Cooler weather over the last few days followed a couple hot ones with strong dry winds. In between we got a few drops of rain, probably no more than a couple millimetres (measured at 0.6mm officially). Temperatures now are dropping to around 5C at night and low to mid twenties during the day. Sun is dipping lower, shadows becoming more prominent over the vege and herb garden areas. Autumn.
My rocket is being hit by the same pest that's been munching on my sprouts' leaves. On closer observation it turns out it's tiny green grubs. I've resorted to going out with a torch and picking them off in the evening, and then again first thing in the morning. I don't like sprays as most bugs aren't harmful and I'd hate for my lizard friends to get contaminated.
Peas and beans have sprouted in the main beds, are poking above the straw mulch now.
I took some additional cuttings of lavender. About half of the other cuttings look like they're thriving, with the remainder looking like they've at least not died. At the end of this month I'll start potting some out.
I've transferred about half of my dill and corriander seedlings into pots. A couple days after the operation and they all look like they're still alive. In the next couple days I'll put the remainder out into the garden proper.
I've let half my basil run to flower. The remainder will soon be picked for a final mass drying. Should be able to fill a couple jars with it when dried, to match the smaller amounts of oregano and marjoram I've been picking.
Finally, my various flower seeds that I planted a week ago in my cold frame are sprouting. Will have to decide where I want them now!
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
'Hiatus'
After a couple months of busyness it feels like the yard is in a state of stasis as other tasks and commitments have meant that I haven't done anything more than keep up the water and monitor things. I've got a few potted plants awaiting repotting.
Of course, being a garden, it's not really like that. The seeds in the planter box and some in the garden are throwing up shoots. Those that aren't are putting down roots. Cuttings are mainly staying green, and some are even putting on new leaves. The sunflowers are pushing through their abbreviated cycle, with the first bloomer now dropping its petals as the last bloomer finally displays its first flower. And, of course, the battle against the earwigs continues.
Hundreds of galahs are using the giant pine and the TV tower to rest in the evening and the firetails have been spotted again scouring the peppertree canopy.
Later this week I'll be more active, but in the meantime we have another warm spell about to pass over (low to mid thirties) and, hopefully, a dash of rain.
Of course, being a garden, it's not really like that. The seeds in the planter box and some in the garden are throwing up shoots. Those that aren't are putting down roots. Cuttings are mainly staying green, and some are even putting on new leaves. The sunflowers are pushing through their abbreviated cycle, with the first bloomer now dropping its petals as the last bloomer finally displays its first flower. And, of course, the battle against the earwigs continues.
Hundreds of galahs are using the giant pine and the TV tower to rest in the evening and the firetails have been spotted again scouring the peppertree canopy.
Later this week I'll be more active, but in the meantime we have another warm spell about to pass over (low to mid thirties) and, hopefully, a dash of rain.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
'Rain'
Overnight we had 0.4mm. I knew it as soon as I went outside, everything seemed fresher. The winds which followed, however, soon blew away all that moisture at an average speed of 25kph (max in mid 30s). So I had to water everything anyway...
Planted a few rows of broad beans and potatoes in some of my new beds. Garden is starting to look busy again!
Planted a few rows of broad beans and potatoes in some of my new beds. Garden is starting to look busy again!
Monday, April 8, 2019
Autumn planting
I planted out seedlings into the older garden beds. Four rows of silverbeet interspersed with dill and corriander, and a couple small plots with corriander/dill interspersed with silverbeet. Varied shadiness in the beds to see how things go. Around the beets I put old toilet roll cardboard cylinders, cut in half to get twice as many out of the few that I had.
In the afternoon I planted a bed of peas and potatoes, using an old garden ornament 'windmill' frame as a central climbing trellis for the peas.
In the afternoon I planted a bed of peas and potatoes, using an old garden ornament 'windmill' frame as a central climbing trellis for the peas.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Weekly Update 1
In the past week my nursery has been quite busy. I've doubled the number of cuttings I've taken, including wysteria, a spiky hakkea, climbing and miniature roses, olives, lavender as well as a couple of creepers. I've uplifted a spearmint and some clover from Tanunda and transplanted them into pots. I uplifted an olive seedling (6") from the backyard and potted it. In the resultant hole I've put a couple native ground creepers from our own local 'Kangaroo Resting Spot' where hopefully they'll be happy amongst other indigenous ground covers I've started off between a sugar gum and a mellealuca. Finally for the nursery, I've tried some intense seeding of chives in a couple pots, one has gone into a cold frame with a bunch of cuttings and the other is with the other seed punnets in the elements (I did this for the chives because my initial seeding has produced almost nothing from over a month ago).
