(The cosmos.)

I've been waiting for the cold chill of Autumn for months now just to see how this house will perform in the cold.

You see, for the last two years we have had a wood burning fireplace which meant firewood delivery and stacking up said delivery. Then there's the lugging the firewood from the shed into the house, and let's not forget the endless cleaning and the time it would take to actually get the fire lit.

As pretty as a fire looks I just saw it as something that kept eating my time up and required so much effort. Nothing was worse than freezing your ass off while struggling to get the fire lit and I've been there many times. Now that we have a gas heater comfort in Winter is just a touch of a button away. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, we've had a great run weather wise.

We went from a brutal Summer that had punishing moments to transitioning into a mellow Spring. Even as I write this I'm wondering if Winter will show up this year, not that I mind if it doesn't.

If there was ever a time for me to try to develop a green thumb 2018 was definitely it. I really feel like the Universe is smiling upon me, giving me extra time to learn and enjoy the garden.

Marigolds

The french marigolds have finally bloomed, looking majestic with it's russet petals and the gold trim. I also have another type of marigold in neon yellow (middle grid photo) from the bee and butterfly seed mix

Garlic

I haven't had much luck with my propagation experiments with the carrot going funny and the possum eating the mint & basil so it was great to see the garlics I planted take off.

From what I've read it will take 9 months for the garlic to mature. 9 MONTHS! I had no idea they took that long to grow. At least in 9 months we'll have 6 ready for harvest.

More growth in the garden

Remember that time I saved the capsicum seeds and that time I pulled the mint out? Well, they're all in here and looks like this time the possum hasn't gotten to it.

The capsicum took a couple of weeks to grow from seed. I wasn't sure if it was going to work and it was purely experimental so I threw all the seeds in. Probably not the best idea since they're growing in clumps and I will need to separate and space them out when they're a bit bigger.

I finally got around to using the egg shells I've been crushing for the last few weeks. Apparently they're great for plants so I chucked them at the base of the tomatoes.

One amazing way to protect your plants from pests is by sprinkling crushed eggshells at the base. They act as a good fertilizer. When you till these eggshells into the soil it provides calcium to your plants, which is essential in building cell walls. And it also aerates the soil while reducing its acidity. Source

There's heaps of tomatoes but none are rhe right colour. Not even the ones the right size, making me wonder how big will these tomatoes get?

Last but not the least, our very first strawberry.

I'll be watchig this like a hawk. Last time we had a strawberry plant critters got to the fruit before we could. I'm even thinking of planting garlic all around it for pest control.

There's still the bathroom kokedama project, plus the new seedlings I planted over the weekend and then there's the cat grass. Every where I look in the garden everything is alive, growing and feeling like Spring.

All things considered, maybe it's not a bad thing that we skipped Autumn?

Happy Monday everyone!

Those still enjoying Sunday, savour each moment. I can already tell it's going to be a busy week.

🌻 Arly

🍀 All pictures taken on my Samsung Note 8 🍀