Flower pit

 My "flower pit" is the new trench for the septic that the previous owners put in before we bought. You can see in this post how it was just bare dirt with lots of weeds. It took me awhile to weed it and then cover it using a round bale of hay. Silly me forgot to take a photo of it in winter when my flowers were looking beautiful, so you get to see it now in summer after the winter flowers have all died off.

All the winter bulbs have died down, but there were freesia, anemone and sparaxis planted. The best performing were the petunias which are still going strong, the snapdragons were beautiful and a couple are trying to hang on. The paper daisies are still flowering well but the wind from all the storms is knocking them around and now the zinnias are starting to flower.

Not the best idea, but I cleared a row and scattered a mix of seeds, they're sprouting, but so are lots of weeds and I'm not familiar enough with my seeds (or the weeds here) to tell them apart.

From now on I will only be sowing one type of seed at a time, and will also sprout some in one of my self watering juice bottle planters on the windowsill. This way I can learn what the plant looks like vs weeds. Handy now, but also in the future when they self sow everywhere.

And as an added bonus, we have extended Archie's yard so he now has access to the pit which has helped with the wildlife eating my seedlings (and even the flowers)!

Planting chicken shade

 The chickens have a lovely spot under the gum trees, but unfortunately now that summer is here they don't get enough shade in the afternoon. I have hung shade cloth and covered their coop with a tarp, but it's not good enough. My next idea was using sticks and fresh murraya branches to create a lean to against their coop - and they're really enjoying that spot, especially when I put blocks of ice in there on really hot days.

My first attempt at planting in the chicken yard was this elderberry, but between the gum tree with a possum climbing it every night and the mice making tunnels underneath, it struggled along and eventually gave up. 

My second attempt is further away from the gum tree where I've started rosella seeds in one of these garden rings. Once they reach the mesh I plan to add a cage around it until it's a decent size, then replace the ring and cage with logs or rocks. 

At our old house I planted rosellas in a spot that had really dry sandy soil and they did great. Hopefully they'll grow just as quick here to give the chickens a cool, shady spot. I'm also planting them out the front of our house for some quick privacy. And if all goes well, there'll be lots of rosella jam in our future!

Eventually the chickens will have a permanent coop and run under this mulberry tree. Until then they get their very own little shanty town under the gum trees!

A-line with shoulder ties Moana dress

 Our little lady loves Moana so I searched and found some cute Moana fabric. The dress is from Jellyfish Kidz and was quick and easy to sew. All the pieces are rectangles so you can just use the cut chart - no printing or taping together the pattern! I did have to make the elastic channel a bit bigger to fit my elastic, so check that before you sew. 

It looks so cute on, but Lily doesn't want to wear it. I'm not sure if she doesn't like the fabric or maybe the bows on her shoulders are bothering her. If I make it again I think I'll use a lighter fabric, maybe poplin as it's a little stiff in this cotton.

Tulum shorts in gingham & flowers

 I finally made some of the LLK Tulum shorts for Lily, and she was rather excited for me to finish them after I showed her the pockets!

I didn't have the right size elastic so I just used 1 inch, and also did a 1/2 inch hem instead of 1 inch just because they looked a little too short when she tried them on. I did the size 3 so they're a little big around the waist, but they're staying up! 

Now to make a pair of the Styla Tulum shorts for me, or maybe I'll make them 3/4 length. The question is whether the pockets will be big enough to fit my phone!