Stickybeak chooks looking for more foodPip doesn’t actually like the wheel barrow.
Well… winter started today and it was a good one. Sun was out & I was working in the garden in a t-shirt again!
Warm(ish) day
Since it just turned into June, I thought I should start to prepare my garlic patch. The rogue dahlias had finished so I could pull them up plus any spare potatoes that had started growing
Time to do some proper work!
Since garlic likes a more alkaline soil, I gave it a reasonable dusting of lime
Looks like icing sugar
Time to dig it all in
Nice! In a few days I will add blood and bone – then plant my garlic cloves
What fascinates me is the fact this plot has been dug over several times since digging up our potatoes. Not to mention wallowing about in the dirt sifting it through my fingers! How the hell did I miss these?
Potatoes are good at hiding. I have also transplanted three that had grown rather well… who knows what they will do? Produce winter potatoes?
I have a good lot of dahlia tubers to relocate
My self seeded lettuce are half-heartedly growing!
Lots of teeny-tiny weeds to get back to
I figured it was time to replant the broccoli that a certain chicken made a salad bar out of…
Look at them all milling about eyeing off the greens!!
Stakes in with high-tech pot barriers so the netting doesn’t slip through
And no – the end result is not pretty. But I think it will do as a chook-deterrent until they can get established.
Safety net!
Picked what broccoli/broccolini I could see that was ready
several small pieces – not nearly as impressive as Ruby’s!
Next task was the coop! I found half a bag of chopped hay, so I was able to half clean the coop. Scraping off all the poo and putting new hay in nesting boxes
The finishing touches – herbs!
Since I have plenty of herbs around the place, it doesn’t hurt to pick a bundle and chuck a bit in the nesting boxes and around the coop. Have no idea if its especially beneficial, but it makes the whole place smell a bit nicer – and I am sure the chickens appreciate the lengths I am willing to go to, to keep them happy!
The super clear blue skies and t-shirt weather had me feeling pretty chirpy today! Even my PJ pants were dancing in the sun!
The day started financially well, with a lady who had bought some produce off us from the out-the-front-stall ringing me with a request for four jars of raspberry jam!! yay.
$16 richer, I decided I couldn’t possibly bury myself in the shed all day, so I picked another spot that was nice and easy and got to work
Hard to tell where the lawn stops and the little garden starts!
Even though there were a lot of tap-rooted weeds in here, the recent rains made digging them up a pretty easy job
Dunno what these are, but they are everywhere!
It didn’t really take too long to get it all ship shape again
What should I plant?
Now the Winter Roses (Hellebores) have a chance to shine!
While Pip napped in the garden, I brought up a few barrow loads of wood and stacked at the back door…
Before getting into the hot house to pick what was ready
My hanging tomatoes ripening up pretty wellNot a bad little basketful considering its winter the day after tomorrow!
Something extra for the dinner plate?
Washed, baked and eaten. Thanks Carrot.
I couldn’t put it off any longer. Back to the garage for me to attack a few more boxes.
Some things I had to put back without even sorting them – countless boxes of negatives and photos. That’s a whole years project by itself!
Same goes for the letters/cards. Resisted reading them or I would have still been out there instead of here writing this.
But my overall conclusion is – I have a mild hoarding problem
Example 1
Why?
A bottle filled with beach sand and a 3/4 empty bottle of bath salts that I have had longer than I have had Jeff.
Example 2
A lovely smelly sachet for your drawers, which I estimate I have had in my possession since I was a young teenager. (lets say closer to 30 years than 20 OK??) (Mind you it actually still smells really nice!! 😀
Example 3
Pretty tin
Full of rocks
This is not the only tin/bag/box full of rocks that I keep discovering and that doesn’t include what I have accidentally collected since moving to Tassie.
Is there therapy for this kind of addiction??
I let Pip into the shed to keep me company. Apparently the pinboard is an excellent nail sharpening spot.
Jeff will be pleased.
