A little bit more on Mcfarlane!

Just a little word on my Northcote garden. I rent the house i'm in but actually I quite like the layout and the choice of plants which apparently is the owner's work. Iv'e put up a few photo's please don't judge me it's a bit of a mess! I planted the little native wattle a little while after I moved in and actually it's doing pretty well. my dwarf lemon tree has a few green lemons which actually look like they are turning yellow??? maybe! There is 2 lavender bushes one in the front and one in the back, Magnolia grandiflora, Maple tree, Cordyline, Ornamental pear which has almost shed all of it's leaves. I pressed a few of the leaves in a little flower press and then made a greeting card and stuck the leaves on it. The leaves are just so beautiful, and I don't mind in the least that they are deposited all over my lawn. but actually the most impressive of all the species in the back yard, is the Mahonia x media! an awesomely impressive species. I actually pressed one of the leaves for my plant press for the the hort plant prac, the flowers are bright yellow erect and spreading and the leaves long, compound with prickly edges - have a look at the pic. The rose bushes however eh! I'm not really into them. Perhaps I don't know how to prune them, down the side of the house the stems grow huge and I can see them from the lounge room, which should be a positive but it's not. They don't really produce any flowers and just look like prickly weeds. I grew cherry tomatoes down the side of the house last summer, well two summers ago you can't really call what we had a summer. I thought they looked nice at the window and smelled great when the windows were open. I grew basil next to the tomatoes and they grew beautifully too i couldn't keep up with it, i made 2 pestos that summer...mmmmmm pesto!

perhaps the newest member of the garden is the Loquot tree - Eriobotrya japonica My husband bought it for me for my birthday in December. When I lived overseas I used to eat the fruit by the bucket load. I have seen quite a few of these trees in the neighbourhood but none have fruits yet. (The bum in the picture is my brothers) photo further down the page.
This is the area I live in.

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I do love living in Northcote it's a great suburb and community! there are plenty of well loved gardens and exciting vegie plots. I go down to CERES quite often, I just love it there. CERES is the Centre for education and research in environmental strategies.

It has something for everyone. it's built on an old decommissioned municipal tip that was once landfill and wasteland. Today however it's a stunning community garden. and all waste and water is recycled, and much of the site is powered by renewable energy such as wind and solar.
They have 300,000 visitors per year. Amazing!

I am a host for there organic vegie box delivery, which means people order mixed veg/fruit boxes and they are delivered to my house for people who live close by to pick up. The idea is that CERES are using less petrol delivering to individual houses.

If you haven't been to CERES you should visit there website - www.ceres.org.au
and then go down there. they have lots of hidden treasures for example they have a bike shed workshop, they build bikes or sell parts if you want to fix your own, and the staff and volenteers there are more than happy to offer advice. they have a permaculture nursery, green energy, cafe, a market on the weekend and first wednesday of each month, and there is usually a band playing. Clearly i'm a fan!


On another note I checked out the smart water website http;//www2.smartgardenwatering.org.au/ and at first i didn't really know what it wanted from me but then when I actually tried to navigate it, it was quite user friendly. the site recommended I obviously water less in winter or even from now, and more between october and Feb. I think it's a really great site! when i get back into the garden I will no doubt visit again for more advice. and for people maybe just starting out gardening I think it would be very useful.

Well that's it for this time, stay tuned and keep digging!