Cape Schanck, Point Nepean and Arthurs Seat

In this post I intend on giving readers a real idea of the parks and nature reserves near where I live. Recently as part of one my classes, I had to listen to my classmates talk about where they live. After listening to their stories, most of which were from an extremely urban point of view, I wished I had my chance to share my experiences with my classmates. Hopefully I can do that with this post.
About 34 kilometres from where I live is a place called Cape Schanck. Situated here is the Mornington peninsular nature reserve, also known as Cape Schanck light house reserve, where it is only possible to see the wondrous view by walking the gruelling 20+ kilometre track down and back. Although it doesn’t sound like much fun, the amazing view and tranquillity are well worth the walk
If you travel right down to the end of the peninsular you will come across point Nepean national park and its historian quarantine station. Once used as a range area point Nepean national park just bursts with history. Travelling down its possible to see a series of military fortifications dating back to the 1880s, or Cheviot hill where former Prime Minister Harold Holt mysteriously disappeared in 1967.
The last well known national park on the Mornington peninsula is Arthur’s seat. According to Parks Victoria, Arthur’s seat is probably the most famous landscape on all of Port Phillip Bay. Standing at about 315 meters above sea level, Arthurs seat can be accessed a number of ways: via car, foot or even Arthur’s seats well renound chair lift.
These national parks are not like parks and gardens found around Melbourne’s CBD, there are no annual garden beds, no 24/7 maintenance program and no pretty little water features, it’s all just fair dinkum quality open space. Besides, with such beautiful views as those at Cape Schanck, Point Nepean and Arthurs Seat, who needs all the fancy pants accessories?

Cape Schank (in distance, picture taken from Gunnamatta)

Point Nepean

Arthurs Seat chair lift

Climate change and its effects on our gardens

There are many problems associated with climate change, one of the best known in Australia being drought. This can have a vastly negative impact on ones backyard especially with rising water restrictions. While writing my first blog post, I discovered that my lawn and one tree alone use up about 90% of the water from my garden!! With most of that going to the lawn, not the tree, it’s easy to see where the drought problem is coming from. So I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about climate change, considering whether you’re a gardening professional or just like the occasional potter around, this issue is relevant to everyone.

When planting new plants into a garden, it is often good to consider what plants are naturally adapted to the dry environment. There are many different varieties of plants that are naturally adapted to dry conditions, for example succulents have water storage cells which help them to (obviously) retain water and hence need less watering. Many native plants (particularly native to a certain area) are able to thrive simply because they are used to the conditions in the first place! Remember that the climate in Victoria is always changing and plants have been around a lot longer than us, so there used to itJ. Another way to effectively save water is to simply not water your lawn. Not only does this save water it also saves moving and weeding time J If you can’t stand having a dying lawn but still want to save water, consider laying down some Kikuyu turf. It requires little maintenance and almost no watering. The only downside is that it grows so fast it will need mowing regularly during summer and it may run into your garden in which case just trim it off.

The last and probably the most obvious way to save water is to buy and install some water saving equipment, including drip irrigation, water tanks, mulch and soil enhancers (including water crystals ect). This sort of stuff can be expansive but can greatly reduce the amount of water you use on your garden, and save you money on your bill J

Gardening with kids?

I'm hoping this post can be another informative one, this time I hope to discuss gardening with kids and how it can be beneficial.
According to the better health channel website, "Gardening is great for children. Kids in the garden learn new skills and have fun, especially when they grow an edible garden. Children can learn about science, nature and the environment from growing their own food" (2011). So what to grow?
As mentioned above, kids can especially benefit from growing there own fruits and vegies, so it’s probably a good idea to invest in some easy-to-grow seedlings. Consider the following...

• Loose leaf lettuce - They are easy to grow and quick to reach maturity. Plant in the early spring and near a tomato bush or similar to provide some shade from the sun in the hotter months
• Radishes - Fantastic because they can grow just about any time of year (except the cooler winter months) and are extremely fast to mature. plant in a row to create divisions and thin out when necessary to prevent crowding
• Onions - Planting miniature onions can prove an easy exercise as they require little maintenance aside from a little weeding. They are easy to handle and grow fast when grown with radishes
• Pumpkin - although not as easy as some other vegies, pumpkins are extremely interesting to children because of there size and how they grow. Just ensure you grow them in a relatively warm place with minimal wind well after winter and ensure adequate space between plants. When seedlings first appear protect from slugs with a jam jar.
• Cherry tomatoes - Because of there sweet taste. As long as there is a support for the plant and it is regularly watered and pruned, tomatoes are relatively easy to grow. Plant in spring.

 

Winter produce, not as hard as you would think!

