dear diary: 17th January - rain clouds have come and have blocked out the sun

The title is from a song I learned at school back in 1988. I recall it being some kind of indigenous song, presumably about the rainy season.

We probably will not have that kind of a rainy season this year, but the next two weeks are supposed to be cool(ish) and cloudy and rainy, and so it seemed appropriate...

OBSERVATIONS:

We have a week or two of rain – quite a bit of it today – and then some light showers for the rest of the week and into the next week.

The spout over the water tank is too far over the collection hole for the water to go smoothly into the tank when there's a heavy rain. It needs to be cut back. I basically need to cut it back, maybe later today.

I'm concerned about the Illawarra flame tree still; it doesn't seem to be releafing up the top. Is it the drought conditions, or something else? And who do I call to look at it?

The possums are going over the roof at night to get to the persimmon tree now. I think they've managed to get inside the net and eat some of the fruit. I need to better seal that up – possibly with a piece of metal netting so they can't easily get out.

I scattered some B&B over the spaces and didn't hear anything from the possums for a while – so maybe that's a way to keep them out.

ESPALIER APPLES are flowering late – at least, the Golden Delicious did. Not sure it will fruit, though – and if it fruits, no idea if it will manage to produce.

HOUSE:

We had a local guy come by to talk to us about installing solar batteries for our house. The price he quoted (roughly) was less than half of what the last lot tried to sell us a battery system for! But I need to follow up with him this week.

We're looking at 20-30kW, although B1 wants max battery options – entirely off-grid. I want longer-lasting. I've explained my reasoning for battery-ness to her:
1. We need something in place now. The sooner the better. If we have spare capacity, we can fill it and trade it right now.
2. Longer-term – in the 10-20 year bracket, I expect the battery to fail, as many electronics will in the coming decades. They'll be expensive to replace. What I want is the very old-school nickel-iron batteries – the one that Nikolai Tesla came up with and which can still be working 100 years later. They're higher maintenance, but they're really robust, and they last. And no, I don't expect to be existing 100 years later, but I'd like something that is built for the long-term. We lucked into the house being solidly built (in spite of all the asbestos and the tendency to mold) and there's a few things we didn't do as wisely when we should have, but them's the breaks.

ACTIONS:

Cleared out the collection hole for the water tank – it was full of jacaranda bits left over from when the jacaranda shed earlier this summer.

I repotted the APRICOTS – I bought a new APRICOT from Flower Power Glenhaven – and potted it out into the large plastic terra-coloured pots...

And then I discovered a sale on some big metal pots that have a watering bit in the middle and are on wheels. And bought four of them. I think. They were pricey, but four metal pots with a water reservoir, on wheels! You try and resist it.

Anyway, I will need to repot the apricots again – I might leave it until winter, though.

And the other two pots can go for the ICE CREAM BEAN and the SOUR CHERRY.

Mixed up a bag of compost a bag of garden soil (both cheap version), and some blood and bone – brunnings, I think, possibly Yates? - to make some soil for planting out leafy greens, spring onions, and finishing planting out the APRICOTS.

CHOOKS:

Sad news. Carambar was taken from us, and in a very violent way.

A neighbour's dog got out and started harassing our chickens while we weren't home. We have fences up that generally keep the chickens in and most attackers out, but we think that Carambar got so panicked by the barking that she launched herself up over the fence and then had to run away from the dog. The dog pursued Carambar under the house where the neighbour (both the dog-owner and another, helpful neighbour who called me when he first heard the barking and squawking) couldn't follow them and then had her at his mercy for about ten minutes.

When I got home – I'd been called by the helpful neighbour as soon as he heard the kerfuffle, he had to ask for the dog-owner neighbour - they'd gotten the dog out, but Carambah was still under the house. I went under and got her out - she was all the way tucked into the far corner of the underhouse. She was bitten all over her head, and when we took her to the vet her wing was broken. We had her put down, because there was no guarantee she would survive and she was in terrible pain.