In the garden beds I've recultivated all the new ones and am now waiting to put in my winter crops and other autumn plantings. Today or tomorrow I intend putting out some dill, corriander and silverbeet seedlings and possibly some peas, beans and potatoes also. I put the seedlings I've chosen out in the general garden yesterday on a temporary shelf made up with some old spare planks - the idea is to let them get used to increased direct sun before they have to fend for themselves.
In the herb bed I continue to prune off basil, oregano and marjoram for drying. Made myself a simple drying rack out of some old centimetre gauge mesh to help the process.
For flowers, the second of my late planted sunflowers has blossomed with a beautiful flower. That makes two out of three so far. A small 'rescue' shrub that I transplanted around a rare deciduous tree has also come out with tiny electric blue flowers. The peppertrees are swarming with bees, so I'll wait till they're done before I give these trees a major prune (both to shape them, as well as to allow more light into the garden area through winter as the sun drops towards midwinter).
Had a repeat visit from a trio of fairy wrens, and a couple yellow breasted parrots seem to have made it a regular evening thing to sit on top of the old TV antenna tower (20m high).
There's was no rain during the week. Temperatures generally in mid twenties and blue skies. The exception was Friday, with mid thirties temperature and hot dry winds gusting up to 64km/h, carrying a load of dust with it (they closed nearby highways due road conditions, and turned off power to some regional towns due catastrophic fire risk). The following day was relatively cool and calm and the plants loved it!
Daylight savings ended last night, so I'll have less time this evening in my plot. Will make my mind up then about whether I plant out or not.
In the garden beds I've recultivated all the new ones and am now waiting to put in my winter crops and other autumn plantings. Today or tomorrow I intend putting out some dill, corriander and silverbeet seedlings and possibly some peas, beans and potatoes also. I put the seedlings I've chosen out in the general garden yesterday on a temporary shelf made up with some old spare planks - the idea is to let them get used to increased direct sun before they have to fend for themselves.
In the herb bed I continue to prune off basil, oregano and marjoram for drying. Made myself a simple drying rack out of some old centimetre gauge mesh to help the process.
For flowers, the second of my late planted sunflowers has blossomed with a beautiful flower. That makes two out of three so far. A small 'rescue' shrub that I transplanted around a rare deciduous tree has also come out with tiny electric blue flowers. The peppertrees are swarming with bees, so I'll wait till they're done before I give these trees a major prune (both to shape them, as well as to allow more light into the garden area through winter as the sun drops towards midwinter).
Had a repeat visit from a trio of fairy wrens, and a couple yellow breasted parrots seem to have made it a regular evening thing to sit on top of the old TV antenna tower (20m high).
There's was no rain during the week. Temperatures generally in mid twenties and blue skies. The exception was Friday, with mid thirties temperature and hot dry winds gusting up to 64km/h, carrying a load of dust with it (they closed nearby highways due road conditions, and turned off power to some regional towns due catastrophic fire risk). The following day was relatively cool and calm and the plants loved it!
Daylight savings ended last night, so I'll have less time this evening in my plot. Will make my mind up then about whether I plant out or not.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Weather Report - Jan to March 2019 summary
Dry. There has been so little rain it seems silly to even talk about it.
January 2mm falling on one day.
February 4.6mm falling on three days.
March 1.6mm falling on three days.
Hot. UV extreme almost throughout.
January 46.9'C 17 days 35C or higher, 10 at 40C or higher.
February 42.2'C 8 days 35C or higher, 1 at 40'C or above
March 40.7'C 15 days 30'C or higher, 3 over 35'C.
Tough conditions. I've been active in the garden since March. Before then, it was watering and shade management of existing plants, the aim being survival of as many as possible. Especially on the hottest day in January, which took more plants than any other single day.
Le sigh.
January 2mm falling on one day.
February 4.6mm falling on three days.
March 1.6mm falling on three days.
Hot. UV extreme almost throughout.
January 46.9'C 17 days 35C or higher, 10 at 40C or higher.
