Dear Diary: 26th April

OBSERVATIONS:

I want to dig up the entire FRONT FENCE bed. In part because there are mugwort MUGWORT seedlings popping up everywhere in it, in part because I think the ELDER TREE roots are in there somewhere. Also, the SALVIAS have gone a little cray-cray. As has the THAI BASIL. And the GERANIUM.

But there are DAHLIAS in there that are doing beautifully, some LILIES and some COSMOS - a deep magenta one, not just the orange ones! I need to save the seed from that ASAP.

I fixed a wheelbarrow! Okay, not entirely - it was mostly put together by a friend, but there was some angle-grinding required to remove wheels and bolts and trim down axles. But it's done! With a new wheel! And it rolls! *pauses to admire*

CHOOKS:

Haami is back to normal - as normal as she gets. She needs some special feeding (she gets a lot of human-level food) and all the chickens are getting enriched water. Kerry's egg shells are no longer quite as fragile as they were, which is good.

COMPOST:

I've started sieving the compost I made...last year? Longer? IDEK. But I'm working my way through it pretty slowly. It's always slow.

The presence of the wheelbarrow makes sieving the compost much easier. It would be even easier with a second person there to help, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, I think. Or maybe I could get one of the sistren to do the spinning of the sieve while I shovel in the soil?

PREPARING:

In the last week, I set up the two metal-frame beds in the front - ESPALIER-STONE - plastic on the bottom, then woodchips, then chook manure, comfrey, some lucerne, more woodchips, compost soil, some worm castings, and pea straw on top to keep the moisture in. Don't know how well they'll do if we end up having a dry year. I think it's more likely to be a wet year than a dry one, but still...

SEEDING:

The second sowing of BRASSICA seedlings are sprouting - all the F1s are coming good, the heirlooms? Not so much. That's not comforting, in fact. Then again, I also can't be entirely sure how old these seeds are. They don't come with a date on them (which they really should). So they might be older than viability can manage.

PLANTING OUT:

BEETROOT seedlings are going strong. They'll need to be planted out very soon. I might have to do them on ANZAC day - most likely in between the existing BRASSICA plantings.

HARVEST:

I think the AVOS are ready again. I picked one, but it's taking its sweet time to get soft.

FEEDING:

I haven't beeen feeding the BRASSICAs much, but I think I should do some more. Need to work out what they need for the fruiting stage that's coming along.

PRUNING:

I got the lawn guy to trim down all the fruit trees, so I have a giant pile of chipping to do. There needs to be some neatening of the clustering branches, and trimming down, but I can do that in bits here and there on days that I have the time.

THOUGHTS:

Thoughts on where the fruiting/longer term plants should go.

1. Grape
- front yard in front of LOUNGE ROOM
- front yard in front of PORCH

2. White Sapote, Black Sapote, Ice Cream Bean
- under jacaranda, with intent of succession planting. Issue might be the jacaranda crowding them out of deeper nutrients. (How do you kill a jacaranda?)
- what if I dug a hole deep enough for a watering tube next to the intended tree locations?

3. Lychee
- along chicken yard?

4. Apricot
- along chicken yard?

5. Kumquat
- along chicken yard?

dear diary: not in format, because it's kind of busy, 15th April

Apparently I already posted most of this...

UPDATE: The BRASSICA seeds that are sprouting are the ActiveVista F1 ones. *sadface*

For the planned “front garden bed”, I'm absolutely going to need to have plastic laid down to keep the tree roots from getting through too easily. maybe even dug out a little, with gravel over it, and then the pond liner plastic for the wicking section?

UPDATE: The ROOT VEGIES seeds are not sprouting - one shoot, and nothing else! I think the seed is too old.

I need to make a plan for where things are going to be planted out this winter:
GRAPE
HOPS
WHITE SAPOTE
ICE CREAM BEAN
LYCHEE
CHOKO
APRICOT
BLACK SAPOTE
KUMQUAT

...that's a lot of trees, actually. EEP. I really might have to get rid of the extra nectarine that doesn't really do anything but grow nekos that go moldy...

dear diary: 10th April 2025

Lots of rain in the weather. Lots and lots of rain. Enough that I think the tank is full. I rerouted the carport roof tanks out to my brassica garden under the frangipani and that’s been doing kind of okay.

So after the egg a couple of weeks ago, Haamyu was feeling very full and solid. B1 (sister) was particularly concerned about Haamyu, and took her to a vet on Saturday. It turns out she has egg peritonitis, somewhat caused by an overactive ovary and severe vitamin deficiency, to the point where all her bodily reserves of vitamins are depleted. Chances are that the other chickens are also somewhat vitamin deficient – apparently our soil is not great at some point? Which, damn.

