Lovely Spring Weather

It's been lovely gardening weather lately, but before I show off the garden, I wanted to show you a picture of the inside of the chook pen as it is right now.



We knocked-up the ramp and platform pretty quickly from spare bed slats. The roosting table has pipes covering the sharp edges, and the front pipe comes off easily after removing the pins. The blackboard and poster still need to be hung on the walls. :)

Marty and I have spent most days out in the garden, weeding and planting seeds.



The front garden this winter has not been used much at all. The only area with any real activity has been this:



On the left, snowpeas. I meant to plant peas, but I think I got my seeds mixed up! Oh well. In the middle is the purple sprouting broccoli. Very interesting plant! I plucked a few caterpillars from it every now and then, but for the most part it looks like the white cabbage moth doesn't seem too interested in it. Under the broccoli is pyrethrum and nasturtium flowers and to the right of all that is Spartigus the Asparagus. He's done very nicely this spring and we've eaten a little asparagus already.

Also out in the front garden, the comfrey has made a comeback. It died back completely last year in the heat and this spring it surprised us by coming back to life again.



In an unused part of the garden, we've got some nettles growing happily. This is their second year, and although usually considered a weed, we like to keep some around just for the butterflies. The nettles are being eaten by caterpillars at the moment, and in return hopefully we'll see some Admiral butterflies.



Lastly, this is the sleeper bed in the back. (Made of railway sleepers.) Growing in here is some celery with the most wonderful flavour, the last beetroot (although I've planted more seeds), and a blackcurrant that is just starting to wake up. There are also carrots and broccoli and a flowering bok-choy that are not in the photo. The carrots are very small since this bed doesn't get much light over the winter months, and the bok-choy is huge and old but I can't get rid of it - the bees are still enjoying it!



You can also see behind everything the overgrown mass of weeds. It's the boggy area and the frogs are going crazy.. so I can't bring myself to scythe the whole lot down just yet. It'll be easier when the pond has dried up for the season anyway. Well, that's my excuse! I have a short video of the sounds the frogs are making (with a few ravens thrown in for good measure). In it, I'm sitting right on the edge of the sleeper bed. I recorded it for the sound, so forgive the very boring vision. :)



Until next time!

More chook pen..

We've completed the insulation on the inside of the chook pen! We used the leftover bits to finish this wall, so it took a very long time to finish.



At the moment, the chook pen is only home to my tomato seedlings. :)

This is the table I was telling you about before.. and a couple of nest boxes sit below.



Marty demonstrates where the perch will be located. The idea is to make cleaning easier, since the majority of chook poo will land on the table as they roost at night, I can clean it off more frequently without having to do the entire chook pen each time. (Well, that's the plan, anyway!)



Aside from the chook pen, the garden is going well. The water is still in our pond, and can you believe these ducks?



They weren't allowed to stick around long though - a family of ravens scared them off. Oh well!

We've already made more progress than this, so I'll update more very soon!

Goodbye Summer

The wind has calmed down, the weather has cooled off, and it looks as though we're about to finally get some rain! This summer has been quite harsh, and the garden is looking very much worse for wear. But, it's not all bad news. :) Even though the bok choy is looking very unhappy, it's providing a meal for others..



It's covered in ladybugs and meat ants!



The meat ants are eating all the white cabbage moth larvae. They're having a feast. :)



The self-sown pumpkin seems to be doing well. I assume it's a pumpkin anyway! What do you think?



And finally, I left this white bush marrow on the bush until the bush died - I'm hoping to collect seeds from this. It was a great bush - producing 3 large marrow this season. The other bushes didn't produce anything much at all, although there may still be some time left.



Although, I'm still not really sure how to eat these (so far we've tried them steamed with some success), I'll be only happy to have a bumper crop next season and we can experiment to our hearts content. :)

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!

Quick garden one, then onto the house!

Hi, I can't help myself. :)

We saw this yesterday and have no idea what it is! It's a lovely colour though.



The sunflower seeds I threw into the "pond area" once it dried up.. they germinated and seem to be doing rather well considering we give them almost no attention!



And the lizard population in the compost heap was at an all time high, with 2 blue tongues and a skink! I guess there's enough earwigs and critters for them to feast on without fighting over them all. :)



Ok, onto the house!

Marty and the Bluetongue

No Bluetongues or Martys were harmed in the making of this post! ;)

Speaking of blue tongues!

Marty and I made a new compost pile in the compost bays today, and we disturbed a lovely little blue tongue lizard. He scooted off and we continued to layer our compost with horse manure, garden clippings and cardboard. We both went into the house for a little rest because it's nice and cool inside the old brick part of the cottage. Sitting on the couch, we were shocked to look over and find a blue tongue lizard climbed partially up the flyscreen door! Thankfully no-one screamed. :)

We really would have liked to get a picture but the camera was out by the compost heap.. (Not very handy!) and I was much more interested in opening the door and getting him outside! The blue tongue was quite scared of us, and hid behind the couch. After a short time scooting him from behind the couch, under the television stand and hissing at Marty, we finally got him near the front door, but he decided he would rather run towards the bedroom! Ooooh no way. Marty grabbed him and took him outside, while trying not to get scratched by the little (but sharp!) claws.

It appears to have got in through the loungeroom that is still being dug-out! There are are few holes that lead under the kitchen part of the house, and not surprisingly, they have a few scratchy marks in the dirt nearby.

