dear diary - 29th September 2026: about to go away and trying to get everything to just run reliably

Whew. I'm just not keeping up with everything going on right now.

OBSERVATIONS:

It's been pretty hot and rainy for a few days – enough that a few things are starting to grow, including the green mulch mix that I planted in the CREPE-APRICOT...just as I was about to plant that out.

The GARLIC is acquiring black aphids right, left, and centre. I've had to spray them with Neem Oil to keep them under control, and it's probably going to need more of it in a week. Might have to leave instructions with B1.

Tiger's Eye BEANS in AVO-SHED:

CHOOKS:

A summary of eggs:
Brown and shiny is Jima-Wu (araucana cross), pale creamy brown is Goongbao (wyandotte), elongated and streaky is Siyao (barnevelder), blue is Jiandoy (cream legbar) , white is Hongyan (leghorn cross). We get at least four eggs a day, five when Goong isn't broody (which she's been for the last four weeks or so). We're giving eggs away at a rate of knots right now.

Gonna move the chooks to the PLUM-STONE bed before I leave, I think. Cover some of the spaces with low-baskets so the chooks can peck at the greens but can't dig them up.

Yard is not covered over (yet). We may not do the entirety of it all. Just limiting access to food and water so the native birds can't reach it may be sufficient.

Also, the south-west chook yard beam broke sometime last weekend, and so Wednesday 30th, I'll be (hopefully) rectifying it with a new upright, and at least half a new crossbeam.

COMPOST:

Right bin – bought garden soil, sulfured, some compost mixed in
Centre bin – compost that didn't sieve
white industrial bag – bought garden soil, sulfured
three grow bags – bought garden soil, sulfered
up under eaves: garden compost

PREPARING:

Got Cat to help me fill two more of the grow bags – one with GINGER, the other with DAHLIAS

Planning to turn the fake half-barrel into a bit of a wicking bed, and then plant the rest of the DAHLIAS in it. There's also a few dahlias under the MANGO TREE.

SEEDING:

No more seeds. Although I guess I could plant some more CORN so it's ready to be planted out when I get back?

PLANTING OUT:

TOMATOES:

In the upgraded LOUNGE ROOM WATER-UP:
Orange Flesh Purple Smudge - indeterminate, fresh
Black Icicle – indeterminate, cooking sauces stews, slicing, drying, eating fresh
Black Krim- indeterminate, SALAD, SLICING, BOTTLING, SAUCE, & PRESERVES
Tropic - indeterminate, might be good for processing: “thick walled”
Cherokee Purple – indeterminate, beefsteak type

In the DRIVEWAY VEGEPOD:
Amethyst Cream (cherry) – indeterminate, fresh
Barry's Crazy Cherry – indeterminate, yellow, fresh

In the TRIANGLE WATER-UP:
Red Boar – indeterminate, medium size (planning to use this for tomato canning)

CORN:
Silvermine: many seeds sprouting – CREPE-APRICOT
Glass Gem: 4 seeds sprouting – DRIVEWAY VEGEPOD

HARVEST:

Last of the CABBAGES (outer leaves were bitter, but inner leaves were lovely as a slaw), but we're not getting through the BROCCOLI fast enough (who'da thunk it).

I gave a bunch of SILVERBEET to Cat as a thank you for the work she helped me with last week. Gave Darren a SWEET POTATO, SILVERBEET, and a BROCCOLI for moving the boxes of soil over to the deep corner of the yard.

Former APRICOT/AVO bed has been a bit overgrown by the little GOOSEBERRY plant, I've chopped it all back (and the girls have been pecking away at it), and planted 4 COFFEE, a PINEAPPLE and two ALOE VERA. There should also be some GALANGAL in there (or maybe it's TURMERIC). But I'm thinking that space could be a more hot/tropical area during summer, and when things grow sufficiently, then they might get some sun in winter.

I should plant the BETEL there, too.

FEEDING:

I planted the CORN, COFFEE, ALOE VERA, and PINEAPPLE with WORM CASTINGS and a dusting of B&B, then watered in with a little of Lee's Biocast solution.

PRUNING:

Everything's pruned back, but need to net the backyard PLUM and maybe the DONUT PEACH. Also, weirdly, the backyard CHERRY has a few flowers! Very unexpected. Whether we get cherries? Another matter entirely.

THOUGHTS:

When Cat comes:
- fix the chook yard post and framing
- fill the black composting ring? First with woodchips, then with the contents of the black composting ring up by the driveway, then add the bought garden soil over that, and finish with the leafmulch from autumn. (Last autumn? This autumn? Doesn't really matter I think.)
- make one wicking bed? (pref: backyard)

The PATHWAY VEGEPODS need a dig out and a refresh. I think the soil in them has become hydrophobic, because all I seem to get is runoff when I try to water them. Actually, the DRIVEWAY VEGEPOD also needs a dig out and a refresh – same problem. And also: the horseradish has grown entirely through the damn thing. Maybe a permabee to clean them out and also get the FRONT PORCH WICKING BED going?