We've had an issue with this neighbour before – she's in her sixties and has two very young, very energetic and bouncy spaniel-types who are too strong for her – a couple of times she actually lost control of them while walking them, resulting the dogs bounding into our yard and barking at the chickens.

She paid for the vet bill, but we're just angry and sad, because the chickens are at least a little bit pets as well as producers, and as the helpful neighbour said the next day, “it shouldn't have happened and was entirely preventable”.

Anyway, we're contemplating getting a few more chickens – perhaps the next time our broody girl is broody. And also a fence along the back.

Otherwise, Siyao and Gladys are still laying, Goong is broody. We're going to bury Carambar this weekend, and cordon off the lower front yard for the chickens. B1 really doesn't like leaving them without green areas to peck at.

Have set up the lower grassy area for the chickens to run about in. The problem: they're going to eat the carrot seeds and then poop it out everywhere and it will spread. We're already having so much trouble with the lower lawn and the grass – it doesn't grow there anymore. And B1 doesn't like clover. (I like clover. I love clover. In fact, if I had my druthers, I'd be using now to grow clover instead of letting the chooks eat all the grass. But B1 really wants them to get to eat green stuff... UGH.

COMPOST:

The compost built back in November has cooled down. We're going to rebuild it with the contents of the compost next to it, and with Carambar. It already has Kerry further down. At some point, I'm probably going to have to dig out the one with Haami and Daofu in it, and either remake it, or distribute it out.

ETA: Just came inside from rebuilding it – although really, it was more 'layering on top': paper shreddings, comfrey, Carambar, more comfrey, more shreddings, coffee chaff, sawdust, stonefruit prunings, cardboard, and a wet sack on top.

PREPARING:

I've set up a watering system (connected to the carport collection barrels) for the triangle garden. The aim is to plant some of the BRASSICAS there in the coming winter.

Just took the chook tractor off PLUM-STONE and laid down some B&B. Will cover with sugar cane mulch this evening and leave for a few days before planting out in it.

SEEDING:

LETTUCE(Mignonette, from Segolene and Sebastian) – in BATHTUB and APRICOT beds
SPINACH – bunnings packet type – in CREPE-APRICOT

Added a dollop of seaweed solution to most of the seedling water trays.

Of the brassicas planted, most are exceedingly productive...but the heirloom types are not...

BROCCOLI:
Aurora (F1)
diCicco
CAULIFLOWER:
di bassano (F1)
snowball early – only one sprouting
CABBAGE
Matilda chinese cabbage (F1)
golden acre – none
verona purple – a few sprouting

I think the heirloom types are going to need careful herding along, possibly in a separate tray, and with more immediate notice

PLANTING OUT:

ONION – spring – in CREPE-APRICOT – purchased spring onions, I think.

HARVEST:

POTATOES. I got at least a couple of kgs of potatoes from one of the front pathway vegepods. Mostly small and medium sized – no really large ones. That's okay – they're easier to eat in smaller numbers, even if they're more tricksy to wash and cook. Now I need to work out how to store them...

FEEDING:

Honestly, I'm just running around feeding everything B&B right now. Need to do more of the biological activator stuff from Lee, also seaweed solution.

Tossed a light layer of B&B on the PLUM-STONE, letting today's rain seep in, then will cover with mulch tonight.

PRUNING:

Pruned down the PLUM in the backyard, also the APRICOTS in the front. Need to get a ladder/structure and do the DUAL STONE in the TRIANGLE garden. The chipper worked pretty nicely with the smaller branches I have, but I stlll have some larger ones that my home chipper won't manage. Going to try taking them to the local mulching day, where you can get branches and stuff chipped, but also collect some materials.

THOUGHTS:

January is in fact a very busy time in the garden. So many things to do, and such a lot of stuff to plan for.

In particular, the Sydney Edible Garden Trail requires entering.

dear diary: January 2026

OBSERVATIONS:

First half (well, really three-quarters) of December was hot and hot and hot and hot. We are definitely in the thick of climate change and it's terrifying. We've already had 45C days here in Sydney, and not enough rain to compensate.

