Daisy - Dawdling towards Delicious

[Daisy]

I'll give the journal thing a go. I am a very learn-as-I-go type person so it might be good to track what I have done so that I don't forget! Sometimes I do things in a particular way for a reason I no longer remember... maybe this will help that and I can pick up some new skills along the way.

My aim is to grow my own food. I can not be completely self sufficient, but I'll get as close as I can. My first goal is some tasty, fresh food, year round, for myself and my pet house rabbits.

Spoiler: History

I moved to my little cottage in a tiny town 3 years ago, almost to the day. I was very unwell when I moved and did not tend the garden in the way the previous owner did. It attracted a lot of criticism from neighbours and I have pretty much been dismissed as a "brain dead hippy" for my refusal to use round up (glyphosate). The soil was dead. The existing cottage garden, while pretty, was sustained purely on chemical fertiliser and weed killers (like the farms in the area). There was a small existing orchard with apple trees, a pear tree, nashi pear tree, lime, mandarin, lemon and an orange hybrid. These look to be around 10 years old. The soil surrounding the trees is a black sun suck, littered with asbestos and broken glass. Remnants of the previous home site (this whole area was an aboriginal reserve in a time when they were banned from traditional lands).

Chickens were my first mistake. Any work I did was promptly ripped to pieces and it didn't take long for me to develop headaches from eating so many eggs. The first year here I saw more snails than I thought possible to live in one place. No joke, I stepped on over 500 in one night and that barely put a dent in the population. The chickens were useless when it came to snails. I learned they would rip leaves to pieces so all of my leaf litter was the chickens new playground. It was a delight to watch them. The poo was fantastic and it did not take long for the soil to start to come back to "life". Bugs started moving in, earthworms bigger than I have ever seen in my life, lizards, then came the native birds. I was pretty stoked to see such a variety. I would not be surprised if there are creatures in my garden not yet known to science. I live on the edge of one of the bio-diverse "hot spots" and while there has been a lot of damage done to the region by agriculture, there is a lot of healing as well. My home is right next to a major highway and stock route so there have been a fair few hitchhikers in terms of weeds and pests. I am also very near to a grain terminal which brings a lot of mice, and snakes. I didn't consider those things when choosing the home, the cottage just hooked me. I don't regret my decision but it has not been easy to adjust to life here.

I now have (far too many) pekin ducks, who have done a wonderful job of controlling the snails and fertilising the garden. And with the weather cooling off, more outdoor time available to spend in the garden. I have had enough time to observe what plants come up at what time and which weeds indicate what. The garden is packed with bulbs and other flowers that only come up over winter. I have also been quite gleeful with how well I have controlled marshmallow root, as other people spray theirs and it just gets worse each year where as mine are reducing, although I will never get rid of it with the amount of weed seeds blowing around the area. I do enjoy weeding when the stuff is young enough. I am just glad to have some cover over the black sand as it really does increase the heat. Rabbit litter and hay has been brilliant as mulch.

I had some early success with growing zucchini and pumpkin. Anything I put in pots seems to do ok, while things that go in the ground are far more susceptible to pests (wild rabbits, snails, earwigs and slater bugs are my biggest issue). Pak choy, kale and rocket does well here, the bugs don't like them much. Beans and peas are perfect just in the ground. I want to increase my range of herbs because the bunnies love them and fresh herbs sell for high prices if I ever have the need to do that down the track. The rosemary was well established before I moved in and I have added oregano, parsley and mint (in pots). I was not keen on the taste of the kale or rocket and would like to learn more about seed species - a completely new topic to me and one that might take some work to get my head around.

As I am in Australia, the climate is extremely hot and dry during summer, so I am very attracted to hydro and aqua ponics. To my dismay this is quite expensive to set up so I haven't got there yet but am edging closer. Learning as much as I can along the way. I have a pond, but I think it might be better to get a kit initially until I understand what I am doing. I learn from experience and not so well from videos.

So here I go, it is time to get to real work in the garden now that the soil is better and winter rain is near. Hoping Spring will bring success this year!

 

[Daisy]

The birds love my garden, and I do love them, when they stick to the natives that I need help clipping and not the apple trees! I have put the nets up now, and so far so good, they havent found a way in but still stick around I dont really enjoy photography which is a shame as there are so many beautiful plants and animals here that would be easy to show off.

