Tasmanian Holiday - Part Two

Well I have already written about part of our recent trip to Tasmania, so here is the last part of our travels -

After Launceston we drove up to Stanley.  It looks deceptively close on the map, but the nice views, windy roads and the fact that our hire car struggled to get much above 80km/hour (and sounded like a lawn mower when it did!) meant that the drive took us longer than I had thought.  Of course, a stop at Ashgrove Cheese also meant a little longer between destinations.  But it was worth it!

Stanley lies on the north coast of Tassie, and there is actually a narrow passage of land leading the "The Nut", a large stone formation towering over the quaint little fishing village of Stanley.  We stayed just outside the town at the Beachside Retreat property (again, this is not sponsored but I would be very happy for someone to pay for me to go back!)

The view from our cabin

Our cabin was fantastic, very private, and my favourite part was the large porthole window which is actually set up as a window seat, so you can sit in the window and wait for the wildlife.

The porthole window seat

We also had gorgeous views of the sheltered lagoon.

So this few days was all about wildlife!

First we only saw rabbits, which was a bit dull.  Then I saw in the gloomy dusk what looked to be the size of a rabbit, but took off hopping like a kangaroo - but much faster!  I was intrigued to what I had seen and thought it might have been a potoroo.  The next night though the mystery was solved - there were many wallabies around and what I had seen was actually a juvenile wallaby.  I didn't get a picture of them as they were a bit shy and easily startled, and they can really move once they take off!

The wallaby - through the glass and at dusk!

The only problem with our lovely secluded cabin - it was so quiet at night that I hardly slept as I kept hearing little creatures (most likely those wallabies!) moving around, and at one stage heard something small scuttle across the verandah outside - possibly a marsupial mouse. Guess I've been a city girl too long if I can't sleep without traffic, sirens or planes flying overheard!

Apart from the marsupials we also saw lots of birds.  I am not a "twitcher" and so apart from the blue fairy wren and the yellow tailed black cockatoo I can't list the species, however they were plentiful.  Lots of sea birds waiting on the sandbanks of the lagoon for the molluscs.

The yellow tailed black cockatoo

And then there were the sea creatures.  We strolled along the beach, and waded in the water up to our knees - it was surprisingly warm.  And so clear!  So we could see many little creatures - sea snails, pipis (well I call them pipis, I think some people call them cockles, or they are similar or the same as vongole), crabs and jellyfish.  I also saw a lot of lovely shells, we didn't pick anything up or disturb it though just photographed where we saw them.

Little crab making his covered hole.

On the second day we were at Stanley we realised we were in town for the Show.  Now my husband has been to the Royal Easter Show but he had never attended a proper country agricultural society show - so of course we went.  Us and everyone from the surrounding area I think!

My favourite part is always the prizes for arts and crafts and gardening - and the Circular Head Show did not disappoint.  The same names kept popping up (obviously some people have very green thumbs) and I have to say I can only dream of show worthy broad beans, garlic, carrots and other vegetables.

Some of the prize winning broad beans

More prize winners - strawberries and lemons this time.

Another fun aspect was the "Mr Potato Head" and "Vegetable animals" section - awesome displays.

Cauliflower mouse

Fish!

Bit blurry but how fun are the Mr Potato Heads?!

I don't think Mr Crooked Cottage really understands the importance of those first prize awards, or especially a blue ribbon for champion, but I'm sure anyone who has ever grown up in a country town knows how much you covet those, especially when you are small.  So I hope you are all growing prize winning vegies or cooking some delicious and champion ribbon cakes and scones!

October Garden Share Collective - spreading the seeds of a love for gardening

So another month has disappeared in what seems to be the blink of an eye.  And so it is time for another Garden Share Collective post.  This month the theme is Seeds.  

I have to admit, when I started to plan a garden, I bought lots of seeds.  How hard can it be right?  Sprinkle some seeds, bit of dirt, water, and hey presto, lots of plants.  Ok so it doesn't go like that.  I can grow seeds alright, but once I transplant them they seem to die a thousand deaths.  Too dry, too hot, too wet, too mouldy, too many slugs - the list goes on.  So I admit that I know cheat a little bit and now I mostly buy seedlings.

However I have had a bit of luck with seeds.  Radishes and coriander work well, plus I've had success with capsicums.  Cucumber and tomatoes haven't been so great.

"Even a child can grow radishes" #thingsmydadsays #garden #vegetables #herbs pic.twitter.com/YBuYdCQ1gL

— Crooked Cottage (@crookedcottage1) February 5, 2015

On the non food front, I managed to grow lots and lots of flowers from bulbs this year (they're seeds right?)

One of the lovely hyacinths I grew earlier this year.

My pretty ranunculus - any excuse to put more pictures of these out!

