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: 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

dear diary: 8th July 2025

OBSERVATIONS:

Okay, let's have a proper gardening post.

It's been a fairly mild winter. It doesn't feel like it, of course. It feels cold, just as it always does, because the walls leak heat something fierce. We're doing okay with the windows, but to do the walls is a dream – possibly a pipe dream at this point.

We have a slow water leak somewhere on the property. I have no idea where or how, because I checked all the taps and they seem fine, but the meter is moving ever so slowly - by milliliters, I think, but still. It would add up to a litre or two a day at least. IDEK. I'm worried with all the rain and drought, that something has cracked or twisted just a little and the result is a tiny leak. I'm also worried about mould and rotting, both of which are issues if the leak is somewhere in the walls.

EDIT: I have a feeling it might be at the tap which turns off the mains water. There's a tiny seep around the tap head. Which is a problem, because I suspect that Sydney Water will have to turn off the mains in the street to replace the washer or the tap or something.

Otherwise, mostly sunny days, generally very dry weather. Occasional squalls, and those two weeks of rain back in May.

CHOOKS:

We had Haamyu chicken put down on Tuesday. Big and black, she had all kinds of internal issues through her life, some of which were more costly than we needed. But after consultation with a vet who *does* do terminations (unlike the ones who didn't and basically just kept doing scans and palliative care) we determined that she wasn't ever going to get better and it was better for all involved that we just put her down. Now I got to find another place to bury a chicken.

B1 thinks we could put Haamyu in the same compost that we buried her 'sister' Daofu in.

That's one of the last photos we have of Haami roaming with the others. In the last week or two, we'd brought her inside as she just became more and more lethargic, until we took her to the vet and made the decision.

COMPOST:

Still making leaf mulch. Tossed more leaves into the chook yard for them to scratch over. Need to go back up the street and grab that pile of leaves (if it's still there after tonight, which is green bin night).

PREPARING:

Need to prep a melon patch. Exactly where from? IDEK. Maybe in the BANANA CIRCLE? Or possibly the FRONT LOUNGE bed? But need to make a decision and pronto.

SEEDING:

Should probably do some tomatoes, although I have no idea when I'm going to be able to plant them out... Maybe do some just before I head out on the trip. If they survive, they survive...

CORIANDER. Was going to plant some of that to go with the avos.

PLANTING OUT:

Planted out another set of brassicas, I think it's WOMBOK and BROCCOLI again. Half in theDRIVEWAY VEGEPOD, half in the PLUM-STONE bed in the back. I anticipate the ones in the PLUM-STONE will be slower-growing than the DRIVEWAY VEGEPOD which is fine – hopefully we will be eating those in October when I return from overseas.

The DRIVEWAY VEGEPOD lot were planted out, fed a bit of wormcasting mud, and watered around rather than on top of. The PLUM-STONE were planted out in worm castings, and watered in. Both were sowed with iron pellets to combat the snails.

HARVEST:

The BROCCOLI in the DRIVEWAY GROUND bed are doing splendidly. I've cut several heads, and more are still growing. AVOCADOs. ORANGEs.

The damn cockatoos ate most of my kumquats. Although 'ate' is a misnomer: they picked off the branches then ate the seeds out of the flesh! AUGH! There was a decent crop, too - about two dozen, maybe three?

Oranges are still on the tree, though. Avos are producing. It's some, and I hope it's enough.

FEEDING:

The brassicas in the two beds in the TRIANGLE-ESPALIER. They need some seaweed solution, and also some Biocast. (Should see about getting more of that.)

PRUNING and GRAFTING:

I'm getting a bunch of grafting scions from a guy in Sydney at the end of July, and will have to promptly graft them on. I need to have my tools cleaned and sharpened by that time.

THOUGHTS:

I have a bunch of thoughts related to The Apocalypse here. That's more planning than planting, but that's also a part of what I'm doing here.

