Garden update & a natural way to keep possums away

In all honesty, I haven't shared the garden for a while because it was a little bit embarrassing but recently I've been taking a lot more care and the fruits of my labor are well evident. So, seeing as I'm a little proud at the moment, I shall take you on a tour.

This little baby baby capsicum is a relative of my bigger baby capsicum. My lovely family friend grew a few extra seeds for me and I transplanted three of them into one of my big beds. This one seems to be doing extremely well, one looks like it's on its way out and the other is just growing along at a nice steady place.

The tiny plant my grandma gave me about a year ago is growing like crazy. Anyone have any idea what it's called?

My chili, which was my invitation to dinner at Ole seems to be doing well in its spot and the possums haven't gotten to it yet. I'm thinking of either sweet chili sauce or Celia's pickled chilis.

On the subject of chili and possums, does anyone know why they like them so much? Do they not feel the heat like we do?

Now I know this looks terrible but allow me to explain. I was shopping with mum in IGA at Noosa a few weeks ago and said something about them not having any baby spinach.

A few minutes later one of the lovely ladies working there came up to me with a bunch of spinach. She said she'd overheard and she knew it wasn't baby but would it do? I just needed it for smoothies so I was very grateful. It wasn't just a bunch of leaves though it was roots and all in a little plastic container. See where this is going? Something that looks like it may have any chance of surviving in the garden gets planted here.

I think it has taken which is a little bit exciting.

A few days before this photo I gave the chives and parsley a dramatic haircut and froze all the leaves. I knew the parsley would survive it but I wasn't sure about the chives so I experimented with just cutting half. They seem to like it so I'll chop down the rest soon.

The cute little name tag was a Christmas present from Santa and marks my pride and joy and possibly the best basil plant I've ever grown.

This plant started off as a tiny branch I found in our unit block entrance when the neighbours moved out. As I said with the spinach, I shove everything in the ground (my grandma taught me) and this was no different. They're not that cheap to buy so I'm pretty happy with my freebie. Apparently Jade brings money? I'm still waiting for the lotto win.

This pot did have a plant in it gifted to me by my lovely aunt. I can say that I kept it alive for 3 years but about a month ago it really carked it. She had planted some little succulents around it and some had gotten quite large so I broke them up and started my own little succulent garden. I might have to get some more and a bit of decoration.

If you look closely, you'll notice that my other chili plant is missing all its leaves on the left hand side. What I only recently realised was that the possums must be able to get to that side but they don't like the aloe vera on the other side so they leave it alone.

Does that explain the other aloe vera on its side? I'm yet to see if this will work but I'm positive. I've added a few stakes of it around some other plants too to keep them away but I may just have stumbled on a natural way to keep possums away. In a big garden a border of them might do the trick. I'll keep you updated.

The mint it going crazy and sending little plants up all over the place. He's booked in for a haircut in the not-too-distant future.

Poor old rosemary is on her own over in her pot but she's the only one who seems to thrive there. I keep pinching out her tops and she keeps rewarding me with two more wonderful shoots.

My poor shallots were in a tub of their own up high but after that weekend of wild weather a few weeks ago, we returned from the coast to find the pot upside down. I gathered them together as gently as I could and put them into the planter and they seem to be going ok despite their appearance.

Yet again the award for most bountiful goes to my mini capsicums. Every time I go out there there's a new fruit. They're the perfect size for stir-fries I find and they're nice and sweet. I should collect them for a while to I've got enough to make a meal of stuffing them but I'm not quite patient enough. I like to let them ripen on the bush which takes a while but they do turn red pretty quickly if I pick them while they're still green.

Here's a view of the whole garden, nice and green at the moment and you can see my aloe stakes in the back of the middle planter and the mint taking over the rest of it. I'll have to do a little planting soon for winter. Has anyone got any advice for me?

What about you? How's your garden going? Yes a pot of herbs counts as a garden.

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