spring in my garden

 

 Spring has sprung up here on the North Coast, 

in fact we have been having summer temperatures and as we had little winter- more of a very long drawn out autumn with a short cold snap with a couple of frosts in the second half of August, 

the garden has not really stopped growing all winter. 

A couple of annuals died off but apart from that all is flowering beautifully.

I have planted some African daisies and some lavender in a couple of bare spots, this week.

 The allysum (Sweet Alice) around the edge have grown up and look stunning.

 A little clump of stray violas that I replanted from elsewhere.

 The jasmine is starting to climb over my bed ends.

 A little gerbra that is looking a little dilapidated after we pulled some weeds from its container.

 Some dianthus

My sweet peas, 

I thought these were going to be pink, 

but the have come out white, 

turning to a light mauve after a couple of days.

 The lovely cosmos they have self seeded from the ones I planted back in March.

If you look below you can see a stray allysum, I am not sure how it comes to be growing there at all.

I am really enjoying my lovely little "redeemed" garden, the roses that I got for Mother's Day, are starting to shoot and will hopefully present me with some blooms over summer. 

The camellias in the back each side of the tank are growing and the ground covers are doing a great job.

It is just out my back door and makes me smile everyday when I go outside!

in the vege patch

The other weekend, VCH got all the children out to the vege patch to do some weeding.

I went out and took some photos to share what we are currently growing.

There is a large patch of chillies waiting for VCH to make his chilli relish.

Some snow peas, 

not likely to see any of these in the kitchen, 

they will be eaten well before they make it that far!

The silverbeet- great for making these!

Cabbages coming along.

Carrots- we have been eating lots of these- they have actually made it to the kitchen, 

but I do think a few have been consumed along the way!

Some shallots on the left, strawberries in the middle and some cauliflower on the right.

Here is a picture that shows the extent of the gardens.

VCH loves his vege patch!

While it is a great asset it would help if he informed his wife what is ready, 

when it is ready so she can use it in the family meals while it is at it's best!

succulent love

Today I thought I would share with you my new found love for succulents.

 

A few years ago I was given a little succulent as a token than you gift, 

I didn't think much of it at the time but kept it around, a piece broke off and I replanted it and of course it kept growing.

Now I knew all this because my mother grew lots of succulents, 

she loved how they were so hard to kill  versatile and how they required very little water and how you could easily break them apart and replant them.

I have had Aloe Vera for years as a home remedy for burns and my plant is quite out of control.

But that was as far as me and succulents went.

When I decided to do the Mexican fiesta party for the boys and came across some succulents planted in tin cans I immediately set to work, painting up and planting succulents.

I got some from a friend and others I bought at Bunnings with an eye for them being easy to separate and replant.

Now a few months later the plants are still around and growing away on their own with no care whatsoever from me.

 

 I have a bunch of them on the windowsill in the outdoor kitchen.

 Some more on my grey outdoor table.

 Around the time of planting up for the party, 

the kids unearthed this very old tonka dump truck when they pulled up the sandpit and cubby house.

I had seen a photo on pinterest of someone having filled a dump truck with succulents and of course wanted to give it a go, the abandoned toy came along at just the right time.

I love a touch of whimsy in the garden!

 This is a little birdcage I bought at KMart and a terracotta tray some white stones and another succulent cutting and it makes a pretty display on my veranda.

I am sure my mother would be happy to know that I have now discovered her love of succulents!

Do you have an easy-to-grow favourite plant?

outdoor table looking good

Just a quick post today to show you how these outdoor table and chairs 

that we found on the side of the road came up with a bit of paint.

Before

After

They look so amazing now!

VCH had to fix a couple of things on them and then we just slapped on some Dulux Leadman.

I really like them and am still debating with myself whether to keep them or sell them.

I think for the moment they will stay.

I have lots of coloured cans of succulents scattered around our outdoor area left over from the boys' party, they add a bit of colour to the table.

I am off for a Girly weekend on the Gold Coast with 6 of my old school friends

- looking forward to lots of fun, good food, shopping, laughter and catching up!

