Dear Diary: 21st March - Equinoctal prepping for Winter

OBSERVATIONS:

Crazy hot Monday, rather warm Thursday, warm Friday

A lot of the brassicas I planted out last week died in the heatwave, but I have taken steps to try to ensure the remainder survive, watering them even in the middle of heatwaves and such...

CHOOKS:

Kerry is laying soft-shelled eggs. We're trying to up her calcium using yoghurt, egg shells, and various greens. We'll see how she goes. But, yeah. Might be time for her to take an implant.

COMPOST:

Haven't been making any. I want to turn the compost in the outer bay, just to make sure it's thoroughly decomposed, but haven't had the time or energy.

SEEDING:

The lines of CARROTS I planted out in the midst of the brassicas are going well.

I think I was going to plant something else but I don't remember what anymore.

PLANTING OUT:

Might have to plant out the rest of the BRASSICAS that I planted (the Sprouting BROCCOLI is the one that actually grew well.

HARVEST:

Picked the last of the PERSIMMONS. Uh. There were a few. Just a few... I dried the previous lot, and they're great for snacks!

Got one CAPSICUM (chocolate), and one CUCUMBER (pickle, bought from Bunnings, mostly succumbed to mildew although not as fast, in the APPLE-CREPE bed)

FEEDING:

Fed the BRASSICAS with seaweed solution and with the biogrow solution. Water for the next week, then another feeding, maybe.

I should feed the CORN with the biogro and seaweed solution. Also the CAPSICUM which has fruit growing on it.

PRUNING:

I'm going to need to do some serious work on the trees this year. Might need to borrow James' chainsaw again.

The PERSIMMON definitely needs a big prune, also possibly a top lop. Most things need a top lop, because they just sprout back.

I'm thinking about making some kind of 'dual espalier' for the neco-peach tree, to make it easier to harvest and net. Espalier is definitely an excellent way to do it...

DONE

I made a 'netting cage' for the BRASSICAS next to the DRIVEWAY. The issue there is mostly going to be one of watering, because the space dries out really fast. So getting enough water there is going to be the tricky part. But the netting cage should do something towards keeping the white butterfly moths off.

Now to do something like that for the backyard. Hm. I wonder if I could take the hoopsfrom the fruit trees and 'cross' them over the CREPE-APRICOT bed, although I'd need much better stakes for setting them in the ground... Might be better than my usual attempt?

THOUGHTS:

Thinking about digging up/cutting down the second white nectarine (that doesn't do as well, usually succumbs to mold) and replacing it with the APRICOT. But would that be too warm a place for it to fruit? IDEK.