Need to order more BIOCAST solution from Lee, although I have no idea how I'm going to get it down to Sydney.

dear diary: 17th September 2026 - hot weekend is a'comin'

OBSERVATIONS:

It's early September and the weather is already hot. I complained about the cold through June and July and early August, but even now the weather is easing up. It'll be late-twenties by the end of September.

It's going to be a burning summer.

Plans:
1. make a space for the chooks under the house, limit them there on the hot summer days.
2. cover over the chicken run, and tarp the chicken yards (extra netting down the sides of the yards)

I'm thinking of taking off the roofing on one part of the chook run and angling it in the direction of the slope. It would have to be done before tarping the chicken yards, though.

CHOOKS:

All the girls are laying, Hangyan did a double-yolker the other day. Hangyan also tends to try to limit the other two's eating. If she's eating at the trough, the other little girls are chased away. If they're eating at the hanging feeders, she'll hop up to take over. It's why we have multiple feeders – to make sure that everyone gets a feed.

COMPOST:

Need to dig out the compost in the 3rd bay – find somewhere to put it at least...

I bought a load of soil from Flower Power. pH is somewhere in the 12 range, I think... Unsuitable for planting straight off, and likely to poison anything I put it on. *sigh*

The goal right now is to move it into containers and spaces where it can rest and the pH can restore. I'm adding sulphur to it by the spoonful, but it's going to be pretty bad. My regular compost is easily pH 7 – almost neutral.

PREPARING:

What to do about the Flower Power soil – ph of at least 10.
1. Add Sulphur to remediate the soil.
2. Get it into holding containers to sit for the next few months
- sand bag
- black adjustable composter
- compost bays

SEEDING:

Planted some more Golden Acre CABBAGES – last week in August

Planted BEANS in the various beds where I'd already put the FlPw soil – partly to check for those pesticides that linger in the soil, partly to act as a soil regulator, partly to check if beans will grow in that degree of basic soil.
Wax (butterbean? black seed) in the Triangle Bed wicking bed.
Tigers Eye in the AVO-SHED
[the other bean] in the LOUNGE ROOM WATER-UPs

PLANTING OUT:

- Elephant GARLIC (about 3 cloves)
COFFEE plants in the bed in the backyard. It should do okay through most of the year, but might struggle a little in winter with less sun. We'll see, I guess.

HARVEST:

CABBAGE – don't know what kind this was, but it had long leaves like a wombok, but also slightly spicy, like a Chinese mustard variety

BROCCOLI – still going with a head here and a head there.

FEEDING:

Fed the GARLIC in the pathway VEGEPOD

PRUNING and NETTING:

1. Neko-Peach is netted (but some fruit is already stung, will need to dispose of these).
- I need to toss the net next year.

2. netting for FOUR-STONE PLUM
- needs to be all the way around the branch to try to keep the possums out.

THOUGHTS: Thoughts on seasons:

TO DO:

soil

1. Clear out compost bay

2. reform compost bays

3. Line compost bay with panels

4. move soil (remediating along the way)
- compost bays
- black compost

dear diary: short September

Just a few updates while I'm out of the country.

CHOOKS:

Kerry died the morning I left to go overseas. We medicated her, B1 tried to put her back into the coop, she was already wilting – as in, head drooping, everything failing, and before we got to the expressway, she was dead.

Poor Dr.Kerry, although I like to think she had a magnificent life at the end there, once she'd come to us.

GRAFTING:

I found some notes!

Apricots: grafted to Nectarine
- Cotton Candy (300) and Unknown Apricot grafted onto Two-Stone Nectarine. It was very wet while doing so, and I don't know how well it's going to hold. You do what you can, I suppose.
- Fireball (450) and Bulida (500) grafted onto horizontal Two-Stone Nectarine. Again, very wet while doing so. 

That's all the notes I have, but it's more than I had before!

THOUGHTS:

It looks like it's going to be pretty dry while I'm away, and while I left instructions on watering the seedlings, I do wonder a little how they went in the cold snap we had on the weekend.

dear diary: 20th September - planting out all over the place

With my surgery on the 6th, I was not supposed to be doing any big gardening for a couple of weeks after.

Me, being me, has sneaked in a little bit here and there, as the healing has progressed. So far, no (re)lapses, and some good planting done. Although I should maybe not have done the shovelling to day

Forthwith, the notes I made for my friend who came to help me out on Tuesday!

MANGO: Plant DAHLIAS

• dig trench around the edge
• plant DAHLIAs in trench with handful of worm farm/green wheelbarrow soil
• ETA: Order of Dahlias, clockwise: black heart, Devon Seattle winky Cavalier, Formby Empress, Violet, freckles, Cottage Delight, Betty, Atlantic jewels, briannon, Chloe, Noreen, vintage wine, Dusty Rose.

