MY COLLECTIONS

Collecting things is a terrible disease.  You start off with a few things and then you buy more and more until it starts to get out of hand.  You know you are not the only person with this disease when you try and buy something you like on ebay and are met with a competitive fury which outdoes the polititicans of the land.  The "others", as I will refer to them use all sorts of devices to outdo you when it comes to bidding.  The experts use sniping devices - hanging around to the last second to bid - or buying software to snipe for them when they aren't around.

I can't be bothered anymore with this.  I just put my maximum bid in near the end and leave it at that.  If it works it works if not then I have saved myself some money.

I do love my little objects but that is all they are.  They sit there and and I look at them and remark how lovely they are to myself and then walk away.  I am getting to the point that I will only buy something if I really, really want it, which is now rarely.  Anyway, here they are. 

Click once to enlarge photo

Here is one of my cabinets.  It has 4 shelves jam packed with stuff.  I will highlight my collection of kookaburra and other jugs.  These are made by my favourite post war Japanese manufacturer, Marutomoware.  Not all of them are made by Marutomoware but the majority are.

My absolute favourite Marutomoware are the ones with little kookaburras and gum nuts on them.  These are just gorgeous but totally impractical.  I once put water in one jug to put flowers in and it leaked.  As they used to say in the 60's - if it is made in Japan then it was cheap and nasty.  Of course Japanese manufacture has come a long way since then to be taken over by the Chinese.  I haven't come across any Chinese kitsch that I like yet but I am sure the next generation of collectors will find it.

This is another lovely little cabinet.  It is all lead light and totally impractical - just the way I like them.  This cabinet has my little vintage childrens tea sets and Marutomoware juicers and juicers by others that I love.

Top shelf children sea sets middle shelf Nell McCredie tea set

The blue tea set is by Nell McCredie - Australian potter (1901-1968).

The next picture showcases my favourite Marutomoware pieces with the little kookaburras and gum leaves.

I haven't taken a picture of the whole cabinet just that one shelf.  On top of this particular cabinet are examples of my frog jug collection.

Next is my latest (and hopefully) last glass cabinet which actually contains predominantly glass objects.  A lot of this stuff belonged to my Mother and I am very fond of them.

It also has (on the left) more Marutomoware this time honey jars with gorgeous little bees on them, plus a frog and other cruet sets.  The bottom shelf are my Mother's pieces I inherited.

I just had to show you the mirror with the sailing ship on the wall with the sailing ship I got from a $2 shop - I think this was probably made in China, so there goes I do have some modern Chinese kitsch.

MYTHS of GARDENING

There are two myths of gardening.  First myth that gardening is easy.  The second myth that you save money growing your own.

Gardening is not easy.  It is not too difficult either but like all skills it takes time to develop enough knowledge to become a truly good gardener.  If it was so easy why would there be thousands of books written on the subject.  There are many specialties relating to gardening.  Different people and groups specialise in different types of plantings.  For example,  some people are vegetable enthusiasts and others camellias or gardenia's.

The most important thing in gardening is getting to know how to have good soil.  With the right soil you can grow anything.  So people starting out should concentrate on the plot or raised bed that they intend to grow plants in and prepare the soil.  It should be fed with manures and dolomite (if an alkaline soil is necessary), blood and bone, dynamic lifter and one or two manures.  Water this bed well and then mulch the soil using either lucerne  or sugar cane mulch.  I use both but not at the same time.  The mulch then should be well watered otherwise it will soak up all the water in the soil.  Leave this a couple of weeks and then grow plants or vegetables which are easy.

Easy plants are lettuce, silverbeet, beetroot and herbs.  Germinating your own seeds requires a fair bit of attention so I would advise buying seedlings, at first, of lettuce.  Buy the pick and come varieties eg. Baby Cos.   Beetroot have very large seeds so you can sow these where you want them to grow.  Beetroot are great and very generous.  Every seed producers two or three plants so when they are at a size where they are easy to handle you can separate them.  Silverbeet seedlings are good too.  You can keep picking the outside leaves and they seem to deliver forever.

You separate the mulch and pop the seedling in and and draw the mulch back close to the seedling.  Then water well.  The same with herbs.  Some herbs are easy to grow from seed others not.  Rocket grows from seed very easily and once established in the garden will be there forever.  The bees also love the Rocket flowers.  It is good to encourage bees into the garden and to this end poisons should be forbidden.  Continental parsley is also good to grow.  Buy a punnet of seedlings and you will have heaps of little plants.  Once this plant is in the garden it also will self seed if allowed to flower and you will have parsley continually.  I wait for the flower heads to dry and I pull away the seeds and scatter them every where.  Basil, coriander and spring onions grow easily from seed.

