My husband is not really into gardening and I think he finds my current enthusiasm for it a little amusing. He does things like line trimming and mowing which is a big help and he recently surprised me with some beautiful pots from the local clearance store. I looked at them for a while before deciding that they would be perfect to display on our second floor balcony. Its a place I walk past and spend time on every day as it leads into our kitchen and has great views of our farm...it also leads downstairs.
Some would think it odd that our kitchen is upstairs but after our second or third flood Paul said that he would not be moving any more fridges or freezers upstairs during the floods (when it is usually raining of course, so I can't blame him for that). I loved our downstairs kitchen - a huge wide room with two sunny windows and room for a large dining table. It was the hub of our downstairs living area.
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| My old country kitchen |
Some of you may recognise the black and silver cabinets. They are Stanley work cupboards, made out of plastic (with metal fronts) and totally waterproof. We bought them at Supercheap auto. They are made for toolsheds and workshops but with the stainless steel benchtops Paul picked up at an auction, they suit our purpose well. Our previous kitchen was the standard chipboard/laminate which was ruined in the first flood. These cupboards have been under flood several times and we just pressure clean them afterwards...good as new.
This is our upstairs kitchen which is also our living room. Being upstairs it is very practical because our main bedroom and my office are upstairs also. Paul and I could live here self contained and only go downstairs to use the laundry...if we had no children of course.
It needs a repaint and I have some holidays coming up at the end of next month so will put a few decorating ideas to use then. Now that I have sidetracked, back to the balcony which leads off the kitchen. These are the beautiful green pots Paul bought me, displayed with my herb pots on a recycled frame the kids were no longer using downstairs.
Also in the shot is a tangelo tree which I am considering potting...any thoughts on that idea?
This is the rest of the balcony/verandah. I also found another set of metal shelves which I painted the same iron grey as the railings and this has become my substitute nursery/potting station...until I can get my shadehouse fixed.
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| A handy place to keep my tools, fertilisers and pots |
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| My organic fertilisers |
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| The toilet roll garden |
I usually take my blog photos when the family are not around because I tend to get ribbed for taking photos of plants and food etc. They say I am becoming a hippie and maybe I am. You can imagine the ribbing I got when I photographed these toilet rolls. I used recycled meat and vegetable trays (washed in hot water) to sit the rolls in. I have read about this idea and thought I would give it a go with some Thai basil seeds. Apparently you can just plant the seedlings in the ground, toilet rolls and all... it will be a great way of recycling the many toilet rolls we accumulate. Have you tried this?
I was recently given the little freezer for free and it will be put to good use when I harvest and freeze my left over vegetables. Above it you can see the inverter for our solar panels. We have a 5 kilowatt system and as it was only installed in June we have yet to see how much money it will save us.
Guess I
am becoming a greenie/hippie. Not such a bad thing to be I am thinking, especially considering my day job in a lawfirm :)
Cheers
Tanya
