Blog
Weekly tales from The Outpost.
The lost fence post
The post was abandoned, but the fencing project was not.
Pruning fruit trees
Everything you need to know about pruning stone and pip fruit trees: equipment, technique, tree shapes, and the golden rules.
Green banana flour
An experiment in making a prodigious banana harvest last longer. More useful than expected, with some caveats
Surprise cows
We weren’t expecting them, but surprise! We have a new herd of cows.
Lurverly luffas
The story of my failure to grow very many luffas.
Garlic bread
A simple garlic and herb bread recipe that can be frozen to save future-you some time.
Lockdown week three: Some updates
A whole lot of updates on things I’ve blogged about before.
How to learn how to grow stuff
So you want to learn to grow stuff? Here are my favourite gardening resources to follow and learn from.
Lockdown week two: feeling down, gardening anyway
During the second week of lockdown, I’m feeling my anxiety creep back up. But I know being in my garden helps.
Lockdown week one: giving thanks
A reflection on what I’m grateful for at the start of an unprecidented 4+ week nationwide lockdown.
Controlling garden pests without visiting a garden centre
So you’ve planted a garden—and now the snails are attacking! Do you need all the fancy products?
9 things to grow in a pandemic
In the middle of a pandemic, what can you grow to keep you and your family fed and healthy this winter?
Should I buy seeds, or seedlings?
When should you use seeds, and when are seedlings a better bet? Some crops have a preference.
Sowing seeds for transplant
Need to get some seeds growing indoors in trays? Here’s some tips from my garden.
Pricking out seedlings
Between sowing seeds in trays, and transplanting them outdoors, they need pricking out. Find out what that means and how to do it.
Direct-sowing guide
Direct sowing is spreading seed in the place you want to grow it. This is the best way of getting good results for some crops. Find out which ones!
A proliferation of pineapples
Life really gave us pineapples this week.
Our first drought
Our lifestyle block is officially in the middle of a drought. So, how are we doing?
Learning to love my garden (again)
The garden is finally turning into something I’m happy with!
A trusted tool
When you own the equivalent of 5 city blocks, sometimes you can’t see what’s going on at the other end.
Leaving The Outpost
Leaving a farm is really hard, but we managed to get away for a couple of days this weekend, and I’m happy we did.
I love my worms
Our worms are probably the animal that pulls their weight best here at Orotere. They take my snotty tissues and coffee grounds, and turn them into black gold.