Most things have fruited, now it's just a question of getting it before the DAMN POSSUMS do. Possums plural, because I chased at least two of them out of the back yard the other night, and as revenge they ate ALL MY PLUMS.

NOT. HAPPY. JAN.

By the end of December, the weather cooled down significntly – enough that I needed an extra quilt on the bed to sleep through the night. It was almost too cool, but that provided a nice buffer for planting out a bunch of brassicas.

That said, I may have planted out the wrong brassicas. These are the ones that should be planted out in March or thereabouts...

At this point, a lot of focus will be going into getting things ready for the Sydney Edible Garden Trail – getting beds filled with plants.

Also need to remember to ask people if they can anchor for me while the SEGT is on.

CHOOKS:

The chickens aren't coping with the hot weather, to the point whereB1 wants to bring them inside.

Here's a funny point: we have a front porch, it faces west and south, at one point, I mentioned that maybe we wanted to turn it into a sunroom in winter or something, abd B1 pooh-poohed the idea because it would heat too fast and too much.

Guess where she wants to put a 'spare room' for the chooks...?

For our use? Hell no. For the chickens? Yes, please!

Bubby is back to laying after being broody for...over a month. Well over a month.

Sis and Gladys seem to cope the least well with the heat. Carambar is big but somehow not overheated most of the time – well, she's not laying, and Goongbau (“bubby”) is much the same.

They mostly spend their time in the tunnel in the backyard, where there's a stretch which is covered by greenery and shielded by the donut peach. We and they generally do pretty well around there.

COMPOST:

Probably dried out – I simply haven't had the time to water it, which means it's probably stopped composting.

Maybe I'll turn it sometime later this week and water it. Sometime. Later.

PREPARING:

Need to start working out which beds the BRASSICAS are going in this winter and prepping the soil now!

SEEDING:

Nothing is growing. Nothing.

Early Jan:

Okay, a few things. Some of the water spinach is sprouting, but I don't know how long it will last when it doesn't have water and only the hot summer sun.

I've sown a row of a 'roots' mix of radish, char, lettuce, and possibly carrots in the APPLE-CREPE, along with a row of carrots (F1 kuroda).

Planted out the CORN (Silver Gentleman) – also found some glass gem seeds! I can try them now, or I could leave them to next year... Hmf. Not sure there's enough time right now.

BROCCOLI: Aurora (F1), diCicco
CAULIFLOWER: di bassano (F1), snowball early
CABBAGE: Matilda chinese cabbage(F1), golden acre, verona purple
note: Aurora and Matilda are 'winter' varieties, so I don't know how they're going to do through the Jan-Feb heat. I've ordered some of the other varieties, but they'll take a week or so to come.

PLANTING OUT:

I planted out the water spinach, and two tomatoes (no idea what kind they are) after the possums ate the sprouts of the last one. I have a bunch of what look like capsicums grown from seed. Don't know how we'll they're doing.

I also put the PASSIONFRUIT in the ground – most likely a banana passionfruit, grown from seed, I think, I have no memory of how I got it, though! It's planted at the chicken coop entrance, because they're going to need something broad and spreading and shady to shelter under if the neighbours cut down the tree. It got some claybreaker in the bottom, charcoal (damp, not sure what they're in), a scoop of chicken poop (from the run), a scoop of blood and bone, and a bucket of water.

HARVEST:

Not much right now. Like, almost nothing. Oh, wait, I harvested some GARLIC from the small vegepods on the path – not all of them. Some weren't large enough. But some most definitely were!

Okay, and before that, I harvested all the dorset APPLES, and then had to pick all the other apples (gala and golden delish) because they were riddled with fruit fly. I've put them in the chicken coop for eating.

The ones I picked that were good were sliced and dried.

The PLUMS on the former FOUR-STONE were doing well, at least after I got rid of all the half-ripe, half-eaten ones that were clustering. I had at least a dozen fruit, slowly ripening...and then the bloody possums took 'em! All of them! Quite gone!