AVO-SHED: one EGGPLANT, various BUSH BEANS, assorted LETTUCES, KALE, SILVERBEET, ROCKET, BASIL

• stake out squares
• put in structure for beans
• plant Eggplant and Beans with a handful of extra soil (from black box compost or composed chook poo
• ETA:
Rocket, Mixed Lettuce, Basil, mixed Lettuce, and English Spinach (Mediema)

TOMATO GARDEN : TOMATOES (Roma)

• plant out tomatoes in tomato bed, also garlic bed.
• Plant with handful of worm castings/composted chook poo
• set up frame for protection
• watering system

GARLIC BED: eggplant & Capsicum

• one eggplant, one capsicum in each with handful of worm castings + composted chook poo
• bluebird olla?

CORN LAWN:

• move chicken run
• dig holes in soil (post digger?)
• plant corn with a handful of worm castings/composted chook poo

Planning:

• BANANA CIRCLE: one pumpkin - not yet
• VEGEPOD: one watermelon
• Small VEGEPOD: PEANUT, POTATO and PUMPKIN - Galeaux D'Eysines

Still to do:

• consider what to do with the large vegepod. (Ideally, I'd like to make a verge garden out of it, for use by the general public. But I'm a bit iffy about it, given some of the thieves around the here!)
• work out where the watermelon, and Musquee d'Provence PUMPKIN should go. Also, the MELON seedling that someone gave me along with a couple of cherry tomato seedlings.

So far, everything appears to be transplanting well, a little bit of wilting on the tomatoes' part this afternoon because it was quite warm and a bit windy, but I hadn't watered the tomatoes in. Going to need to give them a good soaking for the next couple of days. Supposed to be a couple of very wet days next week, and then some light showers the week after. We could do with a good soaking. Just not 40 days of it.

dear diary: 13th September, post-surgery

Got out of hospital on Sunday, have been taking it easy (where 'easy' is relative to what I usually do; it's hard to stop entirely) but the problem is that this is spring and there's so much to do!

I'm presently negotiating with friends to do a few things around the place while I'm still unable to actually do stuff.

OBSERVATIONS:

AVO-STONE: has been left for a couple of weeks. A TOMATO (unknown) has sprouted, and a couple of BRASSICAS (unknown).

Apricot graft on STONE has produced two apricots, they'll shortly need to be netted.

Flowering SALVIA between DONUT PEACH and CHERRY isn't doing great (not well-watered, didn't dig a hole for it, just set it down.

Don't think any of the grafts are going to make it. The hot-and-dry wind of late August/early September stalled them all, and they're not going to make it.

APRICOT at FRONT FENCE seems to have a couple of tiny apricots.

MANGO at FRONT FENCE is shooting what looks like fruit florets. It looks like the fruit florets come off new wood which grows off old wood.

LYCHEE seems to have died during the dry winds of last week. Roots weren't covered enough, weren't watered enough. Dammit. I think I have / had a LONGAN, but that doesn't seem to be doing so well either.

The PERSIMMON fruits (like the MANGO) on new wood, which sprouts off old wood, as seen in the pic:

CHOOKS:

Goong is STILL BROODY. Argh. Just going on four weeks.

Everyone else is fine, dustbathing in the triangle garden is the pastime of the day. Tunnels set up to channel them carefully across the grass. Trying to grow clover around the tunnel.

Hoping that the next week or two will be damp enough to give them something to grow and dig into the ground...

COMPOST:

Not getting above 30C. I think that's just going to be a slow compost.

Should move the black compost bin from by the fence to...somewhere else. Don't know where. Have to think about that. I want to open it up to the public, but it'll just end up with a shitload of dogshit in plastic bags. Because people are literally crappy.

PREPARING:

PLUM-STONE: Start tossing handfuls of rockdust and other fertilisers in.

AVO-STONE: has been left for a couple of weeks. A TOMATO (unknown) has sprouted, and a couple of BRASSICAS (unknown). Planting out to commence next week.

PLANTING:

Planted a new set of Royal Burgundy BUSH BEANS – direct into AVO-SHED, with plans for planting out.

Have SILVERBEET, ROCKET, LETTUCE, SPINACH, KALE to grow in and around things. Also BASIL and CORIANDER.

SEEDING:

Germination pattern of the beans I planted; some died during the hot-dry wind that we had last week.

PLANTING OUT:

Snake BEANS – next to driveway, near flowers. I keep trying here but it never seems to go well with peas and sweet peas, maybe snake BEANS will?

Snake BEANS – between APPLE ESPALIER to grow upwards

Tiger's Eye BEANS – in old APRICOT (now LYCHEE?) - up the back fence.

AVO-SHED: one EGGPLANT, various BUSH BEANS, assorted LETTUCES, KALE, SILVERBEET, maybe some RADISHES

TOMATOES (Roma) – in 'TOMATO GARDEN' – will ask Kris to do it next week.

