What is the plant? The flower looks like an orchid but the leaves in the pot donāt look like orchid leaves.
No idea what on earth could be eating your kale but if you find out, can you send me a few of them?
Iāve realised that I donāt have the right temperament for gardening. We planted out our garden in spring and I go for a walk through every day to see how things are going. Early on it was tough. āThatās got a brown leaf. It must need more water. Oh thatās got 3 dead leaves we must be watering too much.ā Thatās what the first 3 months were like.
Finally I just said stuff it and let them do their thing and weāve lost 3 out of about 120 plants so pretty happy. Unfortunately one of those was a $130 tree so that hurt me a bit but better one than all 15 of them.
One thingās for sure - theyād be very healthy bugs.
And possibly sip latte at 11.00.
Yeah, itās an Orchid. Stanhopea tigrina. Iāve had it for years but only just managed to coax it to flower this season.
Iām pretty chuffed, 
Well done mate. Thatās unusual.
Iāve got orchids and they need a fair bit of encouragement to flower, but when they do itās worth it.
Where I live it is hot, hot, hot in summer and the orchids suffer.
You deserve to be, itās pretty nice. 
What flag is that ?
HI Incoming. Thereās a couple of things to do that donāt involve harmful chemicals and are incredibly cheap and best of all, theyāve worked a charm for me.
The first is when you water the tree/plant, water the WHOLE tree/plant, rather than just the roots. The water on the trunk and foliage helps the trees in summer to cool down, but it also means bugs are less likely to nest there, because there isnāt as much protection for them from moisture.
The second, and this works best with kale and other garden veggies, is used coffee grinds placed around the soil close to the trunk. The acidity wonāt hurt the plant, but will act as a repellent to undesirables (no, not hipsters). It will also add some extra nitrate into the soil to assist with growth.
Full respect to you being mindful of bees when taking care of your garden.
Eggshells round the base of the plant help.
For aphids on roses, if you canāt bear the daily manual squash. a bit of dishwashing liquid in a Water spray works.
Keeps those roses squeaky clean, also!
Iām not much of a gardener but Im quite chuffed with the progress of my avocados at the moment.
Started from the stone and is slowly progressing. Ive also had 2 juvenile trees murdered by our juvenile german shepherd (@$%**^@)
Noice.
Havenāt had much luck with my efforts.
Then I lost heart when I discovered that not only is it a bit of a 50/50 whether theyāll ever fruit, but that it can take up to 15 years to happen in any case. And that what you eat/plant is not necessarily the tree youāll get - as they are all grafted. Fark that.
Iāve tried about 20 or so stones and have 5 trees at various stages.
Iām hoping out of that I can get some degree of successā¦
You have the land - and the climate from memory, right?
Yep. 10 acres in near Brisbane
I read or heard somewhere that hardcore vegans donāt eat avocados cos theyāre all artificially pollenated.
Iām in Melbourne - where we first drown them, then burn them to a crisp.
You can never tell what organic material those pesky little bees leave behind from their filthy trousers 