More Fun in the Garden, Indoors and Out

 

Look at this absolute pair of sweethearts. All Red wanted for Christmas was a friend for Simon the Tabby Cat so on the day the cat rescue place opened after Christmas we went and adopted this dear little poppet who had been in the shelter for months. She is blind in one eye and not very friendly, because she is scared. But after spending two days hiding under Red's bed we introduced her to Simon and she ran straight out, miaowing, and booped him on the head and gave him big kisses. She has been in love with him ever since. Red named her Quinni, and she lets Red pat her now, and mostly still just glares at me. They are both inside cats, but we wanted to give them a spot to catch some sunshine and fresh air, so we built a catio. Paul donated the tea tree branches, and he and I put the whole structure together one day, and then we borrowed an electric staple gun from my friend Sandra (who is queen of DIY and has made a magnificent catio for her own cats) and Red attached the chicken wire. We filled up the bottom of the catio with firewood rounds so the cats aren't tempted to use the ground as a kitty litter tray, and made a shelf for them from a fence paling. The kitties love their new vantage point.

Yesterday it rained and I cancelled my gardening job and made passata instead. This is this week's tomato harvest.

I chopped them up and boiled them down, then added some basil donated by my friend Lesley. She planted basil in pots and kept them in saucers which always had a bit of water in them, and has a magnificent basil crop. I think basil wants more water than I have been giving it. I will try Lesley's technique next year and see if it works for me.

Four tubs of passata go into the freezer. Earlier this week I made a huge plant-based chili with last week's tomato harvest, plus zucchinis, onions, garlic, mushrooms, lentils, black beans and kidney beans, and a jar of 2020 salsa that I have been trying to use up for three years now. Only a few to go.

After yesterday's rain this morning the ground was in a perfect condition for weeding, adding manure and compost and planting pea seedlings for spring. I added some extra protection from blackbirds who love to dig up baby peas. I still have another tray of pea seedlings which germinated later than these. Next week I will plant them on the other side of the trellis.

This is half of my capsicum crop! These are mini capsicums, about the size of a cherry tomato, and very cute. I got them from a local seed library, and I will save the seeds and plant them again next year. Maybe a few more! The mini ones are good as they form and ripen a bit faster than full size ones. We often have quite cool summers here in Tasmania, and capsicums don't always ripen, but I think these tiny treats are winners. I think they would be adorable stuffed, but who am I kidding, I have never stuffed a capsicum in my life. I will probably cut them into tiny crudites and eat them with hommus:)

I've had these antique chairs in the dining room for years. They are horizontal surfaces and attract clutter, and they are a little bit delicate, so if I use them as extra seating for a gathering they often break again and that's embarrassing for whoever is sitting on them. So I moved them to the attic.

I swapped them for these plants which have been living in the attic because I didn't have space for them downstairs. The ctentanthe was a tiny little plant I bought seven years ago and is now a giant. I have repotted at least two babies from her in that time. The fiddle leaf fig is the same age. I bought both plants to 'stage' my old place when I was selling it, in 2016. The fiddle leaf has grown straight up, and I am going to prune it in the spring to gain another plant, and encourage it to branch out. In the meantime, it gets to be tall. The begonia is from Paul, and he in turn received it as a cutting from one of his friends. The cats' water is under the begonia so they can pretend they are panthers in the jungle. I love my plants and cats. I am the cat/plant lady, which I think is a perfectly reasonable ambition in life for anyone.

A couple of weeks ago Rosy and I went to the adorably cute little village of Evandale to see the Glover exhibition, a Tasmanian landscape art prize. While we were there we went into an antique shop and I found this steel box which we both decided that I needed. Because it is a steel box I should probably store important documents in it, but as it is, all that is going to escape from the house fire is my seeds:)

It is such a cute box. It has layers! Up the top I have the seeds I am planting right now (broad beans and peas).

Underneath there are all the other seeds, and bags of empty seed envelopes for seed saving, and a bag of plant labels so I remember what all my plants are called. On the side are my seed sowing aids: plant labels (icy pole sticks), a sharpie, sticky tape and scissors. All set for planting all the things now.

The last thing I have been up to while it has been wet is fertilising all the indoor plants. This should really have been done in spring to give the plants some nutrients in the warm growing season, but let's not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Good enough, that is. It's good enough that it isn't actually winter yet, right? So, because many of my plants are attached to the walls I can't take them outside anymore, so I brought in a pail of potting compost and some pelletised chicken manure, and fertilised and topped up all the plants in the house. I think they enjoyed it. I am enjoying my indoor jungle. 

Tell me, are you also the crazy plant lady (or gentleman)? Do you spend your spare time training plants up walls and around windowsills? Isn't it fun?