Here is a post about our last weekend away 2 years ago. 

outdoor kitchen reveal

Finally I am going to show you our outdoor kitchen!!!!

 I know you have been waiting for what seems like months and I keep teasing you with snippets here and there, but finally here is the whole shebang!

We had been planning to redo our outdoor kitchen for quite some time.

This area has evolved over the12 and a half years we have lived here.

The brickwork and levels were done by the previous owners.

Over time we have added a roof, floor, lighting etc.

We had a sink and cupboard that VCH did at least 10 or 11 years ago and then we had added a few old cupboards that had been replaced in other parts of the house.

But we had been slowly working up to a whole remodel and wanted a functional yet practical space.

We decided that this would be VCH holiday project this year.

Just before VCH started holidays I spied an old kitchen for free on Gumtree, not far from where we lived.

We went and picked up the whole kit and caboodle, 

not sure exactly what we would use off it but knowing it would come in handy.

We mucked around with the various carcasses and came up with a layout fairly closely matching the one we had in mind.

VCH then went on a little trip to get the adjustable feet another Gumtree find.

Using the carcasses from the old kitchen saved VCH hours and hours of work, 

so we were very grateful for the find!

 

We decided to build a little wall at one end to protect the cupboards from the weather and in this we placed a window that we picked up for $5 at the local second hand building site.

 We pulled the the top bricks off what was the brick BBQ and VCH leveled it and cemented it.

 This is where the gas BBQ and Pizza oven now sit.

The gas bottle is hidden away in the cupboard. 

The sink and tapware is from the original Gumtree kitchen.

We decided to make new doors and drawer fronts but reused the hinges.

VCH routed the pattern into the MDF doors and then painted them the dark grey we have used around our house (Dulux Leadman)

I decided grey would tie in and not show up dirt or mildew like white would.

The handles are from my stash.

The bench tops were a laminated pine that we got from Bunnings.

VCH stained it with one coat of a cedar stain and then coated it with a gloss floor polyurethane.

We wanted a bar area and so left a gap in the cupboards to create one.
We still need to paint the sides of the cupboards you can see under the bar grey.

The bar stools were a garage sale find - $10 for the 4.

We still want to put a shelf along this wall and will make it with a narrow piece of left over benchtop.

Great for a pre-dinner drink and nibbles, 

the kids have enjoyed ice cream sundaes here too!

 

 This old freezer has seen better days and was originally VCH dad's.

It still works well so I just gave it a coat of grey spray paint.

 The chalkboard frame was one I picked up from an op shop and I used a pre-coated blackboard sheet from Bunnings cut to size.

I decided to leave the original finish on the frame as I thought it tied in nicely with the benchtop.

 Here is the BBQ and Pizza oven looking towards the bench seating we also put in.

 We used the same material as we did for the benches and then treated them the same way.

VCH attached them to the bricks with liquid nails and brackets.

B4 helped me with the garden.

We still need to do something to the cement floor, at this stage we are debating a few different options.

 In the end it will probably come down to time and money!

 Doesn't it always?

You are welcome to join us here any Sunday night for Pizza!

If you would like to see some befores of this area go here or here.

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pizza pizza i like to eat a pizza...

 Another part of our new outdoor kitchen arrived on Monday.

We have wanted one of these for quite some time and it was always in the plan.

VCH was going to make one, but in the end we decided to buy a prebuilt one.

Lots less time consuming and much less stressful, but of course a bit more expensive.

We thought we would put some of the money the Government gave us for the inconvenience of being trapped in our own home during the recent flood to good use.

 

VCH picked it up from Bunnings on Monday on the trailer.

It weighs 190kgs!

They pushed the trailer in position behind the old BBQ area.

 Then with straps on the handles they manoeuvred it into position.

 In position after some hard work.

 I didn't get to take an actual shot of the final lift as I had to sit on the end of the trailer with the two little ones to help keep it at the right height.

I know it was a huge effort on my part, but someone has to do the hard stuff and can't always be just the official photographer!

And here it is almost ready to use.

It has to have a couple of small fires lit in it to cure it first and then we will be able to cook pizza, roasts, bread - all sorts of things in it.

Pizza party here we come!