Container Vegetables - Milk Crates

I am going to be using the ubiquitous milk crate as the container of choice for my vegetables. They are modular, readily available (I buy them) and just the right size. There is wealth of information available on the "square foot garden", which is the size of a milk crate.

One crate takes one bag of compost and I can move them and stack them as the mood takes me. The only problem that needs to be managed is watering; at the height of summer a pot with something like a tomato or capsicum can dry out in less than a day. Not a problem at the moment but an irrigation system will need to be incorporated before next summer.

I shall use the phases of the moon to govern my activities. It might be a load of old hooey (and there again it might not) but either way it is a useful garden time management and reminder tool.

Get a grip!

Last year I planted out some perennial basil which has got a bit out of control over the past four months even though the bees have loved it.

It is time to get a grip so I have moved the basil into a large pot, given the soil in the pop-up bed a feed and planted out some perpetual spinach (beta vulgaris). I shall be good to it; lets see how long it lasts until it bolts! 

Trimming the Lilly Pilly

We have four Lilly Pillies that we put in to provide a screen as our neighbour's kitchen window over looks our garden. They grow with such vigour that they completely hide the whole house which is fine for us but makes it a bit dingy for the neighbours doing the washing up. Every now and then I shove Virginia up a lader and she chops it back. I am not allowed to take action shots but here is a picture taken with the job half done.

Hot

Gosh, it is hot today.

Got some nice beans from the "bean bed".

Canoeing on the Woronora River

I hired a canoe from here and had a lovely couple of hours. I ended up with sunburnt ankles and stiff shoulders but it was worth it. I could get into this.

Canoeing at Audley

We drove to Audley in the Royal National Park and hired a canoe from the boat-shed there. We were out for two hours and once we had worked out a chain of command progressed very nicely. We had the river to ourselves and I have to say that boating through the bush is better than hiking. There are no hills on gentle inland waters. A lovely morning!

Kayaking at Tea Gardens

On thre second day of our camping trip we decided to try our hand at kayaking. It was a lovely spot on the Myall river at Tea Gardens and the people who took us on the tour were great. Unfortunately I had major problems in fitting into the kayak. As the picture show I was leaning back and couldn't get myself upright. The shooting pains in my thighs detracted rather from the pleasures of the trip!

However I liked the concept so I shall investigate to see if kayaks come in larger sizes; I shall never be able to emulate a swivel hipped Inuit!

The pelicans were not that impressed either.















I was rather taken with this houseboat.