The Pool Room: where all the good stuff ends up
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Vegetable Garden
I began building the new vegie patch on 16-9-2001. Railway sleepers are bloody heavy – don’t start a garden like this with a pregnant wife who can’t help! By 17-10-2001 (hey, nothing works fast in our house!), the retaining walls were set up. I laid a thick layer of newspapers over the grass, then arranged…
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Nursery Preparations
We bought a bare pine chest of drawers for the baby’s room. After much deliberation, we decided to paint it a gender-neutral bright red and yellow. The cot we bought off a friend also got a lick of paint while the brushes were out. All we need now is a baby.
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Lettuce ‘Green Cos’
Mr. Fothergill’s (seed) Lettuce ‘Green Cos’. An excellent variety of cos lettuce, producing large, firm hearts with a crisp texture and good flavour. It is suitable for both Spring and Autumn sowing. Sow: Spring and Autumn, a few seeds in each clump, 6mm deep. Cover with a fine layer of seed raising mix or soil,…
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Christmas At Husky
On Saturday 8-12-2001, we had our first Christmas dinner with Mum and Dad down at Huskisson.
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Zucchini
My favourite way to cook zucchini is in a small saucepan with butter and thyme. Towards the end of their fruiting life, I leave one or two zucchinis per plant to grow into a huge marrow. These are great stuffed with chilli-flavoured mince and topped with grated cheese. It pays to have plenty of bees…
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Lettuce ‘Tuscan Salad Mix’
There were four types of lettuce in the punnet -?La Roma Green, endive, radicchio and La Roma Red. The photos below are in that order (thanks to Luc Dedeene from http://www.plantaardig.com for helping me figure that out!). Floriana (seedlings) Lettuce ‘Tuscan Salad Mix’. A mix of La Roma Red, La Roma Green, Radicchio and spidery…
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Beneficial Creatures
The more beneficial creatures you can get to take up residence in your back yard, the less work you have to do to keep garden pests under control. Lizards Lizards clean up slugs, snails and other bugs. All they seem to want in return is a log or rock to live under and a pond…
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Blue-Tongued Lizard
The easiest way to keep pests under control is to let their predators do it for you. I’ve got a team of lizards patrolling both front and back gardens, cleaning up snails, slugs and other pests. All they seem to want in return is a steady water supply and a few rocks to bask on…
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Grace Is Born
Our first child, Grace Anne, was born at 12:11pm on the 27th of December 2001 at the Royal Hospital For Women, Randwick. She weighed 3.340kg (7lb 5oz), and measured 51cm (just over 20 inches). I had a great sleep last night. Unfortunately Megan can’t say the same thing — she started getting contractions around midnight,…
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Banksia Harpin
The common name is Banksia Harpin (botanic name Banksia Spinulosa). I’m planning to plant it halfway along the back fence to help screen out the neighbours’ house. Kiama Council (seedling) Banksia Harpin (banksia spinulosa). Red-orange flowers in Autumn to Spring. Grows to 1-4 metres. 11 Nov 2001: Kiama Council gives away free trees to ratepayers.…