Have you had a scary run in with wasps before? It wasn’t until last week that I’d had a bit of a waspy situation… right outside my bedroom!
After some searching online, we worked out that they were Australian Paper Wasps. They’re known to build their paper-like cell-shaped hives, which I must admit are quite beautiful.
I’d seen them flying about when I’d been gardening a few weeks back but didn’t realise that the nest was right here within our own balcony. Scary right? Luckily, wasps don’t attack you unless you aggravate their home and for that, I left to Gareth and his father to do with a special wasp elimination spray we got from Bunnings.
Seriously scary stuff!
Have you had to get rid of a wasp or bee hive before, and what did you use to do it?
Here are the photos that I took around a month ago, when I realised my apartment garden was long overdue for a clean up, reshuffling and harvesting!
Trying first hand without any previous advice or research into growing homegrown vegetables, this is the result of diving eyes closed straight into gardening. I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my few months of a first season gardener, specifically for vegetables.
Lesson #1: make sure containers are deep enough for root vegetables like carrots to grow!
My carrots as you can see here, are severely deformed. So much so that Gareth refused to eat them and some colleagues thought they looked “cancerous”.
You definitely don’t want to frighten your loved ones by feeding them grotesque looking vegetables! Easy fix - make sure the land or pot you grow them in have plenty of room vertically for the carrots to shoot downwards.
Lesson #2: water deeply and for seedlings, regularly!
I grew both these carrots and spring onions from seeds I purchased from Bunnings. When you first plant them in soil, make sure to water until water just starts to drain out of from the bottom. And then repeat, repeat, repeat everyday after. Keep feeding the seeds water until shoots start to sprout and flower properly.
Once a decent growth has spurted, make sure you water deeply, completely drench the plant and let the water drain freely. That’s what I mean by “deeply” - and if you’re not sure, stick your finger a few centimetres into the soil and if it’s wet then you don’t need to water it. Realistically, you shouldn’t need to water it for the following couple of days since it should still be relatively wet further down in the soil around the roots. And remember, if it’s rained, it means it can be a lazy day for you because nature has done the job for you!
Have you tried growing vegetables from seeds at home? What works well and what doesn’t? What are your lessons learned from gardening?
Who wouldn’t want to hang around fresh produce, manly men and a floral wonderland? The only con is that you’ll need to get up super early on a weekday or Saturday morning for all three! But it’s worth it - I promise.
The markets at Flemington are one of my favourite places in Sydney. Next door to Homebush, these markets are also a five minute walk from my favourite asian restaurant in Sydney: Pho Toan Thang. So head early to the markets and then have an early lunch at this joint… you’ll be jumping for joy in no time.
The main markets at Flemington are seriously sensational:
- Produce Market for mainly wholesale fruit & veg. If you’ve got a massive banquet/party coming up that you need to cater for - go here!!
- Growers Market for a smaller scaled fresh produce market from growers from local Sydney. As an individual, I’d recommend coming here to stock up, particularly if you have a large family!
- Flower Market for all the freshly cut flowers you could ever need. Since coming here, I now know where my first stop will be for a bouquet (if not from my own garden!)
My photos above were taken from all three markets. Luckily they’re all within walking distance from each other, so I hopped from one to the other. You can probably tell that it was a whole lotta fun not only for me, but for the buyers and sellers (that were mostly men) there!
If you’re planning to go, here are some tips from my own trip:
- Bring enough cash - not all places provide card facilities
- Have an idea of the type of flowers you want to buy - or you’ll get swept away by all the colours and prices! $5 for a bunch of roses? Are you kidding me - I’ll take one of EVERY colour!!
- Go as early as you can make it. The opening times change depending on the day of the week and the specific market (i.e. no flowers on Sunday) so make sure to check online or call up.
- Bring a wheelie bag or some kind of bag that will make it easy for you to walk around with and hold your goods. And don’t worry about looking like a granny with the wheelie bag - everyone does it there!
So… have you been to the Flemington markets - they’re great aren’t they? Which one’s your favourite and when do you tend to go?
You know that feeling where you just wish you had more space around the home? It’s a daily feeling for us living in a small apartment. Instead of doing nothing, we decided it was high time that we spruced things up and reorganised the place a bit. So we did last month. You really end up finding the most innovative ways to make do and create the feeling of space.
Move a few things around, bring in a large IKEA shelving unit to put everything away into compartments… and BAM! Whole new living room.
Pro tip: keep the entrance area of the room that your front door opens up to fairly open. By simply moving one of our sofas around 90 degrees so it was facing the doorway, as opposed to its back towards the doorway - instant feeling of more space!
I also had a whole mess of yarns scattered across the floor next to my desk too which I knew would be perfect if placed in colour order against a white bookshelf. It turned out to be just what I expected, a decorative and organised feature!
Investing in an ergonomic chair with a lumbar cushion and an iMac has also paid off (I hope). Sadly, I’m still in the process of recovery and therapy due to postural and neck/back issues as a result of continuous hunching over my Macbook on the couch. What a big mistake that was! If you haven’t already got a proper ergonomic set up at home and you’re often in a desk sitting, computer using mode, I strongly encourage you to have a big look at what you could improve. Your body will thank you!
So what do you guys think? It’s not my dream home standards by far but you have to make do sometimes in the short run with what you’ve got!
Do you have any space creation tips and tricks? I’d love to learn more, feel free to share!
