Tash's Little Farm

Good morning from . This time of year is strawberry season here in Malta. My mini harvest is almost there!

Good afternoon from . It's been a minute since my last post, and I must admit the world left me uninspired in recent months.
While things are still not quite right in the world out there, here at Tash's Little Farm it's been replete with new beginnings.
So, to celebrate, I got myself some fragrant additions to my garden and added a cute strawberry 🍓 to my plant haul too! Spring is just around the corner.

Good morning from !
Today is a public holiday in Malta! We've had some unstable weather, but we're mostly happy things have cooled down here.
Meet Bob (a.k.a Sideshow Bob) my brand new Boston fern (Nephrolepis Montana)!

Good afternoon from !
First rains, part 2! 😀😀😔

Good afternoon from !
First rains in Malta! Lush!

Good morning from . The end of the summer is getting closer, and my plants did not have an easy ride.
Now, new arrivals help build a new tableau of colours, textures, and variegations. The beauty of plants is in their diversity.
I couldn't imagine just having one kind of plant around me (even though the overly-fertile spider plant would disagree!).
We could learn a thing or two from plants in terms of accepting and celebrating diversity!
🤓🍀☺️💚

Good morning and happy Sunday from !
Just a little shiny pic of my ficus plastica after a much needed shower.

Good evening from !
🌻 Sunflowers have always been my favourite flowers. They grow tall, have a big round face, and are generally chirpy-looking as they follow the sun during the day. 🌻
They are also amazing in their uses, an amazing looking flower you can eat, and make oil with beauty and function all!

Good evening from !

Spring is here so a little therapeutic trip to my local garden centre was in order to put a bit of colour back into my days.
A giant coleus made it in my shopping cart, the biggest leaves I've ever had on a coleus! ☺️

Good morning from !
Spring is so near, it feels like it's already here!
Hello to my bird of paradise bloom, like a colourful ballerina ready to take flight. 💃💗

Good evening from .
My narcissus is finally in bloom!
Did you know that these flowers are said to represent creativity, inner reflection, forgiveness, and vitality?
They smell lovely and brighten up any winter day! 💗💗💗

There's a time in the late morning when the sunlight hits the little peaceful yard I've treasured for 3 years just so. It creates a little perfect crisp diagonal of white on another sunny 'winter' day.
An insignificant fleeting detail, this.
But that is life.
A succession of little insignificant details, collected over a lifetime, which will hopefully lead to significance.
May your 2023 be full of insignificant fleeting details which lead up to a year of significance.

Good afternoon from !
I absolutely love my little garden after a good soak from the heavens!
I decided to tilt my hanging pots to drain automatically, took some snaps as I did some light repotting between thunderstorms, and found a clump of snail eggs which explains a lot of damage in some of my pots lately!

Good evening from !
Today's model is the Haworthia cooperi baker, orore commonly known as the Jelly Bean Cactus.
I simply adore the almost pink transparent juicy leaves on it and its little babies. Succulents aren't my forte, but I hope Jelly Bean will make it for the long run!

Good evening from .
And just like that, the winds have taken the sweet summer breeze away. Winter cometh, and the leaves get their first proper cold wash in months.
Everything changes. Nothing stays the same.

Good evening from !
My relationship with peperomias is generally a fling rather than a long, committed relationship but I still like a Napoli Nights going for a song at my local Lidl! ☺️😅
I'll call him Franco, the red!

Good evening from !

I'm so in love with Tradescantias! I particularly love this fluffy sillamontana one which has new growth so is relatively quite green compared to the usual stalks I've had so far!

Good evening from !
Got this dainty crown of thorns yesterday and it's so cute I couldn't help taking some pictures earlier this morning! It's probably Euphorbia milii var. vulcanii but I can't be sure.
Even though this species comes from the Middle East, I really feel this tiny specimen looks like a little bonsai to me, so I'm going to call her Asami, after an ex-student of mine!

Good evening from !
I never have much luck with Marantas (leuconeura E.Morren) but I couldn't resist this specimen.
🙏Just Iove the look of prayer plants! 🙏

Good morning from !
Got this beautiful Marble Queen Pothos/Epipremnum Aureum.
I'm going to call her Queen Pesto!

Good afternoon from .
A recent purchase, this Hoya Wayetii. I have had some good results with many of my vining plants this summer, so getting another one was an easy decision! 😍🤩😍

Fabulous afternoon of summer rain from Tash's Little Farm!
So grateful for nature's bounty in the middle of summer!
All my plants are outside at the moment, getting a good healthy soak! 😊
😍 ☔ 🍃 😍

Good evening from !
I got this cute dwarf Sansevieria trifasciata today. Another puppy joins the pack! 😊

Good morning and happy Sunday from !
Fenestrations on my Monstera Deliciosa are simply gorgeous at the moment!
I got this plant as a small stem cutting with no leaves 2 years ago. It's a slow process, but so totally worth it!

Good morning from ! 🤩
Here's one of my favourite new plants this spring, the amazingly elegant Medinilla flower.
This is easily one of my top 5 flowers, and I'm not even a flower person!
What would your top 5 be? 😊

Long post alert! 😊
Lessons I've learned, or relearned, as a gardener:
1. Patience. Just because it looks like you've got a pile of dirt, doesn't mean strong roots aren't growing down below.
2. Work. The harvest will depend largely on what you do every day to reach your goals.
3. We're all different, and that's OK. Beauty is entirely subjective. I'd hate a world of only roses.
4. Pace. Some plants grow quickly, some stay the same for seemingly an eternity and give out one leaf a year. Does that make the latter less of a valuable, beautiful plant?
5. Pause. Literally wake up and smell the whatever-flower-you-like-best (no offense to roses, but seriously!)
6. Care. We don't blame the plant for dying or being sick. It likely means its needs weren't being met. Do we do treat ourselves with the same consideration?
7. Some things aren't meant to be. Keeping lavender in a plastic pot, or keeping a string of dolphins alive isn't me. Growing tons of tomatoes in pots on my roof in the summer is me. Does that make me less of a gardener?
8. Resilience. Finding a forgotten packet of non-descript bulbs: you stick them in a pot without much hope only to see shoots emerging within a week. Some of us need a tiny bit of encouragement to achieve great things.
9. Curiosity. Buying a new plant is much like meeting someone new. It's about learning what makes them tick, and all their idiosyncrasies. Your best bet is to just listen and observe.
10. Awe. The first time you taste a tomato you've grown yourself, you feel a little small, and a little godlike all at the same time. Gardening is about tapping into the cheat sheet of nature and participating in its greatness, one blossom, or leaf, or eggplant at a time.
🌱

Good afternoon from !
Mid-winter Gardens make me appreciate the hardy plants I've got on the roof.
Today, I decided to focus on textures of my sansevieria, a curly kale leaf, and a succulent. Beauty can be found in the simplest plants.
Have a lovely weekend! 😊

Good morning and happy weekend from !

It's been a minute since my last post! Had a massive (positive) life change and I'm slowly emerging into the new year!
🥳😊🤩
My leopard plant has been extremely busy blooming over the last month or so.
I had taken off some of the plant stalks to let her keep some energy for the leaves, and carelessly put some bloom stalks aside instead of throwing them away.
Little did I know that they would still go through the process and make my favourite dandelion puffs!
I'm keeping lots of seeds and will hopefully have more luck with them this year! 🤞😊🤞