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.

throwing shade

Back garden is a lot of shady spots.

What do I need for filler? Where do I need it?
- shady spaces, like in the south-east corner (hellebores, coleus, bromeliads, aussie native violet, anemones)
- under the avocado tree where the tomatoes are failing miserably (daffodils for spring? aussie native violets, maybe the kidney-shaped leaves thing)

Planning for climate catastrophe:
- water (want to get a filter for the tank water - filter entry on the tank, filter outlet, too?)
- fire protection: if fire comes to the neighbourhood, how to stop it from spreading?
- petrol runout (bicycles - need to do some work on them)
- electric cooker (induction top?)

 

May: feed citrus
pruning branches and leaves
spray lime sulphur (1st time)

June: spray lime sulphur (2nd time)

July: spray copper, run chooks in triangle garden

August: grafting, run chooks in triangle garden

 

Bought 7 african daises, 5 single-petal hellebores, 5 dahlias.

African daisies to go on the far side of the fence; Hellebores to go in the shade space; Dahlias to go in the trimmed-back picket fence garden space.

dear diary: 7th May

WEATHER:

Cold but sunny the last few weeks, cold and clear in the next week, then cold and wet the week after. There's a fair bit of wind tonight (Sunday) - some pretty hard gusts that make the chook coop tarp creak - but that should ease tomorrow morning.

RAIN

Spatters, mostly. A little hail today. It was raining pretty hard in stints at our hockey game on Sunday 7th - freezing cold rain, then less cold stuff. There's more happening tonight and probably some tomorrow.

CHOOKS:

Caramba is laying, everyone else is off the lay. Sisi is still being a bully and refusing to let the other girls in the coop at night; she won't go up to the top rung so she can basically keep them from anything but roosting in the doorway.

Goong does her own thing, doesn't really bother the Qs, but the Qs are very aware of her. It's only Sisi who's vengeful and chases them away whenever possible.

OBSERVATIONS

The Dual Plum is growing really whippy on the Mariposa side. I'm still debating whacking the whole top off and just seeing what it does next.

The Apricot frame intended for espalier growing is tilting at a 15degree angle. I might have to pull that out and fix it when I replace the chook tunnels.

Flower bed by the driveway post is looking wonderful!

PREPARATION:

Really should dig out/rake out the chook poop pen. Put the stuff in bags and boxes, leave until spring.

Pulled out the ornamental grasses under the lounge window, added some mushroom compost, raked over the soil to even-ness.

PLANTING

A mix of Meadow Seeds in the bed in front of the lounge room. Not sure if it'll be warm enough to start growing - might need to put down a little more pea straw mulch to give it a decent chance of germinating; it's presently a touch too cold, I think...

I made the APPLE-CREPE into a proper brassica bed; planted out the various brassicas I had, then made a rough frame and covered it with netting. Not sure it'll get quite enough sun until summer, but I guess it'll do for the moment.

RIPENING

Still the avocados. One I picked the other week is still hard, so not sure when these are going to be ripe.

Oranges are colouring up; they'll need to stay on the tree a while to get fully ripe.

HARVEST

PUMPKINS - I've picked the large ones, I really should lay them out under the house (downside: rats). Also, it would help to get an idea of what, exactly, I've managed to grow.

MUSTARD. I never quite know what to do with these. But they do grow well!

CORIANDER is growing quite nicesly (and not bolting) in at least two places in the garden.

TOMATOES - in the triangle bed, apple end, have fruit but may not manage to ripen them given the cold snap we're seeing. TOMATOES in the triangle bed, pointy end, have set fruit, but also may not ripen: the Amethyst Cream has a couple that are ripening, but it's hard to tell what else is ripe - if anything.

RASPBERRIES: autumn ones aren't as nice as the spring ones. Might need some pruning.

PRUNING

All the fruit trees/shrubs need pruning right now. And then chipping, now that I have the new blades.

THOUGHTS

I have barely enough energy to keep up with the house right now - last fixing up of the windows, and then moving everything back in and sorting it out; I'm not sure I'd manage with the garden as well. So, holding patterns are the thing at present.
1. Backyard paths and grass.
2. pruning all the fruit trees significantly, then chipping the prunings
3. replacing the chicken tunnels with more solid make.
4. replacing the garden bed frames (and seeding/planting out the ones that I don't intend to keep using).