Not so silver

Only one more day until the weekend and I'm really looking forward to a visit to the EPIC Farmers' Market for fresh eggs and bacon (free range of course!) early on Saturday morning. The Grandma's Eggs stall is my favourite dealer of yolky treats, and they've only got big chooks at the moment so they've only got HUGE eggs. The perfect accompaniment for some happy, local, smoky pig, home grown tomatoes and not-so-silverbeet, and some nigella sourdough bread.  No, not the busty-shiny-haired domestic goddess, but the seeds of Nigella sativa, a plant from southeast Asia that is a weed in Australia. The seeds are used in naan and for their medicinal properties. It is said that the Prophet Mohammed once said the black seeds could cure anything... except death. There's a stall at EPIC that sells the most divine nigella seed sourdough... delicious with a drizzle of olive oil and all the other breakfast treats I can find!

Eggplants and herbs

This is my first attempt at growing eggplants, and I'm claiming success! Did you know eggplants are from the same family as potatoes? This one plant is so laden with fruit that I've had to prop it up with an old bike wheel.  For some reason, I thought they would start off green like tomatoes and then turn purple, but they have their amazing colour and shiny skin as soon as they appear.  I think the skin must be too tough for the bugs to get through because even though the critters have had a go at the leaves, they haven't touched the fruit. So far I've cooked and eaten two small eggplants, and I might have to do a roossaka (moussaka cooked with roo) to use up some of the next crop!

My herb garden is strategically located at the front door so I can smell it every time I arrive home.  It looks like a little critter has had a go at the basil, but they don't seem interested in the Vietnamese mint.  I'm growing three varieties of mint, and they are all taking off like weeds! The other two are constrained in pots so they don't completely take over the garden.  

I made this: terrarium globes

More evidence of my current terrarium obsession :) I love these little globes, but it's tricky to find small enough plants to fit in them!  I haven't been able to find any jungle plants, but there are a few succulents and air plants that fit the bill, so that's what I've made so far.

Look what I made... Terrarium

Magical things happen when you combine moss with real, tiny plants and put them in a glass vessel.  Mini jungle!  Now I'm just waiting on a troupe of mini apes to move in...

Eat your reds

My veggies are starting to ripen, one at a time.  At this rate I'll have enough for a meal next month :)

Moss love

I have a need for a terrarium at the moment, so I have started cultivating some moss. I found this little patch all dried out in a drainage channel and I swear, it just followed me home!  My first attempt at a terrarium was in a lightbulb because I didn't have any other enclosed glass options.  The Jade Plant is a cutting from my nan's garden.

The First Produce

Some cherry tomatoes and garlic have already been turned into sauce for homemade pasta, and some boysenberries have topped my homemade yogurt, but I'm really quite excited about mini watermelons and eggplants which I've never grown before.  The watermelons are growing at an astonishing rate - from the size of a grape to the size of an apple in a week.  The eggplants are still at the purple flower stage.  Succulents probably  don't really qualify as 'produce', but I'm loving their flowers at the moment.

Gardening - the first half done!

Rocks are arranged in a poor-man's drystone wall (fingers crossed it holds together in the absence of evil cement), gypsum is added through much mattocking of clay, proper soil is wheelbarrowed in on top - much thanks to the marvelous Mr F and Miss M :) Veggies are off and away!

Gardening - the mid-way mess

Rank renters' hedge gone, much to the disappointment of many a poor spider! Poor Ash the Astra and I did seven trips to the other end of the world (Torrens) to collect free rocks in 33 degree heat - not a pleasant experience!  Much thanks to the donors and the wonderful recycling forum that is AllClassifieds (http://www.allclassifieds.com.au/). 

Gardening - the before shot

The rank renters' garden - horrid neighbours-be-gone hedge, sick yellow mondo grass, faux redgum woodchip and the styrofoam remnants of the veggie garden from my last rental. As you can see, only a foot wide strip available for edible planting and that just would not suffice. Mr F's third career could well be landscaping, such was his skill and enthusiasm (though looking at the exemplary shovel-leaning, perhaps council worker should be up there too!).