In essence, David Suzuki thinks it's too late. Something catastrophic is going to take us down and out, and at this point we need to start building communities and connections. Doing what we can with what we have, and working out what we're going to do when (not if) it all goes to hell in le handbasket.

Make Water Filter Barrel

I'm also thinking about water collection off the carport roof. It's aluminium and needs a decent clean with a pressure-sprayer, but the water from it shouldn't be chemically contaminated, so a run through gravel and sand and a ceramic filter should be sufficient to make it drinkable.

Trying to work out where to put a number of trees, how to build a space for small birds to shelter in (they get driven off by the mynas), and how to trim stuff down so I get a good crop in the coming year.

It's a lot.

dear diary: 30th May 2025 - i love it when a good garden comes together

OBSERVATIONS:

At least one BROCCOLI is ready! Maybe two! Going to have to cook it and eat it this weekend! Whee!

I've never really managed decent BRASSICAs before, so this is very exciting. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks!

Even better is that they're not all growing at once. The two that are ready grew over the last couple of weeks, and are now full-sized. Another couple look like they're going to grow over the coming weeks to full-size. There are CAULIFLOWERs that are building those 'cover' leaves. And the KALE is going great guns.

KALE is harder to sell to my sister, but I rather like making kale chips from them - they're pretty tasty and crunch and excellent.

PURPLE PODDED PEAS are growing in the backyard, and doing okay as they climb the CHERRY TREE.

GARLIC has all taken off in their various spaces.

CHOOKS:

Haamyu is going okay, no more vet visits. They want to do more tests and more investigations. But we've spent way too much on her, and B1 really doesn't like saying 'no' to these nice people at the (nearby, expensive) vet who do everything in their power not to have to terminate the chicken. So, basically, the next time she flags, it'll be the chop, and the parentals have offered to assist.

That'll be interesting. I do want to learn how to do it, because I think it should be a part of responsible chicken keeping. That's a whole other discussion to be had, and I've put it off for the last five years since the first time one of our chickens started flagging. She gets extra nutrients because she can't seem to process them, but when those no longer help, it'll be the end for her.

Kerry (well, all the girls) have scaly leg mites. We treated the entire flock, but Kerry has them badly enough that she needed some painkillers, and she and Gladys get extra treatments at night because their situation is so bad. And Kerry is running out of feathers because the others are just picking on her something ferocious.

The only chicken in our current flock who hasn't needed any vet attention at all is Goongbao, possibly because she goes broody several times a year and doesn't lay. That presents its own set of inconveniences, but at least it's manageable and not expensive.

Otherwise, eggs have dropped down to just about one every couple of days (Gladys). Unfortunately, we no longer have our extra eggs from the last month: one of our cats, Smokey, jumped up on the bench and upset the egg carton...

COMPOST:

Making leaf mulch from collected leaves. Take a couple of black boxes out with me when I'm going places, scrape up the leaves and pop them in the composting box.

PREPARING:

The HAYBALE is being watered every couple of days with a liquid fertiliser or worm wee. Still not 100% on what's going in there...

SEEDING:

No seeds being planted right now, might have to sow the next round of BRASSICAS. I wonder if it's an okay season for the heirloom BRASSICAS. (I wonder if the heirloom aspect is why the previous BRASSICAS got aphids and this round doesn't)

PLANTING OUT:

Still have a punnet of BRASSICAS (not sure which ones now) and...a couple of other punnets (I think one is CHINESE CABBAGE) to go – there's also a very badly-eaten punnet of what might be another CHINESE CABBAGE.

COFFEE seedlings

LYCHEE seedlings

HARVEST:

Otherwise, the ORANGES are going nice and bright. A couple came off when I tugged them from the tree, I'm not sure what's happening there, though, because they don't smell ripe. The

KUMQUATS are once again producing a nice small crop of about thirty fruits. Something to munch through the day is the theory.