The golden PEACHES didn't do as well as I hoped – they weren't very large. I think the weird weather did them in.

Otherwise the PERSIMMONS are netted, and I'm hoping they'll keep going okay...

FEEDING:

Fed everything in the APPLE-CREPE and CREPE-APRICOT beds with blood and bone.

PRUNING:

Got the chipper working again – huzzah! Now need to change the blades and do some of the thicker chunks (if they don't get stuck).

Might need to borrow James' chainsaw again. I don't feel like asking Joe to come over for something so small as a few branches.

THOUGHTS:

Cleaned the gutters of the jacaranda leaves. In the middle of a downpour. Do not recommend.

Need to ask people to assist on the Edible Garden Trail weekends.

dear diary: 30th November

It's been a very busy six weeks. A lot of things going on, a lot of stuff happening, and on the roll to the solstice, to Christmas, and the new year. OOF.

OBSERVATIONS:

The weather is absolutely all over the shop. Hot and then cold, humid and rainy, and then dry and soul-sucking. But things are growing pretty well.

One thing I need to remember is how much water everything needs in the middle of summer!

The water in the tank is beginning to smell. I think it needs emptying and then cleaning out.

One of the odd things is the harvest disparities.

The MANGO is way up, so is the PEACH (yellow clingstone).

Definitely down are the AVO, APPLES (golden del, gala), the NECTARINES (white), and the PEACH (china donut).

Same-state of unproductive are the backyard 'DUAL' PLUM, FOUR-APPLE, APRICOT, CHERRY, and the front yard APRICOT.
UPDATE: I have an apricot off the APRICOT in the tub!! OMG, SO EXCITED!

Same state of productive are the backyard PLUM, and the citruses - LIME (makrut), KUMQUAT, and CITRUS (oranges and tangerines).

Two that I can't really tell are the POMEGRANATE and the PERSIMMON, which are late-summer/early-autumn harvests, and the fruit set on these doesn't look very good.

One thing to note: I've tracked that a lot of times my fruit trees have a 'bounteous' year and then an 'ordinary' year. It switches between a year which is really good and year which is ordinary. Sometimes it's harder to tell with some trees - I pay more attention to the nectarine-peach duos, but I also keep them pruned back pretty hard so I can actually harvest them, and still every year I get a pretty decent harvest. But last year was crazy for the persimmons, so this might just be a quieter year.

CHOOKS:

The four left remaining after Kerry died back in late August have all been fine. We have a series of very hot days coming up, though, so we're keeping an eye on them - spraying down the enclosure, sometimes making them sit in cooling baths.

Goong is broody, and has been so for about a month. She should be coming out of it now...

We buried Kerry in one of the compost piles. See below.

COMPOST:

Dug out the middle compost pile - it's been processing since before I went away, but hadn't fully decomposed. With the assistance of the sisters, I sieved it on Saturday, and dumped most of it back in the new compost, which we built around Kerry.

Contents:
- leaf-and-grass mulch
- cutting from the garden (most of the mother-of-herb vines, trimmed back)
- comfrey
- ferns
- lucerne
- Kerry
I topped it off with a layer of leaf-and-grass mulch. I'd hoped that the gardener would have come by on Friday, but it rained all day and so I guess he put it off after I said last Wednesday wasn't any good. Anyway, it's reached the middle of 'active' status but not 'hot' according to the thermometer, and I'm tempted to try injecting it with some manures - chicken and cow by preference - and see if that gives it a kick?

PREPARING:

I have MELONS and PUMPKINS growing, and they're going to need some pretty decently prepared ground. I have the soil, I have a few planting sites, I just need to plant them out and remember to water them. I'm thinking of putting an olla in each bed. I just have to work out which set of melons and pumpkins are going together.

