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: 31st August - trying to keep on top of it all

OBSERVATIONS:

We've had some crazy hot-and-windy days and those dry the garden out something terrible, especially when we haven't had much by way of rain lately.

Turns out the Apricot by the front fence (the Tilton) blooms later than the Paterson (in pot). Paterson had about three flowers, all died without pollinating. Tilton has a bunch of buds starting up! That's definitely going to need some kind of an espalier frame to hang the net off if they pollinate into teeny tiny apricots!

Downside: someone yanked out some of my flowering plants by the roots – at least two days ago – and now I'm anxious about theives. I need to stick some nettle stalks in among the last plant.

CHOOKS:

Goong still broody. Carambah still being medicated. Tofu still has the hernia, but otherwise seems okay. B1 (sister) thinks that the hernia might be growing, but it looks...ordinary. The problem is usually when trying to herd Tofu somewhere: she runs and is absolutely desperate not to get caught. She's a slippery one, and prone to getting out of the coop and the run, and I'm worried about her catching on something and then tearing herself.

Alphamites seem to be working. Have ordered some 'pen pals' mites to sprinkle in the compost and in the coop, hopefully that will hold them.

COMPOST:

Pen Pals mites ordered for the compost – 2L.

GRAFTING:

Addendum to the grafts: with the hot days, I'm hoping the grafts where I removed the plastic around them haven't dried out. One was looking a little dry, but then the soil around the tree was also dry, so I watered it.

Did another two Royal Lee Cherry grafts on the cherry since it's not yet budding. We'll see if they take.

SOWING:

Tomatoes – Waspinicon Peach

Capsicum – Seven Wonders

Watermeon – red Moon and Stars

Pumpkin – Galeaux d'Elysine

Pumpkin -

Zucchini – black beauty

Cucumber – burpless

SEEDLINGS:

Tomatoes are large enough to plant out

Eggplants could probably do with another week

Beans:
Cherokee Wax (bush) – 2/8 germination
Snake beans – have almost all sprouted (7/8 germination rate)
Royal Burgundy (bush) – 0/7 germination
Tiger's Eye – 1/5 germination

Corn – about 50% strike rate, which isn't very good

PLANTING OUT:

Tomatoes (roma) into the newly created Tomato bed (thursday evening)

Eggplant, bush beans, summer lettuces, radishes into AVO-SHED

Need to think about where to put the snake beans; they'll want to grow up a structure, but we don't really have a structure that's big or reliable enough right now. Although I'm tempted to put them at the eastern edge of the lawn, out in front of the street facing windows and see how they grow. Apparently they like lightly depleted soil, and that should be pretty much the deal there. The problem is structure.

Picked up and dumped the big flowering salvia between Donut Peach and Cherry. Trimmed it back. We'll see how it does.

HARVEST:

Avocados mostly Still oranges.

Did the last of the sweet potato, but haven't really done anything with it. It's a “just in case' kind of food, right now, not a staple. Eventually, though, I think it'll be a staple. We'll want it to be a staple.

An asparagus spear popped up! Just one!

FEEDING:

Did the mango tree (bagged chook manure, plus sawdust to cover). Should add some pea straw around the base for a bit more eventual nitrogen.

Potassium water on just about everything. Hopefully sufficiently diluted that they won't kil everything they come in contact with!

start using the seaweed brew

PREP:

Avo-shed is sitting ready. Tomatoes didn't do so well there last year, so I'm hesitant to try again. Maybe some eggplant if suitably fed. Eggplant, bush beans, summer lettuces, basil, radishes. That's the plan.

'Tomato bed' – a space in the triangle garden:
- dandelion 'weed tea' & worm castings raked in together
- add garden lime and superphosphate – rake in together
- cover with hay
- protect with black siding
- flyscreen 'A-frame' to cover

'half-garlic bed' – other side of the garlic bed, had sweet potato vines all through it
- pulled out all the vines and all the potatoes I could find
- worm castings raked into the soil
- cover with hay
- protect with wire baskets

DONE:
- tractor moved to Plum-Stone
- netting over two-stone
- netting over dual stone (needs pegging)
- galangal and blue turmeric planted at the edge of the chook yard – inside edge; may not last, might need some rocks/bricks or something to keep them safe

TO DO:
1. Plant out tomatoes in new tomato bed (Thursday night)
2. Snake beans into front lawn.

dear diary: seeds and grafts and spring oh my

OBSERVATIONS:

Things are really starting to get going in the garden

The Lychee isn't doing so well – it's leaves are pale and a bit brown.

The tiny Longan isn't doing well either – it's very small and hasn't grown at all.

CHOOKS:

Tofu has a hernia, Carambah hasn't fully recovered from her infection, Kerry has recovered from her eye stye, Goong is broody again.

