Thanks to Lucky1, I can now chat along with you all once again! Didn’t know about this forum! I was froglover over at GA. :o)

Not doing a lot of gardening these days – other than weeding and cleaning up after the b*&^%$# winds – as the house is still for sale, so really just keeping it looking nice and tidy and not spending any money on it anymore!

For those of you who remember the native garden, this is what it looks like now… despite being ‘warned’ by certain people that it would never succeed under pine trees!!!! Oh really – you be the judge… ;o)

http://picasaweb.google.com/gardenlady55/NativeGarden25708

waves madly

Oh I am so glad you came to say hello:D

Those photos of your native garden are amazing.

Love your new name too. How did that come about…..LOL

Hi Lucky – waves back

ironmaid comes from my iron overload disorder, hemochromatosis and not the band, Ironmaiden!! It’s a common genetic disorder so have to have a blood let every few months for life.

interesting – i’ve got 40 big, old pine trees with nothing growing under them.
i was thinking of planting the local bottlebrush – your prostrate wattle looks good on those big rocks.
g’day ironmaid – i liked froglover better – but welcome back.

waves Hi to Ironmaid :D

Welcome to the refugee hangout! Another site bookmarked for later browsing. Wondering why you changed your name when you came over here – Forgive me for still thinking of you as Froglover…

HA ha! That’s OK – I preferred froglover or froggy too but ironmaid it is for now! :o)

pepe said:

interesting – i’ve got 40 big, old pine trees with nothing growing under them.
i was thinking of planting the local bottlebrush – your prostrate wattle looks good on those big rocks.
g’day ironmaid – i liked froglover better – but welcome back.

pepe, I’d try planting anything that grows locally. we have many varieties and found that things like the bottlebrushes, leptospernums, certain grevilleas and banksia grow really well, despite the poor soil and dry conditions. If you want specific names, I’ll try to help out where possible. The little prostrate wattle has done extremely well as has its next door neighbour, the Royal Mantle ground cover grevillea – it is HUGE!

Hiya Froggy, long time no see, miss over at GE as well :(. Intan emailed all the birthday pics, looks like you and Yani both had a great day !

Hi TheE! And thanks for your greetings via Intan! Lovely day and such a cute baby!! Don’t do much ‘foruming’ as I am not in the garden much these days. Lost a bit of interest, sadly and just go out there now and then to tidy up, weed and keep it nice. Been waiting to sell since October so we’re very much OVER the wait, the cold, the wind and just want to MOVE to a warmer climate up the coast.

We’re dog-sitting our ’3 fur grandchildren’ (one ridgie and 2 show dobies!) for 3 days this weekend for stepson so will take a run up to the Central coast on Saturday. Can’t wait to have some time away!

good to see you again frog loving ironmaid! :D

you’ve done wonders with that bit of dirt you once showed us :D

Hi ya BG – waves

Thanks – good to have a place to come for a wee chat now and then. :o) Yes, that bit of dirt and weeds has come up pretty well and gets almost zero attention other than words of praise and cheers! Splash of water in summer, odd tip prune here and there… easy!

Yes she mention you where going, lots of great pics, she is such a lovely person, I missed meeting her when they where in Melb :( always next time :)

And I dont blame you re the garden, too bloody cold LOL

ironmaid said:

Hi Lucky – waves back

ironmaid comes from my iron overload disorder, hemochromatosis and not the band, Ironmaiden!! It’s a common genetic disorder so have to have a blood let every few months for life.

Hi Froggy.

My sister and her daughter and I have that as well but I don’t need to give blood yet and the doc says I may never have to.

bubba louie said:

ironmaid said:

Hi Lucky – waves back

ironmaid comes from my iron overload disorder, hemochromatosis and not the band, Ironmaiden!! It’s a common genetic disorder so have to have a blood let every few months for life.

Hi Froggy.

My sister and her daughter and I have that as well but I don’t need to give blood yet and the doc says I may never have to.

that’s no good girls, I’ve never heard of it ??

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is actually one of the most common genetic disorders – 1 in 200 have it and 1 in 8 are carriers! We absorb far too much iron from our food and so the body stores it in important organs like the heart, liver, pancreas etc. leading to serious illness, disease etc. so not good!

Strangely enough, it has similar early symptoms to anaemia like fatigue and tiredness. You give blood for the rest of your life to keep the iron levels down. My sister also has it but not as high ferritin levels as mine was. I took about 18 months to get down low enough and then it’s every 2-4 months, depending on ferritin levels. :o)

The Estate said:

bubba louie said:

ironmaid said:

Hi Lucky – waves back

ironmaid comes from my iron overload disorder, hemochromatosis and not the band, Ironmaiden!! It’s a common genetic disorder so have to have a blood let every few months for life.

