It is time for our Xmas break so we are considering what actually needs to be done in the garden before we take a week off and visit our youngest daughter(daughter number 3), husband and 2 young boy for Xmas. It is a very exciting time for us because we get our middle daughter (daughter number 2) and her 2 children travelling with us, then they will stay with daughter number 3 and we are booked in to 5 star accommodation (to celebrate our retirement) not far from them and across the road from the fabulous Manly beach,.so looking forward to lots of fun times.
Planning the lead up and what needs to be done to keep our plants alive and well is underway.
We have people staying in our home while we are away but do not want to put too much work in the garden on to them as they will be on holidays too!
Whats going on in the garden leading up to hols?
Outdoor Vegetable garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
We have let this become quite minimal leading up to Xmas knowing we would be away so we have:
Beans that are almost at the end of crop and beans that not yet crop, carrots a couple of weeks of pulling, lettuce ready now that can be distributed to neighbors before we leave, tomatoes some will be ready before we leave others will ripen and can be used by our house sitters along with plenty of herbs (flat and curly parsley, Thai sweet basil, basil, mint, chili, curry plant, oregano, garlic chives).
Netted garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
Boysenberries, raspberries, passion-fruit, rock-melon, sugar-melon and paw paw that should be ready not too long after we return
Glass house - house sitters will turn on the tap for mist spray for 1 hour every second day
As we did in the vegetable garden we have scaled down what we have in the glass house and will get stuck into planting more once we return from the Xmas break.
We have a couple of things that we planted in there as experiments to see how they would go so the pumpkin vine that has gone wild does have a couple of pumpkins on that will not be ready until after we get back but are growing nicely. These have been pollinated by hand.
Tomato bushes (Roma and Grosse Lisse) that have also gone wild, have not been pollinated by hand, as such, but by me shaking the bushes once flowering to spread the dust around and hopefully cause pollination, yes this has worked but not to a huge degree and I intend to work on this over the next year, do have a few tomatoes on these bushes so it has worked a little at this point - room for improvement here!
Corn seed that has just shot really should have been left until our return but should be ok for another week before being put into the garden on our return
Clivia seeds that have shot
Magnolia cuttings will be left in hothouse
Water lilies left in hothouse with trays under to hold water
Sweet Potato in pots 1 left in hothouse 1 left on back veranda watered thoroughly before we leave
Sturt's Desert Pea These are my babies and have been shot from seeds 5 plants from 50 seeds. I have been moving them in and out of the hothouse to give them protection and exposure to sun and avoid them becoming too damp/dry/hot/cold, so, as you can imagine, I do not want to loose these plants. I am going to re-pot them to a larger pot with a high percentage of sand to ensure good drainage and will leave these with my son in-law along with the precious bonsai plants and instructions!!!!!!! :-)
Outdoor garden
Cucumber, Zucchini, Pumpkin and Fruit trees will be watered thoroughly leading up to our departure and hopefully will be okay until we return.
Roses in large pots drip water bottles
I have purchased some drip spikes to attach large water bottles to drip feed the roses and at the moment trialing these to work out the best settings to use and hopefully this will eliminate the need for anyone to water them while we are away.
Outdoor flower garden water thoroughly leading up to our departure
Maple trees
These trees are still young so I will use the drip feed as above for these 4 trees and cover with shade cloth to avoid damage to the leaves from the hot sun.
Snapdragons, portulaca, petchoa, daisies, Gardenia, penstemon and other odds and ends
Miscellaneous potted plants
Will be grouped for effortless watering by the house sitters
Planning the lead up and what needs to be done to keep our plants alive and well is underway.
We have people staying in our home while we are away but do not want to put too much work in the garden on to them as they will be on holidays too!
Whats going on in the garden leading up to hols?
Outdoor Vegetable garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
We have let this become quite minimal leading up to Xmas knowing we would be away so we have:
Beans that are almost at the end of crop and beans that not yet crop, carrots a couple of weeks of pulling, lettuce ready now that can be distributed to neighbors before we leave, tomatoes some will be ready before we leave others will ripen and can be used by our house sitters along with plenty of herbs (flat and curly parsley, Thai sweet basil, basil, mint, chili, curry plant, oregano, garlic chives).
Netted garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
Boysenberries, raspberries, passion-fruit, rock-melon, sugar-melon and paw paw that should be ready not too long after we return
Glass house - house sitters will turn on the tap for mist spray for 1 hour every second day
As we did in the vegetable garden we have scaled down what we have in the glass house and will get stuck into planting more once we return from the Xmas break.
We have a couple of things that we planted in there as experiments to see how they would go so the pumpkin vine that has gone wild does have a couple of pumpkins on that will not be ready until after we get back but are growing nicely. These have been pollinated by hand.
Tomato bushes (Roma and Grosse Lisse) that have also gone wild, have not been pollinated by hand, as such, but by me shaking the bushes once flowering to spread the dust around and hopefully cause pollination, yes this has worked but not to a huge degree and I intend to work on this over the next year, do have a few tomatoes on these bushes so it has worked a little at this point - room for improvement here!
Corn seed that has just shot really should have been left until our return but should be ok for another week before being put into the garden on our return
Clivia seeds that have shot
Magnolia cuttings will be left in hothouse
Water lilies left in hothouse with trays under to hold water
Sweet Potato in pots 1 left in hothouse 1 left on back veranda watered thoroughly before we leave
Sturt's Desert Pea These are my babies and have been shot from seeds 5 plants from 50 seeds. I have been moving them in and out of the hothouse to give them protection and exposure to sun and avoid them becoming too damp/dry/hot/cold, so, as you can imagine, I do not want to loose these plants. I am going to re-pot them to a larger pot with a high percentage of sand to ensure good drainage and will leave these with my son in-law along with the precious bonsai plants and instructions!!!!!!! :-)
Outdoor garden
Cucumber, Zucchini, Pumpkin and Fruit trees will be watered thoroughly leading up to our departure and hopefully will be okay until we return.
Roses in large pots drip water bottles
I have purchased some drip spikes to attach large water bottles to drip feed the roses and at the moment trialing these to work out the best settings to use and hopefully this will eliminate the need for anyone to water them while we are away.
Outdoor flower garden water thoroughly leading up to our departure
Maple trees
These trees are still young so I will use the drip feed as above for these 4 trees and cover with shade cloth to avoid damage to the leaves from the hot sun.
Snapdragons, portulaca, petchoa, daisies, Gardenia, penstemon and other odds and ends
Miscellaneous potted plants
Will be grouped for effortless watering by the house sitters
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