..and everything else!

So, what else has been happening around the Old Miners Cottage?



As you can see, everything is flowering and looking lovely. We've got some corn growing, and beans to grow up the corn. I had planted squash seeds, but they didn't germinate. (I'm attempting to grow some more and I'll transplant them in between the corn if they germinate.)
Spartagus the Asparagus is very tall this year and seems happy!
We grew some purple broccoli next to Spartagus, and it was just lovely. I'm letting it go to seed and we'll be growing more of that again next season, for sure!

We were shocked to see the comfrey come alive again and now it's even flowering. Lovely little purple flowers.



Also out the front is this little fig tree. We planted it bare-root this last Winter, and it's showing off some lovely leaves now. A rogue potato is growing next to it. :)



Out the back I've gone crazy with the seed planting (trying to catch up before the summer really hits - I've been a little late this year). They're right next to the water tanks, and I'm determined not to let them dry out this time. :)



Over on the chook yard fence, we've planted a choko vine in a pot with the bottom removed. Hopefully this little thing goes crazy and provides lots of shade and chokos!



Speaking of shade.. We made some adjustments to the lid of the worm farm, giving them a little more air flow. Crossing fingers they survive this summer's heat.



I've left one variety of carrots to flower and go to seed. They're such a lovely carrot, I really want to plant some more! It's a rare yellow rooted carrot, and very tasty.



The fruit trees in the back yard have flowered already, have lovely leaves, and even some maybe-apples:



And this maybe-pear:



Even the lemon tree has quite a few little lemons and a few flowers. The nasturtiums are the real show though! They're doing a great job of covering the ground and keeping the grass away from the lemon tree. Funny though, these nasturtiums were suppose to be non-trailing, bushy types! I was disappointed when I found out, but they're trailing all over the place in their second season. Yay!



As for the chooks, we had no luck last weekend (our contact got cold feet I think!), but this weekend we're attending a poultry auction that has many interesting breeds available. There should be Dorking chooks and fertile eggs available as well, and all kinds of other poultry equipment. It should be a good experience! We're really looking forward to it.

Until next time!

Potatoes and Plums in Pictures

The Russet Burbank potatoes have all died back, and we harvested the results today. Umm..



6 pretty good sized potatoes is better than last year at least! I put the small ones and the ones which were growing back into the raised garden bed. I hope they're happy this autumn/winter. The soil that we pulled out of the garden bed was lovely, filled with worms and rich. I started with a little of that - popped the potatoes on top, and then a layer of straw and sheep manure.



The purple Saphire potatoes are still going. Once they die off, I'll do the same with those.



I put all that lovely soil into a garden bed. You can see from this pic the tomatoes there are doing well. (The ones in the front garden have had it! hehe)



As I said before, most of the garden is suffering. This is the railway sleeper garden bed in the back garden behind the water tanks. I've used shadecloth to help protect the plants from the worst of the sun. I've planted carrots, bok choy, beetroot, and spinach in there - but there seems to also be pumpkin that's popped up too. I didn't plant it, and I've no idea if it could really produce any pumpkins, but it does look pretty! hehe.



We have a surplus of plums at the moment. We don't eat plums, so Marty has picked some of them and will try and offload them at work. Anyone for a plum? The tree is overloaded!



Lastly - Here's a sight for sore eyes. No, it's not earwig season anymore, so imagine our surprise when this guy came into the loungeroom one night! He's actually a native earwig. Not one that will eat our plants. We popped him back outside where he belongs - but it's certainly distinctive.



Until next time!

Hooray for rain!

I'm not complaining about the rain - even though it found its way in through the roof this morning and we had buckets in a few different locations in the kitchen. I'm happy because the garden was desperate for the drink, and the water tanks are once again full to overflowing. :)
We had 32.4mm (1.27") of rain overnight! Most of it fell this morning, thankfully for the stove and floor! :)



Yesterday Marty and I set up the greywater system for the bathroom. Last year we used the shower water by plugging the bath while we showered (we have a shower over bath arrangement), and bucketed the water out to the trees. It was hard work and the water splashed as we carted it through the kitchen.

This year should be a lot easier! Funny thing though, when we purchased the plumbing parts, the sales person said "You know we're on Stage 1, right?".. that means we can use town water for watering plants and so-on. Yes, we're lucky to have had the water restrictions eased, but I know it won't stay like that for long! Besides that, it just feels like a waste of perfectly good shower water going down the drain.