Enlarge this photo to see the seed pods developing in the mature spring onions

Once you have some success you will become more willing to experiment further.  Don't forget to fertilise your plants with a seaweed extract to keep them in top condition.  This is just touching on a few things you need to know but probably enough to get you going.

Rocket flowers and seed pods forming along the stem

Spring onions grown from seed

Enlarge photo to see the lemon thyme plant which self seeded next to the tank bed

Myth number two that growing your own is cheaper than buying vegetables.  As you can see from above that it is not cheap to make the soil good.  Fertilisers and mulches all cost money as does the buying of receptacles to make raised beds.   A cheap raised bed is an old plastic bath tub.  I found one of these in a street cleanup and it is a terrific bed.  I dont know how much they are in second hand material places.  I have heavy clay soil so I had to buy soil to fill the raised beds - this isn't cheap either but once you have it you can just keep topping it up with manures.

Punnets of seedlings are an added cost.  Lettuces cost about 45cents a seedling.  This is cheaper than buying one in the supermarket and you dont have to pull the whole thing up to have a salad.  Just pick the outside leaves.  Packets of lettuce seed are cheaper and with a packet of 150 - 250 seeds you can plan succession plantings.   That is growing new seedlings before the lettuces in your garden mature and go to seed.

You also need gardening tools and watering cans and hoses.  These only need to be bought once but the initial layout can be costly.

GROWING YOUR OWN though is not about saving money but about having the freshest vegetables when you need them.  Nothing nicer than going out to the garden and picking lemons, herbs, lettuce, and parsley for dinner or lunch.

PICTURE RAILS

When we moved down to the house in Wollongong we found that we didn't have anywhere to hang our pictures unless we banged holes in a lot of walls.  The previous house we lived in we put up picture rails to solve this problem.  So once more we had to find a reliable person to do the job.  We found him and four years later we decided we needed more and he has come to the rescue once again.

I don't understand why picture rails became unfashionable.  I think they are the perfect hanging solution.  You can double up pictures one under the other just by using longer wires. 

Prints on picture rail.  Pottery by Helen Dunkerley, Avital Sheffer, Peter Cooley and Gunda.

A long time ago I made a lot of pictures.  I made lino and woodblock prints as well as a lot of paintings.  I have now hung a lot of these up as well as my collection of pokerwork doiley holders which also make for a beautiful decoration.  I have included photos to show this.

Pokerwork doiley holders on wall.  Australiana collection in cabinet. Pokerwork vases on top of cabinet

In the glass cabinet above you will see my collection of Australian pottery souvenirs from the 1950's - 1960's.  Mine are mainly aboriginal motifs and Sydney Harbour Bridge motifs.

Cane chair and Pot stand

Cane whatnot.

Cane chair and pokerwork Pot stand.

Later on I will display my other collections.  So stay tuned.

THE WINTER GARDEN

Since the equinox the sun has been slowly climbing into the sky and the garden beds which have been laying dormant and in shadow are slowly being bathed in the new sunlight.

The winter garden has been productive.  I have had a good crop of snow peas, lettuce, spring onions, silverbeet, spinach,  coriander, carrots, beetroot, rocket and parsley.
The snow peas were very successful.  From a limited planting we have a quite a good crop - how delicious are these peas when freshly picked and eaten.

Spinach and Coriander

Last week the seeds arrived in the post from Diggers and along with these and the seeds from last season I look forward to the sowing and planting.

I have three varieties of cucumber.  A pickling variety called Parisian Pickling which are small and knobbly like the ones found in jars in delicatessens.  A Lebanese variety for general eating and an heirloom type called Mexican Sour Gherkin which is a micro sized climbing variety which is supposed to taste both sweet and sour.  The test on this one will be in the tasting.

Two types of lettuce.  A Baby Cos and another called Crispmint.  I hope I can succeed in a succession planting scheme.  I usually buy my lettuce seedling from the man at Wollongong Markets (Patio Plants).  His seedlings are very reliable and you can mix and match what you want.  I will buy my eggplant from him as I usually only need about three or four seedlings for our needs.

I will also be planting a different variety of beetroot called Cylindra which as the name implies is elongated  and good for closer spacing.

If I have room I also want to plant Scarlet Runner beans.  I haven't had great success with beans in the past so I will just try, try again.



In the winter garden the Persimmon is still asleep but will slowly awaken and put forth little buds.

Persimmon and Lavender

The Fuchsias are in bed with the Primulas and the Lobelia.

Primulas in bed with the Fuchsia

Lobelia in bed with the Fuchsia

The work of fertilizing and replenishing
beds will begin in earnest soon and I look forward to all the work.

Guava in wine barrel

Garden looking through Lemon tree