Stuff dies, life goes on

Gardening helps me see this clearly. I heard it once about farming "if you've got livestock,  you also get deadstock" and it happens in the garden too.

I've had a bougainvillea in for a few years now in a pot. It works fine in Singapore - they just water them every day and it's all fine. Last year I lost one about this time, and this year I'm seeing the leaves wilt on the remaining one. I'm pretty sure the roots get a fungus in the cold and that's it.

And when I've had these self seeded passionfruit marigold (tagetes lemonii) they get to a foot tall in a pot and then just die. Second time now. Rootbound perhaps.

Things die, life goes on.

Stone fruit, pruned

A slight sense of satisfaction to have my fruit trees pruned for the winter. Roses done, too, and I'll do grape vines soon.

"Made with love" beats any of the alternatives.

My boy Jonah is having a birthday party today. Instead of buying a cake, his sister agreed to make one. My mother would be proud - it beats any of the alternatives.

Pickled Chillies

Very nice. They lose a lot of their heat this way but they keep for well over a year.

Autumn falls

I like this moment in the season.  It's still warm - 20C this morning - but the leaves have seriously started falling. It's getting to be time to hunker down..

Potato and corn frittata

Grated potato (wrung out) with corn, three eggs and seasoning.  Bake until firm, cool a little, fry.

Mandarins in season

It seems we like our mandarins.  I bought a couple of bags last night and they went. Today mandarins were on the shopping list with the addition "x [infinity]".

Fresh fruit in season is a great idea. Between my not willing to pay "out of season" prices and the kids' keen sense of quality it's all we seem to do.

Winter is coming, then I can clean this shit up

Winter is a cleansing time in the garden. In another few weeks all of those leaves will be on the ground. That's where labour in the garden has its greatest yield. Compost made, soils prepared, pruning done. I'm a lazy gardener.

Autumn serendipities

Tree dahlia and passionfruit marigold, passionfruit fruit set. Just as one thinks the garden is winding down there are thes pleasant surprises.

A carpet of parsley

An old parsley plant gone to seed.  Like this but bigger. I pulled it and laid it in this fallow bed a month or two ago. Now a carpet of seedlings and once setle down I'll have no weed problems.  Parsley Rocket and Kale. Cool.

Depression glass with a new life

Mum gave me this a year or so ago. She has a liking for heritage items. This "depression glass" was used for bread - small loaves - but who'd have thought it'd have a new life with rice crackers?

One hell of a bottle slide

Right to the edge

Pickled chillies

Here they are.

My balsamic vinegar and oil

A flat dish - that's the answer.

Pea and Ham Soup

Nice use for the Christmas ham bone. The first Pea & Ham Soup of the season. I love taking $5 worth of ingreadients and turning into about 15 meal portions.

Cactus flower

I love this time of year when this nondescript plant gives us a beautiful flower. For a day.

Nice lilies

Four days apart

Almond. First of many I hope.

I'll be cutting down a nashi whose time has passed. But the upside is a new place to transplant my almond to. It gave me my first nut this year.

Caramelised onions: Allow an hour

Forget all thise quick recipes that say it's ten minutes to prepare caramelised onions. I know why they say it - who wants a rhythmic 1h10min recipe - but it's crap.  The ones here have gone for about 25 minutes already.

Cover them, low heat, some oil, stir them often.

For at least 40 minutes.

Lillies unopened

So full of potential. I love the journey of lilies. Seven days of beauty.

Not really Valentine's day flowers though.
Not very romantic - "here are some buds". Most people receiving flowers don't think in the long term.

But lilies are a beautiful journey.

Interesting toadstool

In the trough with the frangipani and the chilli bushes. I love the way a garden is interesting at all levels.

Ant Rid or just sugar?

The downside of two things:

Pesticides, and
People not cleaning up after themselves.

This ring of ants feeeding on something I've seen before. Benign is just theyre feeding on some sugar, less benign is they're feeding on Ant-rid.

I'll find out.