Mushroom

Two weeks ago I bought a box of mushroom planter with tiny mushrooms  showing through.  It is the Swiss brown mushroom.  Yesterday I harvested three large ones to stir-fry with some bok choi from the garden.  What is left in the picture will make a couple of good meals and I can see a few tiny buds coming through the compost.

 The box of mushroom sits underneath the house.  I can't quite stand up straight under the house but entry is easy and there is enough room in this dark area for the mushroom to grow.  The compost has to be kept damp so watering it is a chore I have to remember.  I paid $8.00 for the box at the Sunday market and I hope to get at least $8.00 worth of fresh mushroom, if not more.

Jack Frost

Early Sunday morning I found the lawn white with frost and delicate plants brittle with ice covering.  This is a clump of Californian poppy, tucked in a corner of one of the vegetable boxes.  All three boxes are so exposed not one plant escaped Jack Frost's nippy fingers.  I watered the garden to wash away the ice and some will recover but a few delicate plants are burned black.

This lettuce may not survive and I will have to put in more seedlings.  I suppose I would have to cover the boxes if frost seemed likely.

This was a healthy Cape Gooseberry bush full of flower buds but I would have to cut it back as the affected parts are limp and quite dead.

This Kashmiri chilli bush seems to have recovered but I will pick the chillies before they become frozen with the next icy morning.

The parsley and baby kale may look beautiful with the frosty edging but another attack will surely kill the plants.  The kale are looking good and I am hoping they will be providing me with leafy green in late winter and early spring.

These broad beans and snow peas have since picked up.  They will be the main producers in spring so I will have to cover them up next time the temperature is going to plummet.  We have not had this kind of frost in a few years.

Blackened and dead is this tall clump of white tree dahlia.  On the Saturday the beautiful white flowers were looking good against the blue wintry sky and they would have lasted another week or two of a good show but they are looking quite unkempt now so will be chopped down.  I expect a few more frosty mornings to come but so long as I remember to protect the delicate specimens before bed time, I should not suffer too many losses.

bird of paradise

Bird of paradise is the common name of the strelitzia which is also sometimes referred to as the crane flower.  The flower does look like a bird of paradise.  It is strange that this tropical plant is flowering in winter but its beauty is most welcome now when the sky is usually grey.  This clump grows against the north facing wall of the house, a most suitable position.

Chilli and bok choi

You would think this chilli bush would have wilted with the cold weather we have been getting, but no.  I have been picking this hot bird's eye chillies when required rather than have them sitting in the fridge.  There are green chillies waiting to ripen.  The bush is a splash of colours, starting with the very young fruit starting as shiny black and then turning green as it gets bigger and finally the fiery red.  I hope this bush will keep me in chillies through the winter months.

What could be nicer than stir-fried bok choi, freshly picked?  I grew these bok choi from seedlings as I was too lazy to start from seeds.  They have been doing very well and I have to remember to purchase more seedlings.  Bok choi self sow quite easily and I have found a few seedlings coming up from seeds from the previous season.  I had left a couple of plants to go to seed and did not get around to collecting the seeds and they had looked after themselves.

Choko

This bushy choko vine is in a pot.  I planted two sprouting choko fruits at the same time, one in this pot and the other in the ground beneath the hakea in my outside garden.  The vine in the outside garden has clambered over the hakea tree and produced fruits.  I have picked three so far and I can see a couple more amongst the leaves.  Choko is not the most exciting vegetable but it is so easy to grow and from stories I have heard, very productive.  With a little bit of imagination you can turn this humble vegetable into whatever takes your fancy - from plain stir-fry to relish.

The two choko fruits in the picture are up high in the hakea tree.  I don't know if they will attract possums and cockatoos.  Being hidden amongst the leaves may help.  I also pick the tender shoots to add to stir-fry and that encourages growth.

These three chokos are still young and tender, unlike those found in the shops, which can be so mature that they are already sprouting.  I hope to see more fruits forming to be ready for picking over the winter months.

The camellia

From now till spring we will be seeing a succession of camellias flowering and I just love them.  I have three camellias in pots because I have not decided where to eventually plant them.  I have this one sitting on the back porch so I can admire the flowers from inside my warm house when it is wet and miserable outside.  The pink does lift the spirit.

This pink is a lighter shade.  I may just leave these plants in their pots and prune them to contain their size.  Even when not in flower the glossy green leaves of the camellia create a lushness in the garden.

White chrysanthemum and feijoa

I rescued this white chrysanthemum from the garden bed where it was looking half dead.  I hurriedly placed the clump in a pot with some compost and forgot about it.  The compost must have helped for I have been rewarded with some flowers which look better in real life.  I will have to look for a spot in the garden to plant it in when it has finished flowering.  In its first season a few years ago it was a splendid bush covered in the white flowers.

At the moment you may find gardens with feijoas left to rot under the trees.  I hope this feijoa bush of mine will grow into a productive tree and I will pick each and everyone of the fruits off the ground.  Feijoas are ready when they drop.  I discovered a few fruits on this bush and will wait to see if they will ripen.  They are not very big and may not have much flesh.