Eventually he got bored and found a good squishy spot, as only cats can do and decided to nap it out.
He is afraid I am going to play my newly found harmonica at him again
There was the thrill of maybe finding a hidden fortune – this was my bills file, where I kept house keeping money.
Travelling expenses inside
I confess to being slightly disappointed…
We are not going to get far on this…
And the famous matchbox collection? Part of it is stored in a chocolate box. I received this for my 10th birthday when I was living in Venezuela, from the Big Boss of the company my Dad was working for!
It held two layers of chocolates!! Two!!!! I had never been given anything quite so posh in my life, and looking at the tin brings back that feeling of incredulity that I could be so lucky!
It now holds part of my collection of Venezuelan matchboxes
A secret treasure or two can be found within…
I must have been about 13 or 14. I had a boyfriend who bought me that necklace. The thing is, I knew he had only spent $2 on it as the shop selling them was quite loud about it. I also knew that if I wore it, the ‘gold’ would rub off in a matter of days & I didn’t want him to feel bad about it… so I hid it in the above matchbox to preserve its goldness for all time. 😀
My second best find?
Oh yeah!!
Might have to keep my eye out for a turntable!! I also found an LP of excellent bedtime stories too!
What was my best find? That’s for another day!
Hope your week has started at least as well as mine has!
Cheers!
Puffy clouds start drifting across the sky late afternoon!
Over winter there wont be a lot happening in the garden. Its easy to hibernate the time away in front of the fire, watch movies and add insulating layers of… warmth. Hmmm
I decided that I have to ‘pick a spot’ and attend to said spot on days that aren’t completely feral weather wise.
One of the paths down to the back has always looked manky. Its annoyed me forever, but I have just decided that it is my first ‘spot’
The dead bits of the day lilies are not adding to the ambiance
A big area of day lilies grow here really well despite complete neglect and horrible looking soil.
So really… weeding was the first step
Its all pretty rocky – really is like a leftover building site in the soil
Followed by removing all the dead leaves of the day lilies
These actually look amazing when at their peak
Much to Jeff’s delight I have finally moved my driftwood collection from the carport into a suitable place!
I knew I dragged all the driftwood home for a reason
Next stop – compost
Almost apple sauce-compost!
I am so pleased with my compost! I hadn’t played with it for a while – it has a cover on it so all the worms are chicken-proofed.
Must be full of nutrition. This potato is looking quite sturdy!!
Its just teeming with tens of thousands of worms! Awesome
Every forkful was a writhing mass of worms
So, into the wheelbarrow to my new project
We have a stack of newspaper and access to more if we like, so I put a good layer down first to discourage weeds
The worms can read the news as they work
Well… Its a great start and its looking a lot better so far than it did before!
I think we will get some seaweed grass to put around the day lilies, which will hide the ugly stony ground. Once spring rolls around they fluff out, go mad and flower, so its pointless paying to put down woodchips that you probably wont see for half the year – and the seaweed is free. (important point)
The middle pathway still needs to be weeded properly, and we will probably woodchip it.
I am still thinking on what plants to put in the garden bed – plus will probably build it up with some more topsoil first before planting anything.
Since I was mucking about with my compost, I decided to get out the little mulcher to whizz up some of the pruned sticks that I thought were dry enough
Its not really like work… Its totally fun chomping up garden waste
Compost should have about three parts ‘brown’ to one part ‘green’ so breaking down the branches when we prune trees and bushes is a handy addition to the compost bin. Very pleased we bought this little machine.
From the Lions Ear bushes I pruned a few weeks ago… if you run them through green, it clogs up the mulcher. Best to let them dry out a bitAnd Voila – more ‘brown’ for the compost!
Not to be outdone with the whole power tool thing, Jeff got out the chainsaw to cut the stump of a branch of the apple tree off to an angle. Someone told us if it was left flat it would get water settled into it and rot
And even though it was not quite ready –
Yum!