So, if that's not an indication that we need to get a move-on with the renovations, I don't know what is!

Until next time!

Scat!

A little present has been left on our new path. :)



2cm = 0.78 inches

I've seen the odd scat around the old cottage before - this one is more dried out than the others have been - it's been a few days since I first noticed it.



Marty and I have noticed the bits of black beetles in them before, too. This one's bugs are a little more digested than the others.



But you still get the idea...



We're guessing its one of the local blue-tongue lizards that is leaving these little presents around. I hope they have a good appetite, as the earwig population is quite high! Not nearly as bad as last year, but certainly catching a lot with the traps. Hmm, I hope they like earwig!

Until next time!

Heating up

The old miners cottage is as set up for summer as we can make it!



The weather certainly heated up quickly. About 32°C (89.6°F) yesterday and nearly 30°C again today. It's also been quite humid, which is unusual.

Yesterday we started the path along the side of the house again - ripped out the weeds and carved out a nice slope (away from the house).



Then put some stones over the top to level it out and make somewhere to walk. Finally, it's starting to take shape!



The idea was taken from Heritage Victoria, who suggest using stones as a path to keep the moisture away from the old bricks. It should also avoid some of the splash effect that stones or bricks would cause when it rains. It sounded good to us, so we're willing to give it a try!

As for the rest of the garden, there are hoverflies everywhere! They're lovely little things!



They're helping pollinate the broccoli. These two will hopefully provide seeds for next seasons crop.



Summer certainly came along quickly! Where does the time go?

Until next time!

Wild and wooly

The weather has taken a turn for the worst. Strong winds, rain.. the linseed / flax don't look altogether happy.



We really don't know when it's time to harvest it! The flowers have just about all finished, and it was looking really good only yesterday!

It's not all bad, though! There is always someone who'll enjoy the extra water. :)



I couldn't count them all! So cute! I imagine they're eating the wrigglers (mosquito larvae) that have overpopulated the pond. Lets hope so, anyway!

Until next time!

AAAAAGH!!!

I have a confession - I have one of those shrill "I've just found a murdered body" kind of screams that you only hear on television. It's embarrassing, but true! So thankfully no neighbours came running over to see where the so-called body was just now! See, I was in the middle of rescuing some water loving plants from a warm day..

I was just in the shade behind my little propagation area here..



.. and when I looked down and saw something like this!



It looked almost as scared as I sounded!

I got my wits about me and grabbed the camera for a close-up or two.



It's LOVELY but my hands are still shaking! Come to think of it, this could be what Marty heard in the corrugated iron sheets the other day.. He was very concerned, and our thoughts immediately went to mice, rats and snakes.. but this fits the bill, and a lot more friendly to have in the garden, too!

- Phew! I'm feeling a little better now.

Where are we?

I've got an excuse for my absence this time! I managed to hurt my hip pretty good and I've been laid-up in bed for the past week or two. Also, we sold my laptop to the plumber, and got another one that suits us much better! It's taken a few days to set it up and now it's running like a dream. I'm very happy with it! :)

So, as a result, there isn't much else to update about! The weather is warming up, but it's also very windy. All the peas have blown over, as have the bok choy which have just finished flowering.

The feijoa had a little ladybug on it - but I'm not sure what it was upto..



It seems to be sitting on something! Either eggs or perhaps a meal?

Marty has been keeping on top of the mowing on the council owned land behind our property. It's paying off. It's so much nicer to look out onto green than the alternative!



Anyway, now I'm feeling much better, I'm keen to get out into the garden again! The renovation bug is also kicking in, and we're looking forward to starting the loungeroom floors soon.

Until next time!

A wet spring

It's been a little while since I showed off the garden, and I have to show off these little linseeds / flax plants. Their little white flowers are so sweet.



There's always one in every crowd, though. ;)



Yep, one single blue flowering flax. We've tied a little string around the base and will be sure to grow more of this one next season!

Our little pond has got even bigger! No wonder we never saw water like this last year.. the plumbing from the stormwater was leaking all under the shed floor! This year it's all going into the water tanks and out the overflow into the backyard..



.. which is a good thing for the poor shed, and an interesting situation for the backyard. I think we need some water-loving plants back here! :)

This wattle doesn't seem to mind, but we're thinking rushes and poa grasses. :)



This is the dry side of the yard, but the picture demonstrates the dead grasses on the council owned property. The neighbour's property looks similarly dead, too.. The area directly behind our property is council owned, too, but they have not sprayed there (yet?). We've been keeping the grass down with a push mower! It's not even that hard..



I take it that this little bird is eating the aphids on the roses. The yellow roses fend for themselves in that regard, but I sprayed the aphids off the roses over the cottage and Spartagus the Asparagus had a few on him, too. (Sprayed with a stream of water, that is! It works a treat.)



I've been planting so many seeds lately, I've ran out of room in my mini greenhouse. Marty was kind enough to make me a cold-frame to house some of them.





I'm so excited! I just want to sit out there and watch them germinate! The seeds in the mini greenhouse were planted in a home-made seed raising mix, and the compost I used was far too alkaline. I'm sure they won't do anything, but I'm keeping them in there just in case. After all, some of the beetroot came up after I over watered them. :)

Until next time!