mischief at large

Discussion in 'General chat' started by mischief, Dec 4, 2009.

  1. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Re: Hi from New Zealand

    Postby mischief » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:04 pm
    I have decided to take you up on having my own blog.Sort of like a diary I suppose.Never done one before but I figure I've got a new style garden so I'd like to give this a go too.

    This week we have re- mulched the garden paths in the first mandala, they were alittle bare and I could see soil in places.The huge pile of dumped shredded trees hasnt moved so over the road I go with my trust ol wool packs on the back of the ute.I got 6 Half bags(i cant lift a whole one) and that did all the paths as well as the steps leading up to the garden.

    I am still having trouble getting the seedlings to the 6 inch high plant out stage and have put alot in too small and have lost some of them. They werent covered and something climbed over the top and tailed milk bottle container and had a good munch.
    I have replacements coming along that were for the next bed but they will fill the gaps instead.

    Sunday saw the hens being moved to their next station but they wound up go to the Next one over from that because my fiance insisted that they would be much happier feeding of the grass there than the worms that were under MY bed.I still disagree and can see that I will be digging over this bed because it will still have grass growing in it.!!
    In the bed they just vacated I planted out a whole heap of Black turtle beans for drying in the back segment.I realise this seems to violate the no monoculture idea.....but I also planted some nasturtiums,cosmsos and nigella.
    I noticed that on the roadside the things that seemed to grow were grasses, daisies and dandelions.... things that want to bolt to seed and seem to grow in drifts.So we now have a drift of black turtle beans with some flowers and ground cover.
    As they will be grown for drying I willnot be plucking them throughout the season but just let them grow set seed and then I will harvest the lot.I also have some beneficial insect blend sown behind this area too so perhaps that will help keep any nasty's at bay.

    mischief

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  2. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Re: mischief at large

    Great start Mischief! Looking forward to more episodes and maybe some pics??? = )

    Bill
     
  3. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Re: mischief at large

    Haha I dont think so on the pics, not just yet.
    Our place is in transition and I'd like to be able to show off, there's way too much stuff lying around waiting for me to tidy up.

    So far I still like this system and am really glad my brother gave me Lindas book.
    When I realised that we had to move the vege garden my alternative was to take the turf off and hand dig the whole thing,very overwhelming concept.
    So far I've only had to dig over part of one bed.

    I will have to rethink the pool idea, the old bath tub is full of misquito lavae so tommorrow will see me emptying it out and turning it over so it doesnt refill.
    I also wonder why it is that I'm supposed to like wild birds in the garden, right now I really dont.Someone has stolen 2 capsicums, a Jalapeno and took the top off another capsicum leaving the top lying on the ground.That was with them inside the cut off milk bottle 'fences'.They dont seem to have gone for anything else, maybe the odd bean?
    On top of thatthey have scratched up my carrot seeds and left heaps of mulch all over the paths.
    I'm not sure they are guilty off demolishing the french marigolds though.
    I needed some more seed trays (I couldnt find any decent ones for sale!!) and I also needed something to show my fiance and mother where the paths were so they would stop walking where they shouldnt, so I bought 2 trays of marigolds.This looked really nice and definitely made it easier for everyone to see where they could walk.
    However afew days later I noticed that they were being eaten by something and havent seen the culprit in action.I did notice that this area of our section is literally crawling with big black ants.Could they be the guilty ones?
    The flowers are getting cut off at the stems and usually left lying around, petals chewed and leaves are going at a great rate.I didnt think anythink liked to eat these!

    Today was hen moving day again.This is getting easier each time.I did notice that we did not have all the bracing on ours compared to Lindas and will have to find the baling twine I know I hid in the garden shed so I can make the dome alittle more stable.
    I should not have let fiance talk me into skipping a bed its totally thrown out my seed raising which I am still having a hard time with but refuse to buy anymore and on top of that the bed they have just moved off had grass that was alittle on the tall side so I will have to dig.Its been raining constantly so I have not been able to mow my lawns which means no new mulch.
    I thought I was the only one having problems this spring but alot of people are saying they are not getting their seeds up this year like they usually do.

