Yesterday was the warmest day we’d had in a while. Dawn was a spectacular red sky followed by a crisp morning and a sunny, balmy afternoon, perfect for gardening. I’d also had some seeds delivered, quite exciting (I know, I’m such a geek) because I’d been looking for deciduous fruit tree ideas and an amazing alternative to my beloved Custard Apple turned up on eBay, of all places. Intrigued, I’d done a little research and decided to take a chance on this “American Pawpaw” Asimina Triloba. The planting notes said that the seeds needed to be planted in a deep pot because they develop a very deep taproot – which I didn’t have on hand – so I got a little creative with the pots I did have and some toilet roll inners 🙂
I also had some Surinam (Brazilian) Cherry seeds from the same seller. These were also meant to be planted immediately, so they went in, three to a pot. Remember my dirtpile sandwich from my last blog post? That’s where the eventual shrub will go. Surinam Cherry is a tart, sweet-sour translucently red fruit that grows on a dense, glossy-leaved shrub very similar to our native eugenias (Lilypilly). It’s a handsome shrub that I’ve grown in two other gardens before, very prolific and makes awesome jams and marinades, although as it’s very attractive to birds I believe it should not be grown where it will become a weed in rainforest areas.
Next was another dirtpile sandwich next to the first.
Not sure what I will plant there yet, it will have to be something shrubby or deciduous, as it’s a main winter sun path. The awesome thing that happened while I was making it was that I found worm activity under my green slime grass piles 🙂 well ONE worm, and I wasn’t game to dig more in case I killed some….very exciting stuff tho, considering how lacking in organic matter this poor garden has been.
Another lovely high point of the day was finding some of my nasturtium seeds coming up, despite it being winter here. Nasturtiums are connected to some of the best memories of my childhood, they are compost accelerators, an amazing groundcover, and even better, they are edible 🙂
This weekend I’ll be planting Catmint, Pineapple Sage, and my other red Dragonfruit cutting. More on these amazing plants in my next post 🙂
Happy Gardening!!
Riverworks - the blog. 