dear diary - april with it's showers sweet

CHOOKS

dug out bits of their yard, they're not fully using the back.

PRUNING & PREPARING

DINING WINDOW VEGEPOD
Edge composted: comfrey, worm castings, pea straw, watered in with worm wee and seaweed brew

PLANTING

in DINING WINDOW VEGEPOD:

RIGHT SIDE
main crop: GARLIC Valiant
side crop: RADISHES confetti and watermelon, SPRING ONIONS

LEFT SIDE
main crop: GARLIC Monaro
side crops: LETTUCES italian mixed, mixed heirloom, CHIVES and SPRING ONION mix

NOTES

dear diary: 12th April

CHOOKS

Currently on the APPLE-CREPE bed, having been on the PLUM-STONE bed.

I really want to put the netting around the triangle bed and to leave them in there during the day, but it requires guarding from the local dogs.

The coop needs a second, follow-up spray. And now that we have a product called Alphamites, that might give the chooks individual protection against the mites. Which would be really really good...

PRUNING & PREPARING

Wondering if I should sever the peach and nectarine branches from the STONE tree (and maybe the smaller grafts from the APPLE). They're not really thriving or producing, and things have gotten out of hand. That's my fault for not bringing things along more evenly, but now that it is where it is, maybe it would be best to just end that part of it? And what I want from that tree are the apricots and the plums, not the donut peaches (I get those from the DONUT PEACH or NECTARINES (two trees already that produce those in significant numbers).

The downside of cutting down the two apples is that I don't have either of those types

If I do that, midwinter would be the best time, I think.

PLANNING and PLANTING

Still need to get the GARLIC and the BRASSICAS into the ground. This week would be best so it doesn't rot.

NB guild: Garlic, coriander, onion, leek, lettuce - although with Garlic as the main product, apparently it would be best to do

Guilds from Wollondilly shire: a little further south than here with cooler weather, but some good guild ideas:
Broccoli, chamomile, Dill, lEttuce, Lovage, mustard, Oregano, Parsley, Parsnip, Rhubarb, Rosemary, Sage, Silverbeet, Snow pea, Thyme
Carrot, chilves, katle, leek, lettuce, Marigold, Onion, pak choi, parsley, radishes, sage, silverbeet
Beetrooot, cabbage, cauli, chamomile,Dill, hyssop, lettuce, marigold, onion, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, spinach, snow peas, thyme
Beetroot, Broccoli, brussel sprouts,carrot, chamomile, dill, garlic, hyssop, kale, lettuce, onion, parsley, sage,
borage broad beans, carrots, calendula, dill, garlic, lettuce, marigolds, parsley, parsnip, rocket
amaranth, comfrey, mizuna, mustard greens

There's a mix of perennial and annual in there, which might work because I'd grow the perennial with an eye for the chooks to take it down the next time they're in the space.

Also need to look up planting guilds under fruit trees - specifically the AVOCADO and APRICOT and PLUM for the backyard. I know I had some flagged a while back, but finding them is the trick. maybe this post...

RIPENING

pumpkins, which might be golden nuggets if they go properly orange. Or might just be those round orange ones that look a bit like halloween pumpkins. Whatever they are, I hope they're tasty. Also, I've spotted a streaky butternut or two that have just been pollinated and are now growing. Whether they make it before the vine dies? Another matter entirely.

HARVEST

At least one ear of corn. Not sure what's going to happen to the rest of the corn stalks. I think most of the ears came out during the rain, which means they're not really going to produce anything, I think... And are a bit too hard to be baby corn.

NOTES

Sunny week, ending in a Friday holiday.

garlic: explicit planting plan 2022

1. PLant 1/2 Valiant, 1/2 Monaro Purple before 13th April
2. Plant 1/2 Valiant, 1/2 Monaro Purple during 18th-19th April
3. Plant 1/2 Spanish Roja on 25th-26th April
4. Plant 1/2 Spanish Roja in late May root planting time

Will want really well-draining beds b/c of the expected rain this season and risk of rotting. Except I already used the bathtub garden...

Using any of the wicking beds feels like a supremely bad idea, too.

I feel like the cheap metal frame I set up in the front garden bed might be a pretty good option. But I'd have to dig out all the soil, pull out the weeds, put some cardboard/black plastic down to reduce the weeds growing through, and fill it all back up again before I could do that.

Hm. I wonder if I could put soil in the medium-large black pots and stick a olla in it, fill up the olla if we ever reach a point where things start getting dry...

diary: I know we'll grow again some sunny day!

