Month: August 2023

These lovely tete a tete mini daffies are out all the way now since taking this pic!

I have managed to stir myself and do several days of garden/yard work here and there. Every little patch helps in the overall goal

I purchased some new strawberry plants from the local beach market and popped them in to the bed that I cleared a while back. I basically made little straw nests and filled with some compost and cow poo.

They are sitting up nicely… although they are getting POURED on right now. Very soggy night tonight!

I made a start on the second side of the back veranda garden. It mostly entailed pulling out the cape gooseberry plants.
I am a bit sad about that really… but they are too big and wild for this garden.

Small Rainbow-Appreciation-Break

I reckon a trillion cape gooseberry seedlings will pop up. Vague plans to pot some up to give away/sell and also replant somewhere where they can go mad and give me tasty fruit

Nice big pile of stuff to add to bonfire.

This is pretty much as far as I got. And still haven’t gotten back to it but happy with what I cleared out.

State of hothouse reminder…

While the suckers of the passionfruit vine are very artistic and all that… it all had to go

Pulled almost everything out.
It will need a top up of soil before planting but I love the look of this space when its cleared. It kind of signals spring planting (even if the weather I am listening to doesn’t)

I also optimistically planted some seeds. Celery, lettuce, some flowers (Portulaca and snap dragon)
My friend Jaana gave me a parsel plant (cross between parsley and celery) and Jude gave me this lovely polyanthus – both which are now repotted

Another plant which I am bracing myself for an onslaught of is marigolds….
After pulling out the gigantic plants, I noted a billion-squillion seeds left behind.

I’ve also planted a tray of snap pea seeds – they are currently outside getting drowned. Hmmm. Not that keen to go out and move them so with luck they will survive the night. (Before I covered them clearly)

What next?
More wood moving.
Awesome Cousin Jeff found another lot of dry (just soggy) wood for us so I got that under cover

Now has a chance to dry out and also periodically will leave some inside next to fire in the basket to dry quicker.
Did I mention my folks are booked to come down for a weeks visit at the end of the month?
Looking forward to that a lot… but very relieved to have more wood on hand as we were so close to out. Dont want to freeze the parents!!

Jude and her husband Mark are on board with helping too… while I’ve been helping clear some bush areas, instead of putting some stuff on bonfires, its gone into the back of the Triton!

Mark cut up some of the bigger bits and we’ve a small pile to cut down.
And also right now there is another pile from yesterdays work efforts that Mark cut up tonight so I’ll go pick that up tomorrow if all goes to plan. (Pity its getting drowned right now)

Every little bit helps!!

I’ll get to the above sticks in the nearish future.

My two new apple trees, courtesy of Jude, got planted. I plan to espalier them but right now they are very young so nothing to tie up yet.
I’ve whacked some steel droppers in as markers to where the future poles and lines will be placed. Our last apple tree is all but dead and needs to come out. This new spot is away from the old one so the codlin moth cant infest new trees and this spot seems optimal for what I want to do. (Plus Jude told me too and who am I to second guess good experience??)

Self seeded rocket that I raid almost daily for salads

and still getting outrageously large carrots

Enjoyed setting fire to things

The chooks can only come up the house side of the yard under supervision now. (Because the little darlings make bee lines for new gardens and dig them up. I and not keen to replant the strawberries etc)
And banned from hothouse.
They are a bit put out about that

They have such fun in ‘new’ areas

Often all you see is a fluffy butt as they search for bugs and dig up my gardens

Herding them back!!

An afterthought garden project I tacked on at the end of one of my days… I’d forgotten to go back to one of the macrocarpa tree stumps as I wanted to plant them out with pretty flowers.
Seems the chives survived …. and weeds.

So… dug it all up and added compost, marigold seeds (because I have some to spare) some pansy (like) seedings and some basil-mint (I like living on the edge)

Then Jeff, in a very timely manner, arrived home from his massage with Jaana bearing a tray of violets!! Fabulous!

Hopefully they are all hanging on right now!
Anyway, thats a bit of a look at garden progress.
Spring is definitely early with daffies and blossoms everywhere!
Pretty pretty
xx

Hi.
I may or may not be writing this post to avoid vacuuming for another 15 minutes….
Anyway…
I popped back out to Jude’s place last week and the day was spent sorting the chook run

It used to be the original garden and had terraced layers of garden beds
The chooks have had the run for quite a while.