Hi Froggy.

My sister and her daughter and I have that as well but I don’t need to give blood yet and the doc says I may never have to.

that’s no good girls, I’ve never heard of it ??

It’s no big drama Thee. Some people like Froggy just have to be bled regularly. Giving blood’s the best way.

ironmaid said:

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is actually one of the most common genetic disorders – 1 in 200 have it and 1 in 8 are carriers! We absorb far too much iron from our food and so the body stores it in important organs like the heart, liver, pancreas etc. leading to serious illness, disease etc. so not good!

Strangely enough, it has similar early symptoms to anaemia like fatigue and tiredness. You give blood for the rest of your life to keep the iron levels down. My sister also has it but not as high ferritin levels as mine was. I took about 18 months to get down low enough and then it’s every 2-4 months, depending on ferritin levels. :o)

Strangely enough, until my niece was diagnosed nobody in our family knew anything about it, so goodness knows where it came from.

Hi froglover. This is gcvegie, also from the ga old days. we have chatted before. GOod to see you

bubba louie said:

ironmaid said:

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is actually one of the most common genetic disorders – 1 in 200 have it and 1 in 8 are carriers! We absorb far too much iron from our food and so the body stores it in important organs like the heart, liver, pancreas etc. leading to serious illness, disease etc. so not good!

Strangely enough, it has similar early symptoms to anaemia like fatigue and tiredness. You give blood for the rest of your life to keep the iron levels down. My sister also has it but not as high ferritin levels as mine was. I took about 18 months to get down low enough and then it’s every 2-4 months, depending on ferritin levels. :o)

Strangely enough, until my niece was diagnosed nobody in our family knew anything about it, so goodness knows where it came from.

Hi BL :o) I knew nothing of it either until I was diagnosed quite by coincidence in 2001 having regular yearly blood work done. it is found mostly in people from northern European and Scandinavian origin – German, Welsh, Scottish, Danish and so on. I have all of that in my family background! I have given my GP some info on it and about Milk Thistle or St Mary’s Thistle which I take to reduce iron absorption. He was very interested and grateful. Wish there were more doctors like that!

This is a good site for more info – http://www.haemochromatosis.org.au/index.htm

Hi gcvegie and thanks for the greeting! :o)

Good to be greeted by so many ‘old faces’… or should that be ‘old names’??!!

ironmaid said:

bubba louie said:

ironmaid said:

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is actually one of the most common genetic disorders – 1 in 200 have it and 1 in 8 are carriers! We absorb far too much iron from our food and so the body stores it in important organs like the heart, liver, pancreas etc. leading to serious illness, disease etc. so not good!

Strangely enough, it has similar early symptoms to anaemia like fatigue and tiredness. You give blood for the rest of your life to keep the iron levels down. My sister also has it but not as high ferritin levels as mine was. I took about 18 months to get down low enough and then it’s every 2-4 months, depending on ferritin levels. :o)

Strangely enough, until my niece was diagnosed nobody in our family knew anything about it, so goodness knows where it came from.

Hi BL :o) I knew nothing of it either until I was diagnosed quite by coincidence in 2001 having regular yearly blood work done. it is found mostly in people from northern European and Scandinavian origin – German, Welsh, Scottish, Danish and so on. I have all of that in my family background! I have given my GP some info on it and about Milk Thistle or St Mary’s Thistle which I take to reduce iron absorption. He was very interested and grateful. Wish there were more doctors like that!

This is a good site for more info – http://www.haemochromatosis.org.au/index.htm

My mother’s side is mostly German.

ironmaid said:

bubba louie said:

ironmaid said:

Hereditary Hemochromatosis is actually one of the most common genetic disorders – 1 in 200 have it and 1 in 8 are carriers! We absorb far too much iron from our food and so the body stores it in important organs like the heart, liver, pancreas etc. leading to serious illness, disease etc. so not good!

Strangely enough, it has similar early symptoms to anaemia like fatigue and tiredness. You give blood for the rest of your life to keep the iron levels down. My sister also has it but not as high ferritin levels as mine was. I took about 18 months to get down low enough and then it’s every 2-4 months, depending on ferritin levels. :o)

Strangely enough, until my niece was diagnosed nobody in our family knew anything about it, so goodness knows where it came from.

Hi BL :o) I knew nothing of it either until I was diagnosed quite by coincidence in 2001 having regular yearly blood work done. it is found mostly in people from northern European and Scandinavian origin – German, Welsh, Scottish, Danish and so on. I have all of that in my family background! I have given my GP some info on it and about Milk Thistle or St Mary’s Thistle which I take to reduce iron absorption. He was very interested and grateful. Wish there were more doctors like that!