AVOCADOs are going okay, the ones that get picked don't amount to much right now. I'm not sure what season they are. All seasons? Any seasons? I was taught that you could pick them and ripen them inside, but they seem to be rotting or going brown by the time they're soft enough to open. 

I picked a SINGLE TOMATO at the start of this week. The last one from those plants, which have been there for a couple of years, just steadily producing tomatoes, battling caterpillars and slater bugs. (The slater bugs were on the verge of eating the tomato - they'd gotten the little stem-leaves, and all rolled off once I picked the thing. Greedy buggers! They've got the entire plant to eat and have been munching away on it for months.) But these tomatoes have been very faithfully producing ever since January 2024, when I got back from going away. I planted them in the spring of 2023, so a good 18 months of tomatoes, although not very frequently eaten. My bad.

LOOFAHS are still too heavy to harvest. I think I'm going to harvest them once they're a bit yellow, so there's less rot on the membrane.

The two metal beds I planted out (ESPALIER-TRIANGLE? I don't know what to call the bed) before I went to Melbourne have solidly bedded down: ONIONS, SPRING ONIONS, GARLIC, BEETROOT, BRASSICAS (probably BROCCOLI, I can't remember) - actually, go check the post CROP: BRASSICAS Timing because that's got the details needed.

I also harvested the BANANAS and chopped down the stalk. The bunch are sitting in the laundry cupboard. I should set up a hook that will enable them to be hung, so they don't ripen quite so fast... 

PRUNING:

I keep on saying I need to do some pruning, but I really really do.

THOUGHTS:

I think this weekend, I might try to lay out the LOUNGE ROOM BED. It'll be the GRAPE, KUMQUAT, PASSIONFRUIT, HOPS also ROSELLA and BLUEBERRIES maybe COFFEE bushes... Wait, what happened to my COFFEE seedlings... *runs outside to check* Oh, they're fine.

Whew!

Things to remember: GRAPE, PASSIONFRUIT, and HOPS are vines. HOPS will spread. ROSELLA and BLUEBERRIES are bushes that can be trimmed. COFFEE is less trimmable.

Maybe the BLUEBERRIES could go up under the APPLES?

KUMQUAT is citrus and will have shallow roots, while GRAPE can go deep.

CROP: BRASSICAS timing

FIRST PLANTING of BRASSICAS

6th Feb - planted BRASSICAS - Serenity CAULIFLOWR and Monty BROCCOLI (and one CAULI Snowball)

28th Feb -  Serenity CAULIFLOWR and Monty BROCCOLI have sprouted

14th March - planted out - mature seedlings

29th April 
- driveway bed are doing well - large leaves, plenty of feeding
- backyard APPLE-CREPE and CREPE-APRICOT aren't doing so well.

SECOND PLANTING OF BRASSICAS

9th April - planted  CAULIFLOWER: Macerata Green (HVS), CAULIFLOWER: snowball early (HVS), CABBAGE: Early Jersey (HVS), BROCCOLI: Aurora F1 (AV), CHINESE CABBAGE: Matilda F1 Early (AV) - only the F1s have survived

8th May - planted out BROCCOLI Aurora F1 in one of the front beds, interplanted with BEETROOT
- spring onions, Garlic (oriental red), 
- a box of GARLIC (spanish purple stripe)

9th May - planted out BROCCOLI Aurora F1 in the other front bed, interplanted with BEETROOT, CHINESE CABBAGE, SPRING ONIONS, GARLIC (Master jack) and one CAULIFLOWER Macerata Green that survived

Dear Diary: 8th May 2025 - winter is definitely coming

OBSERVATIONS:

Getting colder, down to early 20s. More damp weather,

CHOOKS:

Hamyuu is doing okay, she and Kerry both get an extra 'shot' of nutritional liquid. Kerry is no longer laying soft-shells, but she's still tiny.