I'm still trying to build the space for them to get to the triangle garden (in the right season and weather) and haven't gotten around to it. Not likely to get to it before I have surgery (6th Sept). In the meantime, they have an access path but it's not very good.

Coop has mites. Need to keep alphamiting the water

COMPOST:

Still mites. Haven't done anything about them.

GRAFTING:

Both Fireball Apricots have stuck the graft, haven't seen the third one.

Bulida? Not sure. Cotton Candy? Also not sure. Waiting, waiting, waiting. But I'm glad the Fireball took! Not sure any of my apricots are going to produce this year – one had no flowers, one had only a couple of flowers, and the one in the backyard is still in flower but hard to spot if anything is happening. *sigh*

I think all the Royal Lee Cherry grafts failed. The Minnie Royal ones are looking good, and I think at least one Royal Crimson is taking.

SEEDING:

Tomatoes are growing. They probably need a feed.

Eggplants are growing. Also probably need a feed.

Capsicums: ABSOLUTE FAIL

Planted beans (several kinds) and Corn (F1, honey and gold).

PLANTING OUT:

A couple of Brassicas in the backyard. Maybe into the CREPE-LYCHEE,

HARVEST:

Mustards and avocados. Still oranges.

FEEDING:

Mango tree with chook poop

might need to buy some more chook poop, leave the coop scrapings for a year or so to kill the mites?

blueberries need feeding?

PREP:

Got Mike, Lou, Sue, and Cecelia over to help set up the frames for the netting. Paid them in cake. It was good.

Need to fling a netting over the dual stone

TO DO:

1. Dig out the last of the sweet potato.
2. Put chook poop (shed) under the mango.
3. Cover under the mango with woodchips
4. Dump the straw bale in the triangle garden.
5. Netting over the Dual Stone
6. Move tractor to PLUM-STONE

THOUGHTS:

Tea bushes – along the chook yard

Big flowering salvia – between Donut Peach and Cherry

better way to plant the galangal in the chook yard so the chooks don't keep digging it up?

dear diary: somewhat random post from early August (maybe?)

OBSERVATIONS:

GOLDEN PEACH has finished flowering, NECTARINE, and DUAL STONE are in full flower.

GOLDEN DORSETT is flowering.

PLUM on (former) FOUR STONE is budding.

MARIPOSA on (former) DUAL PLUM is budding

CHOOKS:

Several chooks are sneezing, dammit. That's kind of worrying.

Got several chooks laying – getting 3-5 eggs a day now. We're starting to work out whose eggs are whose: some are known – the dainty little cream eggs are Goongbao,

COMPOST:

I made a compost, it wasn't heating up fast enough – the only part that was heating up properly was the woodchips that I piled on top. I turned it to try to mix it all in, and added woodchip shavings, and now there are mites and flies all through it. ARGH.

I'm worried that the woodchip shavings that I picked up from someone local had mites in them, and this has just spurred everything on.

PREPARING:

Where Tomatoes are going to go: compost, then chicken manure (for early seedlings to give the boost), then dolomite lime and potash. Lime needs to go in early before planting tomatoes. Anthony planted out buk choy.

SEEDING:

PLANTING OUT:

HARVEST:

FEEDING:

Some instructions about dealing with brassicas
potash - at growing heads
nitrogen - to get them started
4 wks - sulphate of ammonia (blood and bone) for better structure

PRUNING and GRAFTING

Got a heap of scions for grafting – cherry and Apricot

Apricot: cotton candy, bulida
Cherry: minnie royal, royal crimson, royal lee
I wanted the Plum: gulf gold, ruby god, but they were already in flower so it was too late for tem.

• grafted new cherries onto cherry after trimming it DOWN
• grafted new apricots:
2. one to frontyard FENCELINE APRICOT

This is the CHERRY:



I took

It's a Stella variety which did really well the first year I put it in but hasn't really supplied since. Let's see how the grafts take.

THOUGHTS:

fruit trees in the springtime: espalier, netting frames, and other small details

Did the espalier course with Brett at Limestone Permaculture. Great guy with great ideas and a fresh way of thinking about it and communicating his ideas. If you have the chance to do any of his courses, I recommend it very highly!

I came home, and a week later started fixing up the not-so-well-done espalier for the apple trees in the triangle orchard:

This is a less acute angle, although the background is not as good.

I need to cut the ties for tying the limbs to the wires and then tie the limbs down. The wires will also provide some support for the fruit.

The apples are presently underplanted with peas of various types (should have been planted earlier, they may not survive if things get summer-hot fast, or if we get too much rain - peas tend to go mouldy pretty fast around here), and there's a comfrey plant at the end. Other than that, I'm not sure if I'm going to grow anything more here. At some stage, I need to redo the watering system in the front. (No more underground watering systems, they all get forgotten and dug into later and it's not pretty!)

