dear diary: 24th September

OBSERVATIONS

NASTURTIUMS are everywhere in the backyard.

FRONT PICKET BED is going beserk and in a bad way; probably going to need to poison the mugwort and the red salvia is seriously worrying me with its tendency to sprout from just about anything... But the little bulb garden I put together is now flowering ANEMONES after the JONQUILS and PAPERWHITE (also jonquils) have finished. There appear to be some DAHLIA crowns coming through, but the only thing from the meadow mix that seems to be sticking is the ALYSSUM.

GALA apple is flowering, so is BRAEBURN.

CHOOKS

Hainan had to be put down back around the middle of the month. The peritonitis wasn't getting any better in spite of the draining and antibiotics, and in the end it was better to end her suffering. She's buried under the peach-nectarine tree in the triangle garden.

Goong is broody again, and somewhat grumpy at being left out right now.

PRUNING & PREPARING

Planning to take off a giant chunk of the four-apple two very productive branches. They're not going to fruit this year - I think the rats ate all the buds. Give the other two grafts a chance to shine, maybe...

Planning to put the chooks into the dining room VEGEPOD at some point to clear it out. Don't know how well it will go; they like a bit of shelter - not too exposed. Could maybe put a few sacks or green shadecloth over it to give them some protection.

Planning to plant the snapdragons out in the PICKET FENCE BED.

PLANTING

Planted out the CORN (country gentleman) in APPLE-CREPE

Planted out the BUSH BEANS (cherokee wax) in the APPLE-CREPE, and CREPE-APRICOT, and PLUM-STONE

White BEANS (might be blue mountain), ebisu PUMPKIN, popping CORN, and maybe one EGGPLANT and one CAPSICUM coming up?

Blue CHILLI from Margaret by way of Cecelia.

RIPENING

ASPARAGUS: purple in the polybox, green in the ASPIE BED

MUSTARDS in the CREPE-APRICOT

MUSTARD in the VEGEPOD

SILVERBEET in the garage MINIPOD

RADISHES/LETTUCES in the dining MINIPOD

HARVEST

RHUBARB stems: both the green in the APRICOT bed and the red in polybox.

BRASSICAS in lounge room window, CABBAGE in pot on VEGEPOD, FENNEL in bathtub bed, CORIANDER in bathtub bed

NOTES

FRUIT TREES in triangle garden got netted (TWO-STONE and DUAL-STONE)

GOLDEN DORSETT graft has flowered and is fruiting; have started covering it over but not very thoroughly. Going to need to evaluate how that branch is managed.

Things need to be in the ground before I go away on holiday - all of October, pretty much; that, or they need to be in something that has a water reservoir...

NATIVE BEEHIVE: Opened it up with Sue, found the structure there but just no bees. Looks like the colony simply didn't manage to re-queen, and just died. Now I have to trim out all the mouldy/pollen/honeysacs in the hive and prep it for probably an October/November split.

house windows

Spoke to some asbestos removalists this morning: they'd take both the cladding and the asbestos off.

Got the quote for double-glazed windows with thermally broken frames.

It's interesting. I know that my version of 'affordable' is vastly different to most other people's versions. But I was expecting the windows would be more expensive than they are quoted as being. I do wonder what the price of uPVC windows would be though. But getting anyone to quote them will be an effort; everyone is crazy busy with building right now.

Also wondering: how can I retain the glass in my current windows for re-use (as, say, a greenhouse) instead of just having them tossed into the bin and taken to landfill? Is there anyone who would be willing to take them for other use?

I guess there goes the dream of installing a stained glass window in my street-facing floor-to-nearly-ceiling lounge room...

dear diary - 4th September

OBSERVATIONS

Rain with occcasional sunny spaces. La Nina is predicted for the summer, third time unlucky. Not sure we're going to make a fourth one in some areas of Australia.

CHOOKS

Hainan likely on her last legs. Drained of fluids last visit, seemed okay afterwards, but has slowed down in the last weeks. At this point, if things are failing and the only option is surgery, I'm going to cut the cord. Then it'll be a case of getting another two chickens. I'd like another Sussex (mille flora!) for the pretty, and maybe a Quamby. IDK. Or we might go another of the nicer heritage breeds - Australorp, perhaps?

PRUNING & PREPARING

Roughly (and badly) pruned the frangipani. Put the cuttings aside to dry and maybe be chipped.

Dug out the last of the lower compost bay and sieved it. Covered everything up so it wouldn't get too wet, and luckily did so just before the rain turned up. Need to refill several beds:
- lounge room bed
- back wicking bed
- assorted pots and the plants in them

PLANTING

No planting today. But should really plant a few more things for the Crop Swap on the 25th September...

Beans, tomatoes,

GROWING

Tomatoes in the heat aquarium have sprouted but only the seed leaves, no real leaves yet. They're a bit leggy too. Should probably move them into more sunny spaces...

Peas in Apple Espalier are coming along well and fruiting some.

HARVEST

None today, although peas are looking pretty ready, there aren't a lot of them.

dear diary - it is SPRING!

OBSERVATIONS

Warmer, more growing things. Peas have settled in nicely under the apple espalier, scented early bulbs are still going strong. Apparently the tulips need to be fridged for a while, but how we're going to find space for that in the fridge in future IDEK.

Mugwort everywhere. Poison, or try to pull out? Some of the stuff is buried too deep to dig out, and some of it is caught up in the roots of other things.

CHOOKS

Goong is off the broody, not laying yet. Siyao is still laying strong, an egg every couple of days.

Need to move their tractor to AVO-SHED.

I found a pollinated avo! Now if only we can get dozens more!

PRUNING & PREPARING

I started tying down the apple boughs to the apple espalier fence.

PLANTING

A lot of Silver Gentleman CORN, in punnets for Crop Swap (eventually).

CORN (silver gentleman), CUCUMBER (lebanese), ZUCCHINI (golden), BEANS (bush, cherokee wax), EGGPLANT (black beuaty)

RIPENING

Nothing.

HARVEST

Four snowpeas, which I promptly ate. If I'd gotten the espalier fence up earlier, I'd have had more snowpeas. But they might grow a bit more in the coming months.

NOTES

I dug up quite a bit of sweet potato from the front garden bed, but most of it has rotted because I didn't do anything with it. *sigh* Simply didn't have the energy. Ditto with the sugarcane. It's probably dried out by now and not much good. Pity. Would have been interesting to try to make home sugar.