I think we're getting quite good at plumbing! We're getting a lot of experience, anyway! ;) The water comes from the bath on the right of the picture and heads down to the drain.. but there is a gate valve that can be closed so that the water is then forced into the purple tubes going towards the apple tree. We plumbed in the bathroom sink, too, which made the whole thing a lot neater than it use to be anyway. Bonus! :)



(The hole in the wall has been like that since we moved in - we'll fix that someday!)

The apple tree is getting the benefit of the excess water at the moment, but we still have to shorten the purple pipe - as it's taking the scenic route around the yard before it gets there! Since Marty and I aren't feeling 100% today, it'll be a job for another day.



We weren't expecting any apples this year because we only have one planted, but it turns out we have a neighbour with an apple tree! Being it's first year in the ground, we'll be happy if just this one becomes ripe.

I have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about when to plant out the tomatoes, and I decided that Thursday was the big day, since we were expecting some rain Friday and this weekend. They're looking happy this morning! They're planted in the front garden next to Spartagus the Asparagus.



I pulled out the old peas and snow peas and cleared the area of pea-straw. The earwigs ran in every direction! Yuck! I'll leave the mulch off for a while and see if I can discourage them from that area while the beans and sweet potato are trying to get a start. Wish them luck!!



The corn is looking healthy, and the two surviving bean plants are happy as well. There are 3 earwig traps by the beans and 2 by the corn. It's making a difference!



This is how the earwig traps are done! No, it's not an advert for Nuttelex, haha. The holes are cut all around like this, and oil is filled till the bottom of the holes. The earwigs go inside (they love used cooking oil!) and drown. They seem to drown faster in oil than in water.. although the one drowned on the top of the container there probably wouldn't agree!



The potatoes are doing really well. The Saphire potatoes are very healthy - we're hoping for a good crop this year! The Russet Burbank potatoes have finally stopped being eaten by earwigs long enough to recover. I think they'll be ok after all!



Oh, that's the feijoa in the picture there, too. It's happy and growing. We hardly take any notice of it, because it just doesn't seem to need much attention. It seems a hardy and happy little tree so far - but I still try and keep it that way with a good layer of compost.

The lemon tree nearby is looking lush and healthy, thankful for the plumbing we did last year to get our sink rinse-water to it. No lemons as yet, although there was one flower, it fell off in the strong winds. :( Hopefully next year!



Down the back in our "pond", we lost two of the three plants back there, and I mentioned that I threw in some sunflower seeds as a desperate measure.. Well, the sunflowers have germinated! We don't really water them, either. It'll be interesting to see what happens, and especially if they all get to flower, it will be a show and a half!



Until next time!

Paths and Potatoes

We didn't think the rock we brought on the weekend would be enough to finish the path, but it was! It only took one day after the rocks were delivered before the earwigs called it their home, though.. Anyway, happily, the path is now finished and should help keep the water away from the side of the old miners cottage!

From the front of the house:



Looking down to the backyard:



Looking to the front yard:



Hmm, I think the house needs a coat of whitewash. :)

The potatoes popped up! The Saphire potatoes are doing really well. I've topped them up with compost to keep their stems from seeing too much light - and increase our potato yield. (With luck!)



No earwigs in the traps of the Saphire potatoes. Phew.

Unfortunately the Russet Burbank are having a slightly harder time of it. I suspect the bottom of their water-tank has more holes in it than the Saphire potatoes water-tank does. The new growth is being eaten by earwigs and the traps have earwigs in them, too.



We've officially ran out of Nuttelex (margarine) containers to use as traps, so either we're going to have to eat a whole lot more Nuttelex, or I might just ask around and see if anyone else has some containers spare! :)

Until next time!

Catch up from Saturday

Marty cut the water tank in 3, and we made use of the new garden beds. These two have potatoes in them. They were really overgrown in the bags, and were desperate to get out! The variety closest to the camera are Saphire. We grew them last year, although not very successfully thanks to the earwigs. The one further away in this picture are Russet Burbank. We havn't grown these before, but the description says "An American cultivar released in 1908, Russet Burbank is a multi-purpose potato suitable for baking and chips. It's a late maturing type with highly russetted tubers." Sounds interesting!



These are a bit of an experiment this year, as we used our compost which is a little (a lot!) too alkaline. To counter this, we've layered the compost with large amounts of pine needles, which are quite acidic. Potatoes prefer a slightly acidic soil, so hopefully things will work out in their favour. Good luck little taters!