Despite the fact that I am not great at growing from seed, I have still been collecting my seeds religiously.  Possibly a waste, but I have hundreds of seeds of basil, coriander, pak choi, broccolino, and chillis.  Plus of course capsicum.  I have one lettuce that went to seed but those little babies are so fine I am not sure I could catch them in anything.  And I'm thinking about trying to keep some of the snow pea and broad bean pods just in case I get better at this seed growing gig.

So this month I finally grew a cauliflower.  I was pretty proud of that!

My very first ever cauliflower - completed with moth eaten leaves and some friendly bugs!

The broad beans also bore fruit (or vegetables?) but I have decided they are a total waste of effort.  By the time you pod the beans, then repod again you end up with about a quarter of the plant to actually eat.

Broad beans

More broad beans

Snow peas kept on going, as did my asian greens and spinach.

Spinach, chives and land cress - which all went in to a very delicious scrambled egg breakfast!

The asian greens are growing well

The garlic looks like it might be ready sometime soon.

I made a rookie error when planting out cucumber and sugar snap pea seedlings with no protection fro the marauding slugs, so I had to do that all over again!

My land cress has gone crazy, and now that I don't have very many brassicas to protect from white cabbage moth I will be putting it into salads.

And it's getting hotter, so my tomato seedlings are growing well.  

Happy gardening to you all for spring!

Another shot of my cauli

Garden Share Collective - August

I missed last months Garden Share due to work, planning a holiday and general laziness.  But despite my general neglect of the garden (or maybe because of it!) some of my vegies are going well - and some not so well.

So as I missed last month this is a sort of catch up post!

I have managed to do a bit of planting, most of which was done in mid July.  I put in broad beans, cauliflower, and baby beets.  All were bought as seedlings, some from our local organic markets, (Orange Grove) and some from the nursery.  I also bought a kaffir lime tree from the markets.

These are my broad beans and cauliflowers after planting.

Snow peas are going great - climbing up my improvised chicken wire lattice - and I have even managed to harvest a grand total of 4 peas - but there are plenty more coming.

Lovely snow peas flowering away -and some of the peas themselves

My first ever snow pea ready to harvest

Broad beans also look good, flowering away and have grown much bigger.  No beans yet but I'm sure they're coming.

The broad bean flowers are quite lovely.

Trying to be arty aerial view of the broad beans - but it means you can't see really how well they've grown

The cauliflowers have grown and my land cress appears to still be working to keep the caterpillars away, but no sign of any florets yet.

The pak choi has been half/half - two seedlings bolted straight to seed and are now flowering away - the other two are looking like we need to cook some stir fries!

Look at the pak choi go!

Silverbeet has grown well and we have been picking a bit as we go.

Need to get eating the spinach

Other vegies that have still been providing this month are my never ending rocket plant - the more we pick, the more we get!

Some of the celery I planted ages ago is still going strong.

Coriander has gone a bit to seed but there are still quite a few good plants, and the other herbs - oregano, mint, thyme, rosemary - are still ticking along.  I also put in a pineapple sage so will see how that turns out.

When we got back from our holiday I discovered the broccolettes had all gone to seed, so they have been pulled out. Likewise my chilli plants I decided to pull out as they had gone pretty straggly.  The garlic were looking a bit brown, which may have been from lack of water (I went away and had assumed it would rain enough to water my garden - luckily nothing died but I probably should have arranged some watering!) and the lemon tree is looking like it needs a bit of fertiliser.

Bit of a mess - but broccolettes gone to seed, coriander also heading that way, the never ending rocket and some chives hidden in there too.

The garlic plants are still going well.

I had to conclude my potato in a bag experiment as all the plants had died.  I think a variety of factors played a part in this failed effort - probably not enough sun as I had in my back courtyard, which gets very little direct sun.  Also I have a bad habit of neglecting the back yard and focussing on the front, so I may not have watered often enough.  And when I just dug out the bag I discovered the top soil was quite dry but the bottom soil was quite muddy and almost clay like, so I suspect the drainage in the bag was not sufficient.  So for my 4+ months of effort I only have 3 small chats and some tiny easter egg sized potatoes!  On the plus side, the soil in the bag was full of worms and will now be stored until I can use it for some more planting in spring.

The grand total of my potato experiment.  Not exactly successful.

Very blurry but we're hardly going to be self sufficient at this rate!

So my plans for the next month - I will be travelling a lot for work so realistically I won't get much done, and can't really plant too many seeds as I won't be around to care for them.  But I'm hoping to keep tending my peas and beans.  I also want to spend some time planning out my spring/summer garden as my pots seem to be multiplying and I want to dig up my front garden bed, which has been overrun with self seeded vincas and even a primula or two that have popped up - but I think I could use the space better for vegies given the full sun it receives.