    The hens seemed to have adapted well to life on the outside (exbattery hens) I will continue to feed them pellets until such time as the garden is able to support them.Today is the third day in the last two weeks that we have had all six lay.We are averaging five a day.We still have one who likes to sleep in the nest box but I'm expecting her to get lonely and get up there with the others at some point.

    This season I have decided to give up trying to pull out the Jerusalum Artichokes that turned up of their own accord.They are on the fence line where the old garden used to be and now stand at 6feet tall with a row of rogue potatoes infront-last year I left some tubers there to see how they would grow untended and they are looking very good for Xmas dinner.Very healthy and in flower.
    I will see what the tubers are like and if they are any good will do the same this year.
    It looks like the Artichokes intend to follow the fenceline right the way down the section. Now that I've decided not to bother with them I have noticed how nice they look and am looking forward to their flowers.
     
  4. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Ahh its really good to be back.
    Good thing I took notes.
    6th Dec
    Its move day again for the hens, things went really well til the next morning when I found a bedraggled hen racing to meet me, she had obviously been out all night according to the poo by the door and of course she was saturated from the rain. I suppose being exbattery hen she didnt know to find somewhere dry to sleep.
    When I moved the pen I didnt realise that that little hole at the back was actually bigger but hidden by some grass so the smallest hen managed to use it.
    Lessons learnt so far.
    1. Make sure the pen is on the ground all the way round.
    2. Stick to the game plan:
    I should not have skipped over the number 4 bed.The sheet mulching to kill the grass has not been down long enough to do that before the hens went on.Its bad enough when you make a mistake, it feels worse when its someone elses mistake and you really did know better.
    So this time instead of digging over the bed I had some horse manure that had been sitting of a couple of weeks in bags so I covered the whole bed with a layer of lawn clippings watered then a thin layer of horse manure,followed by a 2 inch layer of soil that needed a new homeand a final thin layer of shredded tree and bark mulch. This was found at a local park and had been sitting there for some time by the look of it. Already black and had worms.
    3. Dont weed or sow when you are angry!!!!
    I think I have pulled out all my red turnips thinking they were weeds,I have a dandelion looking thing that has red stalks too, and... I have obviously sown the same bed twice with (at the time I thought it was radishes but now know it was Rocket).

    I have had to lift the water dish on top of one of the nestboxes, they just keep scratching mulch in this and then get stressed with no water.
    I have lifted them all up and made sure they know where it is and put a ramp up to it cos UI'm sure one hen just doesnt get how to flap up there.

    So far the only bed I'm having trouble with is #3 which is in the corner of the hedge and toolshed.
    I have a duck deficiency I hear.I am having to settle for snail traps of turned up pots nad damp newspaper.
    Funnily enough this is the bed that the chook decided to really munch out on, eating at least half the beans. I was surprised how little damage there was overall. Half a cabbage here, a leaf of something there, most of the lucerne seedlings in the back of bed#4,3 popcorn(not the heirloom type but from the supermarket. There was definitely a little path of evidence going right around the garden.

    9th Dec
    Things are going quite well, I am amazed that I have only had to dig over the first bed,have only spent about 1/2 hour in the last two weeks weeding and have not had to water the beds every day. I check under the mulch to see how it looks and if still damp leave it, except for the newest bed .
    When I first realised that I was going to have to move the vegetable garden from where it was to the lawn, I felt quite overwhelmed by what had to be done and am still very grateful to have found this system and not had to dig over every square bit of it as I would have done And still be at it.
    I didnt have plants to sow in bed #5 so....
    well I did, I have planted 2 sets of 2 watermelons and a seed pumpkin near the back sowed some sunflower seeds amongst them and some giant Chiogga(sp?) chook fodder. Along the front I scattered Turnip, radish, broccolli,spring onions, put 4 stakes with 2 purple pole beans each right next to the path with 3 oxheart tomatoes between them and more to the middle.These are alittle sad as they were ones my mother grew for me and had been forgotten.
    Hopefully all of these will grow tall enough not to get swamped by the vines(which I will encourage to grow towards the back of the bed) or will like having that bit of shade.Experiment time.
     
