On Sunday, I joined a group of guerrilla gardeners to plant thirty two fruit trees on West Park in the city.
Tuesday we made an instant garden bed at Deb's.
Today I carried two bins of horse manure on a longbike to make a small instant garden bed behind the kitchen of Woodville Meals on Wheels. I brought a lot of useful garden things on the longbike back home.
The friend who lent me the bike commented:
“You look like you're collecting trash.” (I'm collecting gardening containers.)
“It's not normal. People in Adelaide usually don't do that. ..You look like Chinese.” (I have been gleaning since I moved to Adelaide. I always look like Chinese.)
With all the excitement, I finally planted some seeds at home. Thanks for Kate's reminder. I planted tomatoes, okras, eggplants etc, including some seeds from Deb.
For a gardening-newbie, it's lucky to have this blog to learn locally!
For example, people in different places plant things at rather different times. When I was in Taipei this winter (in the North), I learnt that people plant tomatoes in the winter, which I always thought a summer crop.
Since I always failed to grow tomatoes, I thought maybe it was because I sow tomatoes too late. So I actually sow them in June and July this winter in Adelaide. The only surviving ones are those seeds I got from a seedsaver, the variety is called “Delicious.” And now they are so big, and suffering cold in my small green house in the coldest time of Adelaide. It's probably a silly thing to do.
Anybody who has a suitable space for them are welcome to have them.
Go to West Park on the west of city few years later to see if you could find some fruit there.
Collecting horse manure on a longbike.
I sow exactly the same seeds as Deb one day later.
Winter tomatoes. Is it silly?
A goose egg from Deb, absolutely beautiful.
I preserved it in brine. I need bitter gourd to cook with it 25 days later, too late to plant it now.
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5 comments:
Ting, thank you so much for your post. I have my junky 'basket bike' which has friends telling me I look like a bag lady (homeless women who carry all their belongings with them in a couple of shopping bags and collect cans and bottles for the return money). I need to find a source for longbikes or start importing them myself. I had never heard of them. A longbike would have solved my three toddlers/one bike dilemma a few years ago. I think the market is ripe here. They would probably be declared unsafe in the US, tantamount to child abuse and endangerment! Sensible doesn't always float here, but going down to Kate's post, I think I must rebel so we can all move forward.
Aha! I just googled Xtracycles and found US dealers. I'll need to check into it and save my rebellion for another day.
Ting we are so glad you joined our group. When most of us are cutting back on petrol here you are cycling your way around Adelaide.
I love the bike and your enthusiasm for gardening.The basket is lovely, did Deb teach you basket making?
Tomatoes, I remember from our meeting last summer people have lots of ideas about tomatoes.
Des who grows the delicious variety keeps the seedlings inside at night and then plants out on the October long weekend or early October.
Someone in our group planted the seedlings out earlier last year, there was a warm spell in September and the plants got well established and grew really well and they had heaps of tomatoes.
Good luck with all you have planted.
Maya:
I'm glad you found longbikes in USA.
It's much easier to carry big loads on a longbike.
I haven't found a good way to carry a lot of seedlings though. I carried a tomato plant for Deb, it sat on my bike for 30mins, suffering from cold and wind, and it looked quite bad after the journey.
Maggie: Thanks for the messages. I went to a weaving workshop last Sunday at a community garden in Henley Beach. This was the first basket I made and I love it^^ I'm sure I'll learn more from Deb.:)
Grow well!
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