my creative space

I have been putting off sewing 6 cushion covers for our new couch for 5 weeks - and finally in the final week of school holidays it was time. There was to be NO more procrastination! I used fabrics from IKEA (PS screen printed spots), Umbrella Prints (sweet teal elephants), natural seeded cotton drill and ruby red linen ($2.00 a meter from Spotlight - woot!). I decided that those gorgeous white spots on the IKEA fabric would be too spread too far apart so I pinned two random pleats at intervals and sewed along

I watched this (whilst being impressed by a male sewing) and read this to learn the quickest and most practical way to sew in a zipper... and when I manage to buy the correct invisible zippers next time I will be sure to read this.

I am feeling pretty chuffed with myself, and The Boy even approves.. and LIKES!.. which doesn't happen often.

In a few days I will post some photos of our lounge room re-decorate, with spiffy new cushions in tow. Do pop back to Kristy's to see more making!

♥♥♥♥

flea market photos

I took a few days this week and went on a trip to visit my lovely friend and her gorgeous family. I am lucky to have a friend who knows me so well and took me to the most amazing secondhand warehouse - Limberlost in Laura, just a few hours north of Adelaide.

Picture loads of huge old rickety sheds in the middle of dried up paddocks, each piled high to the ceiling with old furniture in need of love and restoration, spiderwebs in every nook and cranny, paint peeling off doors making beautiful patterns, and piles of old farming tools knotted up together hanging from rafters. I was so blown away and fell for everything I laid my eyes on. However, I only bought one thing. One thing I have really hoped that I would find in a oppie one day, but have never found. Until now. It is so beautiful but needs a little tlc.  I will share my find next week :)

I took way too many photos but these are my favourites.

See more thriftiness over here 
♥♥♥♥
Tracey 

January plot

I have been trying to keep note of what vegetables and herbs we have planted or sown in each bed, so we don't forget and repeat plant the same crop in the same bed next season.  I thought I would try to create a plot organiser using Publisher every month or so. Yes I am still on school holidays, and yes I am a night owl and frequently stay up drinking tea and playing around with Publisher till 2am. 

We have not really stuck to any planting rules of thumb (aside from considering the amount and angle of sunlight in each bed throughout the day) as I was much too rapped about having a veggie garden and impatience got the better of me. Quite literally as seeds germinated in raising trays the next day they were whisked out and planted into freshly composted soil. 

So we'll see how that goes, without a doubt mistakes have been made. Next season we will be definitely consider companion planting and waiting until seedlings are strong enough to tackle the baking Summer sunshine. Lesson learnt!

* NOTE Those little wormy critters are most likely intestinal worms from the composted cow manure we turned into the soil before planting... and Hurrah - have NOT been munching anything. Thanks xx

mirror mirror on the.. fence

A new mirror thrifted for $10 is going to be hung on the fence. I love mirrors in gardens.

One colander full of nectarines from our tree. One colander more than last year. Watering helps hehe

I tied up bamboo stakes making 1.5 m high teepees for our Golden and Sugar Snap Beans.

Happy days!!

framed

I get bored easily, particularly of seeing the same things day in day out around the house. These IKEA ribba frames previously housed my great-nanna's salvaged lino and now hold three pretty illustrations taken from Frankie 2010 calendar and magazine.

left and right by Yoko Furuhso  middle by ghostpatrol

what the heck are these????

Dear gardeners,

It's true... I had hoped I would have a perfectly pest free vegetable garden. But it seems my dream of pest free gardening is not going to happen. Just weeks in and there are thousands, no - millions, of tiny white wormy critters on my carrot and chard plants, surrounding soil, and soaker hose.

I have been googling, and searching throughout all my gardening books and magazines to identify it, but cannot be sure. Might take a sample to Bunnings tomorrow morning. Oh, I am consumed with worried thoughts and imagine myself going for my morning stroll by the beds tomorrow to find they have chomped on all of my seedlings!!!

Have you seen these before in your garden? If so, what did you do to get rid of them, or are they beneficial?

Eeek!

rain rain ...

so great for our garden, yet so devastating for others.

from seed to seedling

After miserably failing to sprout an entire tray of seeds last week (note to self - seeds and teensy seedlings don't fare well in extreme direct sunlight), I think I am finally onto something. Woot! The trick? Much waiting and watering, shade hehe, watching and waiting and watering.

Little green radishes popped up first, 

then sweet basil, dwarf snap beans and finally silverbeet... those capsicum seeds aren't doing anything???

I transplanted those radish seedlings today into vege beds as the weather was relatively mild with all day cloud cover. The silverbeet should be ready to go in within the next few days. They are growing so quickly. This afternoon I decided to plant carrots and more radish seeds, as they grew so well for me) in x2 2.4m rows each and yellow butter beans beneath one of our homemade bamboo tee-pees. I have always enjoyed growing plants from seed with kids in my classroom in little pots, but to do it on a bigger scale and with the goal of eating our own produce to is...  so much better!

hurrah!

... for salad bowls overflowing with surprisingly sweet apricots and to almost completing a tricky puzzle.

radishes

Why did I do it? I never really LOVED them, but I planted them in raising trays... and oddly they are the most vigorous growers of all my seeds. I recall them being peppery and crunchy. What will I do with them? salads perhaps. Nom.

little veggie plot

Both The Boy and I have been ultra busy and a bit keen as mustard, so for good measure we built two more veggie beds, and now have 5 - which you can see in the photo below. The lower 'tetris bed' is officially his bed and will be for perrenial herbs and Asian greens (Bok Choy and Pak Choy), as my fellow is a stir fry wok master. 

I have been soaking seeds and checking on them like a new mother, which sprouted and are now in small seedling tubs growing a big enough to survive the Adelaide sun... except my carrot seeds are taking a long time to germinate. Too warm perhaps?? In the next few weeks we will hopefully be planting out radishes, snap beans, carrots, sweet basil and silverbeet seedlings.

The Boy has been so so busy, motivated and industrious today and installed drippers to our two new Passion fruit vines AND soaker hoses to all four other beds!! WOOT!! Can you see how impressed a girl is by such loveliness *sigh*

Oh, we all used extra soap tonight washing off any undesirable cow manure scent. Fun times in the garden!

♥♥♥♥