So she’s been removed from the general flock (who are digging around in the ground) and is being fed particular foods, clean and not-in-the-dirt, along with a vitamin regimen and some antibiotics.

PHEW! Anyway, this is a very expensive chicken, and I do not recommend this if you have a day job! TBH, I’m not sure how much of the situation is because B1 feels vaguely guilty for Haami not being a favourite of the flock, and because we take the chickens to actual avian vets who love these animals, rather than the more pragmatic vet practices.

Anyway.

We’re heading for winter, everyone is going light on the laying, and we’re getting eggs only at the rate of maybe one a day. Once again, Kerry is laying soft-shells, her issue might be the same vitamin deficiency; she’s very scraggly, although that can also be because she plunges in to get food and the others will pick on her to get her to move away.

We have ALL THE FLOWERS right now. After a couple of years of failures, the dahlias have finally come good! Beautiful large blooms, adding colour to the fringes of the ‘bee garden’ section over by the front fence. Wonderful!

I have two walking onions/leeks that I need to work out where to plant. I’m thinking on the step space, so they can grow out and not dry out. Drying out is a big problem around the place through the dry seasons we sometimes have.

Planting for spring: SPINACH, CORIANDER , KALE, maybe time to plant the BUK CHOI, need to work out where to do the JAPANESE RADISH (can’t remember the name right now), also CHINESE CABBAGE (WOMBOK). I just ordered a bunch of seeds from Diggers, hopefully they come through before the growing season is done!

For the planned “front garden bed”, I'm absolutely going to need to have plastic laid down to keep the tree roots from getting through too easily. maybe even dug out a little, with gravel over it, and then the pond liner plastic for the wicking section?

I planted out a slew of LEEKS and ONIONS a week ago in a tray but I don’t know how many of them will take, they’re all rather old.

Mulch half the ASPARAGUS (upper bed, I think), maybe plant Zja’s ASPARAGUS wherever there is space.

Mulch the POTATOES in the small VEGEPOD.

I planted a bunch more seeds yesterday (9th April):

CAULIFLOWER: Macerata Green (HVS)
CAULIFLOWER: snowball early (HVS)
CABBAGE: Early Jersey (HVS)
BROCCOLI: Aurora F1 (AV)
CHINESE CABBAGE: Matilda F1 Early (AV)

Put up a netting frame around the backyard BRASSICAs (APPLE-CREPE, and CREPE-APRICOT)

Sprayed pyrethrum over the BRASSICAS (found a bunch of teeny tiny caterpillars).

This weekend, more chook manures, water in with the biogrow solution.

notes on GARLIC, ONIONS, POTATOES,

 GARLIC

- fish carcases OR ELSE
- compost, rock minerals, blood & bone, wood ash
- dilute seaweed extract overnight
- mycorrhizal fungi
- lightly sugarcane mulch
- water in with dilute seaweed
weekly swap between
- dilute seaweed
- fish hydrolysate
monthly
- organic extract or slow- release fertiliser
- harvest when half the leaves are dying

ONIONS

- all at once
- in trays
- gladalan brown & red

POTATOES

- old potato seeds
- hilling: sugarcane mulch (and maybe seaweed solution?)

Dear Diary: 21st March - Equinoctal prepping for Winter

OBSERVATIONS:

Crazy hot Monday, rather warm Thursday, warm Friday

A lot of the brassicas I planted out last week died in the heatwave, but I have taken steps to try to ensure the remainder survive, watering them even in the middle of heatwaves and such...

CHOOKS:

Kerry is laying soft-shelled eggs. We're trying to up her calcium using yoghurt, egg shells, and various greens. We'll see how she goes. But, yeah. Might be time for her to take an implant.

COMPOST:

Haven't been making any. I want to turn the compost in the outer bay, just to make sure it's thoroughly decomposed, but haven't had the time or energy.

SEEDING:

The lines of CARROTS I planted out in the midst of the brassicas are going well.

I think I was going to plant something else but I don't remember what anymore.

PLANTING OUT:

Might have to plant out the rest of the BRASSICAS that I planted (the Sprouting BROCCOLI is the one that actually grew well.

HARVEST:

Picked the last of the PERSIMMONS. Uh. There were a few. Just a few... I dried the previous lot, and they're great for snacks!

Got one CAPSICUM (chocolate), and one CUCUMBER (pickle, bought from Bunnings, mostly succumbed to mildew although not as fast, in the APPLE-CREPE bed)

FEEDING:

Fed the BRASSICAS with seaweed solution and with the biogrow solution. Water for the next week, then another feeding, maybe.

I should feed the CORN with the biogro and seaweed solution. Also the CAPSICUM which has fruit growing on it.