HARVEST:

Asparagus! The fourth spear (previous 3 picked and eaten) here:

Still AVOCADOES. One ORANGE left. I harvested some GARLIC stalks for cooking with BROCCOLI, and they were excellently tasty.

FEEDING:

Need to work out a feeding schedule for TOMATOES, EGGPLANTS, CAPSICUMS (including the two still in the CREPE-APRICOT.

THOUGHTS:

I wish I could better tighten the connections from the water tank pump; so when they turned on, they wouldn't leak so much. Connect the watering system to the water tank for the summer, run it once a day before dawn?
Move tractor to APPLE-CREPE? nothing grew well there in the previous cycle, none of the brassicas, barely any of the beetroots, everything's going to seed right now. Maybe the second crop of CORN goes there? CORN generally does pretty well in the backyard, and it's a limited-season crop, so by the time the light fades from there, we're already well into autumn.
Work out where CUCUMBERS, ZUCCHINI, SOYBEAN, TOMATOES, two PUMPKINS and a WATERMELON are going to go this summer...

PUMPKINS and WATERMELON: maybe one PUMPKIN in the BANANA CIRCLE, and the other PUMPKIN in front of the LOUNGE ROOM? Except the GRAPE and the PASSIONFRUIT are already in front of the LOUNGE ROOM.
Turn the IBC into a WICKING BED (I wish I could have done this sooner, alas), then plant maybe the GRAPE and the PASSIONFRUIT in it, or one of the PUMPKINS, or the WATERMELON.
What if I ran the WATERMELON out of one of the VEGEPODS, along with the TOMATOES and GARLIC? It would need heavy feeding, like heavy heavy feeding. Otherwise, wherever the WATERMELON goes, it's going to want an olla, at least, maybe something a bit more? Dig a compost circle around it?

Dear Diary: 28th September

WEATHER:

The high temps are rising, but the low temps aren't moving - currently around 13C minimum, but getting double that during the day. 30C predicted for tomorrow, a cooler day on Sunday, then HEATWAVE for early next week. ARGH.

RAIN

Rain last night - about 5mm, I think. Cool and occasional showers today. The tank is filling, there's more due later next week, but we have to get through the heatwave first.

CHOOKS:

Laying regularly: Siyao, Goong, and Carambah. Chouqette is still fluffing around, being noisy, but not apparently laying.

OSBERVATIONS

Dandelions everywhere in the front yard. Couch grass everywhere in the back. Keeping the grass in check is a trick and one that I've not gotten the hang of. The comfrey is growing back in places I don't really want it, and there's onion weed everywhere. I think the removal of that is going to be manual and slow, season by season. It's just a PITA to have to do so often and so much!

PREPARATION:

Trying to manage the dandelions, manually pulling them out (wonderful tool) and weed-tea-ing them for compost. However the north lawn (driveway side lawn) is a bit of a loss - it's almost entirely dandelions at this stage. I've actually acquired some weed 'n feed and am trying that on the lawn, but wow it smells of iron! I did find an article about organic weed control which recommends a product called corn gluten meal.

The truth is, I don't want the lawn so much as I want to be able to develop a nice meadowy space on that north side. Grass need not apply! Unfortunately what I have is creeping buffalo grass (and couch in the backyard; ugh). It's going to need more work and maintenance in the coming season to try to get it to a point of survival - especially as the summer gets hot. That said, a meadow might survive where a garden would not.

Backyard, the couch grass is starting to perk up; I'm pulling some of it up and have weed tea'd it in a bucket off to the side. The promised teenaged assistance has not materialised, so that's a PITA, and I'm mostly pulling it up by hand (and doing my back in the process).

Got the PLUM-STONE, APPLE-CREPE, and AVO-SHED beds in. Need to get the CREPE-APRICOT bed frames cut up and put together and set in place. It wasn't difficult to do - easier with 2 people, I suspect - but it wasn't difficult.

TO DO

• cut panels for last garden bed, or else buy more barrier edging from Hammerbarn.
• draw up measurements for BENCH SEATING
• white oil/pest spray KUMQUAT, MAKRUT LIME, PERSIMMON (after heatwave, when temps have dropped again)
• repot TINY BLUEBERRY
• pot TEA CAMELLIAS
• net front NECTARINE and GOLDEN PEACH
• shade back beds

PLANTING

I repotted both the KUMQUAT and the APRICOT

ICE-CREAM BEAN seeds planted

PLUM-STONE: SPINACH (perpetual), BEANS (blue ribbon - double check this) with a climbing pole in the middle, SILVERBEET?, RADISH (black spanish), BEETROOT (found in packet, unknown type), ONION (found in plastic packet, unknown type)

PLUM-STONE: TOMATOES (both indeterminate and determinate types: indeterminates up the back with suitable structures for hanging plants off (hopefully), EGGPLANTS (labelled, but also have a pic saved and set up), BEANS (pole, possibly snake) at the back.