This is a good site for more info – http://www.haemochromatosis.org.au/index.htm

My GP did some research and the type I have will probably never need treatment but they’ll check again after menopause. I also always come up borderline for Lupus but further tests are always negative.
Always knew I was a bit weird. LOL

well I can never seem to get my iron up from barely in the accepted levels so how about sharing some of yours?

LOL!! I wish it was that easy BG! Eat a little ‘road kill’ (kangaroo) now and then (if you eat meat!!) – that’ll get your iron levels soaring in no time and it’s a healthier alternative to other red meat.

had a bit of wild venison the other day, does that count? The meat was almost black it was so dark! Not a squidgeon of fat on it either!

Don’t know about venison for iron but it is a nice tender meat if it is cooked correctly. We had some a while ago form the local markets and i was somewhat sceptical as I’d had very ‘gamey’ venison years ago. However, this piece of fillet was divine! We have roo every few weeks, rare, sliced and placed on top of sweet potoato cakes, rocket and soft goats cheese… YUM!

ironmaid said:

Don’t know about venison for iron but it is a nice tender meat if it is cooked correctly. We had some a while ago form the local markets and i was somewhat sceptical as I’d had very ‘gamey’ venison years ago. However, this piece of fillet was divine! We have roo every few weeks, rare, sliced and placed on top of sweet potoato cakes, rocket and soft goats cheese… YUM!

this was genuine wild “game” deer shot by a hunter. not so tender according to the chef who had to casserole it 4 hours longer than he had planned, but tender enough when it was served up. Very rich in flavour. Sounds like what you had was farmed venison killed young. Hae had a bit of Roo every now and then, but not on a regular basis.

skippy stew is very yummo, the tail bit

pepe, I’d try planting anything that grows locally. we have many varieties and found that things like the bottlebrushes, leptospernums, certain grevilleas and banksia grow really well, despite the poor soil and dry conditions. If you want specific names, I’ll try to help out where possible. The little prostrate wattle has done extremely well as has its next door neighbour, the Royal Mantle ground cover grevillea – it is HUGE!
———————————
giving me confidence there ironmaid.
something will happen next may – which is my designated native planting month down here.

pepe said:

pepe, I’d try planting anything that grows locally. we have many varieties and found that things like the bottlebrushes, leptospernums, certain grevilleas and banksia grow really well, despite the poor soil and dry conditions. If you want specific names, I’ll try to help out where possible. The little prostrate wattle has done extremely well as has its next door neighbour, the Royal Mantle ground cover grevillea – it is HUGE!
———————————
giving me confidence there ironmaid.
something will happen next may – which is my designated native planting month down here.

Good to hear, pepe! You will be sure to love your native plantings too. Just holler if you need any help. :o)

Waves to ironmaid! HI, good to see you here!!

Hello to you to, O40 – how you doing?

ironmaid said:

Hello to you to, O40 – how you doing?

Good thanks, love your native garden!

Thanks! It is my favourite part of the garden right now – so much is thriving, blooming and has new growth. We have decided the new house (wherever!) will be mostly if not ALL Natives!! They are such a joy, so easy and many of the grow quickly.

welcome back.

Thank you aquarium! It is lovely touching base with all the old GA people!

aha…you have sandy soil Ironmaid….have you yet discovered the wonders of bentonite for sandy/silty soil? it’s improved my soil heaps….before adding bentonite to my soil, in summer it was always a case of organic matter + silty soil, and never the twain shall meet. i.e. the particles always stayed separate, and both would dry out and hard to wet during summer. anyway….so if you haven’t yet heard of it….you can buy small bags of it as a product named “wetta lawn & garden” by Munns..or much cheaper if you could source it from pond places..as bentonite is also used as a pond lining (for large ponds where plastic lining isn’t the go.)

aquarium said:

aha…you have sandy soil Ironmaid….have you yet discovered the wonders of bentonite for sandy/silty soil? it’s improved my soil heaps….before adding bentonite to my soil, in summer it was always a case of organic matter + silty soil, and never the twain shall meet. i.e. the particles always stayed separate, and both would dry out and hard to wet during summer. anyway….so if you haven’t yet heard of it….you can buy small bags of it as a product named “wetta lawn & garden” by Munns..or much cheaper if you could source it from pond places..as bentonite is also used as a pond lining (for large ponds where plastic lining isn’t the go.)

