The Sunshine Coast, a little slice of heaven....

Before I forget....

or more acurately, before it dies......

Here's proof that I grew a plant. This is the Oregano plant I grew from seed. I also succeded with a Thyme. Unfortunately my lettuces aren't looking so photogenic or edible. Not to worry.....small steps!

Progress in the garden....

Or in the container I should say.

Rhuby the rhubarb is still alive. Not exactly flourishing as you can see but alive nonetheless. After his traumatic journey on my lap all the way here from Tofino he hated his new life here in Edmonton and proceeded to make that apparent to me by turning brown, moth-eaten and shrively. I was scared for him mostly because, like ET and his little potted flower, I felt the same was happening to me (metaphorically speaking, I'm obviously not brown and shrively). We're both adapting and trying to stay positive. He's looking a little more green and even has a wee baby leaf poking through. I'm hoping this is a sign that things are looking up for Rhuby and me. 

My Arugula, the first plant I have ever really grown from seed (aside from various forms of sprouts) is also surviving. Considering that he was abandoned for nearly three weeks in the heat of the prairie summer he is looking remarkably well. I was concerned that I let him grow flowers but have just discovered that they are edible and taste a bit like radishes so I'm going to try them in a salad most likely this afternoon. It turns out Neil hates Arugula so it looks like I get to enjoy him all to myself. 

In the kitchen my first attempt at growing some Thyme and Oregano from seed seemed to fail miserable. I'm not really sure wht happened but my seedlings just stopped growing. They were still green but that was about it. After several weeks of watering the teeny little blighters I gave up and started from scratch. After a bit of research I found out that they may not have enjoyed the ice cold tap water I was sprinkling on them every so often. Apparently they are quite fussy and might prefer it to be tepid. We'll see if that makes a difference this time around.

I've also added a Mesclun mix to my seedling attempts and in just a few days I've got cotyledons galore and hope to make a home grown salad in the not too distant future!

Have a happy Thursday everyone!

Yay me! I planted a tree...

And a few wee shrubs....

I worked very hard indeed for two whole days. Bear in mind a few things.....I did this ALONE, (Neil was at work), the tree is at least 13 feet tall and although skinny, it's a heavy blighter! The ground here in Beaumont is some kind of impenetrable sedimentary rock (by impenetrable I mean quite hard and by rock I mean clay). The entire time I had at least one kid, sometimes two crying that they'd been hit by the other kid / fallen off the coffee table / got a splinter / lost their lego man / needed a pee pee / needed someone to clean their butt / wanted some milk / had spilt their milk / wanted cereal / had spilt their cereal / didn't want to watch Treehouse / wanted to watch Treehouse and so on and so on. At one point the wind picked up into a near hurricane state, the wind blew over the tree and the tree fell on my head, this made Sully jump backwards in sheer fright, knocking over Bel who landed screaming in a heap on the floor with untold injuries......just out of my reach as I was still slightly concussed and desperately trying to hold up the tree in the howling wind. We were all ok but I hope you're getting the picture here, it was hard work.  I'm hesitant to show you the next shot because, well, it really doesn't look like I did much at all but here goes, DA DAAAAAA......



I know I know, you were expecting something a little more impressive but hey, it's better than the bland little corner of dullness it once was and I am proud!

On the subject of gardening, obviously I'm a little limited at the moment because I'm hoping we won't be in this house all that much longer but I have great plans let me tell you! I'm enjoying composting far more than I think composting is supposed to be enjoyed (is it normal to spend long lingering moments staring into your compost heap savouring every little bit of decay with unimaginable glee?) Oh. That must just be me then. And before anyone helpfully points it out....next time  I'll remember to remove the stickers from our banana skins.

Having done so well with sprouts and micro greens I've decided to take my indoor gardening skills up a notch and have been attempting to grow herbs from seed. It's been nearly 4 weeks and to be frank, progress is slow. Painfully slow. I think perhaps there is a problem but I'm not sure so I shall keep checking and watering and checking and watering.

And finally there's these little fellows. I think I'm more proud of these than the tree.

They are teeny weeny Arugula seedlings (Roquette if you're English). I grew them from seed inside but they've been growing outside now for just over a week and seem to be doing well. Here's a shot from a little further away to give you more of an idea of their scale....

I did tell you they were small. You gotta start somewhere but like I said, I have big plans!

I saw a nice pin recently that I really liked and I think is kind of relevant here.......

"Do small things with great love."

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