PRUNING:

I'm going to need to do some serious work on the trees this year. Might need to borrow James' chainsaw again.

The PERSIMMON definitely needs a big prune, also possibly a top lop. Most things need a top lop, because they just sprout back.

I'm thinking about making some kind of 'dual espalier' for the neco-peach tree, to make it easier to harvest and net. Espalier is definitely an excellent way to do it...

DONE

I made a 'netting cage' for the BRASSICAS next to the DRIVEWAY. The issue there is mostly going to be one of watering, because the space dries out really fast. So getting enough water there is going to be the tricky part. But the netting cage should do something towards keeping the white butterfly moths off.

Now to do something like that for the backyard. Hm. I wonder if I could take the hoopsfrom the fruit trees and 'cross' them over the CREPE-APRICOT bed, although I'd need much better stakes for setting them in the ground... Might be better than my usual attempt?

THOUGHTS:

Thinking about digging up/cutting down the second white nectarine (that doesn't do as well, usually succumbs to mold) and replacing it with the APRICOT. But would that be too warm a place for it to fruit? IDEK.

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.

Dear Diary: 28th February

It's February and everything is growing. We're still in the hot and sticky days, but the temps are now in the 30s and not hitting the 40s so much.

Sowing: Planted a lot of things a few weeks ago - mostly the winterveg: cauli, cabbage, broccoli, wombok - some of the heirloom stuff isn't doing so well (Early Snowball Caulis from seed collection for inst), but the F1 plants are doing really well on the growing front. (Some were bred for warmer climates)

Have let the chooks into the driveway bed to the north, they dug it up quite thoroughly, now trying to clear the space for the brassicas.

Need to set up the piping from the water barrels to the driveway space. Check the barrels for leaks and fix. Wonder if I could get the young man I used to hire to help out with that...

Am thinking of planting the Black sapote around the base of the jacaranda and then eventually cutting down the jacaranda. I don't see any other way to get a bunch of trees into the ground where I have no more space to put them...

Incidentally, I've managed to grow some lychee trees from scratch! This is really novel. I've tried before, but they never sprouted. These ones did! I would really like to see how it goes, because I buy the marcotted ones, but they always seem to die on me. Hopefully I can get them to young adult stage, with a decent root ball, suitable for planting out. And then... IDEK where I'd put it. Probably next to the avo.

I discovered that passionfruit only lasts for seven years, which might be why the last one died without fruiting. Need to get the one I have in the ground pronto. Also work out where it is going. 

The wormwood has died (I don't know what happened to it) and I need to start planting along the chook fence line – doesn't really matter what, they just need some kind of shelter and shade.

So: kumquat, passionfruit, maybe a choko during the summer months? I pulled out a fig that was becoming unwieldy, but I am wondering if I could maybe set it up along the chook fenceline

Also gotta get the grapevine in. I really am starting to think that next to the gas meter might be a good idea. May have to float that idea with other people and work out any reasons why it might not be a good idea. Root systems? The grapevine I want to be a shademaker, and not just a fruiting thing. I want more stuff growing across the brick wall in the front, so it doesn't heat up so much – particularly in summer.

Right now, I'm mostly harvesting persimmons. That is, there are so many persimmons that I'm practically giving them away. It seems that putting them under a net also slows down their ripening – everything else went ripe really fast, but the ones under the net are holding strong.

I need to feed a few more things in the garden:

TOMATOES:
· Epsom salts
· Seaweed solution
· Potash

CUCUMBER
· Seaweed solution

CORN
· Seaweed solution
· Chook poop

EGGPLANT
· Seaweed solution

SEEDLINGS
· Seaweed solution

The CAULIFLOWER (Serenity F1) and the BROCCOLI (Monty F1) seedlings are growing very nicely, and just about ready to plant out. There's going to be quite a few of them, I think, and I have space prepared next to the driveway, and in the CREPE-APRICOT bed (and probably the APPLE-CREPE bed, because half the stuff in there isn't growing very well). There should be no more crazy hot days now that we've hit March, and I just need to keep things well-watered.

None of the standard seeds germinated; it might be that the weather is too warm for it. So the F1s do okay now for over the winter, and the heirlooms do better over the winter? Maybe? I guess we'll have to see during March and April what we can actually germinate.

I need to pull out the two metal garden frames from the TRIANGLE ORCHARD, and redistribute the soil from them elsewhere. They're in the wrong place for the summer, and they might be in the wrong place for the winter, too...

Finally, I need to put together the IBC – perhaps with a little bit of help. My original thought for the grapevine was to put it in there, and that's still an option. But IDK. I have to think about it some. Do grapevines need more rootspace?