One of my favourite pass times would definitely have to be gardening, particularly growing fruit and veggies! However it’s coming to a time of year when allot of people don’t quite know how to go about maintaining there gardens so they continue to produce. One of the key things about growing veggies is planting and growing in times of seasonality, but what grows in winter?
After a little research I found a couple of really good websites to assist, and you will find the links I used at the end of this post.
As a general rule, most fruity flowering plants need allot of sun, and so coming into winter it is probably best to avoid these. Don’t be fooled, this includes fruits as well as some vegetables such as Beans, Cucumbers and Tomatoes. Instead it’s better to opt for some leafy or root fruits and vegetables, such as Rhubarb, Bok Choy, Lettuce or even some exotic Tamarillo!
We have all experienced the situation where we head off to the supermarket some time in winter with the hope that we may find some delicious fresh seasonal fruits to quietly munch on at home, at school or at work, and most of the time we come out very disappointed. Sound familiar? Truth is that super markets only really stock fruits that have a high demand from the public, but in my personal opinion, I find apples get old pretty quick! So as a cheap alternative why not start growing some of your own more exotic fruits? Persimmon,  Grapefruit, Blood Oranges, Kiwifruit and Tangelo can all produce fruit in winter so if you have some spare space in your backyard, why not invest it in growing one or two fruit trees? It will of course take a while to see results but the wait is well worth it J

 The large leaves on the rhubarb (left) and the tamarillo (right) make them ideal for growing during winter. This is because the larger the surface area of the leaf, the more the leaf will be able to photosynthesize so minimal sun is not an issue!

And as promised, here are the links!

http://www.greenlinedelivery.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=166&nav_cat_id=185&nav_top_id=80 

http://cityfoodgrowers.com.au/blog-latestposts.php?catid=76

How I feel aboud my surroundings

Time for post number 2 J I’m planning on using this post to describe how having a natural environment makes me feel. As well as Mt Martha, I also spend a considerable amount of my time where some of my families live, in Somers Victoria. It is a very quiet town in the middle of nowhere special (around the Hastings/Balnarring area) so spending so much time in Somers help me to understand just how hectic every day life actually is. On days when I am in Somers, I always feel a little more relaxed, a little more cheerful and I can definitely appreciate Somers landscapes more than any professionally designed back yard in the middle of suburbia. The fields, native trees and wildlife are definitely some of the things I love about Somers.

There is one place in particular that I enjoy spending time in Somers, the local park. Aside from the typical footy oval and kids playground found in most parks, there is a magnificent wide open space behind the oval , full of trees (both native and exotic) and places to simply lean back and enjoy nature with no more of mans touch than a simple dirt walking track running around the perimeter. There are even some places in this area that you can only get to by pushing your way through some shrubs! I find this area good for many things, such as a place to relax and reconnect with nature, a place for inspiration and even a place for motivation, particularly in times of stress. The reason I can appreciate Somers landscapes so much is because of the sheer naturalness of the landscapes. Although places like the Burnley or the Royal Botanical Gardens are indeed spectacular, there is just something that draws me to the natural beauty of Somers as opposed to the man made museum like gardens of Melbourne. I can fully understand why people can appreciate seeing and experiencing foreign and exotic plants, well kept lawns and annual flowers all planted to create a pretty pattern; after all it’s definitely not something you would expect to see every day! It is just difficult for me because I enjoy spending time in the magnificent places nature creates without mans aid





To the left Is a picture taken from google images of Somers. The area outlined in purple is the main area discussed in the post (note the footy oval to the right) and the area outlined in green is the house where my family lives. Not a bad location at all J

To the left is a picture taken from goole images of the Royal Botanical Gardens in St Kilda. Note hoe the picture differs from the one of Somers. There are more paths, more access points and note the suburbia surrounding the gardens  (only obvious on the right hand side).



Thankyou for reading my blog hope you enjoy :)

I thought I would kick off this blog with a reflection of my own back yard. Its pretty simple, consisting only of some turf, a couple of shrubs around the borderes (Photinia x Fraseri and Hazel Pommaderis) with an old Jacaranda tree sitting in the middle (Jacaranda Brazilian Rosewood), however the simplicity of the garden does not mean much when the garden itself all sort of fits together and looks nice, not to mention the low maintanence. Besides, were the back yard to filled it wouldnt be a back yard really. When I think of a back yard, i think of some shrubs around the edges with a nice big lawn to play games on, and our back yard pretty much fills that description. Also, with rising water restrictions, it is getting harder and harder to get out and give the garden a good water so in that sence, less is more.

This afternoon I went onto http://www.smartgardenwatering.com/ and found out just how much water my garden was consuming, or should be consuming I should say. It was quite overwhelming to see just how much our simple garden drinks! Below is a screen print of exactly how much our gerden is consuming. As you can see from the picture the mulched area around the sides of the garden use up only 10% of the entire water consumption and the rest (aka the grass and jacaranda) use up 90%, who would have thought that grass and one tree could drink so much! anyway, this area of the yard rarely gets watered any, I mean seriously, who wants to do all that extra mowing? As I further update this blog i will go further out into the neighbourhood and even part way across the peninsular to find some inspiring, some modern and even some neglected landscapes, and then report my findings back here to share my thoughts with whoever wants to hear.