Space savers:

 

Here is a nice little vegetable that we have just planted in our own garden. It's called Space Master Cucumber and it saves space in the garden! It's a compact variety superb for pots, hanging baskets or raised garden beds. It will produce slender dark green fruit about 7.5 inches long.

 

Available at Serenity Nursery this spring.

Bring on Spring Gardening!

Grow an assortment of  vegies and herbs in a rustic wheel barrow.

From Garden to Kitchen, it;s easy to grow your own.

Here are some ideas as to what to grow this Spring:

Capsicum

Tomatoes

Corn

Crystal Apple Cucumbers

Tuscan Kale

Leek

Cos lettuce

Eggplant

Cabbage

Climbing beans

Beetroot

Basil (herb)

Corriander (herb)

 

Kitchen Garden

Tuscan Kale

I'm always reading gardening magazines, books and blogs and today I found a great Kitchen Garden blog, Suburban Tomato. The author, Liz lives in Melbourne and grows her own to feed the family. It shows the hands on process of garden to plate and there is a whole heap of recipes that are tried and true. The Kale pictured above is one example of what Liz grows. Kale is a fab winter veg that teams well with mashed potatoes and other steamed veggies.

Image here

New Zealands Earthly Delights

 A sculpture made from rustic barbed wire.

 In the shape of a sheep, of course!

 A place for the birds.

A Simple yet elegant cast iron urn draws in the eye.

I love the rustic vegy patch to the right and the stark white gazebo in the background looks divine.

 The contrast of neatly pruned box hedge and romantic cottage plants is perfection.

 Old fashion dahlias and sedems in the forefront add colour to the greenery.

 An espaliered beurre bosc pear tree is a great use of space. Dwarf Tahitian lime trees are planted below making it a mini garden of Eden.

 Standard Olive trees with silvery grey foliage compliment the green box topiary.

 Another espaliered tree. This one is an apple tree. Not only does it look good its produces lots of yummy fruit. Dad brought this idea
 back home with him.

 An espaliered Fig tree is a magnificent idea.

I love the use of this gorgeous teak garden bench. It becomes a practical focal point in the garden.

I was amazed by Marian and Rodney's ( Mum and Dad's) photographs that they took on a recent holiday to New Zealand. A few of you have asked me to post some of their garden tour snaps on our blog.. so here they are. I hope you get inspired and excited as much as I did when I saw these lovely  garden pics. Enjoy...

Quirky Potting Room

As Marian and Rod delved further into the gardens of New Zealand they discovered the quirky side of some home owners. This particular garden had the most adorable little potting shed ( so good it looks better than my kitchen). Complete with a working sink, useful garden tools and lots of baskets to harvest the produce from the garden.

Image by Serenity Nursery

Grow for Purple

Grow Purple Carrots for the Easter Bunny.

Hop in to the garden centre and grab some Purple Carrot Seedlings ( only $2.25 ea).

Healthier than chocolate, purple carrots are full of

 powerful antioxidants.

Growing Tip: Make sure you prepare your soil well before planting carrot seedlings. Break up the soil with a garden fork and remove any stones, this will make it easier for the delicate roots to grow. Grow purple carrots in a well drained sandy loam. Compacted or heavy clay soils are not ideal and will restrict the tap root.



Autumn Ideas.

Plant annuals now for winter colour. It's the perfect time as the soil is still warm. Try pansies, violas and snap dragons.

Go for warm colours in the garden this autumn to create a sense of warmth

Autumn is the perfect time to rejuvenate your garden to prepare it for Spring. Prune hedges now to keep them compact before new growth. Pick up fallen leaves and compost regulary. Mulch well to encourage healthy soil and to keep your plant roots warm through the cooler months.

 

I't's a great time to grow stone fruit, citrus and lots of edible varieties.

Spend these lovely days outdoors admiring the warm autumn tones.

 

wheelbarrow image by Andrew Lehmann

The Bridge Gets fresh

Get your hands on some of the regions freshest produce  at the Murray Bridge Farmers Market. It's a fabulous new market , located

 alongside the Murray River at the wharf precinct.

There is a great mix of organic grown fruit, vegetables and produce all locally grown and made.

The Murray Bridge Farmers Market is open every Saturday 8:30am-12:30pm 



A colourful array of fruit and vegetables tempt you in to each stall. Find a mix of stone fruit, citrus fruit, Jams, pickles and locally made olive oil.

 Visit the skilled team at Obsession Coffee  and enjoy a coffee or tea while you browse the market.

Obsession Coffee is a newly formed artisan coffee roaster based at Mypolonga.

Deb O'Connor brings her cooking skills to the market with an exotic mix of gourmet pies.

Try a crocodile, myrtle and champagne pie, Syrian Chicken or Spicy curry snapper pie.

Take home some Flavorino sweet tomatoes and try Oriana's Pasta sauce, made right here in Murray Bridge.

The best thing about this market is that you know that the produce is in season, so you know it will taste good. You can visit the market and be inspired to cook, just talk to the stall holders for ideas on how to use their produce.

Take home some hand made Italian bread and try Giuseppe's olive oil..

Mingle with the locals and enjoy the atmosphere on the river.

Climbing Spinach

Come in store and grab yourself some climbing spinach. This unusual spinach is a perennial making an ideal vegetable to have on standby  for when your regular spinach goe to seed.

Climbing Spinach is yummy in Stir frys, stews and salads.

My Summer Garden

 I was absolutely thrilled when I spotted my first frangipani flower this season. My two established plants didn't flower last year after a funny season with the weather.

 Succulents are easy to grow and have maximum effect in the garden with bold colours and forms. I have this dark purple one planted in Serenity's rust urns.

My Lantana plant grows like mad and needs a good trim back every so often to keep it controlled.

Tomato plants are planted in half kegs, provincial urns and any where there is room and enough sunlight.

One of the super cute pigs that I picked up at the nursery. This one was looking up at me saying "take me home" now I have three pigs.

Grow Gorgeous Lettuce

It's salad time and a great time to grow lettuce. Choose a pick and eat variety that allows you to pick what you need and the remaining plant will grow thicker and healthier. Feed your lettuce with a liquid fertiliser such as Power Feed every couple of weeks and make sure they get plenty of sunshine.

Ask us instore about our tips on keeping earwigs and snails away.

image via Oasis Horticulture

Spring Planting

While I was making Rhubarb pudding my husband attended to the veggie patch.

Tim made a tomato trellis using timber stakes and wire.

Planting lots of new veg. to our existing patch so we can continue to harvest throughout the year.

After all the seedlings were planted Tim used Seagold liquid kelp to help establish the vegetables.

What veggies to plant in Spring:

Tomatoes, Capsicums, Pumpkins, Lettuce, Eggplant, Chillies, Spring Onion, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Garden peas, Beans

Lots of vegie seedlings and Seeds in store now see you soon.

Creative ways to Recycle

Use empty coffee tins as mini planters. Drill a few holes in the bottom, fill with soil and plant succulents, impatiens, cacti or herbs in them.

 Do you have wooden boxes laying around? Make them useful. Store newspapers or firewood in them or...

 Plant herbs and veggies..

Stack them up for a rustic storage solution.

Image 1 Beautiful Simple Things,  Image 2 unknown Image 3 Crumpled envelope, Image 4 Bright bazaar



..3..2..1 Blast Off

With Spring just around the corner it is the perfect time to give your garden a 'blast'.

Neutrogs Rocket fuel is a certified organic pelletised fertiliser ideal for your entire garden. Rocket fuel has been specially formulated to help you grow healthy organic fruit

and veggies. Skip in today and grab some, your garden will thank you for it.

Image via neutrog.com