????? Not me! Must have me mixed up with someone else. I haven’t asked a question about soil and besides, we have heavy clay soil here!!! LOL

But thanks anyway… :o)

sorry about that…i don’t hang out much in the forum(s) lately…so i forget who’s who. saw the reference to perth, that’s what got me undone.
it’s cold and dark…and i’m going to bed. got myself a great book on CSS, and plan to keep going with reading that. night all.

No worries, aquarium! Enjoy your book and keep warm. :o)

Welcome back i dont remember you, do you remember me?

waves
Hey Froglover! Glad you found us!
Nice native garden you have there!
I think people get a bit confused with pine trees. The pine trees release an enzyme that inhibits seeds from germinating hence no weeds in pine plantations, causing an urban myth that nothing will grow under them.
So long as you know they make the soil acid and choose plants to suit you should be right. I hope I wasn’t one of the wallies that you were referring to, as I know I have said in the past that they can be difficult to grow some plants under.

I know what you mean about losing interest in the garden “out there”. Yours will shortly (hopefully) no longer be yours. We’re renting, and my interest is about, oh 0.001%. However I’ll have 25 acres to play with by Christmas time – the land is there, but we’re not, we’ll be living on the block in early December, even if we haven’t finished building the house! And boy-oh-boy will I be into gardening again!!! I am really, really, really, really … really … really … looking forward to it :)

Yeehah said:

I know what you mean about losing interest in the garden “out there”. Yours will shortly (hopefully) no longer be yours. We’re renting, and my interest is about, oh 0.001%. However I’ll have 25 acres to play with by Christmas time – the land is there, but we’re not, we’ll be living on the block in early December, even if we haven’t finished building the house! And boy-oh-boy will I be into gardening again!!! I am really, really, really, really … really … really … looking forward to it :)

Hey Yeehah – good for you! Exciting times ahead! we will most likely be renting intially but I have never minded keeping the garden nice when i have rented which has only been about 3 times in the last 20 years! It’s still your ‘home’ and your surroundings, so I am quite happy to improve, prune, fertilise and generally make the garden how I like it for the time I am there. In fact, we are hopping to find a nice rental that also has a nice garden… and allow big quiet well-behaved doggies!!! :)

hortfurball said:

waves
Hey Froglover! Glad you found us!
Nice native garden you have there!
I think people get a bit confused with pine trees. The pine trees release an enzyme that inhibits seeds from germinating hence no weeds in pine plantations, causing an urban myth that nothing will grow under them.
So long as you know they make the soil acid and choose plants to suit you should be right. I hope I wasn’t one of the wallies that you were referring to, as I know I have said in the past that they can be difficult to grow some plants under.

Hi hortfurball! Thanks for the compliment and no, wasn’t you, I don’t think… unless you have changed your name!!! Holdfast was one of the people who warned me about planting Natives under pines as was Ken the Gardener – they both had their valid points, but I am happy to have proved them wrong so far! From what I have read, Natives actually prefer a slightly acid soil so maybe that is why this garden is thriving too! The lizards and birds certainly love it! :o)

ironmaid said:

hortfurball said:

waves
Hey Froglover! Glad you found us!
Nice native garden you have there!
I think people get a bit confused with pine trees. The pine trees release an enzyme that inhibits seeds from germinating hence no weeds in pine plantations, causing an urban myth that nothing will grow under them.
So long as you know they make the soil acid and choose plants to suit you should be right. I hope I wasn’t one of the wallies that you were referring to, as I know I have said in the past that they can be difficult to grow some plants under.

Hi hortfurball! Thanks for the compliment and no, wasn’t you, I don’t think… unless you have changed your name!!! Holdfast was one of the people who warned me about planting Natives under pines as was Ken the Gardener – they both had their valid points, but I am happy to have proved them wrong so far! From what I have read, Natives actually prefer a slightly acid soil so maybe that is why this garden is thriving too! The lizards and birds certainly love it! :o)

I haven’t changed my name and now I think I’ll go and sulk in the corner because you clearly have forgotten me, LOL! I was a relative newbie when the old GA forum closed…a couple of months or so I think, but I remembered your name and looking at piccies of your garden, not the native bit, but the bit around the house. From memory you had/have a couple of fuchsias(??)

Aww, sorry about that hortfurball!! I do actually recall your name… memory is not what it used to be these days!!!!

Yes, we do have several fuchsias – all thriving and only just pruned them a couple of weeks ago! I must have about 9-10 of them now with all the various cuttings taken!

Froglover…so that’s who you are…saw you in a later thread and could not remember Iron Maiden at all…but I do remember the saga of your from-scratch garden….

Congratulations on making it over here, and also on your successful garden….