A mushroom harvest

Some weeks ago I decided that I would like to try growing mushrooms again. My first effort (years ago) was notably unsuccessful - something to do with not watering the compost regularly, I think.

So I bought a mushroom farm from Bunnings. I chose the Portobello one because I believe that variety of mushrooms has more flavour than the white buttons. I followed the instructions carefully and a week ago discovered some itsy bitsy buttons coming up.

Today we harvested three enormous ones and I actually ate almost all of one - quite a feat in view of my present aversion to food. Kevin ate the other one and enjoyed it, which is another plus. He is not really a mushroom fan.

Here is a photo of what is growing today. The big one at the back is actually one that we had already picked - it just got put back to show how big they are. Looks like a pretty good harvest tomorrow, too.

Dracaena Draco

or Dragon Tree, a native of the Canary Islands. Helen gave me a smallish specimen in a large pot for my birthday a couple of years ago and it has survived my haphazard care. In fact it has almost doubled in size.


Today I noticed a dead leaf so decided to do some tidying. There were quite a few dead fronds.

The dead fronds have the most fabulous colouring and textures on the ends that were attached to the stem.

They were on their way to the compost, but I am now thinking coiled basket. I am sure I have some fine red-orange coloured cord somewhere . . . .

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

We went to swapmeet today and I bought some new herb plants. My Italian (flat leaf) parsley has been wonderfully lush, but it is now bolting to seed.

I bought one to replace it, plus a small curly leaf parsley. I also bought some sage - I don't use it as often as I could because I never have any growing, and it is not readily available in local outlets. I hope this survives. NO, I hope that it flourishes. Then I can make sage and onion stuffing for the Christmas turkey.

No need for rosemary. I have two very vigorous plants outside the study door which need another chop back.

Thyme is also planted in a pot and seems to be doing well.


My favourite herbs, apart from parsley, are basil and coriander. I bought some basil seedlings yesterday and hope they will grow quickly. I have never had much luck with coriander. As soon as it is big enough to pick it goes to seed. Not a problem though, since it is readily available in local outlets. A packet of each goes into the shopping bag whenever I buy the weekly vegetables.

Friday Flowers

The roses are in full bloom. This is the bunch I just picked. Much better looking than the ones here.

Friday Flowers

I often take photos of flowers and rarely share them, so today I thought I would.

These camellias are in bloom in our garden at the moment.

Last Rose of Summer

We have a green waste pickup in our area starting today, so we spent yesterday morning pruning the roses. I wore a long sleeved jumper and gloves but I still managed two cuts and a bruise.

I couldn't bear to toss these last few flowers, so even deformed as they are, they are in a vase on the kitchen table. It will be a couple of months before I can harvest more.


But in the meantime the camellias are in full bloom.

Transience

Helen gave me a potted magnolia 'Little Gem' as a birthday present. On Sunday it had 3 buds. Two flowers appeared yesterday, but have nearly gone today. They do smell good though. I think I need to buy a large pot, find a suitable spot for its permanent residence and replant it. I do not have green fingers. I frequently kill plants, either through neglect or over indulgence in water. Hope this one lasts.

My friendship sewing group met at Jenny's new house today. Jenny does have green fingers and I am looking forward to seeing what eventuates in her presently minimal garden. There are some magnolias in a row against a fence - they are going to anyone who wants to dig them out. Glad I didn't need to offer!

Nothing Much Today

Very little fibre fiddling, though I did manage one seam on the pants I am trying to make.

Kevin was due at Murdoch SJOG Hospital by 12.30 for his colonoscopy. At 11.30 Martin rang up. He had left the headlights of his car on and the battery was flat. He had been unable to start it by pushing and wanted jumper leads. So that meant a trip to Orelia after dropping Kevin off - a full hour spent on this.

Then I went to do some chores and it was time to pick Kevin up. He was a bit woozy from the anaesthetic and has been napping since we got home. I need to make dinner now - chicken stirfry tonight. I will go and pull out a couple of the pak choy he has growing in a wheelbarrow out the back. Yum.

10,000 Steps

I have resumed the 10,000 steps program. The idea is that you do at least that number of steps per day to maintain a basic fitness level. The steps are measured with a pedometer. At the end of last year I was attaching it religiously to my belt every morning and achieving the goal most days. Then it was Christmas and New Year, and the daily walks became walks every third or fourth day. The week before last we started walking every day again, but the pedometer languished on the bedroom chest of drawers until yesterday.

It is very hard to do that number of steps when you spend hours at the computer, sewing machine or embellisher! Yesterday I only managed 8865 steps. Today I have done 10,168 so far and will probably clock up a few more before bedtime.

A few of the steps involved walking out to the back garden to examine my "alien flowers". The centre of the flower has opened out a bit more and there are more bluey-purple bits in the middle.

In the Garden

The heat is supposed to return with a vengeance by the weekend but it was so much cooler this morning that I ventured out into the garden.

The first task was to deadhead the roses. They have really suffered over the last week and I quickly filled a garbage bag with dead and sunburnt flowers and leaves.

Then I tidied up a couple of other garden beds and pulled out a heap of tradescentia. The people who had the house before us were very keen gardeners (we are not) and seem to have filled every bare spot with this. It grows insanely well and has to pulled out at frequent intervals or it will smother every other plant. As I was yanking, I came across a pot hidden in the undergrowth which has three of these flashy flowers on it.

It is some kind of bromeliad (when I was given it I was told its name was vase plant). The leaves grow in a circular whorl around a centre hollow and the flowers emerge from this space. I have had the plant for at least 8 years and it has only ever had a single flower before. It must like its present position to produce three.

The colours ARE pink and purple and while it has a vague resemblance to a waterlily in general shape, those petals really do have sawtooth edges. Plus the plant is home to at least one spider, so I will continue to admire it from a distance. Since I did a bit of pruning to surrounding plants it is now visible from the kitchen window. The flower lasts a few months so plenty of time to enjoy this year's crop.