Not too much to report for this visit, arrived late on the Saturday, as I had helped out at Michaela's 6th birthday - which was a combined mermaid/pirate party.
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Michaela's party #1
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| Michaela's party #2 |
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| Michaela's party #3 |
Anyway, got to Inglewood around 6.30pm, toured the garden and was pleased to see more lupins out - different colours
The mulberries were also looking mighty fine, with lots of new low growth, I'm looking forward to a bumper crop this year.
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| lush mulberrry tree |
And the cherries are also ripening.. The 1st year I harvested 6 edible cherries. Last year there were none, as they all dried up due to lack of water. This year I might have a dozen if I'm lucky. One of these days we'll have to put in a watering system...
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| look at those ripening cherries |
I then watered the "orchard" and the citrus trees, as they were looking a bit thirsty. Given that it was such a lovely evening, I repaired to the veranda with a glass of wine, some nibbles, and the Saturday Age. Very pleasant. I didn't bother with dinner as I'd been picking at the party food earlier too. So to bed relatively early to watch an episode from the last season of the Wire. It's getting pretty exciting!
Sunday dawned bright and sunny. No surprise there. Tootled around in the garden. Bought some stakes for the olive trees as they were bending in the wind, and needed further support.
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| supported olives |
Mucked around with the yuccas, watered and weeded around them. A bloke called to me from the back gate, as he was interested in the house, and was asking me questions about it. He told me that his friends had walked into the garden under the hoop pine to look around, which we agreed was rather cheeky to do. He also asked me about the fire out the back, and whether it was a regulated burn or something out of control.
This surprised me, as I had been so engrossed in my gardening that I hadn't noticed the large plume of smoke out over the scrub behind the IGA.
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| DSE burnoff |
Of course I went to investigate, not too close of course, and eventually found out that it was a planned burnoff by the DSE as per the notice put up on the IGA notice board. Luckily it wasn't a windy day, but on the other hand the smoke hung around, and got in the house making everything smell smoky.
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| DSE notice |
Another solo rendevous on the veranda, this time with a G&T before dinner, and then the last 2 episodes of the Wire. I think I'll have to watch it all over again one of these days, as there are so many strands and so many characters to keep track of.
Monday morning, and I did some experimental cooking. I had read that you can eat artichoke stalks, as they taste like the heart. So I made up 4 jars. we'll see what they taste like in a few weeks. I had also given myself another day at Inglewood, as I would have felt cheated leaving on the Sunday after only arriving on Saturday evening.
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| Pickled artichoke stalks |
I also thinned out the vegie patch, cut back the brocolli and rocket, and collected the seeds from these, and the lettuce and red hot poker - making my very own Inglewood seed banks!
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vegie patch pre thinning #1
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| vegie patch pre thinning #2 |
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| rocket seeds |
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| lettuce seeds |
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| brocolli seeds |
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| red hot poker seeds |
I sowed some further vegie seeds in the now cleared space - more rocket, spinach, beans etc. And I cleared out the new bed that I had made opposite from the vegie bed, next to the wood shed. There was a lot of couch grass that I had to dig out, and that was quite tough. Then I dug through some horse manure, planted some more raspberries there, and also put in some pumpkin and cucumber seeds. And finally covered it with mulch.
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| horse manure in preparation for the unweeded bed behind |
Went and visited Steven and Denise around 11, and Denise and I went off to have a coffee at the Empire, so had a chat with Enzo as well. He offered us shot, by this stage it was about 11.45. Denise initially said no, but I surprised her and Enzo by saying yes, as after all it was my birthday (the previous Wednesday) so I could still celebrate. Enzo made the 3 of us a Monkey punch - kahlua, creme de menthe and Tia maria. Rather nice. He then told us about a new honey whisky and gave us a taste of that too. Woo hoo, we stopped there, as I was driving back to Melbourne later that afternoon.
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Stock shot of a shot (my phone camera was full by
this stage and I couldn't take any more photos |
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