Gardening

Tony Page said:
They delivered the three Honeyberry bushes I ordered, I'm preparing the garden bed for them to be planted. They also delivered with the Honeyberry bushes three strawberry plants, I will start preparing their bed and planting them soon as I'm finished with Honeyberry bushes.

A few days ago my wife picked a little over 25 pounds of tomatoes. I know this because she weighed them on our kitchen scale. She also picked a few cukes and one or two peppers, and some large trumpet squash.

We ordered a food mill and are expecting delivery today. we always had one, it was lost in the house fire and it's about time we replaced it. My wife wants to use it on the tomatoes we'll see how that goes.

the weather has gotten a lot cooler we're actually reaching night time temperatures in the high 50s, soon it will be time to clean up the garden vegetable beds.
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You will enjoy using it. It beats using a kitchen machine as no crushed seeds end up in your product.
 
It’s spring here ……sneezing season ……for us ….I've already planted a punnet of 4 tomato plants Roma tomatoes , and I bought a single tomato plant at the food supermarket yesterday ,called San Marzano , I’ve never planted them before , but they will be good for our yearly batch of tomato juice we make along with the Romas
 
Kate Ellery said:
It’s spring here ……sneezing season ……for us ….I've already planted a punnet of 4 tomato plants Roma tomatoes , and I bought a single tomato plant at the food supermarket yesterday ,called San Marzano , I’ve never planted them before , but they will be good for our yearly batch of tomato juice we make along with the Romas
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Love watching your reverse gardening seasons. Gives me hope for through the winter here.
 
Kate Ellery said:
It’s spring here ……sneezing season ……for us ….I've already planted a punnet of 4 tomato plants Roma tomatoes , and I bought a single tomato plant at the food supermarket yesterday ,called San Marzano , I’ve never planted them before , but they will be good for our yearly batch of tomato juice we make along with the Romas
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San Marzano makes nice tomatoe sauce.
 
Jacqueline Lindt said:
Really bizarre ...it's October and still getting some zucchini
and my roses are still blooming ! hmmm
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We have blooms on the squash now, too, but it is way too late for them to make any winter squash. The vines are all over, but there is nothing but flowers, so I have been pruning them back and putting the vines on the compost pile. Next year, I will plant them earlier and hope we don’t have such a hot summer as we had this year.
When it stays over 90+, the squash and tomatoes have very few blossoms, but new they do.
 
Just about got our latest raised garden bed ready , latter today it will be ready to plant seedlings or seeds …for nice summer pickings ….in the warmer months we can gather enough food for a full meal out of our small garden
 
Kate Ellery said:
Lantana is a noxious weed in Australia @Beth Gallagher

Altho it grew in the areas I grew up in that was more or less desert ,so it added some greenery

Lantana | Pest animals and weeds | Environment and Heritage

Lantana impacts biodiversity in New South Wales and is listed as a Weed of National Significance.
www.environment.nsw.gov.au www.environment.nsw.gov.au
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It is a weed especially the original yellow. Pretty though. Deer do not care for it. When you get into pink or pink/yellow the plant is not as hardy as the yellow.
 

What is lantana?​

Lantana (Lantana camara) is a large flowering shrub native to Central and South America that readily grows into thickets. After being brought to Australia as an ornamental garden plant in about 1841, the weed quickly escaped domestic cultivation and within 20 years was established in the wild.

Lantana was first declared a Noxious weed In the 1930’s AND ~ by the 1950’s …it had spread over more than 1600 hundred kilometres of the eastern Australian coastline.

In 2006, the invasion, establishment and spread of lantana was listed as a key threatening process by the NSW Scientific Committee. It thrives in warm environments with high rainfall where the weed grows along forest edges, penetrates disturbed rainforest and invades open eucalypt woodlands and pastures. Within Australia, it has invaded more than 4 million hectares.
 
Sounds like the kudzu of Australia. Here's kudzu invading the southern USA...

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I found that there are "safe" varieties of lantana which are apparently the type(s) sold in American nurseries.

How to Tell Safe Varieties from Invasive Ones

Invasive (Lantana camara): Often has multi-colored flower clusters (red, orange, yellow, pink) and a strong, musty smell when crushed.

Safe / Native Options: Look for true native species (like Texas Lantana or pineland lantana) or certified sterile cultivars sold at local nurseries that do not produce viable seeds.
 
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Beth Gallagher said:
Sounds like the kudzu of Australia. Here's kudzu invading the southern USA...

View attachment 6055

I found that there are "safe" varieties of lantana which are apparently the type(s) sold in American nurseries.

How to Tell Safe Varieties from Invasive Ones

Invasive (Lantana camara): Often has multi-colored flower clusters (red, orange, yellow, pink) and a strong, musty smell when crushed.

Safe / Native Options: Look for true native species (like Texas Lantana or pineland lantana) or certified sterile cultivars sold at local nurseries that do not produce viable seeds.
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By the description that’s the one that grows here in Australia @Beth Gallagher

And yes I remember the smell ..very well ,cause we’d pull the petals out of the flowers and sprinkle them over each others head ,and say such and such is getting married ….

There used to be a few around here when we first moved here , but those areas are now covered in homes

OMG that growth would take some controlling , Beth ….we have another weed in Australia, that’s taken over in some country areas called
Morning glory, its been on the do not plant list for as long as I can remember , but you can still buy the seeds online

I believe from what our local council told me when I enquired about street trees , lots of trees and shrubs sold at nurseries are now bred to be sterile so they don’t drop so much mess/ seeds / berries to make a slipping hazard on footpaths
 
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