There are powerlines over head and the wild birds seem to line up on them to watch me in the garden. One day I will put a list here of those I see daily. It is quite funny when the pink and greys (galahs) come, because they play and cause a ruckus, they definitely have a sense of humour. I don't see that big flock as much as I used to because the lot across the road got developed from a grassy patch to a parking lot. I have seen them more lately since harvest started as they are grabbing the grain off the side of the road. There is a magpie family with a baby that lives about 200m away in the big gum trees. I have been swooped a few times by them but nothing more than warning shots, and now they are teaching their baby to fly, they bring it down into my yard and around the trees before going back to the big gums. I hear it most days around this time squarking from the powerlines as mumma leaves it to fly back to the tree. It is just about time for the black cockatoos to signal sunset, I love the sound of them but there are less and less in that flock each year they are endemic to the area but some ignorant farmers shoot them as they disagree that they are endangered because "there are plenty on my farm!". There are only plenty on the farms because they get an easy feed and their habitat is still shrinking despite what we know about the need for bushland areas. It does amuse me that those particular farmers are out smarted by bird brains year after year.

I am so pleased with my soil. Usually at this time of year the black sand forms a hard crust and everything just runs off it. Not this year. The soil under the trees on the west side, the grape vine and near the pond is just soaking up the water at in incredible rate. I have left the hose on for now near the pond for the ducks to play with while it waters. They grab the grubs that come up, pooping and splashing as the water soaks into the ground. The garden certainly looks a mess, but I am really so pleased with the visible improvement in the soil.

Now it is sunset and time to put the ducks to bed, feed the buns and settle back in for another lovely Saturday night on the sofa with my crochet

 

[Daisy]

Since I've finally figured out how to attach photos, here are some from this evening in the garden.

 

[Daisy]

Some more flower pics from today that couldn't fit in the flower contest thread sorry if they are blurry, it's a bit blowy and wet out there!

 

[baymule]

I would be so wonder struck at the parrots flying around, I'm afraid that I would have to plant something just for them. LOL

 

[tortoise]

I'm not a big fan of kale, except as "baby" kale. I do like Swiss Chard, which is nearly as prolific but sweet and more tender. Chard doesn't go bitter in hot temperatures and it won't bolt in hot weather either. I like to get "rhubarb" or "vulcan" variety which are reds, because that way I can tell them apart from weeds when they're small. When small they look just like a common weed here called lambs'quarters.

The forum members from Texas, USA might be able to help too. Australia is USDA zones 7b - 11. I can't really imagine. I've been to zone 11, but in the cold season - and it was still hot!

 

[Daisy]

I'd die without air con here in the summer. My greatest fear is the thing breaking down. Getting repair men out here is a nightmare, and thats without the cost of it!

I had little success with growing out of season, anything that did grow from seed is still tiny - but it does mean it is ready to plant out for the spring season. I lost a few, but some have survived. I put some seeds around but not much luck yet. My watermelon just poked its head out of the soil today.

My neighbour grew the chard as usual and once again we both have more than we care to eat. I gifted him some capsicum plants for summer so he can grow those for me next They would be useful for the pub and other neighbours too if all of those plants survive. I only kept 3 for me as I am very good at killing baby plants.


So today I am trying an idea that @wyoDreamer suggested to me in another thread. I didn't have exactly what was needed from what I read online, so I improvised. This is probably an expensive way of doing it, if it was all brought from the shop, but I had this stuff on hand and I needed to get those seedlings out. I had accidentally damaged a few so if they fail, it could be one of many reasons. My neighbour says his lettuce grows like a weed, so I want to give that a go (again).

I have these tubs and this hose line sprinkler. It has holes all along it, attach the hose and it pours the water out of the holes. This really has not worked well as a sprinkler system for me, so I thought I would try it this way. If it doesn't work, no loss.

Hopefully I have arranged the hard plastic in a way that protects the sprinkle hose and doesn't block it off. Some of the sprinkler is above the soil so it waters above and below at the same time (more so below). I tested it and it does fill both tubs, but I have a pipe in the green one if it does get blocked and I need to water separately down the track.

