BBs Garden

[BreakingBarrett]

Hey everyone

After looking through some posts of peoples gardens and spending most of the day gardening, I thought I would take some photos of my shared garden - my mum being the other person.

I'll start off with the succulents.

My small cactus plot, soon to be expanding with many weird and wonderful species The beds behind them are going to be for some special arid non-cacti species. Also the very front cactus was the shriveling root from one of the cacti behind it, just thought I'd see if it would survive.

The veggie patch.

The little pots in front of the herbs have caapi, brugmansia, psychotria, heimia and leonurus in them.

Besides the rosemary bush you can see my little 52ltr greenhouse, and behind that, an old baby bath that has california poppies that I sowed today.

Lastly, my little convolvulus, snapdragons, brunfelsia and my acacia baileyana purpurea, which is starting to show some purple foliage.

The purple that's starting to appear

Apologies for all the photos. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I do

[IndianDreaming]

Awesome stuff - I love the way you've used various things like baby baths, throughs, buckets, bowls and anything else that can hold dirt - gives a really rustic homely feel. A few fairy lights amongst the succulents and it'd be a real 'witches garden' - when we were kids the neighbour had heaps of succulents and we thought she was a witch

What sort of cactus are you planning for the trough?

Edited October 15, 2013 by IndianDreaming

[BreakingBarrett]

With Halloween just around the corner that is a great theme for the garden

I'm going to plant some interesting arid species that aren't cacti, such as; duboisia and others Though, I will surround the trough with echinopsis, loph, euphorbia, ferocactus, myrtillocactus, oputina and others that catch my eye.

[planthelper]

let me speak for most of us, if I say, we enjoyed it a lot, strolling through your garden!

if a person, is new to the forums, and wants to be "known fast", this is the way to do it, post pics of your garden and what you like, and it will fast track you, to be part of our community.

nice upload, we love it, if you upload pics of your garden!!

[BreakingBarrett]

Thanks PH

I enjoy being part of this community and I'll be sure to upload more photos of the progress of my seedlings - mimosa, cali poppies, t.pach - that are currently germinating Going on another nature walk through the bush to take photos and to see if I can find some interesting species that I can get clipping of for my garden.

[IndianDreaming]

I'll be really interested to see how you go with duboisia hopwoodii BB - I've managed to get a seed or 2 to germinate, but I had to go away and they perished... Do live near any natural stands?

[BreakingBarrett]

There are quite a few creek beds that surround my town and I go out bush here and there with my dad - he is an outback landscape painter. So there is quite a bit of natural sand, and plenty of red dirt. I'm in saltbush country lol, on the SA/NSW border.

[IndianDreaming]

I recall a few posts on SAB that D. Hopwoodii grows around that area - keep your eyes peeled and you might be lucky

[planthelper]

I recall a few posts on SAB that D. Hopwoodii grows around that area - keep your eyes peeled and you might be lucky

but would this be than the, "unwanted pituri"?

I am quite sure this location grows a pituri, with unwanted additional alks,

only the alice springs location is save to use, me thinks...

[BreakingBarrett]

Yeah I went out for a bush walk looking for it today, along with datura - I remember seeing datura a little while back, before I got into gardening. Came across a castor oil plant for the first time out here. I saw the pods just over the edge of a little hill in front of me and instantly thought "Datura, Yes!" Then I saw the leaves and wasn't excited anymore. Also found a pretty cool succulent, so I took a cutting and have potted it out the back.

Here it is:

[BreakingBarrett]

but would this be than the, "unwanted pituri"?

I am quite sure this location grows a pituri, with unwanted additional alks,

only the alice springs location is save to use, me thinks...

The distribution map shows that it grows out this way, but I wouldn't know about whether it would be safe or not.

[planthelper]

you might want to take the seed pods off the succulent, as it will weaken the plant, which got no roots.

[BreakingBarrett]

Just took them off I left one closed, to dry out, and opened the other. Quite an interesting structure inside. The seeds are surrounded by a thin layer of silk like fibers.

Edited October 16, 2013 by BreakingBarrett

[Alice]

Very nice! You have some awesome plants there.

I love the vege patch too, and the little myrtillocactus, one of my favourites.

And welcome to the Corroboree

[bogfrog]

Yeah, lovely varied garden and awesome green vege beds BB!

They must be kit-set?

And dont take this the wrong way..but i love that its a bit messy, cause my garden is really messy, pots, potting mix bags and junk everywhere. Its refreshing to see you're in the same boat hehe, all those super tidy gardens other members post pics of make me a little ashamed

[BreakingBarrett]

Thanks Ceres Yeah, they are kit set - bought from big w I think.

The messier the better. Our bark yard is all over the place as we bought the house next door back in the late 90's, so there are a fair few separate messy sections.

[BreakingBarrett]

I have gone on a few bush walks over the last few days and have come across a few interesting species. Decided to get some cuttings of the trees that interested me the most.

Here is some of the new kids on the block; at the bottom of the photo I have a few opuntia pups - even with gloves they were a pain to work with - behind that is the orbea variegata cutting I posted before, and behind that are a few cuttings of an unidentified acacia.

