A few things.
The aquaponics is coming along nicely. It has taken a little while for me to get my head around the workings of the system and to make it relatively easy and simple. I think I am there.
We had a storm the night before last. Winds of 110kph were forecast. I'm not sure if we got them here but it was a wild night, though not much rain if any. When we went out in the garden to look over it the nectarine had only a few leaves on it as did the apricot. It was like winter arrived over-night.
The little frog that called last autumn started calling around the 17th of the month. It gradually built up its repetitions until one or two nights about a week ago when it called most of the night. Then it stopped abruptly. I only heard one this year. We had two or three last year and I am wondering if they came to the garden through the horse manure I was getting.
Jazz had a nasty run in with my brothers dog Gizmo today. He just wanted to play but poor Jazz went in to a terrible state. I thought she had died she was so still. No breathing or eye movement. I was pretty worried. I put her inside and caught Maiki to keep her company. She settled down but was making a horrible little rasping sound. When my wife came home she said she read something like that in a book. That they can go into a state of shock for hours but eventually get over it. I looked a bit up on the internet and feel better about it. I am hoping she will be a little more normal in the morning. She was eating earlier this evening.
I have been researching screening/hedging trees and bushes for the back garden to create privacy now that the mallee have been cut down. I will wait a little longer to see what pattern the sun takes during winter before diving in.
The choko vine was removed yesterday from the deck. I piled it all up on the worm mound which has sunk quite a bit over the last fortnight. There must be a million plus worms under that pile. Beats the pants off a container worm farm!
I have been giving choko's away and making pickles and cakes and juices and soups and curries. I also blanched and froze some for use later in the year, mainly for soups I think.
The raspberry canes from last season have dried up and the ground is showing signs of new canes as the bush is spreading out under the soil. Also, the compost bins with potatoes growing in them seem to be doing rather well. So I am hoping to have a successful crop of spuds with my patience of piling material on as the plants grow.
The chooks were out the other day and have decimated my crop of red-flowering broad beans. I am hoping some will fight on to at least give seeds to replace this years planting.
The grape vine that was hidden from view by the choko vine has put on an incredible bit of growth over summer. Now I just need to prune it so that it is trained in the fashion that I want it to grow. Also storming ahead like there is no tomorrow is the Madagascar bean. It is still flowering and forming beans. I reckon I could grow it from the ground to the roof height with the right support and I will give it a go in spring with new seeds. I think the packet of seeds I bought had 5 in it. I am guessing that only one survived but I will more than replace the initial seeds. Probably by 20 times.
Garden peas planted our before we went on holidays in late March are now producing lovely plump pea pods. The bush beans are also producing long, thin, succulent beans. The sweet peas are about 20 cms high, if that.
There is a pumpkin vine growing along side the pepino on the west fence. It has manged to grow up into the native wisteria and I left it to see how far it would get before the mould got it. Well, the leaf mould touched a few lower leaves early in May, but the vine has managed to reach a spot where it is first in line to get some of the morning sun when it comes over the house. It had a small fruit forming which has since dropped but on inspection yesterday I discovered another fruit which looks like it will continue to develop higher up in the wisteria. It is a grand experiment at the moment because I fully intend to do something similar in summer with the aquponics system and have vertical gardens growing melons and squash. Hence the rather long beams of wood either end of the benches. I've seen enough set-ups to realise that guys must make their systems up and the plants do so well that there is never enough support for the amazing growth they have and things seem to be tacked on here and there to accommodate the plants growth. I figured I'd make allowances for awesome growth right from the start!
The aquaponics is coming along nicely. It has taken a little while for me to get my head around the workings of the system and to make it relatively easy and simple. I think I am there.
We had a storm the night before last. Winds of 110kph were forecast. I'm not sure if we got them here but it was a wild night, though not much rain if any. When we went out in the garden to look over it the nectarine had only a few leaves on it as did the apricot. It was like winter arrived over-night.
The little frog that called last autumn started calling around the 17th of the month. It gradually built up its repetitions until one or two nights about a week ago when it called most of the night. Then it stopped abruptly. I only heard one this year. We had two or three last year and I am wondering if they came to the garden through the horse manure I was getting.
Jazz had a nasty run in with my brothers dog Gizmo today. He just wanted to play but poor Jazz went in to a terrible state. I thought she had died she was so still. No breathing or eye movement. I was pretty worried. I put her inside and caught Maiki to keep her company. She settled down but was making a horrible little rasping sound. When my wife came home she said she read something like that in a book. That they can go into a state of shock for hours but eventually get over it. I looked a bit up on the internet and feel better about it. I am hoping she will be a little more normal in the morning. She was eating earlier this evening.
I have been researching screening/hedging trees and bushes for the back garden to create privacy now that the mallee have been cut down. I will wait a little longer to see what pattern the sun takes during winter before diving in.
The choko vine was removed yesterday from the deck. I piled it all up on the worm mound which has sunk quite a bit over the last fortnight. There must be a million plus worms under that pile. Beats the pants off a container worm farm!
I have been giving choko's away and making pickles and cakes and juices and soups and curries. I also blanched and froze some for use later in the year, mainly for soups I think.
The raspberry canes from last season have dried up and the ground is showing signs of new canes as the bush is spreading out under the soil. Also, the compost bins with potatoes growing in them seem to be doing rather well. So I am hoping to have a successful crop of spuds with my patience of piling material on as the plants grow.
The chooks were out the other day and have decimated my crop of red-flowering broad beans. I am hoping some will fight on to at least give seeds to replace this years planting.
The grape vine that was hidden from view by the choko vine has put on an incredible bit of growth over summer. Now I just need to prune it so that it is trained in the fashion that I want it to grow. Also storming ahead like there is no tomorrow is the Madagascar bean. It is still flowering and forming beans. I reckon I could grow it from the ground to the roof height with the right support and I will give it a go in spring with new seeds. I think the packet of seeds I bought had 5 in it. I am guessing that only one survived but I will more than replace the initial seeds. Probably by 20 times.
Garden peas planted our before we went on holidays in late March are now producing lovely plump pea pods. The bush beans are also producing long, thin, succulent beans. The sweet peas are about 20 cms high, if that.
There is a pumpkin vine growing along side the pepino on the west fence. It has manged to grow up into the native wisteria and I left it to see how far it would get before the mould got it. Well, the leaf mould touched a few lower leaves early in May, but the vine has managed to reach a spot where it is first in line to get some of the morning sun when it comes over the house. It had a small fruit forming which has since dropped but on inspection yesterday I discovered another fruit which looks like it will continue to develop higher up in the wisteria. It is a grand experiment at the moment because I fully intend to do something similar in summer with the aquponics system and have vertical gardens growing melons and squash. Hence the rather long beams of wood either end of the benches. I've seen enough set-ups to realise that guys must make their systems up and the plants do so well that there is never enough support for the amazing growth they have and things seem to be tacked on here and there to accommodate the plants growth. I figured I'd make allowances for awesome growth right from the start!
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