COMPOST:

Slowly sieving compost. There's a bunch of tree roots in the compost and I don't know where they're coming from. I also don't know how to keep them out in future.Perhaps use the corflutes on the base in future?

PREPARING:

Chook tractor is on the PLUM-STONE bed, with a lot of autumn trimmings in it, and some shredded wood. I need to add more chook manures, and basically turn the space into a giant compost pile, if possible.

SEEDING:

Heirloom seedlings, another attempt now that the weather is better?

PLANTING OUT:

Got all the BEETROOT planted out (see bit on BRASSICA plantings), all the (bought) SPRING ONION, some of the GARLIC, and most of one punnet of BROCCOLI.(Aurora F1)

Still have another punnet of BROCCOLI (Aurora F1)

HARVEST:

FEEDING/SPRAYING:

Sprayed the ROSE BUSH and the DUAL STONE with some lime sulphur. Need to read up on what trees can take it – might need to give the APPLES a go? Probably the DONUT PEACH. I can't remember about the APRICOT.

PRUNING:

I probably need to do some more careful trimming on the trees.

THOUGHTS:

re: using tractor to make compost
why not make the compost in the tractor? That is, let the chooks in to start with, then dump the manures, the trimmings, the clippings, the wood, the paper the everything in there and let it sit for a while, then allow the chooks to scratch it all up. I've been relying on the chooks to do more work than they're used to doing.

TREELINES

along front of house, facing west

GRAPE, KUMQUAT, PASSIONFRUIT, HOPS
also ROSELLA and maybe COFFEE bush

along chicken yard, facing north

LYCHEE, APRICOT

under jacaranda

WHITE SAPOTE, BLACK SAPOTE, ICE CREAM BEAN

Dear Diary: 26th April

OBSERVATIONS:

I want to dig up the entire FRONT FENCE bed. In part because there are mugwort MUGWORT seedlings popping up everywhere in it, in part because I think the ELDER TREE roots are in there somewhere. Also, the SALVIAS have gone a little cray-cray. As has the THAI BASIL. And the GERANIUM.

But there are DAHLIAS in there that are doing beautifully, some LILIES and some COSMOS - a deep magenta one, not just the orange ones! I need to save the seed from that ASAP.

I fixed a wheelbarrow! Okay, not entirely - it was mostly put together by a friend, but there was some angle-grinding required to remove wheels and bolts and trim down axles. But it's done! With a new wheel! And it rolls! *pauses to admire*

CHOOKS:

Haami is back to normal - as normal as she gets. She needs some special feeding (she gets a lot of human-level food) and all the chickens are getting enriched water. Kerry's egg shells are no longer quite as fragile as they were, which is good.

COMPOST:

I've started sieving the compost I made...last year? Longer? IDEK. But I'm working my way through it pretty slowly. It's always slow.

The presence of the wheelbarrow makes sieving the compost much easier. It would be even easier with a second person there to help, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, I think. Or maybe I could get one of the sistren to do the spinning of the sieve while I shovel in the soil?

PREPARING:

In the last week, I set up the two metal-frame beds in the front - ESPALIER-STONE - plastic on the bottom, then woodchips, then chook manure, comfrey, some lucerne, more woodchips, compost soil, some worm castings, and pea straw on top to keep the moisture in. Don't know how well they'll do if we end up having a dry year. I think it's more likely to be a wet year than a dry one, but still...

SEEDING:

The second sowing of BRASSICA seedlings are sprouting - all the F1s are coming good, the heirlooms? Not so much. That's not comforting, in fact. Then again, I also can't be entirely sure how old these seeds are. They don't come with a date on them (which they really should). So they might be older than viability can manage.

PLANTING OUT:

BEETROOT seedlings are going strong. They'll need to be planted out very soon. I might have to do them on ANZAC day - most likely in between the existing BRASSICA plantings.

HARVEST:

I think the AVOS are ready again. I picked one, but it's taking its sweet time to get soft.