1 Jaune Flamme, 2 Marmande (red), 2 Brad's Atomic Grape (yellow), 2 Waspinicon Peach (orange), 3 amethyst cream (magenta), 3 blue berries (blue), 2 pink bumblebee (green)

VEGEPOD: Planted Cecelia's GINGER - I don't think the other rhizomes are GINGER, they don't smell right.

RIPENING

Last of the CITRUSES. That's really about it, I think. Other than the fruit which are slowly growing.

HARVEST

Brassica leaves from APPLE-CREPE: should be suitable for a coleslaw-type thing. Last orange, maybe a couple of tangerines? Oh PARSNIPS from bathtub. There's also CORIANDER and ALPINE STRAWBERRIES coming good, and some RED CELERY is making itself known in various spots of the garden.

PRUNING

Pruned the AVOCADO tree - it's too broad and too wide, and I'm kind of worried about the weight of the avos going forward. Not very neat, though.

THOUGHTS

Thinking I'd like to plant some groundcover in front of the chook yard, but the problem is giving it enough time to get some roots in, particularly this summer.

Dear Diary - 19th September

WEATHER:

Hot and sunny. Still heatwave - 35C easy. Middle of the day was boiling hot, I went out to check the chickens, also move things around.

RAIN

Officially, we're in El Nino territory with the an Indian Ocean Dipole which moves cooler, wetter air on the western half of the continent even further west. It's gonna be a very dry summer.

CHOOKS:

They're hot and noisy. Two eggs today, three yesterday. Free run of the front lawn, pooping everywhere and digging up things I don't want them to dig up.

OBSERVATIONS

I actually think there's a BRUSSEL SPROUT growing in the APPLE-CREPE. Not sure it's going to set the little nubs because we're heading straight for summer this year, no spring.

PREPARATION:

On Monday or Tuesday, I dug out the HOPS pot, and got about a dozen roots suitable for replanting - green leaves or budding nodes. Planted them out into four containers for the front yard, looking to vine them up the front if possible.

Actually, thinking that a vine shade will probably need a lot more things growing.

Also repotted the GRAPE (Iona) and a large BLUEBERRY. Didn't get around to the smaller blueberry or the newbie that mum gave me. Didn't manage the KUMQUAT either. BLACK SAPOTE and LYCHEE are doing okay-ish but not great. I start to feel like I need much larger pots for the trees I have to grow successfully.

Made the APPLE-CREPE bed frame, set up the netting frame and have the netting over it. Also planted into it - WOOLLY POD VETCH and a whole heap of MUSTARD. Was going to do CABBAGES (mini) but then realised what I thought was a massive envelope of seeds of a single type was actually a massive envelope of several smaller envelopes of specific cabbage varieties. Need to go through those and work out what can be used.

Realised that the permabee helpers only left me with three garden bed frames when I actually need four. Also, council clean-up is coming, and I need to toss the old garden bed frames out.

PLANTING

WOOLLY POD VETCH and MUSTARD into the APPLE-CREPE bed. Not mulched.

POT O'POPPIES under the AVOCADO, along with MARIGOLDS. Mulched.

was going to do SUNFLOWERS in the APRICOT bed and would still like to do it, but not until after I've removed things from that bed.

RIPENING

Still ALPINE STRAWBERRIES.

HARVEST

Several leafy greens ready to harvest whenever ready.

BROCCOLI in APPLE-CREPE - more leaves than florets at this stage, but leaves can be steamed and stems could be pickled.

PRUNING

Cut down more of the FOUR-APPLE tree: the DORSET/ANNA grafts are too strong. But I want to lop a fairly major limb off both grafts, trimming the tree way back to give the other grafts a sporting chance.

I've been digging up the DANDELIONS on the front verge and the northside lawn. Also been reading up on meadows and how they go wrong, as my attempt at a meadow space did the other year - grew for one year, petered out thereafter, is now entirely DANDELIONS running wild. Need to fill the holes with something, though, otherwise we'll just end up with more dandelions and we don't actually want that.

Pulled up some of the runner grass out the back, put it in a bucket for weed tea. Need to get a lid for it.

TO DO
* mulch APPLE-CREPE bed more heavily
* cut panels for last garden bed, or else buy more barrier edging from Hammerbarn.
* white oil/pest spray KUMQUAT, MAKRUT LIME, PERSIMMON (after heatwave, when temps have dropped again)
* repot MEDIUM BLUEBERRY, TINY BLUEBERRY
* plant CALLA LILIES
* pot TEA CAMELLIAS
* pot WHITE SHAHTOOT MULBERRY
* find a lid for the backyard WEED TEA (one of the new pot dishes?)
* dig around and find out what can go on the council clean-up pile
* plant BASIL in bathtub around the parsnips
* move small VEGEPODs to front lawn? We'll want the garage space back.

THOUGHTS

Given we're heading into drought, priority with the water tank is to use it for establishing the garden, then heavily mulch and water maybe once a day in the evening for 15 minutes on timer.

