Potter Wasp

Australian Hornet
Abispa ephippium
Another Garden Good Guy
but I don't find these very friendly!
But they prey only on caterpillars.
From this site:
Potter Wasp, common name
for a group of caterpillar-hunting wasps
known for the pot-shaped mud nests built by some species.
Potter wasps are also known as mason wasps.
The potter wasp larva consumes from 1 to 12 caterpillars as it grows.

Blackberries

Thornless Blackberries
Just starting to ripen!

Red Cabbage

These Red Cabbage seedlings, up already
on the right, were only planted 5 days ago.
The heat of summer is good for something
after all.

Curry Plant

Curry Plant
Helichrysum italicum
The heat of summer really brings out the curry smell.
These are the flowers now dry and full of seeds.

Crackerjack Marigolds

Marigold Crackerjack
Tagetes erecta
Not to be confused with Calendula officinalis
which are often called marigolds.
These tagetes only grow in summer here!

BBQ

It's summertime that means BBQ time.
With the radio on for the cricket.

And a couple of Doc's Marinated Chops
Mmm it's all good!

Cucumbers

Lebanese Mini Cucumbers
The second planting on Bed 4 is loving the milder weather.
Flowering well and setting fruit.
And hope for some rain this week to help them along!

See this link for notes on growing cucumbers.

Carrot Flower

Carrot Flowering and Setting Seeds
I let a few carrots flower each spring
These umbel flowers attract many beneficial insects to the garden.
Each head is made up of several hundred tiny flowers,
small insects can visit these individually
Now the flowers are setting seed;
another phase in the plant-world cycle.

More Potting Shade

The latest extension to the new potting area.
On the left.
Now to re-organise the area beneath.
They make great cool spots to escape the heat!

Cool Picnic

This beautiful old tree provided a lovely cool,
shady spot for our picnic today.

And this group of magpies

entertained us while sharing our picnic lunch.

Cooking Cookies

Cookies
I've been busy making cookies this morning...they will be shared at a family gathering tomorrow.
They include Doc's Anzac Cookies recipe here:

And a couple of other favourites:

Honey Coconut Cookies
125g Butter or Margarine
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 tablespoons Honey
2 tablespoons Coconut
1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour
extra Coconut for rolling

Cream butter and sugar adding egg.
Add coconut and honey beat until combined.
Fold in sifted flour and mix well.
Roll teaspoonfuls into balls and roll in coconut.
Place on trays allowing for spreading.
Bake at 190C for 15 mins.
Cool on tray.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chippers
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter or Margarine
1 Egg
2 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 cup Plain Flour
1 cup Quick Rolled Oats
1 cup Semi-Sweet Choc Chips
1/2 cup Coconut
1/2 teaspoon Carb Soda

Cream the sugars and butter together and beat in the egg.
Add milk and vanilla.
Stir in remaining dry ingredients and mix.
Place spoonfuls on a greased tray.
Bake at 200C for 15-20 mins.
Cool on tray then remove to cooling rack.

New Shade

My potting bench used to live under the shade of two trees.

An old peach that never produce good fruit
(and died a few years ago) and a pussy willow.

A year ago this week we had a torrential rain storm
that was followed by strong winds
and unfortunately the pussy willow succumbed to rot and fell down.

We have managed with make-do bits of shade cloth
and sheets to take the heat off the potted plants but...

This week something started happening....
Full details on Docs blog here!

Ta Da!
It even includes a potting bench
and a seat to sit and ponder!
Thank you Doc!

Bye Bye Top Knot!

Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrhocephalus
Doc called me this morning to see this!
The Hawk had caught a 'Top Knot' for breakfast.
These birds usually only get sparrows and smaller birds
This one must have been hungry.
Also called chicken hawks
they are the ones we like to keep out of the chook runs!
'Top Knot' photos are here and here.
Fact sheet on the Sparrowhawk here.

Rhubarb Shade

I said in my Garden log last weekend
that I had to pick a couple of Rhubarb plants to save.
This is the mini shade tunnel I've put over them
in an effort to cut down the evaporation rate.
They seem to prefer to grow in the shade
so should like it under there in the cool.
I know Ninja has already found it a cool spot on a hot day.

Anise Hyssop

Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum
According to Plants for a Future database here
this is a very useful plant
but I just love the sweet aniseed flavour!
It dies back in winter here but re-grows in spring.
Also featured here on the Hills and Plains Seedsavers blog.

Soap Mix

It's Soap Mix Making Day
We make up a liquid soap mix for washing clothes
Don't expect the whitest of white results but it's fine for general everyday stuff.
There are many recipes around in fact 10 on this link but here's one we use without borax because our washing water goes (via this setup here) on to the fruit trees in the garden and borax isn't garden/soil friendly.

1/2 a block of plain (pure) Laundry soap...grated
1/2 cup of Washing soda which sodium carbonate (not carb soda which is sodium bi-carbonate).
1/2 cup of white vinegar (elcheapo is fine)
1 titre warm water
41/2 litres hot water
4 litres cold water
1 teaspoon of eucalyptus oil (or you can use 1/2 teaspoon of Ti Tree Oil, or lavender essential oil)

Boil the soap in the warm water then remove from heat and add the soda crystals and stir to dissolve.
Add the vinegar (tends to fizz a bit so make sure you have left room)
Add this to the hot water in a bucket and add the cold water and stir to combine. I mix this in the bath tub to catch spills.