FEEDING:

I haven't beeen feeding the BRASSICAs much, but I think I should do some more. Need to work out what they need for the fruiting stage that's coming along.

PRUNING:

I got the lawn guy to trim down all the fruit trees, so I have a giant pile of chipping to do. There needs to be some neatening of the clustering branches, and trimming down, but I can do that in bits here and there on days that I have the time.

THOUGHTS:

Thoughts on where the fruiting/longer term plants should go.

1. Grape
- front yard in front of LOUNGE ROOM
- front yard in front of PORCH

2. White Sapote, Black Sapote, Ice Cream Bean
- under jacaranda, with intent of succession planting. Issue might be the jacaranda crowding them out of deeper nutrients. (How do you kill a jacaranda?)
- what if I dug a hole deep enough for a watering tube next to the intended tree locations?

3. Lychee
- along chicken yard?

4. Apricot
- along chicken yard?

5. Kumquat
- along chicken yard?

dear diary: 10th April 2025

Lots of rain in the weather. Lots and lots of rain. Enough that I think the tank is full. I rerouted the carport roof tanks out to my brassica garden under the frangipani and that’s been doing kind of okay.

So after the egg a couple of weeks ago, Haamyu was feeling very full and solid. B1 (sister) was particularly concerned about Haamyu, and took her to a vet on Saturday. It turns out she has egg peritonitis, somewhat caused by an overactive ovary and severe vitamin deficiency, to the point where all her bodily reserves of vitamins are depleted. Chances are that the other chickens are also somewhat vitamin deficient – apparently our soil is not great at some point? Which, damn.

So she’s been removed from the general flock (who are digging around in the ground) and is being fed particular foods, clean and not-in-the-dirt, along with a vitamin regimen and some antibiotics.

PHEW! Anyway, this is a very expensive chicken, and I do not recommend this if you have a day job! TBH, I’m not sure how much of the situation is because B1 feels vaguely guilty for Haami not being a favourite of the flock, and because we take the chickens to actual avian vets who love these animals, rather than the more pragmatic vet practices.

Anyway.

We’re heading for winter, everyone is going light on the laying, and we’re getting eggs only at the rate of maybe one a day. Once again, Kerry is laying soft-shells, her issue might be the same vitamin deficiency; she’s very scraggly, although that can also be because she plunges in to get food and the others will pick on her to get her to move away.

We have ALL THE FLOWERS right now. After a couple of years of failures, the dahlias have finally come good! Beautiful large blooms, adding colour to the fringes of the ‘bee garden’ section over by the front fence. Wonderful!

I have two walking onions/leeks that I need to work out where to plant. I’m thinking on the step space, so they can grow out and not dry out. Drying out is a big problem around the place through the dry seasons we sometimes have.

Planting for spring: SPINACH, CORIANDER , KALE, maybe time to plant the BUK CHOI, need to work out where to do the JAPANESE RADISH (can’t remember the name right now), also CHINESE CABBAGE (WOMBOK). I just ordered a bunch of seeds from Diggers, hopefully they come through before the growing season is done!

For the planned “front garden bed”, I'm absolutely going to need to have plastic laid down to keep the tree roots from getting through too easily. maybe even dug out a little, with gravel over it, and then the pond liner plastic for the wicking section?

I planted out a slew of LEEKS and ONIONS a week ago in a tray but I don’t know how many of them will take, they’re all rather old.

Mulch half the ASPARAGUS (upper bed, I think), maybe plant Zja’s ASPARAGUS wherever there is space.

Mulch the POTATOES in the small VEGEPOD.

I planted a bunch more seeds yesterday (9th April):

CAULIFLOWER: Macerata Green (HVS)
CAULIFLOWER: snowball early (HVS)
CABBAGE: Early Jersey (HVS)
BROCCOLI: Aurora F1 (AV)
CHINESE CABBAGE: Matilda F1 Early (AV)

Put up a netting frame around the backyard BRASSICAs (APPLE-CREPE, and CREPE-APRICOT)

Sprayed pyrethrum over the BRASSICAS (found a bunch of teeny tiny caterpillars).

