Today marks the halfway point of calendrical spring so it's time for a catch up here.
In September I put most of my energy into bringing some new garden beds into operation, soil conditioning, and a bit of potting and repotting.
New Garden Beds include the most barren bed between front of house and the street, the hot wind tunnel on the North side of house, 'grass' between back door and turtle tank, and an expansion in the vegie garden towards the wood piles.
The beds to front and rear of house were previously cardboard covered for weed suppression. I removed the cardboard, lightly (hands, no feet) dug them over with a mix of cow manure (aged) and gypsum, covered the whole lot with a few inches of pea straw. Paving done with bricks and pavers. Nothing planted in these beds yet, waiting for soils to warm up.
Between the new bed at rear of house and the turtle tank I've put in a rockery, quite pleased with the effect. Cut down most of an old tree, leaving the stump and a few branches as bird perches for use above a bird bath I brought back into use after a couple years of activity. I put a packet of 'rockery flowers' seed into the soils filling the gaps and cracks in the heap. I put in a 'tiger lilly' type spiky plant at the rear of the rockery, it had been subsisting in a non draining pot for several years so I hope it recalls what soils it actually likes!
The bed on the North side is really just a few deepish holes dug, with some manure and gypsum mixed into the infill, and three yacka trees stuck in. One had been rootbound and struggling in a smallish pot, the other two had lived almost two years in a bucket with occasional water.
The vegie garden extension involved moving a fence line into alignment with the old rear gate (used a spare 3m sheet of roofing iron and some star droppers) and relocation of wood pile to beneath the lemon scented gum. Over about six weeks I collected 2-3 tonnes of council lopped eucalypt, sawed it into rounds and then split it all up for drying and use. So it was a lot of wood. I've only got one bed in the new extension, using the section to also store bins, potted trees, etc.
I erected trellises alongside the new bed (old reinforcement mesh running N-S) and by the third of the rear beds in the brick section (permapine lattice running E-W). All meshes supported by star droppers.
I then picked my broad beans (.7kg), dug my spuds (2kg) and manured, composted and mulched all these rear beds.
Potting and repotting in September was mainly those in small pots ready to go into larger ones. Total of 25 more plants now growing happily in small /mid sized pots and a growing accumlation of small pots to take the next lot of cuttings from the cutting trays. I consolidated my cutting trays so I only need worry about the one now, letting the other rest in anticipation of the next series of cuttings. Almost all of the current cuttings awaiting potting are from our own yard.
In October I've been busy with seed (mainly). Have put tomatoes (two types), corn, basil, rhubarb and some 'Tanunda' daisies and sunflower seeds into small pots, put those pots into larger pots and sealed them so I don't need to water them till they pop up. I've put experimental sunflowers on a waste mound out the back. Stocks, Jerusalem Sage and coriander have gone into experimental egg box seed beds. Carrots went into the soil in the newest bed. A second row of spring onions have joined the first (planted at start of September to mark the start of spring) in a rectangular 'pot'. Have just started up some Sturt Desert Pea seeds.
Have commenced a number of types of suculent cuttings in variations of pots, soil and water containers.
Have a geranium bed establishing from 'cuttings' (broken off branches) out front alonside driveway, and a different type taken from Tanunda stuck into pots with my other potted cuttings.
Jade cuttings in soil in garden path under canopy of peppertree, and one in main vegie garden..
Dill is pushing six feet tall, brussel sprouts are starting to shoot up, leeks are putting on mass, silver beet still deep green in the shadier corners, herbs all looking very vibrant.
So now it's wait for the soil to warm up and the seeds to spring up, and then it will be getting busy again
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