January 26, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged travel
We took Saki to the Middleton shack this long weekend and did the touristy things – Urimbirra Wildlife Park, walk up the Bluff, horse-drawn tram ride to Granite Island, fairy penguin night tour, sandcastles on the beach.
The rainbow lorikeets were a big hit, although not as popular as feeding the kangaroos…or should I say taking photos of the kangaroos. They had guinea pigs and sheep as part of the ‘farmyard’ section. The sign was displayed on the crocodile enclosure. The view from the top of the Bluff was of blue sea and blue sky.
December 16, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged Front yard, natives
Stage 1 of the Australian Native front yard was to select local native plants from ‘The Native Plants of Adelaide’ book. Started removing lawn and planted out small seedlings from the Native Plants sale at the showgrounds. (May/June 2008)
Stage 2 was to select more local, native plants from the State Flora that we couldn’t find at the showgrounds and to plant them. (May/June 2008)
Stage 3 was (a bit out of order) to create the design and to lay out pathways. Hardy plants from Sarah’s were added to fill some spots and all the beds mulched. The bed by the driveway was weeded for the third time to hopefully eliminate the grass weeds. (December 2008)
Stage 4 will be to add more plants from the State Flora – grasses mostly. Add water feature and plant grasses around it, fill in gaps with Isolepis nodosa – SA knobbly club rush. (See State Flora or Adelaide City Council ).
Stage 5 will be to move the letter box over to the driveway side and to cover the pathways with gravel or sawdust. Also in stage 5 will be a reassessment after the first hot summer – some plants may have died and will need replacing and some gaps will need to be filled. Hopefully by this stage the plants from stage 1 and 2 will have grown to a size more closely resembling their full grown size. Perhaps some garden art, rocks or logs can be added at this stage for the wildlife.
Stage 6 may be a fence. If the plants at the front don’t grow into a hedge very well, a fence wall may be constructed.
Stage 7 will be the nature strip – removing the lawn and planting hardy things – perhaps repeated plantings of the SA Knobbly club rush or that rounded silvery thing with more ruby saltbush (enchylaena tomentosa).
Stage 8 will be to enjoy!
December 3, 2008
· Filed under Animals, Garden · Tagged galah, Garden, wildlife
This morning while I deadheaded the rose bushes and gave them a little post-flower pruning I noticed that there were 2 galahs happily munching on seed in the front yard, oblivious to my pruning and loud snip, snip, snip.
galah goes nom nom nom
November 29, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged backyard, Garden, seeds
This afternoon…
From the seed box: the zucchinis were getting too big so 4 of them got transplated out of the seed box and into a bed. Grass clippings were added to the soil. Some wire mesh was put over the top so birds don’t scratch around. 1 zucchini seedling remains in the seed box.
The corn (although corn don’t like being transplanted, I thought we’d give it a go) got moved to the back of the zucchinis in the bed. A small pane of glass was put to the windiest side to protect it a little.
2 big rockmelon seedlings from the seed box got moved into a bed, and 2 big watermelon seedlings also got moved.
From the co-op: the baby, baby tomato seedlings we got from the co-op (only a few days after germination) were getting mighty big so they got moved out into the bed with the zucchini. The top half of some empty soft drink 2L plastic bottles have gone around the seedlings to give more humidity and protect from wind. 5 were planted out, and there are 3 seedlings in larger pots remaining.
Grass clippings were added around the sole zucchini that came up from seed planted directly in the bed. It now has flowers.
The cherry tomato has baby tomatoes growing. There are almost flowers on one of the other 4 growing tomato bushes.
Mulched all the backyard trees with lots of straw left over from the strawbaling.
Transplanted the sunflower seedling.
Pulled out the chinese celery and collected some seed. Saw an albino spider hiding among the grass-like stems.
We were very late with all of the seeds – we still have 3 tomato seedlings waiting to be big enough for bed space, some aparagus seedlings and some little watermelon seedlings.
Let’s hope we have enough time to water and that things start growing!
