windows windows everywhere

Windows are here and they look pretty good!

Goodbye old wooden-framed single-glaze windows, draughty in the winter, letting in the heat in the summer!

It's a little sad to see them go: they served so very well. Also, I hate seeing waste, and watching them be pulled apart/destroyed (because there's nowhere that will take them) is awful. I probably should have researched into places to get them deconstructed and the glass (at least) reused...

We had to take the external awnings off, and looking at the construction, I don't know that we're going to be able to put them back on again...

It's amazing how large the window holes actually look!

And then the window frames and the glass installed:

That window has three openable sections: one awning in the middle, two tilt-and-turns on the edges. For better north-south breezes.

Now let's see how the installers do on the 'sealing it up and not negating the point of having double-glazing in the first place' part of the deal! They've assured me that they'll be sealing up around the windows with a polyurethane sealant and it will be airtight.

We shall see...

oof it's a window replacement

Double glazed windows are about to be installed!

It's not a cheap project, but it will hopefully make a fairly big difference in both soundproofing and draft-proofing. I did what I could to seal up the gaps, but the breeze still came through. Once these windows are in, though, the seals will be pretty tight!

Next gap to seal is the one between the floorboards and the baseboard. I think I might just use some kind of caulking to seal that gap. Need to go watch a bunch of YT vids for options.

After that, I'd have to think about the tiny cracks happening in the architraves.

About half the household is in storage, and will probably be there for a couple of months. I know the risk of putting things in storage is that you never get them out of storage, but it is nice to have things out of the way and be able to rethink the space around here...

I wonder if I could put a couple of rolling bookshelves in the study? Or how much it would cost to get shelving that would go all the way up to the ceiling? Also, whether it would cost much to make some cupboards above the wardrobes in our rooms.

VEGEPOD - March 2023

March 2023

After a fallow summer, the VEGEPOD has been edge-composted, and is being planted out with GINGER, TUMERIC (gold and black), and some unknown rhizomes - hopefully GALANGAL.

Also: CARROTS (purple dragon), SPRING ONIONS, and 6-7 BEETROOT (golden detroit).

Dear Diary: 20th March

WEATHER:

Rain, but had a heatwave on the weekend - 37C and sunny!

RAIN

Light sprinkles, not seeping into the soil

CHOOKS:

Shan and Coldie have been to the vet. Shan has swelling and got a new implant. Coldie has lumps inside her. Vet will drain both on Wednesday, and advise further from there.

OSBERVATIONS

Spiders.

PREPARATION:

VEGEPOD - did some 'edge composting' with comfrey

PLANTING

VEGEPOD - planted GINGER (probably), BLACK TURMERIC, YELLOW TURMERIC, and something else that might be GALANGAL (can hope)
VEGEPOD - CARROTS (purple dragon), SPRING ONIONS, and 6 BEETROOT (golden detroit)

RIPENING

CUCUMBERS, AVOCADOS, TOMATOES (the ones around the front, anyway)

HARVEST

earlier on in March, picked the APPLES and stored them.

CUCUMBERS - 3 hanging from the vine that's growing up the peach tree
AVOCADOS - might pick one and see how it ripens - except we have so many avos in the fridge right now!

PRUNING

everything needs pruning; need to talk to the Mormon youths volunteering about a date and time for them to come by and help

THOUGHTS

I planted some tomatoes late - about three or four varieties, including BLUE SMURF, AMETHYST CREAM, and a couple of others that I don't remember right now. Hopefully they produce at least two tomatoes - one that I can eat for flavour and one that I can save for seeds.

Windows are supposed to be done today, which means clearing around the house. Cement bricks to go down to the south-west corner, I think. I may need some time and assistance to sort out/throw out stuff in the shed so that there's space for more things. (Also, putting things that we don't use on freecycle.)

Lawn was done today - they came at 10:30 and were done by 11:30. Whirlwind. We have a bin full of lawn clippings - have to tip that in with the chooks in the next day.

Some local JW youths are offering gardening services free of charge. I'm tempted to ask them to come by and pull up the long runner grass in the backyard, then lay down woodchips and start planting the groundcover for the 'back lawn'. Could possibly ask for their help in cutting the steel down to bed-size.

Need to ask W's help to not only move things, but maybe also sort through the 'resource centre' - all those metal sheets and PVC pipes. Gotta work out where to store them. Under the house? It's a bit of mess down there, and crowded to boot.

If I was going to work out an under-house storage, the primary need would be to make it vermin-proof.

The rats are back. DAMMIT.

Thoughts in late Feb

not valid anymore, just notes

Winter this year, need to think about how to enrich the soil for the next season, even as planting/growing for this one.

GARLIC and slow ONIONs - small vegepod 1

GINGER - polystyrene box (maybe one of the black council boxes?)

POTATOES - box (black council box?)

CARROTS, LEEKS, SPRING ONIONS - small vegepod 2?