  5. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    16th Dec
    Bed #5's seeds have already started to come up with the exception of the spring onions and I have a couple of selfsown cucmbers(I think, I grew these last year, the leaves dont look like anything I have sown so far this year).
    I found that if I put a ceramic tile over the seed tray after they had been watered and just left them, that the seeds started to grow faster than the trays that werent covered. I think this may be because the night s here have been cold and the tenperature difference was upsetting them.My mother tried it too and the pot that she had planted 16 melons( no I dont know why) a month ago suddenly sprouted.

    The Ginger plant seems to have slowed down. I had mulched this when I brought the last lot of mulch in and wondered if it liked its roots exposed like Iris's do so I pulled the mulch away from it. Next time I looked it had 3 shoots coming out from the bottom and was alittle taller.I will move this from where it is next year I dont think it likes the fact that the fig tree its growing under is now in leaf and shading it from the afternoon sun.

    I bought a punnet of red millet as another trial. One had pretty much bolted and I origianlly thought that this would be the one that I took seed from. I have since broken that stalk off so it doesnt comtaminate the rest which have seed heads 4 times as large and really fat compared to this scrawny thing.

    Salads, salads I eat salads from the garden and silverbeet everyday. I just love it.

    I think my fiance felt bad about us not mulching the beds long enough. He brought me home two large carpet squares to put down to help stress the grass while that spot was waiting for its mulch of clippings.

    I noticed that one hen was limping, on closer inspection she appears to have a broken toe!!! I think I might have stood on her when I stepped back and tripped over them.Is there anything you can do. It was suggested that I splint the toe.I havent, I did try to catch her but she was very insistent that I was not welcome near her,You'd think it would be easy to catch one hen in a round pen wouldnt you.

    We have been measuring out the next mandala set again trying to find a way not to have to move a Satsuma tree.Since I had cut back the 2 Feijoa trees that were hanging over it, it has shot away and I dont want to move it now.Big problem.
    I think my fiance thinks there is something strange about Kiwis and trees.I get aggro when he wants to cut trees out and accuse him of hating trees/ecocide.No you may not cut the Australian Wattle tree growing in the front yard ....Its the Tuis' tree. NO transitnz will not make me cut it down ..Its the Tui's tree.etc...
    So the Satsuma stays which means the only way the next set of mandalas is going to fit is by having 2 rows of 3 rather than a circle.There wil lactually be another just because there are 26 fortnights in a year(13 X 2=6+7X2).
    I have been nutting over this for ages and even tho the second set wont have that awsome symetry the first one does it solves quite afew problems.
    1.I dont have to move the Satsuma and run the risk of losing it.
    2. I can now fit a greenhouse in this area that will not block the sun from any bed and in fact may be beneficial in that where it will go along the back fence, it will provide shade for the rabbits(to come)
    3. I now have room to put Rabbitcages (still to work out the finer details) in the very back corner where they will be sheltered from the sun by the trees growing in the hedge and by the soon to be greenhouse.
    They will get direct winter sun tho.
    This probably seems to violate the close proximity thing but I dont think it will be too much of a big deal as I am always wandering around the garden at odd times anyway.
    Yes I really do need a green house/ potting shed. The spring days are just too temperamental and the nights even now are cold when they should be warmer.
    It has been a colder spring than normal, usually I am having to mow the lawns every 10 days to keep up with them over spring, but this year I have only started that with one lawn the rest are still on fortnightly mows and its almost summer.
    This has played havock with my mulch routine I had planned out.
    This week I realised that I had planted things too close together in the first bed.I did know that but not to the extent I do now.The red cabbage in the middle of section of the bed is shaking hands with the broccolli on the edge.I forgot that Lindas plan was for a 4m diametre and mine is a 3m surprisingly only the mustard lettuce and Italian heirloom arugla bolted.Thats ok I discovered that I dont like mustard lettuce and this type of arugula is very bland compared to my other type.I did find that these both attracted the honey bees which I had not seen in the garden til then.
    The seed heads are being scattered in the fodderr sections of the other beds where they can do their own thing.
     
