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.