The one branch that's in flower and leaf is a grafted branch of an early apple - Golden Dorsett variety, and produces huuuuge sweet-and-crunchy apples by, oh, January? February? Actually, I think it keeps producing it all the way through to March. Or maybe that's just how long I leave it on the bough?

I've roughly started a frame for the APRICOT tree in the backyard, but doing things with the DUAL PLUM, the FOUR STONE, and the FOUR APPLE in the back is going to be tricky. I don't think I could (or should) do it with the AVOCADO, but getting a net over that sucker is going to be an effort and a half in coming years. It's already 2.5m tall (and covered in flowers, which will hopefully pollinate well)!

Dear Diary - 23rd August

OBSERVATIONS

16th August: Garlic planted in the round black pot with the bluebird olla has developed lots of teeny-tiny garlic shoots. They're very garlickiy shoots! Good for salads, etc, I think.

Generally: something in the front yard got chipped and a billion little shoots are sprouting from the wood. Looks almost like a mugwort, but hard to tell. I'm trying to pick them out but it's a bit tricky.

PLANTING on the 17th

PLUM-STONE: Onions (from Misty Ridge), Leeks, Radishes

CREPE-APRICOT: Peas (yakomo giant)

Watermelons in aquarium greenhouse

Shade Flowers in HEXABED

on the 22nd

Struck all the cuttings I took from Limestone in a bucket of sand-coir/pottingmix-vermiculite.
PEAR sensation
FIG st dominique
MULBERRY white shahtoot
PLUM sugarplum
APPLE jonny

Planted two WHITE SAPOTE seedlings (couldn't find an ICE CREAM BEAN one, alas) into small pots

SPROUTING

on the 23rd

23rd August: Tomatoes are starting to sprout in greenhouse. Peas are 15cm tall already (but no leaves) looking a bit spindly. Have taken the peas out of the greenhouse to harden off. A brief stint of colder weather for the next half week, then back up to warmer (10C) again.

PRUNING

I cut off the 'minor' branch for the APRICOT section of the FOUR STONE: it was dead in any case. The 'trunk' of the 'major' branch has shoots coming from it, though, so we'll let that grow through this year and then trim it down next year with an eye to espalier. The problem is exactly where to espalier it, since that FOUR-STONE is pretty crowded (and the chook tractor space doesn't allow for spreading in).

THOUGHTS

Use the small metal frame in the raspberrry bed to make a small bed between the two-stone and the persimmon. Put melons in there to grow separate from the pumpkins. (Or make a frame from the shed pieces.)

NOTES from ESPALIER WORKSHOP at Limestone:

The two apples in the front are definitely being espaliered (And learning how to do it was heaps helpful. That can be a project for the coming Sunday, perhaps?)

I'd like to espalier more trees in the backyard - the quad-apple, in particular, the apricot, the dual plum. It would be nice to sort out the donut peach, but I'm not hopeful.

Wondering: could I espalier using the tree itself as the upright frame? Tie the crosspiece to two vertical branches (particularly relevant for DUAL PLUM) and then train along those lines? I'd try to use the fence for the QUAD-APPLE, but the FOUR STONE presents a problem since it's very parallel to the fence, and there's very little space on the Apricot side.

15th August - dear diary

OBSERVATIONS

Bulbs are blooming - I picked some for the kitchen and now it smells like flowers.

Flower seeds in FRONT PICKET are sprouting, incl some SUNFLOWER and some NASTURTIUMS.

CHOOKS

Goong is still broody broody.
Someone is pooping yellow, which is not a good sign. Infection, maybe?
Otherwise, everyone seems chirpy and in good spirits.

BED PLANNING

PLUM-STONE: go for root crops - onions, beetroots, radishes - add lime under those sections
plus more lettuces, spinaches, Asian greens, etc. Later, perhaps a couple of tomatoes staked up

APPLE-CREPE: Corn (plant seed Oct)/cucumbers(plant seed Sep) up the back, and a melon in the front? Run the risk of overgrowth? (It's a corner; should be okay.) prep with rock dust

CREPE-APRICOT: climbing peas, edible corn, climbing beans prep with chook poop & worm castings

APRICOT-AVO: tomatoes, zucchini, bush beans prep with rock dust and worm castings

AVO-SHED: root crops, plus lettuces, spinaches, Asian greens... What if I just mixed up brassicas and sowed them straight in?

TRIANGLE VEGEBED: Tomatoes, eggplant, various brassicas.

ORCHARD GENERALLY: spring green manures, running beans

PICKET FENCE BED: running beans, flowers, ornamental corn

ASPARAGUS: needs compost & chook poop & worm castings mix

RASPBERRIES: needs compost & chook poop & worm castings mix

HEXABED: mustard is starting to take off, but I'm about to plant shade-loving flowers

PLANTING

NOTES

Am contemplating just mixing up brassica seeds and tossing them into one of the beds and seeing what grows over the season. Do it somewhere that can be easily covered over with netting. (possibly sections of the PICKET FENCE bed?)