SEEDLINGS PLANTED OUT:
SNAKE BEANS - germinated and planted out in LOUNGE VEGEPOD
BUSH BEANS - Cherokee wax, full germination - plant out in AVO-SHED
BUSH BEAN - royal burgundy, full germination - plant out in CREPE-APRICOT

PLANTED NO GERMINATION:
BEAN (Soy green) - no gemination at all
EGGPLANT tsakoniki - no germination
No ZUCCHINI

PLANTING OUT:
PUMPKIN - mystery (brett cooper's green-orange turban type) - 2 germinated
WATERMELON - moon and stars, no germination
PUMPKIN - galeaux d'eysines, 3  germination
POLLINATOR - lion - 2 full germination
MELON - zdenka's - 1 germinated
MELON - rockmelon - 4 germinated
PUMPKIN - musquee de provence - 1 germinated
CUCUMBER - burpless - 1 germinated
EGGPLANT, TOMATO from Jen in Hornsby

PLANTING OUT THOUGHTS:

I have the BANANA CIRCLE, the FRONT TRIANGLE, and the FRAGIPANI

I would like to do THE CHOOK YARD FENCE and the FRONT LOUNGE WINDOW

1. Bury an olla next to where the seedling is going to go.

2. Plant the vines around them with:
half a bucket of compost
half a bucket of cow manure
a handful of wood ash

3. surround with straw and water in with:
an ice-cream containers of bioworm liquid

4. fill the olla with plain water

5. first week, water every second day with:
seaweed solution
worm wee

6. second week water with
bioworm liquid

HARVEST: Still baby tomatoes, still white peaches, all the nectarines are gone. Golden Dorset apples, the (lone) apricot is nearly ready (maybe one more day; hopefully it's not the day that the damn possum eats it), and the golden peaches are starting up

FEEDING:

Corn planted mid-October, blood and bone, cow manure

See melons

PRUNING:

STONE in backyard needs pruning (apricot above)

CHERRY in backyard needs pruning

DONUT PEACH in backyard needs pruning

THOUGHTS:
PUMPKIN - mystery (brett cooper's green-orange turban type) - 2 germinated
PUMPKIN - galeaux d'eysines, 3  germination
PUMPKIN - musquee de provence - 1 germinated
POLLINATOR - lion - 2 full germination
MELON - zdenka's - 1 germinated
MELON - rockmelon - 4 germinated

If we have five places to grow then keep them together by type - so all the Galeaux d'Eysines together, all the Musquee together, etc. Pollinator can go one for the PUMPKINS and one for the MELONS (more or less)

if we have three places to grow, then one each of MELON, PUMPKIN, and POLLINATOR in each spot.

TO DO

0. Prep ground: add compost/manure

1. make labels - wood, large, painted

2. group where they're going

3. Plant out.

FINAL PLANS - Sunday 30th Nov:

I'm going to use the Frangipani and the Banana circle this year, doing the work on the Triangle Garden this year I'll improve the soil along the chookyard fence and the front garden in the coming seasons.

dear diary: 20th October and previous weeks

OBSERVATIONS:

I've been gone six weeks and the garden has changed...significantly.

For starters, I left in late winter, and returned mid-spring and EVERYTHING IS GROWING.

The weather has turned hot and dry, with a couple of temps at 35-40C. Unfortunately, the watering system in the back is leaking and I need to fix it before I can properly water the back. DAMMIT. I guess that might end up being a job for Saturday perhaps?

In the front triangle, the PERSIMMON has grown back super-thick and leafy, and I'm thinking it's going to need some trimming so it doesn't get too out of hand. It's shading the space where I was growing tomatoes and some pumpkins, thinking that it would take longer for the shade to hit. But no, apparently not. So both the CITRUS and the bed I had behind the STONE arein full shade.

The beds I planted have overgrown, and while things are surviving in there, nothing is really thriving, thanks to the heat and the lack of watering. B1 couldn't really manage it, which isn't surprising, and I didn't have the watering system properly set up, unfortunately.

Several of the grafts took, but some didn't.

The APRICOTS on the TWO STONE took, (the cherries did not)

The PLUMS on the PLUM took (the cherries did not) (I'm seeing a pattern with the cherries.)

