An (almost) spring morning

I woke this morning to sunshine streaming through my windows and a perfectly blue sky. This seems to rarely happen on a weekend so I was quickly up, dressed and out the back door into the garden. For the first time in months I was able to sit outside in the sunshine for breakfast - mixed berry porridge with maple syrup and coffee. It was also lovely and warm and I soon peeled off my jumper and soaked up some Vitamin D while I was at it.

Then it was onto a few garden jobs. First of the list was the lawn. You might remember a few weeks back I put down some Kikuyu seeds to try and get the grass looking a bit better. I had initially been really hesitant to use a self-repairing variety as I was worried it would take over the garden. So far it is looking great and has really thickened up and filled in a lot of the gaps. It has grown really long with all this rain so I've cut it right back. One of the challenges (or benefits) of a tiny garden is that it is too small to mow. The patch of grass is about 1m wide and 3m long, so big enough for lying in the sunshine and adding a bit of green to the garden, but not for much else. When I initially planted it I bought a pair of clippers that have worked really well. The man in the hardware shop thought I was completely nuts when I said what I wanted them for, but it really has its benefits. It only takes me about 10 mins to do the whole lawn, and also is a good opportunity to get down close to it and pull up the clover and other weeds as I go.

Next, I had a look around the garden and checked on how everything was going. The sweetpeas are getting bigger and are appearing on almost all of the plants now. The vines themselves are still quite small and I suspect I should have pinched off the first flowers to promote growth first.

Last winter I planted some freesia's around the garden but didn't see a single flower out of them. This morning when I went outside I noticed this beautiful purple one growing next to some kale in the vegetable patch. It must have slept all last winter and decided to wait until this year to come out.

The lemon tree is showing some amazing growth with new leaves popping up all over it. I was also surprised to see there are tiny flowers sprouting out of the branches. Hopefully I get at least one lemon this year!

While admiring the beautiful orange of this succulent flower I discovered it is covered in little bugs which I suspect are aphids. They look a little like baby grasshoppers but are much too small. I've heard just spraying with water is one way to get rid of them, but I'm open to any other suggestions!

Finally, after embarking on a few other projects which I'll talk about later, I gave the whole garden a good water with some Seasol. By this time the sky was clouding over and the sun had long gone, so I was quite happy to head back inside and close off the fishy seaweed smell!

Where has the day gone?

I got a bit distracted at the garden shop today, so by the time I'd got everything home and unpacked there wasn't a whole lot of light left. However I did manage a few jobs that have piling up over winter.

I've FINALLY repotted my lemon tree. I'm sure it will grow out of this pot eventually, but for now it has somewhere to live.

I also refilled the water tank. A garden without a tap can be rather annoying, and I mostly end up filling buckets from the house. The other option is a hose over the fence, but this means walking out the front door and around the building to turn the hose on, then running back around, through the house, out the back door - to try and catch the hose and release the pressure before it explodes! Followed by the same in reverse when I want to turn it off again. There have been a few annoying water explosions doing this! So - my solution so far has been to fill a plastic water tank from the hose, and use this to fill a watering can. I still need to do the sprint around the house when its been hot and I want to give the garden a really good watering, but for the occasional drink when its not raining the tank and watering can work just fine.

Finally, I've put some more lawn seed down to fill in all the holes that have appeared over winter. There is rain forecast all week so it seems like a good time to give it another go. This time I've gone with a self repairing variety, Kikuyu, to see if this works better. The ground is almost all clay, and the previous varieties I've tried have been so thin that it's time to try something different. More on the lawn another day.

I'll leave with a glimpse of some of the mess I'm going to need to deal with tomorrow. Hopefully now this photo is up here it will motivate me to actually get to it all!

Spring is in sight

The sun is out, the windows are wide open, and there is a feeling of warmth in the air. It is only early August, but it is starting to feel like the worst of winter is over and time to start getting back in the garden. As I wondered outside earlier this morning, it suddenly became clear how badly my garden has become neglected over the past few dark dreary months. The garden beds are full of weeds, there are strange plants taking over my pots, and the lettuce have gone crazy! Fortunately everything is still alive and looking green - it just needs a little bit of love.

So - this weekend I plan to have a garden clean out. That is, if this amazing weather holds out and its not back to the usual drizzle and icy winds that whip through Melbourne.

