After a sunny and mostly warm week, I have been busy in my garden this weekend. Seedlings are growing well and I have some flowers too. I have been tidying up, and then made a mess , but gardening is rarely, if ever, a tidy business!

The first order of the weekend was to go and get some more potting mix for some of my new plants, so I did that first thing yesterday morning. Once home, the fun part could begin. I have now planted my Dalia tubers (the cultivars being ‘Salmon Joy’, ‘Homicide’ and ‘Sheila’). I have also planted my seed potatoes, which are the Dutch variety ‘Bitje’-they are now in my potato growing bags. These are two new plats that I am growing this year, so I’m excited to see how they are going to grow for me.

I have also sown some more seeds, which includes:

• Corn ‘Glass Gem’
• Pea ‘Frank’s Pea’
• Watermelon ‘Golden Midget’
• Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’
• Salvia ‘Pink Sundae’
• Spring Onion ‘Evergreen Trident’
• Bee Food Mix seeds

The corn, peas and watermelon seeds have been sown into the same pot, as I want to see how well they grow together compared to beans, corn and pumpkin that I have sown in another pot. As they are related in some way, I am hoping to have success with both.

In talking about beans, beans, corn and pumpkin, I still only have one corn seedling (but corn seeds don’t germinate well once thy are over a year old), but I now have a pumpkin seedling, two bean seedlings and three or four peas seedlings.

My tomatoes, chillies, beetroot, capsicums, cabbage and onions are all growing really well. These are all the first seedlings that I sowed back in August and they are doing really well so far. Since I potted them up, and have kept them outside, they have been growing really well.

All the seedlings that I have still in seed raising mix are also growing fabulously well, including beetroot, onions, cauliflower, broccoli coriander and various flower seedlings that I have sown. Some are slower than others, but every few days there are tiny little green seedlings appearing. This is something that I am really enjoying watching-nature doing its thing and new plants appearing seemingly out of nothing. Many of these seedlings will be potted up over the next few weeks as they grow big enough.

Another thing that has got me really happy this weekend is that my Nasturtium ‘Purple Emperor’ has started flowering. Last weekend, there was no hint of flower buds that i could see, but now I have several lovely purple flowers. While edible, I am growing them for both the flowers and leaves that I think are really pretty.

Based on all this, I am happy with my gardening this weekend. I feel like I am getting somewhere. I just can’t wait to see flowers and vegetables, but I do need some patience and take care of my plants! I have also done the sweeping up-it now looks like I haven’t swept up in months after moving potting mix between bags and pots! I’ll do that again at some point in the week or next weekend depending on my mood! I have also removed a mandarin tree and an avocado tree-I don’t have the space for unproductive plants in my patio area, so that’s why they had to go. If I had the space, I would have an orchard full of fruit like apples, citrus fruits, cherries, pears, nectarines, peaches and avocados. Unfortunately, I don’t have that sort of space and I’m unlikely to ever have enough for all of those trees!

As ever, a gardener’s work is never done. I have some pots that need emptying and cleaning, ready for use. My remaining avocado tree needs to be pruned, I need to sweep up and all plants will need to be watered as required. I aim to be out having a walk through my garden every evening after work and will do some of these jobs every time that I’m out there, so that it gets done over time and I don’t have to spend a long time over the weekend doing jobs I don’t like! I find a little and often approach works better for me when I have jobs to do that I don’t like doing, even though I love pottering around my garden.

Finally, on to the weather. We have had a really warm and sunny week this week, apart from one day where it was cold and we had some rain, but only 8.9mm. Our maximum temperature for the week was 27 degrees Celsius, while our minimum temperature was 6.2 degrees Celsius-which does feel cold here in Sydney.

That is my weekend in gardening. Busy, productive and enjoyable. Until next time, happy gardening!