Not sure what to do/how to fix the carport water barrels.

Dear Diary: 18th September

Am I going to join the Sydney Edible Garden Trail? It looks kinda like I am.

Someone is going to help me pull up the grass (I hope) and lay down chip mulch in the pathways. I think I might need to have an actual phone conversation with him to make sure he understands what I want, because in spite of being 15 (or possibly because of it), I think he suffers from manitis, which is the sad affliction of thinking he knows better than any woman, even one who has lived three times his life. I said I wanted help pulling up the grass, and he focused primarily on moving the mulch. Not sure if I want to hire him after that whole interaction.

WEATHER:

HEATWAVE. 35C days lately, everything needs watering in the morning and it's dried out by lunchtime, especially if it doesn't have pea straw mulch keeping the moisture in.

RAIN

Not for another week at least, and probably on cm.

CHOOKS:

Hot and grumpy because they're always complaining that their yard has no green things in it, but they're laying pretty well.

OBSERVATIONS

Citrus scale on the MAKRUT LIME

PREPARATION:

Got the PLUM-STONE bed set up and settled in. Need to do the others, but it's so hot right now. Also: the process of actually bedding it down would go easier with two people.

THOUGHTS

Bed prep for SEGT
GOALS:
-display chook tractor function
- display fruit trees in the garden
- display shade bed

APPLE-CREPE
- get bed in
- sow with more mustards
- for SEGT: chook tractor here

CREPE-APRICOT
- get bed in
- sow CORN, CUCUMBERS, BEETS (up the back), BUSH BEANS up the front

APRICOT
- SNAKE BEANS up the back
- ZUCCHINI at the front
- ONIONS around the edges (all the different types and kinds)
- mulch heavily

AVOCADO-SHED
- get bed in
- TOMATOES

BATHTUB
- BASIL

HEXABED
-need to think a bit about this - already has celery and flowers there, could probably do with the HELLEBORES actually planted there, possibly set the chooks in to weed it? Not sure how to contain the space - whether to do so.

I think this might be illustrating a shade bed - what to grow, how to set it up? IDEK. Think more on this, but not too long, or maybe leave it as unchanged ground simply for SEGT people to come by and make suggestions?

SEATING

1. need to make the garden seat sections of the chook tunnel

2. need to fix up the metal frame garden seat (possibly for next year)

Spring Veggie Garden - basic course

I ended up having less time than I thought I did: 90 minutes rather than 2 hours.

Then the level of skill/experience was greater than I anticipated, so it pretty much ended up just being me trying to answer questions in some kind of context.

INTRODUCTIONS

Name, gardening experience, why you're here

* why do you want to create a garden?
- go around and have people offer reasons
-> why you want to create a garden will vary the kind of garden you want to build and how you want to develop it/maintain it

* What I am going to teach in this course is *modular*. You are not required to use any and all of it. Think of it as *guidelines* rather than *rules*.

Answers I expect.
- a garden for exploration
- growing vegies to show what can be done
- food stability and staples
- pleasure and enjoyment
NB: more than one of these things can be true at the same time

Course was originally aimed at educators - is this still the case? I will be addressing some of the generalities in early education.

1. How much garden do you want?
- enough to grow your veggies?
- as much as you can comfortably manage: a couple of hours a week? a couple of hours a day?

2. What to grow in your garden?
- whatever you will eat
- whatever the wildlife won't eat!
- how much time do you have to maintain it? (note: weeds are plants that have found a niche they can exploit)

3. Where to put it?
- somewhere you'll see it every day and which is easy to maintain
- somewhere with good sun and good water: talk about 'good sun' in Australia, coupled with the conversation about water and water conservation
- soil quailty? Soil can be made, but the direction of the sun and where structures are can't usually be changed

4. food for your garden and your garden for food
- soil, composts, worm farms, worm towers
- "food" for the garden: also "inputs" into the garden's productivity - eg. companion planting/pollinators
- flowers and not just food

5. three legs of a garden
- plants for human food
- plants for soil food
- plants for pollinators

BREAK - things to eat

6. Practicalities of gardening
- weeds: the site and how to deal with weeds - "pull, outcompete, suppress" - make it so there's no space for the weeds to grow.
- water: ollas, mulch and ground covers, composting trenches
- pests: bugs that eat (predatory insects), birds (cockatoos, etc.), possums and rats, and human
- time and energy: do things in 'units of work' - mark off a space for working in, then lay out that space.

I thought I was a bit scatty, but everyone else seemed to think it was great and they came away with info they didn't have before.

Dear Diary - 13th September 2023

Well, that's been a while.

WEATHER:

The nights are still pretty cold - less than 10C - but the days are in the twenties, and we're due for some 30C+ day temps this weekend.

RAIN

Not much. A couple of storms, half a day of some downpour, and otherwise...very little regular. And we're heading into hot-and-dry season.

