Winter might be approaching, but…here is a gardening story including our first #gardeners walk
Taking a (celery) leaf out of Kevin’s book, I took the base of a celery purchased from our local supermarket, placed three toothpicks in the bottom of the stump to create a tripod and placed that in water until roots started and fresh leaves appeared.
I then planted the celery base in my plot in the Davis St garden and up came the leaves.
At the moment spinach, lettuce and leafy greens are growing well and my chillies which are now struggling to produce sizeable fruit are still holding their own against the cooler days.
As an aside, a Lebanese eggplant which materialised in my lower plot has been producing small but very tasty eggplants which have found their way into a creole spicy shrimp based stew is another surprising producer in the autumn growing mix. These beauties retail for almost $16 per kilogram in our local supermarket so that yield alone is something to quack about…
Speaking of quacking, we went to an event in Melbourne’s Federation Square on the weekend to celebrate the birthday of Buddha. In amongst the vegetarian dishes, meditation seminars and large jovial sumo style Buddhas and manifestations of the Bodhisattva appearance was a duck, that looked very close to enlightenment – if a duck could do that. Described as a Crested Khaki Campbell Duck, it was the animal that stole the show in the petting zoo, with some remarking that its tuft of feathers on its head reminded them of a certain US president.
It was on our way to Federation Square that we passed – as we often do – the Courtney St Community Garden – resplendent in colourful edible foliage. A community garden with a pub next door – a #gardener’s dream.
Back at Davis St – the strawberries continue to make their appearance with young children aware of the red secret hidden beneath the green leaves, make a beeline for the plants in search of a ripe morsel.
Helen and I conducted our walk, initially with Helen as a reluctant participant – first formal #Gardener’s walk to a number local gardens. By the end of it, we were both delighted by the little things we discovered along the way. Rather than just words and photographs, I have opted to use Spark Video to put together a small reflection of the 2 hour stroll around the suburb of Kensington, which of course yielded a couple of unexpected delights…
Returning home we sat on the balcony and were treated to a contrast of light and shade over the Davis St Garden and Parson’s Reserve – the park opposite our house when a rainbow appeared, topping off a great day.
The Spark Video below might take a few seconds to load…