Weed wise, not really too bad – the chooks have scratched up and eaten them and with the soft ground, the docks (the most annoying weed) were coming up with tap roots in tact which is extremely satisfying

A bit of an after shot here. The overall plan is to properly net the entire area so a food forest of berries can be created!

This was a raspberry patch…. that got entangled with blackberries, a flowering pea vine (forget name) and an accacia (I think) tree and some other general weeds under the half cover of a very sad net.

Definitely a feel good moment to get into this and clear it out.

Ta Daa!
The chooks were having the time of their lives!

Jude uncovered the beds of chook grass… by the days end they’d trashed it!!

Pretty chooks and rooster!

Of course very satisfying to set fire to all the rubbish… Although it may have been a mistake to put the decades old coat onto the fire too because… phew!
Smelly smelly!
Wasn’t going to break out the marshmallows on that fire!

Rusty of course was being his super cute self…

The first five or ten minutes of me getting there he tries to turn himself inside out with wriggly happiness… which of course makes one feel super loved!
He did get his little butt locked up for a good portion of the time when we were working – otherwise we probably wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did.

Jude has tons of plants propagated and trays of seeds planted… all getting set for spring markets.

Lots of lovely Protea out right now too

Complete with lady beetle

These are pretty!
Jude also does cut flower bunches and the Protea look amazing in a bunch with pretty delicate other flowers surrounding the main bloom

And I can’t remember what the name of this fluffy little delight below is.
I swear I should have a notebook in my pocket when I go up there. So much to learn and I have a sieve for a head when it comes to retaining a lot of the names etc!

And because a couple of people asked…the name of the flower from the recent post – it is known as a Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria)
And here is another pic!
Okies.
Vacuuming awaits!

xx

Hi…
I don’t have many ‘working pics’ but I’ve been popping over to my friends place to do work with her on her property since late last year.

Jude and Mark have a lovely piece of property that has been set up and worked with Permaculture principles.
There are multiple gardens, chooks, ducks, quail (and other birds) some sheep and an orchard.

Late last year Jude managed to bust her leg… which was right at the time when her husband was going in for hip replacement!!
So now with everyone mostly healed up… there is a fair bit of work to catch up on.

Jude works amazingly hard in the garden – propagates untold amounts of plants, grows heaps of seedlings and sells these as well as veggies at the local market.

I didn’t get the full before shot of this bit of work, but we pulled out a lot of weeds, grass and blackberries – later the area gets mulched to slow back on that regrowth (I’ve done some full days wrestling blackberries that have taken over. Dreadful things but oh so satisfying when you manage to clear an area!)

Hmmmm… maybe I’ll have to get a snap tomorrow of the finished product.

I have learned a lot over my days.
Jude is also making it her mission to get me to be friends with Kale.
I still regard kale as the dark side of gardening, so she is not getting far!

Sometimes the work isn’t gardening but sorting areas that have just gotten a bit out of control. The things we save ‘for later use’ that pile up.
I am weird but I like this kind of work

Satisfying to make sense of an area and re locate the items to areas where they are stored for easier access.

Moving corrugated iron is always fun. At least being winter we didn’t come across snakes. But we displaced a lot of lizards. Several huntsmen (big leggy spiders)and three white tails (black spiders that give a nasty bite) had to be moved on from the pile.
Oh and we found one toad.

We both admitted to being a bit sore that evening after all the tin was moved

Work is somewhat slowed up often because of their gorgeous blue heeler pup, Rusty. (Photo from Jude)

He is an absolute barrel of enthusiasm, makes sure you know you are super loved and is very distracting!
He has his angel days and his demon days. At times he has taken to sitting on one of the ducks!!
I plan to go up there to garden tomorrow so I look forward to lots of Rusty love and licks!

Dexter has been around a while longer and sounds a bit like a constant thunderstorm when Rusty is about. Lots of hissing and swacks to let Rusty know he is being too enthusiastic! haha…

Anyway, better trot off for some sleep. Not sure what we will be working on tomorrow- its always something different!

xx