All picked out

Tired of chasing the birds I decided to remove the netting from the big cherry tree (one day I will find the name tag) and discovered they are ready for picking.  A few could wait another day or two but they will only be lost to the birds.

I picked over two kilos of cherries.  Over the past couple of weeks I have been picking some as they ripened.  I cannot say this is a bumper crop but this has been the best harvest so far.

fruits from the garden

These cherries are ready for picking and the birds seem to know it too.  Even with the netting in place I have to shoo away the Indian mynahs trying to find a way in.

The apricot tree is dwarfed by the huge gum tree and no matter how much compost and manure I dig into the soil around this tree they do not seem to provide enough nutrient to give me big fruits to boast about.  The fruits, slightly bigger than the cherries are so sweet.  I will keep piling the compost and manure around the apricot tree.  I may have better luck next year.

This plate of cherries and apricots may not go far but their sweetness will be forever remembered.

More poppies

This poppy plant, an orange shade or red, appeared in the pot of bush bean and I left it there.  The cluster of flowers are still looking good after two days, even with the heat of yesterday.  I must remember to collect the seeds.

This deep red poppy is one of the many that have popped up all over the garden, from self seeding.  I hope to have more of them next year.

I must remember to save the seeds from this pink poppy.  Next winter I shall create a patch to sow the poppy seeds so as to create a statement come next November.

The poppies are all over the place, even in the garden box.  Like wild flowers they have established themselves in my garden and hopefully will return each spring.

Cherry trees

This is the bigger of my two cherry trees.  The netting had come undone and a couple of birds were attracted to the ripening fruits so I had to start all over again and wrap the netting carefully.

This bunch of cherries will be ready soon.  They are from the big tree and I am sure this is the Stella variety.  Fortunately the big tree is free from cherry slugs which have been attacking the little tree.

This bunch is from the smaller tree.  I have removed the leaves on top of the fruits as they were infested with cherry slugs.  I had to check all the leaves for the slugs which I squashed and to make sure they are all killed I sprinkled talcum powder all over.  The powder will suffocate any remaining slug.

When the slugs eat the leaves they become incapable of photosynthesizing, hence weakening the tree.  The brown leaves alerted me to the presence of the slugs.

The small cherry tree after the removal of slugs and ready to be covered in netting.

banksia

This banksia growing on the west facing outside garden is doing well this year, from the numbers of flower buds.  It is a very attractive lime- colour banksia and as I bought it from the sales table at CERES over six years ago it did not come with a label.  I did not expect it to survive but it is proving me wrong.

A close up view of the banksia flowers.

Poppies and cherries

Last winter I bought a packet of poppies of many colours and sprinkled the seeds in different parts of the garden.  The poppies, some pink and some with edging of white and some in different shades of red are flowering at the moment.  In addition to that the self sown red poppies have been flowering in the last few weeks.

This cherry tree is well wrapped up to protect its precious fruits from birds and possums.  The fruits are still green.  The fruits of the smaller tree will be ready for picking in the next few days, as shown in the picture below.