February 42.2'C 8 days 35C or higher, 1 at 40'C or above
March 40.7'C 15 days 30'C or higher, 3 over 35'C.
Tough conditions. I've been active in the garden since March. Before then, it was watering and shade management of existing plants, the aim being survival of as many as possible. Especially on the hottest day in January, which took more plants than any other single day.
Le sigh.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Garden Environs
The block is a quarter acre (20m x 50m) house block on the edge of a small town in South Australia's mid north region. Existing buildings include a two bedroom cottage, outhouse, garage with attached wood shed and a large six by ten metre shed at the rear of the block. There is a septic tank system along the southern fence, extending for the rearwards half of the block.
The block 'faces' east with the cottage and driveway entry taking up much of the street frontage behind a galvanised 'picket' fence. The driveway is white gravel and goes about half way down the southern side of the block, accessing cottage, garage and wood shed. The rear half of the yard has no simple vehicle access anymore (you'd have to take down 'temporary walls' and drive over garden beds and/or paths to get there).
The climate is 'temperate', with hot dry summers and most of the rain falling in the cooler winter months. We had 34 days over summer that had temperatures of 35'C or higher, half of which were over 40'C. The hottest day was 46.9'C. Winters are not extreme, a rare light frost and generally sunny days. The area is a 'high wind zone'. There is even the odd tornado, though not of the size generally associated with the term. The prevailing wind is from the west.
We are located within the surrounding landscape just on the flat side of the boundary between plains and a low rolling hillscape. Sheep and wheat dominate the local agriculture. No large native flora reserves nearby. No nearby permanent watercourses either. The original Goyder Line (a map feature marking the geographical extent of land with rainfall reliable enough to sustain economic crops) lies within thirty kms of here (there's a cairn to mark the spot alongside a highway).
Mean annual rainfall is 14-15 inches (350-380mm), the average is a bit more. We have 1kl rainwater tanks on both the north and south sides of the cottage, and a 2kl tank collecting from the rear shed. We have waterpoints for mains water (piped in from the River Murray at Morgan) in rear, mid and front parts of the yard.
The local flora landscape is one dominated by 'open mallee woodland' with frequent small to medium eucalyptus trees. The soil is a red brown loam topsoil with red heavy clay six inches to a foot below the surface. Sandstone was the local building material.
The site has existed since 1892, for almost the first hundred years was 20m from a rail line. Landuse has included as a rose garden and a genteelly cultivated 'return to nature' block. The back quarter of the block (now mainly beneath the back shed) has previously been used for domestic landfill.
Fauna in the yard is the occasional possum, resident blue tounges and sleepy lizards, with large numbers of at least two types of skink and ghekos, occasional snakes (mainly browns, but also whip snakes). Common birds include house sparrows, galahs, magpies and peewits, ringnecked honey eaters, new england honey eaters, dove and crested pigeons, willy wagtails. Seasonal rosellas and grassparrots, red throated warblers. Sightings of peregrine falcons, firetails, various parrots, wrens, robins, finches, silver eyes. Lots of types of spiders, beetles, ants. Termites are endemic (limit on use of wood). Centepedes potentially under every rock.
Prominent trees on site include a locally dominant Aleppo Pine in the north west corner, nearby peppertrees, a spotted gum, fuscia gum, a melalucca and a couple grevillias, a couple lemon scented gums, a couple calistomons and overhanging acacia in the north east and a row with a couple jackarandahs, a couple almonds and a 'socialis' eucalyptus in the south east. Finally, a largish spruce, a couple candlepines and some conifer shrubs out the front complete the collection.
Two small sad patches of stringy grass out the back door and several climging roses, scattered bulbs (iris, lilly, daffodil), sages, bush daisies, geraniums purple creepers, and a happy wanderer round it out.
There are several brick lined paths of white stones, and a few stepping stones in a couple of places.
This is what we started with.
The block 'faces' east with the cottage and driveway entry taking up much of the street frontage behind a galvanised 'picket' fence. The driveway is white gravel and goes about half way down the southern side of the block, accessing cottage, garage and wood shed. The rear half of the yard has no simple vehicle access anymore (you'd have to take down 'temporary walls' and drive over garden beds and/or paths to get there).