CHOOKS:

In August, Goong was in clucky mode for the usual two weeks, came out of it, laid an egg, hasn't done much since. Siyao and Carambah are laying every couple of days. Chouquette's comb is getting red, but she's still not laying!

They get really grumpy when they're not let out of the yard - Chouquette in particular gets exceedingly vocal. Admittedly right now they only have one part of the yard to run around in - I'm trying to grow things in the yard on the other side. Not so successfully, admittedly. Once the chooks get in there, it's really quite difficult to grow anything else.

OBSERVATIONS

APRICOTS are not flowering - again. Interestingly, CHERRY has a branch that looks like it's going to do some blossoms, but that's the only one. The PEACHES and NECTARINES are as usual. PERSIMMON appears to be the 'off' year (biennial, I believe). FOUR-APPLE early grafts aren't flowering at all and the late ones don't seem to be budding either. The TROPICAL DORSETT graft on the DELICIOUS is doing a second flowering.

AVOCADO is back in flower again - still harvesting avos off it, need to pick up the pace. MULTI-CITRUS still has some of the smaller orange fruit on it (and an orange or two). MAKRUT LIME had a huge harvest, but I think it's falling prey to some kind of scale infestation, which need to be treated ASAP. (White oil.)

Big BLUEBERRY is in full flower, medium is half-flower, baby is still stuck in a teeny tiny pot, and the newbie I got given by mum is still sitting in its pot.

Have some SPINACH ends from the shop, but they have this white dust all over them. I washed the dust off when I cooked the original spinach, but i set the spinache ends in water and picked one out today...and it's got all this white dust again! Anyway, after a quick Google, I discovered that the white dust things are trichomes, and they're part of the way spinach grows! How interesting! Okay, good to know - I was thinking it was a mite infestation or something like that!

PREPARATION:

PLUM-STONE: get bed frame wired and into place. Plant out spinach ends.

APPLE-CREPE: eat the brassicas and peas, take frame off, get bed frame wired and into place. Put chooks on for a few weeks.

CREPE-APRICOT: get bedframe wired and into place. Plant CORN, CUCUMBERS, BEANS

APRICOT-AVO: flower meadow (that was the plan, unfortunately the girls getting out and scratching around in it means it's not doing so well right now).

AVO-SHED: Get bedframe wired and into place. Plant...something that doesn't need too much sunlight...

PLANTING

TEA CAMELLIAS and WHITE SHAHTOOT MULBERRY need to be planted out into bigger pots. So do the PINEAPPLES (3).

I planted out a whole slew of seeds during August, with the intent of taking them along to the course I'm teaching this Saturday. Some of it will be planted in the community garden where I'm doing the course, but I'll probably hand out the excess to the participants.

CARE:

TOMATOES that over-wintered need some trimming back and feeding/mulching.

RIPENING

Brassicas all over the place.

HARVEST

Avocados and oranges, mostly. Could do makrut lime shampoo if I had the time/exec function to get on with it.

CARROTS and BEETROOT are harvested. The beets (golden detroit) are super tasty and I regret giving the ones I had away! Carrots are decent, but I already gave away three bunches. Unfortunately the PARSNIPS are disappointing: there wasn't any frost to make them sweet, so they're mostly just starches. I'll harvestthem from the bathtub in the next few weeks, then scatter BASIL seed there as I usually do.

PRUNING

Everything's pretty much pruned back, but the runner grass on the back path needs pulling up and disposing ASAP.

THOUGHTS

TO DO:
treat scale on MAKRUT LIME (possibly also on PERSIMMON?)
properly pot two BLUEBERRIES
properly pot WHITE SHAHTOOT MULBERRY
properly pot TEA CAMELLIA
trim back TOMATOES from overwintering and feed.

This Saturday I am teaching a course at a local community garden, run by the next council over. It's a little terrifying; I can rabbit on quite easily, but I don't know if I want to - it's about learning and drawing people out. There's a garden bed at the community garden that I can plant out and which I've kind of agreed to take over for the next few months - it'll be something of a community plot, possibly also an example of what can be done in a small space. I'm kind of excited but also mildly terrified!

I might make another post with my notes.

dear diary: 24th September

OBSERVATIONS

NASTURTIUMS are everywhere in the backyard.

FRONT PICKET BED is going beserk and in a bad way; probably going to need to poison the mugwort and the red salvia is seriously worrying me with its tendency to sprout from just about anything... But the little bulb garden I put together is now flowering ANEMONES after the JONQUILS and PAPERWHITE (also jonquils) have finished. There appear to be some DAHLIA crowns coming through, but the only thing from the meadow mix that seems to be sticking is the ALYSSUM.

GALA apple is flowering, so is BRAEBURN.

CHOOKS

Hainan had to be put down back around the middle of the month. The peritonitis wasn't getting any better in spite of the draining and antibiotics, and in the end it was better to end her suffering. She's buried under the peach-nectarine tree in the triangle garden.