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends!!
Cheers!
Yesterday I showed you this mess… so today I decided to get out and do something about it.
There was no wind or rain today, and although it wasn’t the nicest of days, it was mild enough to be comfortable in a t-shirt!
Most of the time I spent grumbling at myself for not tying the tomatoes up with a quick release knot!!
Another nice little clump of parsley – thought I might leave it there
Looks amazingly better
Why not put some of those excess broccolini seedlings (or maybe cabbage??) in here?
If all my broccolini produce, we are going to be swimming in the stuff!
I kept all the green tomatoes… most should ripen inside in the warm (I hope)
Enough for a future dinner or two
Often when the weather turns, I will pull up entire tomato plants and hang them upside down in the hothouse. Eventually the leftover fruit will ripen. Because there wasn’t so much on each plant, I just cut off the stem that held the fruit.
Loathe to waste any of my tomatoes
It doesn’t look pretty or stylish, but I have found it a good way to ripen the last tomatoes. If you don’t have a hothouse, a shed will do fine.
Dangling tomatoes
Next I spent a very pleasant half an hour picking the dried bean pods off my runner bean vines and started some grand plans in my head for extending next seasons garden.
Time to be taken off the vinePlenty of seeds to start some more runner beans next season
My little dabble into selling vegetables on the roadside seemed reasonably successful. Now that we have the bore water, I am a bit excited about extending the whole production and being able to offer more vegetables and fruit out the front
I like scooping & hand watering
I still use the rain barrels to scoop up water and give my undercover plants a hand watering.
Getting the bore put in last December has given us a whole lot more freedom in what we can do in the garden
Digging a 120 ft hole in our yard
Before the bore the only water we had access to was what we caught off the house and shed rooves, which were stored in two tanks – capacity of about 18,000 litres (4755 gallons). Which isn’t much when you get at least three months over summer with little to no rain. Your showers get extremely speedy!!
This was a very exciting moment
I am a bit excited to plan and create new gardens for next season!
Night falls pretty early here now. 5.30pm and its dark. The fire is on and I am still adding layers to my crochet projects. I learned a little late how to make the centre sit flatter… not that I intend undoing it to fix it!!
Progress
Tonight I also whipped up a batch of lemon butter teacakes…
because I could
They taste pretty good… but they stick to the paper pretty badly. Maybe I am supposed to wait until they are really cool before eating?
Hope whatever is left of your weekend is fantastic.
The rain is now coming down again quite heavily, so I feel cosy inside. Pip is curled up under my windcheater – a warm purring lump – and the fire flickering along.
I decided the few roses I found clinging to the bush were probably happier inside.
Hello & Happy Weekend to you all!
The last couple of days here have been reasonably nice (you know – the wind stopped as well as the rain! Bonus!)
Jeff got out and made our yard look a lot less scruffy – its amazing how quickly the grass (and weeds) are growing right now
Tidying up the edges
Having all the gates open during this process means that the girls get to go a little further afield around the property and they love a day out.
I had to chase Squirt out of the strawberry patch several timesShe is waiting for me to turn my back
Amazingly I have just noticed these –
I really hope they ripen!
I don’t know if they will ripen, so I covered them in a clear plastic container to hopefully give them some shelter from the cold. We didn’t get so many strawberries last season, because “The Chickenator” got in and pretty much spent a happy hour or two digging them up and they never recovered in time for the season.
Then there are some tragic things in the garden… like the death of my tomatoes-
Time to pull this garden up I think!
And moulting chickens
Screecher is looking so manky. Her feathers are slowly growing back.
Pip doing a boundary inspection
Pip also happy to be outside
Mostly the cat and chickens pretend to ignore each other
**********
Hands Across The Sand
Today, worldwide, people joined hands on beaches in a bid to say we want cleaner greener energy.
Sisters Beach – saying no to drilling for oil in the Strait
BP want to drill for oil in the Bass Strait – the body of water that separates mainland Australia from Tasmania.