The climate is 'temperate', with hot dry summers and most of the rain falling in the cooler winter months. We had 34 days over summer that had temperatures of 35'C or higher, half of which were over 40'C. The hottest day was 46.9'C. Winters are not extreme, a rare light frost and generally sunny days. The area is a 'high wind zone'. There is even the odd tornado, though not of the size generally associated with the term. The prevailing wind is from the west.
We are located within the surrounding landscape just on the flat side of the boundary between plains and a low rolling hillscape. Sheep and wheat dominate the local agriculture. No large native flora reserves nearby. No nearby permanent watercourses either. The original Goyder Line (a map feature marking the geographical extent of land with rainfall reliable enough to sustain economic crops) lies within thirty kms of here (there's a cairn to mark the spot alongside a highway).
Mean annual rainfall is 14-15 inches (350-380mm), the average is a bit more. We have 1kl rainwater tanks on both the north and south sides of the cottage, and a 2kl tank collecting from the rear shed. We have waterpoints for mains water (piped in from the River Murray at Morgan) in rear, mid and front parts of the yard.
The local flora landscape is one dominated by 'open mallee woodland' with frequent small to medium eucalyptus trees. The soil is a red brown loam topsoil with red heavy clay six inches to a foot below the surface. Sandstone was the local building material.
The site has existed since 1892, for almost the first hundred years was 20m from a rail line. Landuse has included as a rose garden and a genteelly cultivated 'return to nature' block. The back quarter of the block (now mainly beneath the back shed) has previously been used for domestic landfill.
Fauna in the yard is the occasional possum, resident blue tounges and sleepy lizards, with large numbers of at least two types of skink and ghekos, occasional snakes (mainly browns, but also whip snakes). Common birds include house sparrows, galahs, magpies and peewits, ringnecked honey eaters, new england honey eaters, dove and crested pigeons, willy wagtails. Seasonal rosellas and grassparrots, red throated warblers. Sightings of peregrine falcons, firetails, various parrots, wrens, robins, finches, silver eyes. Lots of types of spiders, beetles, ants. Termites are endemic (limit on use of wood). Centepedes potentially under every rock.
Prominent trees on site include a locally dominant Aleppo Pine in the north west corner, nearby peppertrees, a spotted gum, fuscia gum, a melalucca and a couple grevillias, a couple lemon scented gums, a couple calistomons and overhanging acacia in the north east and a row with a couple jackarandahs, a couple almonds and a 'socialis' eucalyptus in the south east. Finally, a largish spruce, a couple candlepines and some conifer shrubs out the front complete the collection.
Two small sad patches of stringy grass out the back door and several climging roses, scattered bulbs (iris, lilly, daffodil), sages, bush daisies, geraniums purple creepers, and a happy wanderer round it out.
There are several brick lined paths of white stones, and a few stepping stones in a couple of places.
This is what we started with.
Monday, April 1, 2019
April Fool?
Am I a fool for starting another blog up? I don't think so, as I think each blog can act as a running record, thinking place, display cabinet for what is important in a person's life at any particular time. Hence my convoluted blogging history over the past fifteen years. So, a gardening blog it is!
I will keep updating as appropriate my other blogs as the need arises, but for the moment much of my creative energy is flowing into the soil of our small garden, so I'll probably be concentrating on this space for the coming period.
At this stage I can foresee this site as primarily being a glorified 'to do' and 'done' list. It may occasionally branch out, but the emphasis will be on the gardening, not the blogging. There'll be the odd picture, but not a lot. It's mainly for my own purposes (sort of an electronic gardener's day book).
We'll see how it goes for a couple months. In that time the layout etc will change as the spirit moves me, I'll try and keep up to date with the posting. If the exercise proves worth the effort I'll keep it going.
If not...
I will keep updating as appropriate my other blogs as the need arises, but for the moment much of my creative energy is flowing into the soil of our small garden, so I'll probably be concentrating on this space for the coming period.
At this stage I can foresee this site as primarily being a glorified 'to do' and 'done' list. It may occasionally branch out, but the emphasis will be on the gardening, not the blogging. There'll be the odd picture, but not a lot. It's mainly for my own purposes (sort of an electronic gardener's day book).
We'll see how it goes for a couple months. In that time the layout etc will change as the spirit moves me, I'll try and keep up to date with the posting. If the exercise proves worth the effort I'll keep it going.
If not...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)