WEATHER

SUNNY! There is sun, there is breeze, things are drying out pretty well. It provided me with enough warmth and a break in the weather to do a number of garden tasks, and get involved enough that I lost track of time... Lunch will be a little later than I planned.

CHOOKS

Hainan, Shantung, and Goongbao keep getting into the neighbour's yard. I have no idea how, but I am trying to plug holes in the fencing.

PRUNING & PREPARING

I did edge composting on the BATHTUB and the BACKYARD WICKING beds. I videoed it, in landscape so it can be used to make a video on Edge Composting.
BATHTUB: Comfrey, gutter tailings, sifted compost, pea straw
BACK WICKING: comfrey, worm castings, pea straw, indian borage water

Pruned back a large proportion of the COSMOS in the front triangle bed; need to run the chooks through there this year.

PLANTING

Sowed BATHTUB out with CORIANDER, ONIONS (red spanish, white spanish), and SPINACH (viroflay).

Planted out BACK WICKING with a LANDCRESS (tiny). Future thought: probably more silverbeet/spinach.

RIPENING

Still the PUMPKINS (whatever type they are) all across the front yard. Tomatoes in the APPLES-DUALSTONE.

HARVEST

Several potatoes from the front bed (APPLES-DUALSTONE), rather knobbly, a couple were green but I cut the green parts off. A couple of new potatoes from the

NOTES

I dug up a couple of COMFREY plants, but have a feeling I didn't go deep enough to get the small roots, so I'm probably going to have to dig a bit deeper maybe. Or just live with comfrey popping up everywhere. As though it wasn't already.

There's a guy advertising for work hours on the local group, I'm thinking I might be able to use him to help with a) moving wood mulches, b) turning composts, c) sieving composts, d) chipping prunings... IDK.

diary: rain rain rain yet more rain

CHOOKS

I think there's a few mites who've come back. Once the weather clears sufficiently, I'll give the coop another spray, along with the triangle coop and the small shelter. I might leave the bottom tray off the chook roost since, according to Hannah from Goodlife Permaculture, the chooks don't need it - and her chooks are down in Tassie where they do get occasional snows.

But putting together a new coop is a priority, just as soon as I manage to gather the pieces, and the weather is decent enough to build the damn thing. Hopefully before next spring.

PRUNING & PREPARING

Trimmed down the picket fence bushes; they're going to need a whole lot more trimming. And maybe I'd be better off going at them with an articulated saw instead over the winter.

Going to need to make a decision about the passionfruit and where I should be encouraging it to grow. I have fencing, I just haven't set it up and I'm debating if I want to. If that's the place to be doing it.

Raspberries need tying up and fencing in. I should put a hook into that fence, suitable for binding up the canes, because they just end up crawling everywhere. Also, probably no autumn berries this year, dash it.

Was planning to do edge composting re: Limestone Permaculture around the bathtub garden. It just feels so bloody COLD right now!

SEED SAVING & PLANTING

I found a leek that has seeds, so that's seed saving. I used the leeks in a kedgeree - still have the green leaves, need to make a potato and leek soup. It'll use up some of the chicken stock in the freezer anyway.

I might end up planting my garlic in mid-April; now I have to work out where...

Otherwise, I haven't planted out my brassicas at all. I don't know where to put them since the beds I was planning for are all overgrown with pumpkin and melon and sweet potato vines. Need to plan that one better next time!

Garlic: planting guide at FB: I have Spanish Roja (Creole, possibly Rocambole), Rojo de Castro (Creole) Valiant (Turban), and Monaro Purple(Turban)

Glass Gem Corn seed saving: I saved a lot of seed and was originally planning to share it at the crop swap at Eden Gardens on the 3rd, but that's been cancelled. ARGH.

RIPENING

I have five pumpkins that have finally pollinated and are steadily growing. at least one appears to be a butternut, but the other three are likely sugar pumpkins. The pumpkins are always late in my garden, I don't know why. I'd really like an early pumpkin for storing.

I don't know about 'ripening' but the hops have flowered, but not very well.

The ginger is waterlogged and on the verge of rotting. I pulled out a piece yesterday, and it was sodden, but seems to be drying off quite nicely.

HARVEST

The taro plants have gone beserk. Seriously beserk. I'm probably going to have to cook some of it at some point. Trying to work out what I can make with it. Taro chips looks like a possibility.

NOTES

The Crop Swap that was planned for this weekend at Eden Gardens has been cancelled. ARGH. All the things I was hoping to swap are now defunct.

I had plans to pick up a wooden wardrobe for pumpkin and melon and potato storage but that's kind of fallen by the wayside due to no energy and no room.