Dear Diary: 17th January

OBSERVATIONS:

It's January, things are hot and wet and growing.

Hot hot hot hot hot all the way through Christmas - on some days absolutely boiling - up to 40C. And then just about a week ago, the cool weather broke, and we had some lovely lovely rain. The next two weeks is going to be rainy, but still warm – between 20-30C daytime temperatures – but scattered showers.

Excellent growing time.

EDIT: It was reasonable growing time. The problem was that we've had a couple of storms. BIG ones. The kind that knock over the corn and mean you end up harvesting somewhat earlier than expected...

CHOOKS:

Chooks are all good, Siyao, Kerry, and Gladys are all laying. Goong is broody, and neither Haamyu nor Carambah should be laying, although if we don't replace the implants, they're likely to start up again shortly.

They've been allowed back into the TRIANGLE ORCHARD again and at least one of them keeps getting out and destroying the garden bed I set up for potatoes, so...no potatoes this year, I fear! DAMMIT.

COMPOST:

I turned and remade a compost, and it's about 50C, which is not pathogen-levels, but should be good enough for the purposes of decomposing pretty fast.

PREPARING:

Nothing prepared, really. It's mostly been harvesting.

SEEDS:

CABBAGE - Red Acre (2 rows), Golden Acre, Early (2 rows)
BEANS - Burgundy?

Also tossed a bunch of seeds out through the garden beds so they can start growing over the next couple of weeks during the rain.
LEEKS, BEETROOT, 'HORTA' (that's not the name, but I can't remember it), and a bunch of other seeds.

eta: they nearly died during the CRAZY HOT day we had on Monday 13th but I might have managed to save most of them

PLANTING OUT:

EGGPLANTS from...IDK. October? I didn't plant all of them out, mostly because I knew that if I did, they'd all die on me. So right now, we're looking at two weeks rain, so I figure it's safe.

HARVEST:

CORN is in full prep. I think I'm going to need to pick them, cut up, and freeze them. Maybe on Sunday when things are quiet.

I got all of eight DONUT PEACHES after netting and pruning the tree. I think I need to prune it harder – much shorter, and maybe feed it too?

Need to check the SOY BEANS.

FEEDING:

Haven't been feeding anything properly. Really need to.

PRUNING:

want to prune list:
- DONUT PEACH
- FOUR STONE
- DUAL PLUM
- CHERRY
- DUAL STONE

THOUGHTS:

I have PARSNIP that is actually setting seed under the FOUR APPLE. Unfortunately, the FOUR APPLE itself is doing badly. I'm going to need to put a growing frame in this year for espalier purposes because if I don't, then I'll probably never get a crop of anything.

Bought some F1 seeds that are heat resistant, while also growing seed-saving heirlooms and working to get a better crop from them in increasingly hot temperatures.

BROCCOLI: aurora for winter (400), Monty for summer (40)
CAULIFLOWER: di bassano (100) for winter-spring, Serenity (15) for summer
WOMBOK: matilda (40 seeds) 
CARROT: Kuroda (1000 seeds) for warm season
(Actually, some of the seeds are heirloom, not F1, and I can grow from them. I got fewer seeds, but the goal is to be able to plant them out ASAP.)

The beds under the PERSIMMON (both sides) are going to have to be pulled out and rebuilt, most likely as wicking beds, and not in the same places. I'd want to move one bed out to where the APPLE ESPALIER is.

Ideally, I'd like to remove the VEGEPOD and set up the space next to the driveway for growing things in the winter and spring (in particular) maybe set it to clover and meadow in the summer? I still want the VEGEPOD on the front verge, but getting the locals to interact with it? THat's another level of involvement and engagement. Most people don't want to do anything other than the convenient option; so it's not unexpected. Just...not comfortable.