The third one is the not-painted tank on the back-right in the picture below. Inside is growing lettuce and carrots. The carrots are only seeds at this stage, but the lettuce have been growing well in the cold frame, and we transplanted them to their new home on Saturday as well.



Again, we used a mixture of compost, horse manure and pine needles. The top layer is basic potting mix, purchased from the local nursery.

The garden bed at the front has lettuce and spring onions, and the one on the left has beetroot.

Otherwise, the garden is looking very weedy! The rain has settled down and everything is growing crazy. The bok choy here is about ready to harvest the seeds from, but even so, the celery is still in there, growing happily.



And next to the freezer is some broccoli that I threw in because I had nowhere else to put them. I honestly wasn't expecting them to survive, as the bed had pretty fresh horse manure in it at the time.



Oh, can you see them between all those weeds? Never mind!!

Last but not least, we havn't accomplished much with the chook pen lately - except we found a window for it! It's second hand, cheap and very dirty. I think it'll clean up well though!



Next post: an update on the house, finally!

More losses

Yesterday proved too much heat for the worms - even sitting under the big cool tree in the backyard. Sadly, most of the worms have perished in the heat. :(

The remaining ones (they must be super worms!) we brought inside! Hey, there is a use for a room with no floor. ;)

The weather outside is over 44°C (111°F), so hopefully they're a bit safer inside even though it's 34°C in here. Crossing fingers!

PS: Corn seems indestructible. :)

PPS: The potato partially came back last night - cross fingers for them today.

Baking - but not bread!

The good news is that it's 11°C cooler inside the old miners cottage than it is outside. The bad news is that it's 43.5°C (110°F) outside in the shade - making the inside temperature 32.5°C (90°F). Yikes!



We've added some extra shade to the front which seems to help us...





...and a little extra shade to many of the plants... the corn seem mostly happy today.



The beetroot are suffering, even with the extra shade and mulch, and the beans behind them are not doing well either.



The shade-cloth blew off the potatoes today while we were out, and I'm afraid they're not going to spring back this time.



There are two more days "officially" left of the heat-wave, but there doesn't appear to be a lot of relief in sight - it's going to remain in the high 30's for at least another 3 days after that.

The latest

Here is the latest lounge room picture - I think it's starting to look better? :p



We had to buy a new pair of gloves each since the old one's fingers wore through! We also have some tools ready to begin pointing (taking out the old mortar and replacing it with new). That should start after this weekend - oh, and after we've shovelled the clay rubble out of the room!

Other (hopefully!) good news on the lounge room front is that we've located some used hardwood floor boards! Fr Richard at the Anglican church in Stawell is happy for us to take the floor at the dance hall that is being demolished near the church. We'll be attempting that on Tuesday - the weather is suggesting a 38°C (100°F) day, so it'll be interesting, especially as the hall no longer has a roof! Lets hope the weather people are wrong! :)

The garden is looking a little bare since the peas were taken out - it was the end of their season, and we were happy with the amount of peas we got! Enough for a few meals and to share with Mum.



It's not all barren though! We have corn sprouting!! (A little late, I know, but like the peas, hopefully we'll get an ok harvest!)



The beetroot are going really well. I've planted more in-between these ones, and some loose-leaf lettuce too.. if the weather isn't too much for them, we'll hopefully get some salad before the summer is out!



One of the bean plants is doing exceptional, and the others are mostly catching up.



The potatoes are all sprouting and are looking very healthy! (Yes, another late crop!)



Mum and Michael gave us an apple and a pear tree for Christmas and we popped those in the ground the other day. They need another apple and pear to pollinate - but we'll get those in winter for bare-rooted trees. They're planted right where the old shed was pulled-down and near the dead almond tree. The soil is pretty strange there, but hopefully they like it!



There were contractors called to clear up behind the neighbours house the other day, too.. Marty talked to the man, who'd been to Lansing Michigan before - and said he'd liked it. :) He was kind enough to give us some of the rocks found back there. These'll make great habitat for our ever-growing blue-tongue lizard population!



Lastly, I have a pic of the lemon tree (right) and the apricot tree (left). The apricots produced were not juicy or yummy, so we gave it a good prune and cleaned up the old apricots off it. I'll give it a good feed and maybe next year the apricots we give away will be tasty! (We don't eat apricots.)



That's all for now, I'll update again when I can!