Pour off into 2 litre bottles and use child proof caps if you've got kids around. We re-use old bleach bottles that usually come with these caps.
In cold weather this tends to set to quite a thick gel so be aware of that. We used to store it in a tight lidded nappy bucket and scooped it out.

I only use about a cupful per wash load...I have never tried it in a front loading machine but it doesn't froth up so may work.
I also fill the rinse container in the washing machine with vinegar to stop scum building up in the machine and to rinse the soap out well.

As always with new stuff test it out first
and don't use it if you have a reaction to it.

Brand New Garden Helper

Newly hatched Dragonfly...

...the eyes...

...the wings...

...just next to the nymph shell.

Ringnecks and Gum Trees

Ringnecked Parrots
Enjoying the gum trees in the front garden.
Both the gum nuts and the flowers.
See this Link

Garden Curtains

In an effort to actually eat more fruit from our garden
we have to keep the birds off.
Here we've put a length of net curtain
over the grapevines...we shall see how it goes!

Galahs in the Almond Tree!!!

The Galahs are after my Almonds now
We shout and clap to scare them off
but this one seems to be deaf!

Greek Oregano

Greek Oregano Origanum vulgare hirtum

Said to have the strongest flavour of the oregano marjoram group.
Smaller leaved and less aggressive than common oregano
it makes an interesting change in the garden and in cooking.

Used in Tomato dishes, Meat Sauces, Stews,
Stuffing, Herb Bread, Pasta and especially Pizzas.

These little plants have survived the heatwave
after being divided up a couple of weeks ago
and living in the shadehouse since.

Happy 50th Birthday Doc!!

Oh and Happy 30th Anniversary too!

Heatwave Lifesavers

Jelly-Fruit Cups
During this heatwave that seems to have no end in sight yet
something that keeps us going are these yummy Jellycups.
I used to make them for the kids,
as they grew they kept asking for them
and now Doc and I love them.
They are so refreshing on a hot day.

Put a couple of spoonfuls of fruit into small plastic cups.
(yes the ones in the photo are from McD's sundaes
- 15 years old! How's that for disposable!)
Top up with Jellies from a packet
...I use 2 packets for 9 cups.
and let them set in the fridge

When the kids were very young I made the jelly
with fruit juice and agar agar powder.
But as they grew up they preferred the packet jellies!
You can use fresh fruit...strawberries, apricots, pineapple etc
Home bottled fruit...
Or you just take a large tin of fruit salad or two fruits;
Peaches and Pears that are chopped and canned in juice.
Drain the juice off.
Fight over who gets to drink this!

They can be topped with cold home made cold custard, yoghurt
or even better some home made Honey Ice Cream!

Turdus merula

Innocence - Who Me??

Mrs Blackbird Turdus merula
The female 'blackbirds' aren't even black!
They're brown so they can hide in their nests!
These introduced birds are becoming pests in vineyards and orchards.

Caught in the act!

Each year the blackbirds feast on the Mulberry tree.
I don't really mind as it's a huge old tree,
much too large to net
and there are plenty of mulberries for all of us.
At least while these birds are feasting on the mulberries
they leave the other fruit trees alone.
Now if only I could get the wattlebirds to prefer mulberries to peaches.

The Evidence is on the beak!

Lavender Munstead

Lavender Munstead
Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead'
A small growing English Lavender.
It's growing in full sun in the Herb Spiral
on the Hot North Side of the house.
I've read that the scent is strongest in dry, sunny locations.
That is so true, it smells delightful!
You can use the flowers in breads, scones, cakes, jams, jellies, teas, vinegar.
Mmm I wonder if Doc wants to make some Lavender Bread!!!

Sunflower

Sunflower
Due to the dry conditions this is one of only
a few small sunflowers this year!

Plum Sauce

The Santa Rosa Plums are ripening
and the Wattlebirds are eating them!

So I collected a bucketful for my favourite Plum Sauce

Plum sauce
3 kgs plums
1 kg sugar
2.85 litres of vinegar (I use 2litres of white vinegar and 850mls of cider vinegar)
2 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste I use 1/4 teaspoon of each

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegars with the spices and salt then add the whole plums that have been washed and trimmed of leaves and stemmy bits.
Allow to boil until the stones come away from the flesh, this may take 2 hours or more, depending on the ripeness of the fruit.
Then strain through a colander and return to pot to continue to boil down until thickened.
Then pour into sterilized bottles and seal.
Remember this is a sauce so don't allow it to thicken too much or it won't come out of the bottle.

I need to use my 2 big stock pots at the beginning of making this sauce; after straining off the stones it is returned to one pot to continue boiling down.

Bean Gourd

Bean Gourd Lagenaria siceraria
These long gourds are edible while young
but if allowed to fully grow and left to dry
will develop a tough outer shell suitable for decorating...
...that's what Doc wants them for!

They are growing well in the heat...
... but may soon take over the Almond tree!!
Some sites for more info
University of Florida
Plants For A Future