Goong is broody again, and somewhat grumpy at being left out right now.

PRUNING & PREPARING

Planning to take off a giant chunk of the four-apple two very productive branches. They're not going to fruit this year - I think the rats ate all the buds. Give the other two grafts a chance to shine, maybe...

Planning to put the chooks into the dining room VEGEPOD at some point to clear it out. Don't know how well it will go; they like a bit of shelter - not too exposed. Could maybe put a few sacks or green shadecloth over it to give them some protection.

Planning to plant the snapdragons out in the PICKET FENCE BED.

PLANTING

Planted out the CORN (country gentleman) in APPLE-CREPE

Planted out the BUSH BEANS (cherokee wax) in the APPLE-CREPE, and CREPE-APRICOT, and PLUM-STONE

White BEANS (might be blue mountain), ebisu PUMPKIN, popping CORN, and maybe one EGGPLANT and one CAPSICUM coming up?

Blue CHILLI from Margaret by way of Cecelia.

RIPENING

ASPARAGUS: purple in the polybox, green in the ASPIE BED

MUSTARDS in the CREPE-APRICOT

MUSTARD in the VEGEPOD

SILVERBEET in the garage MINIPOD

RADISHES/LETTUCES in the dining MINIPOD

HARVEST

RHUBARB stems: both the green in the APRICOT bed and the red in polybox.

BRASSICAS in lounge room window, CABBAGE in pot on VEGEPOD, FENNEL in bathtub bed, CORIANDER in bathtub bed

NOTES

FRUIT TREES in triangle garden got netted (TWO-STONE and DUAL-STONE)

GOLDEN DORSETT graft has flowered and is fruiting; have started covering it over but not very thoroughly. Going to need to evaluate how that branch is managed.

Things need to be in the ground before I go away on holiday - all of October, pretty much; that, or they need to be in something that has a water reservoir...

NATIVE BEEHIVE: Opened it up with Sue, found the structure there but just no bees. Looks like the colony simply didn't manage to re-queen, and just died. Now I have to trim out all the mouldy/pollen/honeysacs in the hive and prep it for probably an October/November split.

dear diary - 4th September

OBSERVATIONS

Rain with occcasional sunny spaces. La Nina is predicted for the summer, third time unlucky. Not sure we're going to make a fourth one in some areas of Australia.

CHOOKS

Hainan likely on her last legs. Drained of fluids last visit, seemed okay afterwards, but has slowed down in the last weeks. At this point, if things are failing and the only option is surgery, I'm going to cut the cord. Then it'll be a case of getting another two chickens. I'd like another Sussex (mille flora!) for the pretty, and maybe a Quamby. IDK. Or we might go another of the nicer heritage breeds - Australorp, perhaps?

PRUNING & PREPARING

Roughly (and badly) pruned the frangipani. Put the cuttings aside to dry and maybe be chipped.

Dug out the last of the lower compost bay and sieved it. Covered everything up so it wouldn't get too wet, and luckily did so just before the rain turned up. Need to refill several beds:
- lounge room bed
- back wicking bed
- assorted pots and the plants in them

PLANTING

No planting today. But should really plant a few more things for the Crop Swap on the 25th September...

Beans, tomatoes,

GROWING

Tomatoes in the heat aquarium have sprouted but only the seed leaves, no real leaves yet. They're a bit leggy too. Should probably move them into more sunny spaces...

Peas in Apple Espalier are coming along well and fruiting some.

HARVEST

None today, although peas are looking pretty ready, there aren't a lot of them.

dear diary - it is SPRING!

OBSERVATIONS

Warmer, more growing things. Peas have settled in nicely under the apple espalier, scented early bulbs are still going strong. Apparently the tulips need to be fridged for a while, but how we're going to find space for that in the fridge in future IDEK.

Mugwort everywhere. Poison, or try to pull out? Some of the stuff is buried too deep to dig out, and some of it is caught up in the roots of other things.

CHOOKS

Goong is off the broody, not laying yet. Siyao is still laying strong, an egg every couple of days.

Need to move their tractor to AVO-SHED.

I found a pollinated avo! Now if only we can get dozens more!

PRUNING & PREPARING

I started tying down the apple boughs to the apple espalier fence.

PLANTING

A lot of Silver Gentleman CORN, in punnets for Crop Swap (eventually).

CORN (silver gentleman), CUCUMBER (lebanese), ZUCCHINI (golden), BEANS (bush, cherokee wax), EGGPLANT (black beuaty)

RIPENING

Nothing.

HARVEST

Four snowpeas, which I promptly ate. If I'd gotten the espalier fence up earlier, I'd have had more snowpeas. But they might grow a bit more in the coming months.

NOTES

I dug up quite a bit of sweet potato from the front garden bed, but most of it has rotted because I didn't do anything with it. *sigh* Simply didn't have the energy. Ditto with the sugarcane. It's probably dried out by now and not much good. Pity. Would have been interesting to try to make home sugar.