There are still plenty of signs of new spring growth in the garden. The sprouting garlic I picked up last week at the local farmers market is settling in well to its new pot.

The lemon tree I had almost given up on is now sprouting new growth. This tree received a rather agressive prune after coming home from the nursery, on the advice of the staff. I thought I might have gone a little too far when it then decided to spend the next 6 months hibernating and pretending to be dead. It is back though, and should start to have branches and leaves (and hopefully lemons) in no time.

Throughout the garden flowers are popping up. These interesting orange ones recently grew out a a succulent, and the pink snap dragons below are a surviving remnant from last summer.

 The peas are beginning to flower, some mint I pulled out from between the brick pavers is taking off in its new home, and the broccoli and kale (despite a slow start) are now beginning to take off.

Lemon Butter

It has been grey drizzly afternoon, great for the garden, especially on an afternoon when I don't need to go outside! Instead I've been enjoying the warmth of the kitchen whipping up a batch of lemon butter.

I adapted the recipe from one of my favourite cooking sites, the Gluten Free Scallywag. I was amazed how quick and easy it was. The last time I attempted a lemon butter, it seemed like hours of stirring, only to find the egg cooked when I added it to the mixture, causing great big lumps of solid egg-white throughout the mix. This version has the egg and sugar added from the start so there is no chance of that happening.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Lemon Butter (Lemon Curd)

3 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g castor sugar
50ml lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
3tsp lemon zest (about three lemons)
100g cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes


Beat together eggs, egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy.
Measure out lemon juice and zest and keep aside. 
Heat egg and sugar mixture on low to medium heat, stirring briskly until sugar has disolved. A heavy based saucepan works best. Add lemon juice and zest, and continue stirring. 

Gradually add the butter, one cube at a time, adding another when the last has disolved. While this is happening the mixture will begin thickening. 

Once all the butter has disolved reduce the temperature to a low heat and stir gently as it reaches a boil. This should take 3-4 minutes, and the mixture should now be nice and thick.

Remove from the heat and press through a sieve to remove the lemon zest. You can ignore this stage if you want a chunkier curd. Pour into a sterilised* jar and refrigerate for 3-4 hours until firm. 

* To sterilise a jar, slowly heat in a cool oven for 20 - 25 mins, or follow these instructions. 

Farmers market finds

This morning I stumbled across a farmers market not far from where I live. I had heard about it before, but had never managed to remember to go down on a Sunday morning (I am usually curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee).

As well as picking up my usual fruit and vegetables, I came home with some lovely flowers, a bunch of adorable heirloom carrots and four seedlings wrapped in newspaper. There was a huge selection on offer but I eventually went with red spring onions, purple silverbeet, red russian kale and some broccolini. I also picked up a bulb or planing garlic which will make an interesting experiment as growing garlic is completely new to me.

While not from my garden, a neighbour recently gave me a large bag of lemons and baby mandarins that were growing on their tree. The mandarins were polished off quickly, but the lemons have been waiting for the right dish. I've finally decided to go with a lemon butter so I use them before they go mouldy or dry out. I'll post the results of that later.

Welcome to my tiny garden

I decided to write this blog to record the changes in my garden through the seasons and to track the progress of little projects I'm working on. 


I live in a ground floor apartment in Melbourne, Victoria and am incredibly lucky to have access to a private courtyard garden. Growing up on a suburban quarter acre block, I was always surrounded by plant-life and spent my childhood climbing trees, playing in our 'jungle', or reading on the grass in the sunshine. As an adult, I've moved between share houses, usually without the luxury of a garden. Where I've been able to, I've grown vegetables or flowers in pots, but have found this quite limiting. 


My current home has a small 8m x 2m courtyard. It is half paved and half grass, with a raised bed running along the side. When I moved in the bed was already filled with flowers and herbs, so I have been gradually updating as I go along. I'm trying to grow mostly vegetables and herbs, but I still like to scatter flowers throughout the garden to keep it looking pretty. I've also got a sad lemon tree who I am hoping to bring back to life and finally bear fruit. 


I try to grow organically as much as possible, especially with edible plants. I'm also learning as I go, so if you have any tips or ideas please feel free to comment and let me know. 


Thanks for reading.