They are still cleaning up their appalling mess made in the Gulf of Mexico six years ago! Billions of dollars!!
Those beautiful beach photos that I share here with you? If there was an oil spill in the Bass Strait it would be devastating for us, marine life and bird life. We have so many more options these days – we don’t need to risk it.
Nice to be part of something that is worldwide.
My cousin and I debated the ethics of souveniring this placard… but of course did the right thing at the end of the day and returned it. (We were both thinking how great it would look in the back window of the car! 😀 ) (Mind you the Wilderness Society did give us some great stickers, so we were content with those)
Fiona being green
Fiona continued being an awesome cousin by shouting me a cup of hot chocolate down at Boat Harbour Beach. Bliss.
It’s getting harder to find the little splashes of colour as the weather gets colder. Spring & Summer is a mass of colour. Now I am having to work harder at finding the leftover flowers.
So in between rainfalls, feeding chickens, stocking up on wood & forgetting to put raspberries in my banana-raspberry loaf, I went and took some photos of what colour I could find.
The Salvia is fading, but still pretty.Salvia-Hot lips… makes me think of two ladies in dressesI love this Fuchsia colourThey are like ballerinas
The middle part of the Protea flower has gone fuzzy
Protea
The plant that produced the little fat red chillies has just started re-flowering and fruiting again!
Will I be able to make another batch of sweet chilli sauce?
There are other chillies – not many, but a few here and there
I really don’t know what this eggplant flower thinks its doing. The plant did absolutely nothing all year, now it wants to flower??
Eggplant – very late bloomer!I ate these
More cucumbers up and coming!
This plant won’t quit – happilyI don’t know what this is.
My fennel has popped up again all over the place! I love the fresh green, spindly ‘leaves’ and yellow flowers. Eating a whole little flower-head bunch is quite an aniseed shock!
There are a few Hebe’s around the place. Mostly all finished flowering.
The hothouse was really looking a bit feral. It wasn’t a bad day today – the wind had died down and we got more sun and no rain! I was actually in a t-shirt for most of it!
Its really tempting to pull up everything and make things look nice and orderly. But a couple of the tomato plants are still slowly producing ripe tomatoes. And on the very cusp of winter, who wants to stop that?
Once I had gotten a bit of space I paid a visit to my broccolini- and -possibly- mini-cabbage farm
I may need some more space…
Last season I had some wonderful broccoli in the hothouse so why not use a few of my excess plants in there?
Outside I would plant them a bit closer, but in here they are known to grow hugely! Here’s hopingThese have a good possibility of being cabbage.
This tomato I didn’t know I had. It was quietly growing in the tangle of older plants. Its really spindly but has plenty of fruit! So I tied it up and gave it a feeding (kelp juice) and watering. There is also a potato randomly growing at its feet. Have no clue why, but left it there anyway
My ‘potting bench’ had all but disappeared
Disgraceful!!
Emptied pots, threw out rubbish and generally made the area a useful one again
Improvements
It was too late to clear out the top corner of the ?? whatever the hell has accumulated in there ?? so I paused to admire my progress…
Feeling much better about this
Then moved my sights to the raised garden bed out the back of the hothouse.
The tomato plant was still producing tomatoes, but something was eating them before I could pick them. So I picked all the rest of the unripe tomatoes and cleared out everything except the silverbeet, which the chickens enjoy snacking on.
Ready for more plants
Found some good fat worms in here!
Glad to see this fellow
New home for some more of the excess seedlings.
Hope they survive their new home
Mind you, I will probably go out tomorrow and see them all doing backstroke or dog paddling (depending on their level of swimming skills) because it is raining so hard out there tonight! I took a shower a while ago and the sound of the rain was drowning out the sound of the shower!
