OBSERVATIONS:
The Illwarra Flame tree has releafed. And how! About a week ago, it started putting out little green leaves and suddenly the leaves are full grown. Wow. Okay, I don't remember this from previous years, but it's certainly something to consider going forward.
Could I grow something under there in midsummer, when the laves are down and the sunlight is right? It's a thought.
The APRICOT in the 40cm pot is doing okay, but not great. IDK. It probably needs more space, and it's root system hasn't bounced back quite so handily.
Several of the smaller branches of the new APRICOT died, but the rest of it seems to be holding on.
The DUAL STONE in the front is taking a long time to lose its leaves.
Bronze stink bugs on the BI-CITRUS, going to need to remove those.
Green manure mix in the TRIANGLE GARDEN is doing very well (I wasn't so sure of it
PLANS:
I've ordered two Water-Ups Oasis wicking beds, 200x40x45, and I'm going to set them up at the front of the house, along the lounge room window, just outside the gutter line. Inside the gutter, there's no rain, and it takes something very hardy to survive (a feathery kind of grass covered it for years, but in recent times, it's mostly ended up as a passage for the chooks and just gone bare.
The point of the wicking beds is to expand the growing space without taking up too much of B1's desired lawn. Also, to create a 'passage' for the chooks that we can herd them down so they reach the TRIANGLE ORCHARD without digging up the lawn. Yes, there will need to be a tunnel, but we can manage that. The backs of the wicking beds will form part of the wall to keep the chickens confined, and we'll keep them from getting into the beds by having growing lattices up the back. It will shield them from the public view, and give them a bit of shade to dig around in, dustbathe, and generally enjoy when they're allowed in there.
I'm thinking, from the TRIANGLE ORCHARD:
1 long bed, 1 tree pot, 1 long
wicking bed, 1 tree pot. At that point we should have reached the gas meter,
and will need to make space so the guy can come and do the reading every
month. (We should get in the habit of doing the reading every month.)
HOUSE:
It took ages to get the Home Battery guy to get back to him. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, he's kind of slammed - but also, I'm wondering if he wouldn't treat a man's interest in getting a battery installed with more respect.
He quoted us 25kW, but the main issue is where we're going to put the batteries. The space nearest to the inverter against a wall is currently taken up by the water tank, and while I was wondering if we could put it on the front porch, or perhaps on the back porch, the guy said it wouldn't be worth it, what with power loss along the way.
Currently the best place to have the battery is up against the lattice that runs along the edge of the house.
I was wondering: if we removed the compost bays, could we have the battery up against the back of the shed, instead? I just don't like the idea of them against the lattice fence, I'd rather them next to the shed.
I have asked for assistance for a working bee in a couple of weekends' time. Haven't gotten much response from the "local group", will ask the broader permie group.
CHOOKS:
Goong was broody for a month. Now she's moulting, losing feathers everywhere. We're giving them extra calcium, and today the temp is supposed to be mid-30s, so we're trying to keep them in the shade. It's not as bad as in the middle of summer, but still not great. Better go out shortly and check if there's wings-away and beaks open.
COMPOST:
I turned the compost we made of Kerry and Carambah, and Kerry still hadn't fully decomposed, and neither had Carambah. Actually, I think Carambah had decomposed more than Kerry had, eek. They still smelled pretty bad, so I turned the compost over into the next box, added some comfrey, and hopefully that will decompose better this time around. Or even just continue the decomposing.
As per discussion about the home battery, I am wondering whether we could remove the composting bays and redo them elsewhere. Where else, elsewhere? IDK. I feel like I'd want to do along the fenceline, so we can collect composting materials, but mostly we'd just end up with dogshit in plastic bags, knowing people.
I'm contemplating the 'lower' chookyard - what the twins call 'the holy place' (*sigh*). I've tried doing composts in there before and they've never been very successful unfortunately.
Maybe we need to completely reorganise the chookyards. Current setup is really problematic in terms of space.
PREPARING:
Mostly for the Edible Garden Trail, trying to get things in that will look decent and work.
SEED PLANTING:
With the moon on the wax, it's time to sow some more fruiting species. The brassicas, mostly, although I'm tempted to try late CORN.
PLANTING OUT:
I planted out some of the brassicas in the PLUM-STONE, and a couple in the AVO-SHED.
Also, planted out some garlic in the DRIVEWAY WICKING bed.
HARVEST:
The eggplants in the driveway wicking bed are doing very well, and we've gotten quite a few snake beans from those in the wicking bed.
And the mangoes are getting ripe.
FEEDING:
I really need to work out when things need B&B and when they could do with compost or worm castings or what. I'm very bad at that, I just keep feeding whatever I have to the relevant plants.
PRUNING:
Bee bed definitely needs a digging up and pruning, and so does the back trees. I'm thinking of trimming the two central ones (CHERRY and DONUT PEACH) down very hard to make them smaller (and easier to net/harvest) and also to enable more sun to the southern side beds.
THOUGHTS:
CORN in the CREPE-APRICOT is not doing well - neither did anything in the AVO-SHED. Not enough sun in summer, I think with the crepe and the avo shading the beds. I'm going to need to rethink that.
The backyard really needs a rethink: as fond as I am of the coop and the bed system, I don't think it's working.
The chooks aren't there all day and night, so their poop doesn't really have sufficient opportunity to sink in. They just clear the spaces and disrupt the weeds, they don't really fertilise very well, and I haven't been good about digging out the night coop to put the manure on the beds on a regular basis. The trees next to each bed are taking up all the nutrients (especially in the spaces under their leaf canopy), and the trees in the middle of the yard are growing tall but shading the beds in the summer (and not producing fruit).
My inclination is to seriously prune down the CHERRY and the DONUT PEACH this winter - like, close to stumps. We might then get better sun on the southern beds.
The issues of a lack of sun/fertilisation of growing things in the backyard is one reason why I'm getting the Water-Ups beds in the front yard - better sun, constant watering, and the hope is for better outcomes. Making a chicken-run out of it is an added bonus.