This is my current "greenhouse" setup - though I am currently building a proper greenhouse On the far left are some t.pach that I started a few weeks ago and have most likely died, due to the fact that I used little peat pots. Next to that, in the pink tub, are some lophs that are in a much better cactus mix, which I started germinating a couple days ago. The three takeaway containers have m.hostilis in them, they have been germinating for 5 days and I can already see 1 sprouting

These cuttings are from yesterdays bush walk. While on my walks I have noticed a bush growing everywhere that looked very similar to d.hopwoodii, yesterday was the first time I came across one with a couple little white flowers and it appears that I was correct - will post photos of the bush in another thread that will solely be about my bush walks - so I took a few cuttings to attempt to grow (far left cuttings). The middle cuttings are from a pistachio tree - there is a station about 10km out of town with pistachios, olive trees and stuff like that, that they bottle up and sell, so the trees have started growing in the wild as well. Lastly, on the right, are a few cuttings from an acacia tree that had fat, curved phyllodes. It is the only one of it's kind that I have come across so far.

[BreakingBarrett]

I've added a few new additions to my collection recently, so I thought I would show you guys and gals them.

Mum brought home this little cactus bundle for me last week and it re flowered today

Two opuntia cuttings I got from a guy around the corner, and I found a massive cylindropuntia growing in a scrub area a few blocks away, so I cut off a cutting.

I have a tray with t.peru germinating and another tray with c.repandus (monstrose) germinating. They have now been moved into the greenhouse. Also there are a couple new succulents next to the right tray.

Mum also brought home this lovely little stapelia variegata for me, and I scored a clipping of a delosperma (or similar sp.) from a neighbour.

This zucchini is growing like a weed; doubled it's size in a couple weeks. You can also see my little skullcap growing in the bottom right hand corner.

Close up of my little skullcap; going strong.

My brugmansia and leonotis are going strong.

My caapi is also going strong, though I think my psychotria has died

My new little c.arabica and coleus'.

Seeing if I can get this avocado seed with grow, has a little taproot coming along.

Some more seeds germinating. On the left I have s.splendens, next to that is a.acuminata, then lobelia inflata, and on the right more s.splendens.

My first attempts of grafting. Not sure what succulent it is that I am using.

Garden bed for s.splendens and other, future, projects.

And lastly, the newest addition and the one I am most excited about; my 3mx2m greenhouse

Hope you all enjoyed the photos

[bogfrog]

Nice work Barret! Your garden and precious plants are looking mighty fine

I have a greenhouse just the same except with a white cover, they are very handy indeed although i would recommend pegging it down over the base poles firmly if you're in an area that gets any strong wind.

Mine hasnt rolled because its tucked into a little nook, but i have heard of others having problems with the wind picking them up as they seem to be quite light.

Nice work on the avo seed too i found heaps of them which had sprung roots in the compost pile when i dug it out. Wasnt too sure if they will fruit in my climate but i stuck one in a pot atleast.

Just wondering where you scored the lobelia inflata seeds? A friend of mine has been trying to hunt them down so i said i'd keep an eye out for them.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Ceres

[BreakingBarrett]

Cheers Ceres

The tent pegs that came with the greenhouse were very flimsy, though, luckily enough I have plenty of spare star droppers laying around, so I hammered some in as deep as possible and tied the the frame to them with wire and rope. The back of it is also up against the fence and a sizable tree is next to it, to work as a wind block. Saying that, it isn't all that windy around here.

Mum has had the same happen in the compost, that's why I decided to try giving it a go. Figured if they sprout in the compost then I shouldn't have too many problems myself.

I actually bought the lobelia seeds from SAB; I just checked the page and they have some in stock and it doesn't say they can't be shipped to NZL, hope that helps Didn't realise how small lobelia seeds are, probably the smallest seeds I've come across.

[bogfrog]

Good good, you're onto it

I got my mum one of those greenhouses and when she first put it up there was a big storm and she saw it fly halfway across her garden thankfully she hadnt put any plants in it yet!

Thanks for the info on the lobelia! My friend is ready to give up the cigs and reckons that'll be the plant to make this desire a reality.

Cheers

Oh and nice job on the random succulent grafts. I scrolled past the first time and thought the stock was peres, cause it looks so similar. Will be very interesting to see if they take!

Edited November 5, 2013 by Ceres

[BreakingBarrett]

Luckily our yard is filled will a whole bunch of crap that becomes useful in one way or another lol.

Yeah, my cigarette intake has risen recently, that is why I bought the seeds. Hopefully your friend has a greener thumb than I; I'm unsure if they will germinate as they have been in the tray for a couple weeks and the tray dried out a couple times early on.

I also thought pere at first, then after looking online I realised that I was wrong. They grow really quickly and looked like they would work as well as pere, and it also meant I didn't have to go out to buy anything, which is always a plus

[BreakingBarrett]

I noticed a garden full of either trichocereus spachiana or trichocereus schickendantzii across the road, while standing out the front of my friends place having a ciggie. I went back there today and the lady that lived there was nice enough to let me take a few cuttings. These are the three I chose. I grabbed a thicker one for potting up, and two thinner ones to be planted in the ground. The thicker one is about 60cm, while the thinner ones are about 70cm.

I've decided to call these two the Twin Towers.

Haven't named this one.

My growing cactus collection. I'm getting some spineless opuntia from my friend soon

The lemon mint has been flowering for the last month or so, so thought I'd take a couple photos of some fresher flowers.

[Jox]

Love your garden BB,

Nice score with your cactus cuttings mate . I bit of advice I would give is if you just took those cuttings today you should let wound callus over before planting them, this takes a couple of weeks & helps prevent the chance of the cut rotting. There are some good posts here about the best way to take & care for cuttings.

Good luck with them & keep the photos coming .

Cheers

Jox

[BreakingBarrett]

Cheers Jox, yeah I probably should have waited a bit longer, though I dipped the cross sections in powdered sulfur and then let them sit for a couple hours before planting them.