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: 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: 8th October

I entered my garden into the Sydney Edible Garden Trail 2023. They won't be running it for 2024, unless someone else takes over. Sad, but they've done such good work and it's a lot of effort.

It'll be open on the Saturday from 9am to 4pm, so if you're inclined to come visit, buy a ticket!

On the pragmatic side, that's just under 4 weeks from today, and so everything is GO from here!

TO DO (from a couple of weeks ago)

• 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

WEATHER:

The lows are still in the teens, the highs can be anywhere from the late teens to the mid-30s. *sigh*

Sprinkly week coming.

RAIN

There's enough rain that the gardens get watered and the rain tanks stay full. Except for the carport tanks which have a leak which I still haven't fixed.

CHOOKS:

Goongbao (Goong) is broody again. Siyao (Sis) and Carambah are laying, Chouquette still hasn't. I'm starting to think that girl never will. All noise and stomach and no eggs!

OSBERVATIONS

The COMFREY has already started to flower, prepatory to setting seed. It's really aggressively trying to reproduce and I am rather nervous about it, all things considered.

PREPARATION:

Someone came by to do the mowing, and I think we got most of the dandelions on the north lawn. I'm still thinking about cardboarding it, then covering with mulch. But the lawn does look nice when it's all mowed!

Got the local teenage help to assist in the backyard: he was pretty good at pulling up the weeds and helping lay newspaper and cardboard down before covering with the mulch. It looks pretty, but there's not a lot of mulch: might need another application in a couple of weeks. We'll see how the grass grows.

Got the CREPE-APRICOT bed in tonight. That took quite a bit out of me. Cutting the bed sides, then just setting it up in the bed so as to be able to lay it all out. A little concerning: the cardboard I laid down in CREPE-APRICOT under the straw mulch hasn't really decomposed at all. I think it's going to need a bit more wetting and then also more mulch. I also need to plant out the corn - the F1 edible variety, I think.

Need to work out the space between the ESPALIER APPLES and the DUAL STONE: I have a couple of pumpkins planted there, but maybe also some tomatoes? It's this big empty bed space, just waiting for weeds to take over and I don't want that.

PLANTING

I planted a whole heap of stuff in the PLUM-STONE bed: radishes and beetroots and brassicas and everything. Even various onions - hopefully spring onions, although they might be leeks, who can tell? Some of it is growing pretty well, but the goal is to have a decent bed of greens by the time the SEGT comes around.

>

RIPENING

Peaches, Plums, and Nekos are growing growing. Early apples are growing growing. Avos are setting more fruit. Late apples are flowering.

HARVEST

Tangerines. Parsnips. Leafy greens. Avos.

>

PRUNING

I'm thinking that the FOUR-STONE APRICOT needs a haircut. Also, all the shoots coming off the cherry, crepe-myrtle, 4-apple, and even the two-stone.

THOUGHTS

I have to go through my previous lists for the SEGT and work out what I wanted to show.

Do I make some videos - short, minute-long TikTok types? On Espaliering apples, and more on keeping chooks, and fruit trees?

I also need a watering system in place for when I go away from the start of December through to January.

TO DO

• fix carport tank leak
• draw up measurements for BENCH SEATING
• white oil/pest spray KUMQUAT, MAKRUT LIME, PERSIMMON (after heatwave, when temps have dropped again)
• plant out CORN in CREPE-APRICOT
• pot TEA CAMELLIAS
• shade back beds
• plant out ARTICHOKES in APRICOT bed
• plant out AFRICAN DAISY along front fence
• dig up grass in BEE BED

I'm really sore and really tired and really itchy, and I think I'm probably sunburned...

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.