Something that concerns me is a kind of fungus that seems to be growing out of the cambium layer of the tree – I think it's because the sealant stayed on too long – the full six weeks, instead of being taken off at three or four weeks. I've taken it all off now, but...we might have to wait and see if I've killed the trees entirely.

Next job is to trim down the scion trees, because they're entirely too vigourous right now.

Neither of the APRICOTS, nor the STONE fruit APRICOT, nor the FOUR-APPLE are flowering. Not at all. The GOLDEN DELICIOUS APPLE is flowering a little, and the GALA usually comes in late, but it's also not looking great. Don't think this is going to be a good year for apples, anyway...

Somewhat surprisingly the WHITE MULBERRY in the chook pen survived. It even has a little fruit on it. I should pick those off before they get much bigger.

The WHITE SAPOTE is almost dead, the BLACK SAPOTE is surviving. The ICE CREAM BEAN is comfortably in the fake barrel along with...another tree that I don't know.

Almost all the COFFEE seedlings dried out. And several of the LYCHEE trees are on the blink. B1 insists she watered them enough but I have my doubts.

I suspect the FIG strikings that I took have failed, but one of the branches from the BLACK GENOA that got worm eaten has survived and has a leaf on it.

PASSIONFRUIT vine is probably dead. KUMQUAT has survived, although isn't looking great.

MANGO has a bajillion little fruits on it, and I'm going to have to keep that one watered properly this summer. And that's going to be an effort and a half!

the GRAPE is doing wonderfully, thanks very much. I need to get some kind of a frame up so that we have a hope of growing it for shade, maybe? IDK. B1 and I are on two pages about that. She wants a shade that we can pull back (ie. Man-made mechanical), I'm for the grape in summer and bare in winter.

CHOOKS:

All seem healthy and laying (except Carambah, who has an implant and shouldn't be laying at all). Life rolls on without Dr. Kerry, and she's in the freezer awaiting the moment for burial. Also, a location.

Currently TRACTOR is on CREPE-APRICOT, should stay there until early November

COMPOST:

I thought it had dried out while I was away, but the temp in it was just under 'steady', and when I turned it on Tuesday 21st it was damp (but not moist) and most of the non-fibrous things had decomposed. I turned it and covered it with sacking.

Lawn guy came this afternoon, said it was okay mowing the leaves, but ended up leafblowing most of it to the edges of the garden. Oh well. I'm going to have to whip out the mower myself on Friday and give it a good going-over. Then use the leaves as mulch.

PREPARING:

I'm pretty much preparing for the Sydney Edible Garden Trail in March 2026. I want to showcase how much can be grown in a small space, and effectively using chickens.

That would mean I'd have the chooks on one of the tractor beds. And I need to make a decision about which one. My instincts say that the AVO-SHED would be best: it's a good visual, and it's difficult to grow things in there. So I need to do any growing in the AVO-SHED ASAP in the next six months with an eye to having the girls on it by early March

FORWARDTHOUGHTS:

AVO-SHED
thoughts: not a lot of sun happening here, things tend to grow badly when they grow at all now that the avo is next door. I wonder if some careful planting and feeding might do a better job now?
Perhaps try a ZUCCHINI, assorted BEANS and some LEAFY GREENS (SILVERBEET) – going to need to feed and water them hard.

CREPE - should be ready by early November
- plant the GLASS GEM CORN in this bed, with ZUCCHINI and TOMATO and BEANS

APPLE-CREPE
- BEANS, ZUCCHINI, TOMATO

PLUM-STONE

DRIVEWAY WICKING
- plant the COUNTRY GENTLEMEN CORN in this bed, in a triangle at the top left corner (around the watering pipe)
- CUCUMBER along the back edge
- SNAKE BEANS along the back edge
- BEETROOT and SILVERBEET spaced through the middle
- BUSH BEANS along the front

HARDWARE WORK:

1. Watering System

2. Garden seat

3. Take the TRIANGLE beds out and consolidate into a single bed

4. Make up the IBC bed on the porch

SEEDING:

So many things need planting, especially for the SEGT 2026, which is in March (I think).