  6. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Mischief,

    Great posts! You've been hard at work. Don't know what you could do for the chook with a broken toe. I suppose you could try to splint it but how long would it last? I once had a chook that apparently ripped one of it's toenails right off (probably on the chicken wire around the run). Cleaned it out with some alcohol, but it got instantly dirty again when I released her, so I just kept an eye on it for a while till it scabbed over to make sure it didn't get infected and she did fine. Broken toe is a little different though. Maybe someone else has an idea?

    Bill
     
  7. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    To be honest Im not that worried about her now. I felt really bad abouit it when I realised what must have happened BUT
    She is still laying, got to be agood sign, she dives in and makes sure she gets her fair share and more at feed time, She was the one who escaped and gathered garden produce for her own,she is the only one who still insists that she have her onw private hotel room in the nestbox that nobody lays in rather than sleeping ontop of the other nestbox with everybdy else.This scruffy thing seems to be close to the top of the pecking order.

    We appear to have a new type of bee in the garden.These are very fast moving small black bees with striped underabdomens, dont appear to have a stinger which is good(?).The larger ones I assume are the older ones have pollen sacks on their hind legs that the smaller ones dont have.So far they seem to be visiting my hebe only which is disappointing and I couldnt interest any of them in some of the other flowers that were growing.We will just have to see what happens.
    I had written in my diary that I hadnt seen any bees since the bunblebees had stop visiting the teucrium fruitensens(sp?). I did have some visiting the mustard lwettuce that bolted but nothing much this week.none on the dandelions nor the rocket nor the thyme. Its not that cold, where are they?
    I need to get better organised on the seed sowing side of things.I have more lettuce and mizuna than we actually eat and no onions.I hate having to buy vegetabels when I have a vege garden.
    Idecided that I dont like radishes so I'm letting them all go to seed so I can use them as sprouts which I do like.
    I still have the white 'Rabu' radish and black winter radish to trial.

    I have been watching how long it takes for the birds to notice that the strawberries are growing in amongstthe carpetting lemon thyme. So far it looks like I might actually get a ripe strawberry.Talking about ripe berries,
    this year is the first time I have ever gotten a decent amount of plums of the Xmas plum tree.I was seeing a visitor off when I Just happened to look up and notice that the birds had not stripped the tree.Later, my visitor said they wondered what had happened because I ran up the path so fast there were skid marks.
    I have a very stable ladder which I leant up into the tree and a small 4kg gibstopping compound bucket with handle( ( bought this bucket because I thought it would be a handy thing to have not just because I only had a small amount of gibbing to do) and in this instance it was just the right sizer to take up the top of a plum tree.20 kgs later I decided to let the birds have the last 6 plums.
    They arent the biggest plums out but when they are allowed to get fully ripe they are a wonderful mouthful!!!Plum jam and plum sauce this year.

    Seasonal fare?
    We dont really have these traditions thanks to year round what ever it is you want in the supermarkets.I have been thinking... (my family usually cringe when they here me say that, it usually involves alot of hard, dirty work that they dont want to do) It might be easy to do now while there are quite afew things growing in the garden, but...I might see if we can Not buy any fruit/vegetable produce this year and instead eat fresh from the garden.Onions will be a problem tho.
     