Toss down some fenugreek/summer mulches in the ORCHARD, exclude chickens. Grow pumpkins out of the OLLA BED (potato/pumpkin setup), but trim down the green mulches just before the pumpkins go in...

Dear Diary, 13th August

OBSERVATIONS

Weather is warming, but La Nina spring has been declared again which means cool and wet. I'm not sure we're going to survive this summer; in spite of the dangers of El Nino we need some dryer weather - ideally, we'd get a hot summer that isn't an El Nino but I kind of doubt that's even possible anymore. We're going to swing between hot-and-dry and cool-and-wet seasons pretty much from hereon in. And it won't be pretty.

Still cold in the house; I need to call window people - Thermawood and the double-glazing people. And I should at the least seal up the gaps along the tops of the windowsills of my bedroom and the study. Maybe check B1's bedroom; she's also got mould growing on her ceiling and doesn't have the energy to fix it up.

Mustard is sprouting in the HEXABED.

Mustard is heavy leafing in the APPLE-CREPE.

The four-pome is not setting many fruit, while the GOLDEN DORSETT branch off the golden delish is all aflower.

CHOOKS

Goong is back to being broody, although she is occasionally laying. Siyao still laying. Shantung seems back to herself at this point.

PRUNING & PREPARING

PLANTING

SWEET PEAS along the PICKET FENCE, also SUNFLOWERS. I tossed the last of the MEADOWFLOWERS (Hampton's Court / Monet Mini) among the bulbs which are sprouting and even blooming - jonquils in yellow/oranged and white right now. I'm pretty sure that the ANEMONES are having a pretty good go of it. I did think I had some nice large daffodils, but nothing that's coming up seems to be of that type. Oh well.

On heat-tray in aquarium (which is badly-placed for sunlight): TOMATOES, PUMPKINS, PEAS, CHILLI (blue), BASIL, and ECHINACEA.

RIPENING

nothing

HARVEST

nothing (Oranges?)

NOTES

I'm fretting about the stuff that was harvested from the HEXABED and put into the compost, alas. The HEXABED space was registered with a high lead content, which was fine so long as I wasn't using it to grow food. Except I only just realised that we harvested all the Indian borage and put it in the compost heap where it'll break down. DAMN. Might have to dig that compost out now.

Dear Diary: 7th August

OBSERVATIONS

Sunny weather, mostly dry - some sprinkles, a day or two of rain, warmer days (7-20C)

Stone fruit is in full bloom, Golden Dorsett branch is in full blossom, two apples still growing (two had holes in them, I pulled them)

Acerola Cherry looks dry and possibly drying out.
Trees in pots look to be drying out. Need to put
Avo tree is still in blossom, not sure enough bees to do the job, also not sure that the flowers on their own are sufficient. Plenty of flowers, guess we'll see.

CHOOKS

Shan has an implant now; only Goong and Siyao will be laying going forward. Hainan has been a little quiet this week - B2 says she's not as energetic as before, even if she's not feeling swollen. Need to consider more chickens, also disposition of the old ones.

Still on the APRICOT-AVO.

PRUNING & PREPARING

Chipper hired for last weekend, ended up chipping mostly on Saturday afternoon - woodchips have been distributed around the garden, including backyard paths, some pruning of ACEROLA CHERRY, LYCHEE, KUMQUAT, and BLACK SAPOTE might be indicated to reduce the amount of branches/leaves to be supported.

Compost is slowly being sieved, need to be sure the use the chooks to pick out the grass seeds.

PLANTING

FRONT PICKET BED: wildflower seeds sowed around and about, also DAHLIAS (from Filipa O) and LILIES (from Seed Collective)

POTATO-PUMPKIN BED: more mustard seeds in the section the chooks have whittled down; covered the quarter with a proper wire box.

HEXABED: mustard seeds - but the chooks got in and may have raked it all about. Also: HEXABED shouldn't be used for food growing - high lead levels. A shady meadowflower space?

CREPE-APRICOT: 3 'Newspaper peas' from PDC planted - another 4 planted under the two apples in the TRIANGLE ORCHARD

Plans: Tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchini, cucumber - some in the APPLE-DUAL STONE bed in the TRIANGLE ORCHARD, some up the back for after the equinox.

GARLIC: 4 cloves of Spanish Roja in amidst the LOUNGE ROOM WICKING bed.

RIPENING & HARVEST

Oranges, still. (Leaving them on the tree until they pretty much fall off.)

Sweet potato from the front bed. Need to gather up and dry off, then clean and probably freeze for soup-making.

Fennel from bathtub bed. Maybe to go with a cabbage slaw? Otherwise...will need to look for a recipe! May need to look at swapping with someone...

Coriander from bathtub bed.

NOTES