Dear Diary: mid-Feb

WEATHER:Hot. Upper 20s, heading for the 30s over the weekend. It's going to be very hot.

The patterns are shifting out of La Nina. Whether they'll head for El Nino is another matter, but the chances are about 60% right now? No more normal seasons; too hot, or too cold.

RAIN & WATER

Had some very decent rains the last few months - usually very clear skies and then abruptly, DOWNPOUR. Last Thursday night had a pretty major storm to the point where the large water tank was significantly overflowing. I pretty much removed the cap on the 'first flush' and then it stopped overflowing but it was basically all going out to stormwater.

I've been using the watertank to water the trees and the beds in the triangle garden, the potted trees and so forth.

CHOOKS:

B1 and B2 have been formally named - in French, because our knowledge of Chinese dishes ran out pretty fast: Caramba (Caramel) and Chouquette (Cream puff) for their colours. They're growing very fast and today are much more chicken-shaped than pullet-shaped.

Goong is back to being broody again. Sissy (Siyao) is laying. We're afraid that Coldie or Shantung's chip has worn out and they're laying again, though - we got an egg that didn't look like a Sissy egg today, so the sister is worried. I have the money to put another chip in, but I kind of don't want to.

OSBERVATIONS

Comfrey is growing really thickly just about everywhere. I'm picking off the flower buds as fast as they grow, but they're still growing quite fervently. Not sure if they'll dry up and die with winter (I think they do, which: whew) but I hope so.

PREPARATION:

The APPLE-CREPE bed has chicken poop and straw all over it. I should put another layer of straw on there, Maybe mix it all in together, rake it flat, and cover with more straw?

PLANTING

I tossed some old PARSNIP seed down in the BACKYARD BATHTUB earlier this week.

Need to interplant some carrots, I think.

Might have to use the front vegepods for ONIONS, LEEKS, CARROTS, BEETROOTS, RADISHES...

RIPENING

The Rosewood PUMPKIN is long and green, the Queensland Sunrise is round and fat and orange, and there's at least one large longneck from the ginormous vine that started in the pumpkin-potato bed. Not as many fruiting flowers as I'd have liked, only one per major vine so far... The smaller curcubit vines aren't producing anything.

TOMATOES:

HARVEST

APPLES - the Gala are very ready, and the Delicious are ripening steadily.

CORIANDER - the short sprouts are starting to go seedy, but even just having it there makes it good and ready

BASIL - the bought basil is doing great, the seedling basil keeps getting dug up by the chooks when they get out. ARGH!

PRUNING

Fruit trees will need major pruning, quite possibly involving a chainsaw. I need to get one of the neighbours in on this sometime.

THOUGHTS

Still haven't heard back from the window guys; need a date - trying to arrange to move things away from the windows.

I want to make a vegie frittata entirely from Things Grown In My Garden: potatoes, basil, sage, parsley, green leafies, eggs. Okay, maybe I'll add cheese to that. It's kind of the wrong weather for baking though. I always want to bake when it's hot. I don't know why.

2023 is here

There are AVOS in the tree, APPLES on the branches, PUMPKINS growing in the front, and TOMATOES in the triangle garden. The CORN is doing very well up in the back corner by the APPLE tree.

But oh, I'm starting to fret about the backyard and the way it's falling apart. It need a serious makeover with a solid chicken tunnel and better garden beds. Plus, I need to let some of the grasses grow back - but not the awful runner-grass that just ends up growing everywhere and is impossible to get rid of. That's starting to take over the paths because I haven't chip-mulched them in a year...

Then there's the comfrey that is refusing to stay down and dead, and which I planted all over the place and which is going to be a pest going forward...

I mean that, there, in the pic above? That's rhubarb. Something else entirely. but, yes, comfrey can be a pest, too...

Something that I'm thinking of doing this year is redesigning the 'Victory Garden' for:
a) Sydney, Australia and our temperate climates (far more variety available, and a recognition that summer temps are not going to grow cabbages and leeks very well)
b) permaculture gardens (instead of rows along a backyard which would be awful to weed)
c) my permaculture garden

It will require rethinking things in time and space. And possibly remodelling the backyard. Even remodelling the front yard.

If I think about it, I have a whole lot of garden beds available for use: not just the ones in the back which I plan to keep (PLUM-STONE, APPLE-CREPE, CREPE-APRICOT, and possibly AVO-SHED), but also the IBC (now on the porch), two small VEGEPODs the large VEGEPOD, two metal beds in the TRIANGLE GARDEN and a growing space between the espaliered apples.

Positioning them for best sunlight/productivity, while allowing the lawn to be mowed? That's another matter entirely...

I also need to find a swift-growing, easy-care lawn material that isn't runner grass... haha. Simple!