WES AND KELLY

Well I thought we were getting right away from gardens last weekend when Roger and I went over to our shack at Balgowan, on the Yorke Peninsula. There we have plenty of rain water and absolutely no garden - just a big sandhill . We had to make a trip into Maitland on Saturday morning for a few plumbing bits and pieces because, as you will see in the photo, our ancient toilet , which was previously held together with that grey tape, was due for replacement and Roger needed some things to connect in the new one we had taken over with us. There, in the main street was a sign 'PLANT SALE' . I resisted, briefly, then we did a U-turn and headed off to find it !


Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me but we could tell when we had reached the right house because the front garden was brim full of gorgeous shrubs, especially one leukodendron absolutely covered in sandy-yellow flowers. There, lined up in the driveway were rows of plants struck from cuttings and grown from seed and in the middle of them was Wes. Needless to say we bought 'a few' things, including some roma tomato seedlings, and began to talk to Wes and Kelly.
Gardeners are such happy and friendly people and they were no exception. In fact they took us around the back to see the rest of the garden, including the biggest, lushest and most magnificent correa I have ever seen (Dusky Bells. Of course I bought 3.). I couldn't believe it was just 1 plant. It would have been close to 2 m wide and 1/2m high. I began to tell them of our seedsavers group and Wes rushed off to the shed, returning with a paper bag containing some melon seeds. I think he said they used to be grown by his grandmother and they are called ogen melon. This is a variety of melon that was developed in Israel. It has a smooth outer skin that changes from a green to gold when it matures, with yellowish-orange strips running the length of its oval shape. The inner flesh is pale green to cream and is very sweet in flavor. Wes swears by it and now we have some seeds too. How exciting - I think I will grow this in my pumpkin patch.
Wes also told me about his tree onions, which are different to mine as they actually produce a real onion at the base, not just a thich spring onion. He offered me some seeds when he has them, in late summer. How very generous people are.
Anyway we had a lovely time there and I told them I would write about our visit on the blog, so I hope they can find it on the computer at the local library.



A few days before, my brother rang to see if I wanted some cumquats from his tree, which of course I did, as I love cumquat marmalade. I took them, and all the stuff, to the shack and made the marmalade there. I left some aside and bottled them in brandy.

Out on the sandhill was this very interesting flower spike from an agave . It was about 3 metres long and covered in a million bees. I am looking forward to seeing them flower at home as I have previously dug up a few and planted them here. I read a wonderful book while we were there, too but I will write about that another time.
All in all a lovely weekend.