I didn't have weed mat or anything to use over the top of the reservoir, so I just kept the potting mix bags intact, besides some holes poked along the bottom where I have planted the seedlings for the roots to go through. At the moment there is gaps on either side. I haven't put a drain in the tub as I would like to see how the water evaporates. I figure it could also work as a bug trap? I will put drainage holes in if need be, but would rather not cut into the tub if I don't need to.

I have had to fence it off from the ducks as they love to stick their noses under seedlings and were very interested in my work. Here they are, pretending not to be interested.

It is all a bit messy, because I run out of energy very fast and need to get as much done as fast as possible with the energy I have before my body gives out. I am notorious for planting too many things in too small a space, but I dont expect all of these to survive as I was too rough and damaged some. As I get more experienced, I expect this stuff to become neater. For now, I just have to get the job done.

 

[Daisy]

I maybe should have planned seeding a bit better. I now have a bunch of baby seedlings that stuck their heads up at the same time. Now I will have to nurse them along until they are big enough to look after themselves. It will be 35C next week and the bugs are out in force. They are zucchini, watermelon and maybe cucumber (it's in a very dangerous bug spot but none of the other seeds from that pack worked so I didn't expect them to when I chucked them in the weed bucket!)

The ducks got into the wicking contraption and it certainly didn't keep bugs out as I'd hoped. So those seedlings got pulled up and put in pots and the ducks got locked in the back paddock with the tubs as baths haha. The crows are back stealing the eggs, but I'd rather the crows around over snakes sniffing about. I have only seen one so far but my neighbour has seen 3.

Next big job is to net the fruit trees. The ringneck parrots are back and at them already. I have secured the frame but won't be able to finalise it exactly as I want to as I need more hands than just mine. It's ok though because the peach tree is too young to fruit so I only really need to net half the area.

I switched the bunnies pen around so they are closer to the air conditioning again. They are just about finished their moult, they are great housemates, but really add to the cleaning at this time of year! The garden loves their litter , and they are cute, so easily forgiven.

 

[baymule]

We have a couple of bird feeders up and enjoy watching the birds. One harried parent bird brought her baby bird to the feeder. Now this baby bird was fully feathered and flew, following momma, Landed next to momma on one of the feeders with mouth open, begging for food! The exasperated momma bird was picking up birdseed and putting it in the baby's mouth, over and over again. So funny!

 

[Daisy]

Some observations for future me - Veg garden beds are no good for under trees, the trees send up their feeder roots and strangle everything in the bed, even through a layer of very thick cardboard. Pots may work provided they are wobbled every so often to deter roots (growing down or growing up). Water trays under pots are ideal, but I only have a few so far to fit. Easy enough to rectify.

Today I have been digging out soil from a bed under a tree to use in pots. Placing the pots in a bucket of water and then I will use them for plants. I will have to find veggies that appreciate the small space of the pots, if not viable then I will stick to herbs in them.

I am trying a live mulch idea for the west side trees. These trees line a roadside drain. The trees were poisoned after run off from the road flooded that side of the property but they have recovered, albeit 1/3 of the size that they were. I have planted some mint between two trees - about 2m out from each trunk. Its been there a fair few months now and is not yet half a foot wide, so it is spreading very slowly giving me time to build up the soil with rabbit litter. I have re-fenced that side with tin to deter flooding in the future (more prone to "flash" floods than soaking mud type here). I want to see if the mint will help keep the soil from being washed away, while holding moisture over the summer months. Judging by the rate of growth so far it will be 5 years before I have to worry about mint strangling anything.

I have a little native tree out the front which I've really struggled to keep alive. Its quite beautiful and I dont want to lose it. I have planted creeping thyme under it to try and keep the area around cool in the afternoon sun. The thyme has taken well, very slow growing but it certainly is growing. I wont know if it has helped the tree until the thyme covered the area intended which could be 3 or 4 years. There are also bulbs in that area but continue to build on the soil with clippings and mulch so eventually there should be enough growing room for all involved.

The sunflowers are almost done, so I can use those pots along the front path for strawberries next going to try the alpine type. Strawberries seem to like this climate. I re-potted my new blueberry bush this morning but it is just a tiny baby. I am so excited about that and really pray I don't kill it!