21st -22nd and 27th - 28th
CORN – Country Gentleman, Glass Gem
CUCUMBER – Burpless
ZUCCHINI – black beauty
PUMPKIN – musquee du provence
ROCKMELON – zdenka's?

Also: SILVERBEET, SPINACHES, maybe WATER SPINACHES?

PLANTING OUT:

Nothing to plant out. Anything I seeded back in August is pretty much dead.

HARVEST

FEEDING:

Fed the potatoes shop potash. Or phosphate. Hm. I have a feeling it was phosphates.

Need to try actual wood ash from Sue's fireplace next time.

Found this advice about POTATOES on the internet:
Leaf mulch, compost, blood and bone, potatoes, compost, leaf mulch
planted in June
watered very regularly
fertilised halfway through growing season – potash

she had some really good potatoes in October after planting in June.

Was wondering if I could do the same from the August planting by December in the small vegepod on the path...

LET OPERATION POTATO COMMENCE!

PRUNING:

Honestly, everydamnthing in the garden needs pruning.

dear diary: short September

Just a few updates while I'm out of the country.

CHOOKS:

Kerry died the morning I left to go overseas. We medicated her, B1 tried to put her back into the coop, she was already wilting – as in, head drooping, everything failing, and before we got to the expressway, she was dead.

Poor Dr.Kerry, although I like to think she had a magnificent life at the end there, once she'd come to us.

GRAFTING:

I found some notes!

Apricots: grafted to Nectarine
- Cotton Candy (300) and Unknown Apricot grafted onto Two-Stone Nectarine. It was very wet while doing so, and I don't know how well it's going to hold. You do what you can, I suppose.
- Fireball (450) and Bulida (500) grafted onto horizontal Two-Stone Nectarine. Again, very wet while doing so. 

That's all the notes I have, but it's more than I had before!

THOUGHTS:

It looks like it's going to be pretty dry while I'm away, and while I left instructions on watering the seedlings, I do wonder a little how they went in the cold snap we had on the weekend.

dear diary: end of August

NOTES:

Been a lot of things happening lately, And entirely too long since I updated this.

I keep thinking I have things to talk about, which I do, but then I haven't really had time to write them down, so I haven't typed them out.

I grafted a bunch of stone fruit to each other, BUT I DIDN”T TAKE NOTES and, uh, now I have to work out what went where.

Stupid.

- Royal Crimson, Minnie Royal, and Royal Lee
-Bulida, Fireball, Cotton Candy
-Gold Plum and Luisa

Do I remember which one I grafted where? Nope. NOPE.

I didn't even take photos, because it was in the middle of a week of rain and I just wanted to get it all done.

CRIIIIPES.

CHOOKS:

Finally buried Haami. She's gone into the compost bin where her sister Tofu went nine months ago. More composting down to do.

The girls have been let loose on the northern lawn, which is mostly dead thanks to me already growing brassicas on it, and also due to the frangipani dropping all its leaves and not getting them raked up. I wish I had some seed to plant on it (clover, maybe meadow flowers).

I need to block the girls off from the northern lawn while I'm away, though. B1 will let them roam there for the entirety of my trip and the whole zone will be an absolute wreck when I get back.

COMPOST:

Made another compost, it's not heating up. Was going to put some chook poop through it to improve the nitrogen, but didn't get around to it before the crazy weeks of rain.

PREPARING:

I've been adding composts and worm loads and fertilisers to the various beds, and netting frames for the trees, so the netting for keeping the fruit fly out is all set up.

I set up a bed for the tomatoes in the TRIANGLE GARDEN, have added worm castings, and some 'dino dung' (I got from someone in a swap).

I've added 'dino dung' to the small vegepods, plan is to grow POTATOES, GINGER, and maybe a MELON there? IDK.