  8. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    lessons learnt:
    1.
    Dont throw pumpkin seeds to the chooks, they dont eat them and I have seedlings still coming up 6 weeks later.
    2.
    Seeds in trays do seem to like the morning sun rather than the afternoon sun.
    3.
    There isnt any point in planting out rock melons and watermelons until the soils is warm, they have pretty much caught up with plants put out a month ago.
    I NEED my green house
    4.
    Earwigs eat plants.I always thought they were debrie munchers.
    I woke up one night and realised that I had not put out the trap for the snails so I got up put on my slippers and dressing gown, grabbed a torch and went out to see what was eating my beans.I discovered earwigs eating the leaves, maybe it was them that ate my marigolds? Along with them were only 4 snails but an army of small slugs. they all became fertiliser and the beans are looking much better. I think I will go out again and see if there replacements have been sent in yet.
    5.Some plants are known to be tolerant of low night temperatures.
    I didnt really pay much attention to this when I bought my seeds but I think it might be worth looking into, could make alot of difference.
     
  9. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    baaaa



    hello mischief

    i'm thinking of migrating to NZ,,,Southlands,,,,Taupo

    only because i could not find raupo,,,,because i want to live near cooch and wal....
    or as close to what ever part of NZ that murray balls fictional town of raupo was based around.

    does that sound weird to you?
    why?

    what i don't want is to be the only pakhia (spelling?) in the place.
    i want a river to fish in...i like whitebait. i want access to snow, i've never seen that.

    i want a cave weta to scare my daughter with,
    i want to do that 'upward nod' greeting that the boys do.

    i first looked at tassie. i thought i might be inconspicuous there; Stanley(?)

    but the houses are shitty, wooden jobs, very quaint.
    but in nz you can get 4br in double brick for $80k (NZ) which is probably less in (AUD)

    this is early research; but that is how it starts, you know.

    regards,
    Kimbo
     

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  10. mike

    mike Junior Member

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    Please don't go Kimbo,The W.A. wheatbelt can ill afford to lose a man of your talents.Your the only person who is standing in the way of bretheren domination.
     
  11. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Watch the "tidy" impulse, nature isn't tidy.

    Some quotes to ponder:-
    "A tidy desk is the sign of a sick mind"

    “The country is laid out in a haphazard, sloppy fashion, offensive to the tidy, organized mind.”
    Alan Brien

    "I may be justifying my pockets of chaos, but I will always choose people over perfection and the heart over task and tidy
     
  12. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    mike wear ties

    mike,
    are you trying to get me killed man?;)

    ".....brothers, mike is just joking...or he is the anti christ."

    ........"There are several Taylorite innovations that Jim Taylor Jr added to the list of do's and don'ts for members. He instructed them to:

    • marry early
    • be clean shaven (men)
    • keep hair short (men)
    • not to wear ties (men)
    • keep hair uncut (women)
    • wear scarves (women)
    • start communion services at 6 a.m.
    ..........i am reasonably sure brothers that mike wears ties.

    regards,
    kimbo

    View attachment 82
     

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  13. mike

    mike Junior Member

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    It is true----I do wear a tie,have a nice white beard to go with my long hair which i sometimes tie up with a scarf en route to my 6am appointments. Greetings to all the bro's out there in wheatbelt land.
     
  14. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Kimbo.Your a dag!!!
    Dont ever change.
    I dont know how you would find the cold, my fiance from Texas discovered polar fleece ( in summer) and isnt shivering now.Dont tell me about global warming right now, the nights here are still cold which is not normal.
    Yep we only an hour or so away from the snow.If you really want snow you want the South Island.

    Michealangelo.
    I agree on the tidy bit. I am not the tidiest kiwi on the block and still have to think of housework in terms of pruning cobwebs and mowing the carpet etc in order to get any satisfaction at all from it.

    I did find our digital camera and even took some photos so the next step after finding it again I guess is to work out how to download them.
    I was supposed to do that over Xmas but trying to get computer time with family here was impossible.

    Actually its not that untidy I just have whats left of the old peach tree to cut up for kindling in the new garden area I have managed to tidy up the courtyard just by getting Dad to help me put some shelves up in the porch to put the seed trays on which has freed up the picnic table and made a home under these for the surplus pots, And given us a better place for the seedlings themselves. Its amazing the difference.
     