November 9, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged gardening
The neighbour’s cat has gotten in and had a field day with the nicely turned over soil that I had planted radish seeds in… so no radishes…
Mum gave me a left over cherry tomato plant that has, along with some parsley, gone in at the end of the bed with the other tomatoes.
Some of the butter beans that were planted where the peas were have finally come up.
The seed box is going well – most rows have popped up at least one item.
We have about 13 tomato seedlings- some from the seed box, some from the co-op Urban Orchard..
Hadn’t had any success with the lettuce seeds in the ground, so I placed the seed packets in the fridge for 3 days before planting some seeds in little pots. We’ll see if they come up.
Everything out the back is needing lots of water. Out the front the roses are blooming despite neglect. The acacias, tufted bluebell and the saltbushes are doing really well in the front yard.
October 26, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged Garden, planting, radish, seeds, tools
Well, we had few successes with our last lot of seed planting – probably as a result of our lack of watering due to a busy end of term 3 and some early summer weather.
So, we started a little seed box and are hoping to raise some more now.
Today some more radish seeds went in, along with some organic daikon radish seeds and some more butter beans. Let’s hope they come up with more success. The radishes seem to be hardy enough – especially since we had 2 radishes grow whereas no other seed came up from the first planting.
The tools in the shed.
October 22, 2008
· Filed under Garden, Lifestyle · Tagged rainwater tank, sustainability
Finally, after many delays and pushing back of the installation date, our rainwater tank has arrived! 3 guys arrived with our 18,000L rainwater tank at 9.30am and it’s taken them all day until after 5pm to get the base down, then place the tank, then do the plumbing, electrical and pump and fix the guttering.
Now all we need is rain!
October 22, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged cauliflowers, peas, produce, vegetables
We have harvested all of the peas and frozen about 800g (of probably only a total harvest of 1kg of shelled peas!)
Next year we will definitely have to plant many more rows of delicious peas given how easy they have grown and how yummy they are!
Now that all the pods have been harvested, the pea plants have been cut off at ground level (to keep the roots that have fixed nitrogen in the soil) and the top of the plants put in the compost bin.
All our cauliflowers are also gone – they got a little dry towards the end (not surprising given the hot weather). Also, the earwigs thought they were a great hiding spot.
October 8, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged Back yard, chives, herbs, radish, vegetable
While the peas and cauliflowers are charging along, the chinese celery has gone to seed with its huge leaves still dwarfing the patch.
The radishes that were planted from seed are starting to appear.
However, the sunflowers, corn, cucumber, watermelon, rockmelon, pumpkin, chilli, basil and beans are not yet appearing. A lone zucchini plant has appeared from seed. The leeks are struggling, and the chinese mixed veg (bok choy, chinese cabbage etc) needs a lot more water and care than we give it. The capsicums are all doing well. Of the tomatoes we lost a couple to start with but the remainder look okay now. The eggplants all collapsed – we’ll have to try them again another time or perhaps plant them in containers in a more sheltered area under the verandah. The herbs under the verandah (coriander, parsley, brami, baby spinach, garlic chives) are looking okay too. When we remember to water them, that is.
Garlic Chives: they died down completely when we moved house, but have come back of their own accord with no hassles.
October 8, 2008
· Filed under Garden · Tagged Back yard, daisy, grape, plum, trees
Thanks to Ed for the grape vine (sultana) that he gave us – it is now g for green.
Once our rainwater tank is installed on the 22nd of October, we’ll be able to plant the grape vine so it can climb up and around the tank. We’ll also find a passionfruit to climb on the RWT, and maybe even a kiwi if it will handle our climate.
All of the fruit trees now have green on them. The peach has about 5 blossoms, and the plum and almond are starting to look almost bushy. I’m just glad that none of them died over winter or suffered too badly from our rough planting.
Also on the growing front – some MASSIVE daisy bushes. So HUGE in fact that one of the bushes has fallen apart from the weight of the leaves and flowers. Woops!