Mad
Happily I stuck to my rule of ‘when its not raining top up firewood at back door’ rule
It was a good idea not going to the market again. Well… not to have a stall anyway. I did go down to buy some wheat for the chickens and chat to a few brave stallholders I know. Most people were packing up at around 10am – Potential customers mostly stayed inside at home!
Broccoli & carrot consumed at dinner tonight. I still do minimum grocery shopping.
We are still getting nice little hauls of tomatoes and other vegies, despite being half a month off winter-proper! Despite their warm mash, the chooks are half heatedly laying, but that cucumber plant deserves a medal!
This evening we might have binge watched a TV series while enjoying the cosy fire. My hand is a bit sore because I am not used to crocheting for that long all at once!
My original rug has expanded by about 3 balls of yarn
A bit wonky but I am liking it – on the plus side its keeping my knees warm as I crochet!
And I started a new rug because I wanted to look at a different colour, and being in the middle of only a couple of projects at once is for sane people. Pretty sure I have about 15 on the go and not quite finished!
Sometime I will stop being lazy and get a proper photo or two done of my projects
Anyway – time to share some of the photos from our beach fossick from yesterday that got side tracked by my Not-Quite-Ambergris story
Short sharp drop to the beach
Once over the railway line, we got down to this little rocky beach just past Penguin.
Overgrown and not a hive of human activity
Even though the rocks weren’t up to scratch compared to my favourite ‘rock beach’ there was still enough to see and admire
One perfect urchin
It was (again) the rock colours and textures that really took my fancy.
It was clearly a penguin landing area and nesting site. Plenty of penguin splatties in evidence (their poo makes quite a splash in case anyone needed to know that) Also Jeff saw one at its burrow entrance! I missed it because I was busy playing with rocks.
Tangled undergrowth, great penguin habitat
We finished up the day sitting at the beach outlook at Penguin, scoffing hot chips and being mean to seagulls by not giving them any.
Hope your weekends have been excellent
Cheers
I love hot chips!!!I actually really like seagulls…Disgruntled Gull – no chips!
We haven’t taken time to do the lawns etc for a while… and with the rain, Jeff would have only bogged the mower… So things were looking a bit scruffy.
Jeff in his happy place
The front lawn isn’t much trouble – just the rest of the weed-laden yard!
Pip is the resident snoopervisor.
Mostly he sits at the end of the lead and howls for me!!
And the chickens are the inspection crew!
The girls are thrilled to have a day out – being let up this side of the yard is a treat.
There are still tomatoes hanging on in there despite the cooling down of the days and nights.
Small treasures
Not bad pickings for May – cucumber plant still going strong!
More salad!
I think I need to add some broccolini to dinner tomorrow night. (and maybe do some more thinning??)
Its all action under the vegie netting
I planted some wheat (Stolen from the chicken feed) to act as green manure in a couple of the recently dug up areas in the main vegetable garden. Was pleased to see the green shoots poking through.
I’ll wait until this is about 6 inches tall then dig it all back into the ground.
I still have a mass of parsley!
I can garnish anything!! (and everything)
Seems like I am always picking up windfall apples! Most were ok, but the few that had been chewed on were bringing out the European wasps. Trying to keep them off the ground as the less of these we have around the better.
Free wasp foodThese guys will be so fat that its unlikely they will be able to fly fast!
I finally got onto a much needed job – the one of sorting out the kindling box!! My pet hate is having it full of rubbish and non-kindling sized bits of wood/branches!!
I mean – what the hell is a soccer ball doing in there??
We bought the crate from the tip shop for $10 and its a really good big crate to fill with plenty of kindling/pine cones. I like not having to go out hunting daily for something to start the fire with – especially when its pouring rain, dark and cold.
This will make my life easier!
We have a few ‘dead’ pallets that I will get onto and cut into kindling as well. I pick up pine cones from local plantations and from the paddocks behind us. You can buy kindling, but when you can source it free and have the time, well… our money is definitely better spent elsewhere!
Was nice that the forecast rain never eventuated – it was really good to get out and into these jobs today.