CABBAGES & CAULIS (maybe in TRIANGLE BED): buy a fine netting (Diggers)

APPLE-CREPE:

currently: CORN & BEANS

follow up: BROAD BEANS

CREPE-APRICOT

currently: TOMATOES & PEANUTS

follow up: green vegies (SILVERBEET)

then BRASSICAS

APRICOT-AVO

currently: TOMATOES

follow up: return to grass/path/lawn - use the 'lilypad' netting stuff? It grows like crazy but also seems to be pulled up pretty easily - look it up for advantages/disadvantages...

Dear Diary: mid-Feb

WEATHER:Hot. Upper 20s, heading for the 30s over the weekend. It's going to be very hot.

The patterns are shifting out of La Nina. Whether they'll head for El Nino is another matter, but the chances are about 60% right now? No more normal seasons; too hot, or too cold.

RAIN & WATER

Had some very decent rains the last few months - usually very clear skies and then abruptly, DOWNPOUR. Last Thursday night had a pretty major storm to the point where the large water tank was significantly overflowing. I pretty much removed the cap on the 'first flush' and then it stopped overflowing but it was basically all going out to stormwater.

I've been using the watertank to water the trees and the beds in the triangle garden, the potted trees and so forth.

CHOOKS:

B1 and B2 have been formally named - in French, because our knowledge of Chinese dishes ran out pretty fast: Caramba (Caramel) and Chouquette (Cream puff) for their colours. They're growing very fast and today are much more chicken-shaped than pullet-shaped.

Goong is back to being broody again. Sissy (Siyao) is laying. We're afraid that Coldie or Shantung's chip has worn out and they're laying again, though - we got an egg that didn't look like a Sissy egg today, so the sister is worried. I have the money to put another chip in, but I kind of don't want to.

OSBERVATIONS

Comfrey is growing really thickly just about everywhere. I'm picking off the flower buds as fast as they grow, but they're still growing quite fervently. Not sure if they'll dry up and die with winter (I think they do, which: whew) but I hope so.

PREPARATION:

The APPLE-CREPE bed has chicken poop and straw all over it. I should put another layer of straw on there, Maybe mix it all in together, rake it flat, and cover with more straw?

PLANTING

I tossed some old PARSNIP seed down in the BACKYARD BATHTUB earlier this week.

Need to interplant some carrots, I think.

Might have to use the front vegepods for ONIONS, LEEKS, CARROTS, BEETROOTS, RADISHES...

RIPENING

The Rosewood PUMPKIN is long and green, the Queensland Sunrise is round and fat and orange, and there's at least one large longneck from the ginormous vine that started in the pumpkin-potato bed. Not as many fruiting flowers as I'd have liked, only one per major vine so far... The smaller curcubit vines aren't producing anything.

TOMATOES:

HARVEST

APPLES - the Gala are very ready, and the Delicious are ripening steadily.

CORIANDER - the short sprouts are starting to go seedy, but even just having it there makes it good and ready

BASIL - the bought basil is doing great, the seedling basil keeps getting dug up by the chooks when they get out. ARGH!

PRUNING

Fruit trees will need major pruning, quite possibly involving a chainsaw. I need to get one of the neighbours in on this sometime.

THOUGHTS

Still haven't heard back from the window guys; need a date - trying to arrange to move things away from the windows.

I want to make a vegie frittata entirely from Things Grown In My Garden: potatoes, basil, sage, parsley, green leafies, eggs. Okay, maybe I'll add cheese to that. It's kind of the wrong weather for baking though. I always want to bake when it's hot. I don't know why.

2023 is here

There are AVOS in the tree, APPLES on the branches, PUMPKINS growing in the front, and TOMATOES in the triangle garden. The CORN is doing very well up in the back corner by the APPLE tree.

But oh, I'm starting to fret about the backyard and the way it's falling apart. It need a serious makeover with a solid chicken tunnel and better garden beds. Plus, I need to let some of the grasses grow back - but not the awful runner-grass that just ends up growing everywhere and is impossible to get rid of. That's starting to take over the paths because I haven't chip-mulched them in a year...

Then there's the comfrey that is refusing to stay down and dead, and which I planted all over the place and which is going to be a pest going forward...

I mean that, there, in the pic above? That's rhubarb. Something else entirely. but, yes, comfrey can be a pest, too...

Something that I'm thinking of doing this year is redesigning the 'Victory Garden' for:
a) Sydney, Australia and our temperate climates (far more variety available, and a recognition that summer temps are not going to grow cabbages and leeks very well)
b) permaculture gardens (instead of rows along a backyard which would be awful to weed)
c) my permaculture garden

It will require rethinking things in time and space. And possibly remodelling the backyard. Even remodelling the front yard.

If I think about it, I have a whole lot of garden beds available for use: not just the ones in the back which I plan to keep (PLUM-STONE, APPLE-CREPE, CREPE-APRICOT, and possibly AVO-SHED), but also the IBC (now on the porch), two small VEGEPODs the large VEGEPOD, two metal beds in the TRIANGLE GARDEN and a growing space between the espaliered apples.

Positioning them for best sunlight/productivity, while allowing the lawn to be mowed? That's another matter entirely...

I also need to find a swift-growing, easy-care lawn material that isn't runner grass... haha. Simple!