  15. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    I never thought of pruning the cobwebs, that might help me see the ceiling.

    BTW Its not Global Warming we have to worry about. Russians in Siberia are already hoping/planing for tourist to flock to their new-found, ice-free Holiday Resorts. (!)
    What is a concern is the resultant Climate Change. Here it has been a crazy season baking hot one day cold the next. Fires and floods-- it even rained on the Rock! The plants, and even the crocodiles, are confused.
    The taps are dripping- Antarctica 100 gigatonnes of fresh water a year; Arctic 120 gigatonnes a year. No probs. as long as that don't change Ocean Currents with dramatic weather changes resulting.
     
  16. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Yes, I have noticed along time ago that the weather patterns were changing,the latest being cold nights in January here with condensation on the windows and grass after dawn, not usual after october.
    I dont think the Russians are going to get their wish if its true that the north pole is racing towards Russia at 40 (not sure if its suppsed to be k per year or miles)

    With the amount of extra icy water entering the oceans, it must make a difference to global water temperatures which will make a difference to air temperatures at some point in the cycle.
    I need to find a globe so I can see where the south pole would move to, or would it be like a kids spinning top and stay in the same spot while just the topside wobbles around?

    So we have cooler water temps with hotter land temps due to less trees and more heat absorbing things like roads and roofs,concrete rather than leafmould etc, more water runoff due to the same things....

    This is one of the reasons why I am trialling so many different types of planet and different varieties to try and find ones which will suit our area better.
    I do kick myself for not continuing gardening after the kids left home as I would have had more experience 1. with our microclimate 2. more experience with plant types.
    Still there is time yet I think to sort it out.
     
  17. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    I helped a chook deliver an egg with no shell the other day.
    I noticed she was walking rather strangely and picked her up to take a look.
    Her vent looked abit strained so when the egg showed I put a finger on either side of the vent and pushed down and out and out popped her egg.
    When I put her down she was all back to normal and shot off to eat her pellets.
    I'm and egg midwife now!!!
    I have always wondered how long it took for a shell-less egg to dry out.In summer its not much more than 3 days.It was 'found 'in the kitchen and I was politely asked to dispose of it before it turned noxious( I didnt think it would explode-it was shrinking for goodness sake, but in the spirit of the season and becasue we had visitors I did so)

    Bought some Avocados to plant in groups around the section..did alittle post on that earlier, I have the ones not planted yet in a spot where I wont forget about them and they only get morning sun.
    I bought them for two reasons, firstly because there was n Avocado tree growing that despite supposed frost concerns was growing well and needed a close and personal friend to succeed in life and secondly, we dont have room for a pig or dairy animal so I wanted to get something perrennial to give us a homegrown fat content.

    I am trialling a couple of types of sunflowers for this reason too but to be honest I would need to plant most of the section to do any good with these.
    Both are quite low growing at only 3-4 feet high and one sprouts smaller flower stems from the leaf node(?)
    I have learnt to plant them out as larger plants before putting in things like pumpkins and mustard lettuce as the sunflowers are growing rather spindly in that situation compeared to the others that are getting more light.

    This seems to be a common theme this year, there is defintely a knack to companion planting and high density planting that I am not always achieving.
    I have somethings way to close and too much of others.

    I got a garden diary in my Xmas stocking this year which has the lunar cycle on each months calendar, as well as tips as to what you should be doing when.
    I have even been remembering to check it.

    Hindsight.
    Aparagus peas dont like being swamped by bush beans and grow leggy.
    Onions dont like being with Rocket for the same reason.
    Spring onions like alyssum and grow up thru it without upsetting the alyssum.
    My bush beans seem to like growing thru the cabbages and the cabbages arent worried by them.
    Doing a midnight raid on overstayers in the black beans worked a treat and they are now doing well with no extra help.