SEEDING:

I should plant some things to be ready for when I get back:
- ZUCCHINI
- CUCUMBER

I already have CAPSICUM and EGGPLANT, although not many of those.

More TOMATOES? (Roma in particular)

I just planted COTTON, ZUCCHINI, CUCUMBER, ARTICHOKE, and some more EGGPLANT (blacknite, seeds from Zja).

PLANTING OUT:

TOMATOES: roma, pink bumblebee, jaune flamme – into the new bed in the TRIANGLE GARDEN. They're going to need extra nutrients, because there's tree roots all through that bed.

POTATOES: planted in one of the small vegepods

GINGER: planted in both of the small vegepods – note; also iron pelleted the pods b/c of slater bugs

HARVEST:

Avos still going strong

Going to be BROCCOLI available for some time

Already harvested and pickled one RED CABBAGE, need to do something with the other

The WOMBOK are still good, but probably need to be picked

FEEDING:

everything, once it's in

PRUNING and PEST CONTROL:

I have learned that one should never prune APRICOTS in winter

All the stone fruit have been whitewashed (hydrated lime, water, copper spray crystals, a little paint) against pests

GRAFTING – SO FAR

Okay, so I grafted the CHERRIES onto one branch of the triangle WHITE NEKO, and grafted some APRICOTS onto another branch of it. I've trimmed the WHITE NEKO down .

I grafted more CHERRIES onto the back PLUM and also the two PLUMS.

More detail than that, I don't have. I didn't take photos, I didn't write it down, I'm a dumbarse.

At least one of the CHERRIES on the WHITE NEKO has taken

Nothing on the APRICOTS

Need to fix the sealing on the joints (all of them, looks like the wax has shrunk and cracked) and remove the envelope from around the branch

THOUGHTS:

It's going to be another six weeks before I next get to update this, so it'll be interesting to see what the garden will look like by then.

while I'm away, my sister will be watering the seedlings (and possibly the rest of the plants, too). It's going to be a wet year, it looks like they've decided this is going to be a LaNina year, and the ElNino is going to wait until next year. So the goal this year is to get as much water into the landscape as possible. Lots of organic matter, lots of mulch, lots of things decaying to improve the soil as much as possible...

Posting a bunch of photos here for the record.

dear diary: end of July

GRAFTING PLANS
Gonna go visit the guy with the fruit trees on Sunday, going to get APRICOTS, CHERRIES, and PLUMS from him. Promptly come back and
· white NECTARINE stump: graft APRICOTS onto it
· Backyard CHERRY tree: graft low-chill CHERRIES onto it
· Backyard PLUM tree: graft low-chill PLUMS onto it

PLANTING PLANS
· TOMATO: eating and canning tomatoes
· CUCUMBER:
· ZUCCHINI:
· MELONS: what if I grow them in the EMPTY BACK BED?

DRIVEWAY BRASSICA BED
-for tomatoes later in the season? After the chooks have run through it again.
-maybe try CORN again? Or leave that in the backyard?

(FORMER) APRICOT bed
Run chooks through the area? (how?)
Manure, bucket waste, comfrey, seaweed solution, weed tea, cover with pea straw

Timing will be everything I think.

Two things I have to think about:
1. going away through September and half of October
2. the Sydney Edible Garden Trail in March 2026

Things I particularly want for the SEGT:
1. CORN (late sowing)
2. MELONS (always late)
3. APPLES (just ripe)
4. PERSIMMONS (should be in full flow)

I feel like I should plant out the garden beds before I go, but the risk is that nobody looks after my garden while I'm away and the whole thing dies...

Same with seedlings. It's kind of going to require someone to at least do some of the basics of watering my seedlings while Im gone and keeping an eye on them. I'm not sure my sister is up to the task.

To do this weekend:
Plant TOMATOES seeds
- ROMA
- eating
Plant CUCUMBER seeds
Plant ZUCCHINI seeds
Plant MELONS seends
Chop out some CHINESE CABBAGES and pickle
Prep MELON bed locations
Move chooks to NORTH DRIVEWAY BED