This weekend, more chook manures, water in with the biogrow solution.

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.

Dear Diary: autumn harvests

OBSERVATIONS:

Nice cool weather, then suddenly a mad heatwave.

The CORN in the APPLE-CREPE is growing decently but not super-well. I think it may need a more steady water supply: that was what did it for the vegepod corn by the driveway. I haven't worked out how to do this from the water tank right now, but I guess I'm going to need to.

CHOOKS:

Looks like Haamyu has finally laid! We found a very long, oval-ish egg, along with the two from our regular Lockdown Ladies (Gladys and Kerry). Siyao does a slightly longer egg, and Goong does a perfect but petite egg. So we think it must be Haamyu,because she was feeling very 'full' a day or two ago and she seems to feel better now.

I finally dealt with the weevil-infested chook seeds. A giant sack of them that was basically riddled. To the point where the dead piled up thick enough that you can barely see the tile underneath. Maybe I can now start sorting that corner of the porch?

PREPARING:

Set up a garden bed under the frangipani, but it's not very deep. I really do need to get a mattock and dig the soil up properly, to give vegies a decent chance.

Planning to put a garden bed in between the APPLE ESPALIER and the DUAL STONE, although the watering will, again, be a problem. May need a sister's help.

Netting over the seedlings to protect them from brassica moth.

SEEDING:

Planted out a bunch of other BRASSICAS about a week ago: CABBAGE: golden acre, red acre. MUSTARD GREENS yukina Savoy. BROCCOLI sprouting (home seed) – all of them have geminated, CAULIFLOWER macerata greens.

I have a feeling at least some of the failed ones should probably be grown later in the season. But I'm too busy trying to work out what should be planted when.

PLANTING OUT:

The various BRASSICAS have been planted out. Note: leaving them in the seedling tray for another couple of weeks helped them grow that much more sturdy before planting out. Unfortunately, I planted them out right before a heatwave weekend, so...we'll see how many of them survive! BROCCOLI is Monty F1, CAULIFLOWER is F1 Serenity, and maybe one CAULIFLOWER Snowball

HARVEST:

PERSIMMONS are still going. The ones that are under the netting are ripening so much slower – and also growing so much larger than the ones that came before. It's kind of amazing.

Have finished harvesting APPLES: the last of the golden delicious, and they are huge!Dark spots on the skin appear to be like some kind of spore that rubs off with a cloth. I have no idea what and should go look it up.

The POMEGRANATES were amazing this year. I got at least twenty of them, and turned about 8-10 of them into pomegranate molasses. Used it for basting goose with a little left over and it was amazing.

Otherwise, there are two PUMPKINS (galeax d'eysine) and a handful of RASPBERRIES – I think they're the autumn canes, not the spring ones. We seem to have more Autumn canes than spring ones. A TOMATO here and there. A couple of EGGPLANTS, a CUCUMBER, but not that much.

FEEDING:

The big thing right now is watering. All the seedlings need seasol, especially the BRASSICAS in the DRIVEWAY bed.

PRUNING:

I can get the garden guy to do the pruning, but the chipping is going to be a different matter. I wonder who up and down the street might have an electric/petrol chipper... That, or working out who can do some electrical/motor repairs...

THOUGHTS:

What if, for planting, I set up envelopes by month? JANUARY – roots, fruits, leaves FEBRUARY – roots fruits leaves, etc. And then ALL YEAR or something like that? IDK. Maybe it needs to be more carefullly managed than that.

Planting mixed seeds in a tray of soil, then planting that out seems to work pretty well for things like lettuce and beetroot – those have been doing well. Not sure about the onions. I have yet to manage some good onions that I didn't have to leave for two years to get to a decent size.