    Sow "beneficial insect blend" in trays rather than just scatter so I know what they look like and where they are growing as well as allowing them to compete with the slugs and snails And earwigs
    At this stage of the garden, I think they are just as important as plants for the kitchen, perhaps more so seeing as we have a shortage of bugs.
    I scattered them and am sure alot have been eaten but because I dont actually know what all the plants were in the blend I dont know whats missing.

    Seriously, consider growth habits of different varieties to avoid the sprawl and swamp factor.

    My father came to stay over the holidays. He had helped us make the chicken tractor in spring.
    The size of the plants in the garden and the variety of food growing amazed him and he was thrilled to be a part of it.

    To be honest I didnt really think things would grow as well as them have, after all they are growing in what has always been lawn full of weeds and moss,trampled byt the feet of ramaging children over the decades.
    I was expecting to get things growing and that was about it nothing brilliant...wrong. It still needs tweaking in afew areas but it is growing brilliantly.
    I will put in picts when my fiance comes back with the camera and helps me with that bit.
     
  18. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    We got 9 eggs from 6 hens today.
    I thought they were so clever, that has never happened for me before. What a buzz
    I think what might have happened is they laid late evening yesterday after I had collected their eggs.
    I only got 3 eggs yesterday and put it down to getting home really late the day before so they didnt get fed til almost dark.

    There is a noticeable increase in the number and variety of insects in the garden now.
    The strange small black bees have moved in now that the hebe is not flowering as well,we have honey bees and baby bumblebees,(I must learn more about the life cycle of bumble bees).
    I didnt know that flies visited Thyme flowers in the same way that bees do, or that they chased off honeybees...I saw that happen today.
    We have small copper things I have no idea what they are, a couple of types of fly one is a really pretty metallic green and the other is black with creamy beige stripes, they are different to house flies,I have them too and wish They would go live in the garden.

    It may sound daft but I am relieved that I have bugs, even green shield bugs which I hate and always kill on sight.
    I found one (ONE!!!)
    Its not normal, gardens have bugs thats normal( I didnt kill it, I figured that something else would come along and find it and if I did kill it then That bug would go hungry.)
    I spent a wonderful couple of hours just watching who was visiting where and checking out what plants I had specifically grown for insects were being visited.

    My cauliflowers were not hearting up as I expected them to, so I have gone along to each and STABBED THEM...
    My grandmother used to do this so I now do it.
    Take a knife or in my case a small nosed pair of scissors and push it through the stem below the bottom set of leaves.
    I grew caulis last year and this worked on them so I hope it does this year too.
    I'll find out if it was just a fluke last year.

    My Coriander was not fruiting up so I have been pollinating them with my finger by gently brushing over each of them and then back again to make sure they each got a good covering of pollen.
    It seems to be working as I have little bobbles coming along.
    I might try this with the watermelon when the next female flower opens.
    I am finding these really slow but I dont know if they are or not because like alot of things I'm growing this year I havent grown them before.

    I had a peek under the top lot of leaves of the Black Turtle beans that previously had been decimated to see if they were flowering yet, they are but I also noticed that the earwigs were still munching them.
    Funny that they had left the top lot of leaves alone and just eating the ones underneath, clever.
     
  19. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    The other day my mother let it slip that she was worried that my grandchildren (grandson41/2, granddaughter 1 1/2)would be bored when they came to visit me, with there being 'no back yard for them to run around and play in'.
    As it turned out they absolutely loved it and chased each other round the 'circles'.She hasnt quite got the idea of'paths' yet tho but amazingly missed every single plant when she ran thru the newly planted bed.

    This did start me wondering if I was doing the right thing again tho.
    If I was concerned about resale value then it is probably a mistake for that reason, but I will live here til I die here so thats a no point.
    If the kids were older and wanted to play soccor or shoot hoops then I would have had a problem maybe.
    There is still the coutyard for outdoor cooking, eating and lolling around or doing those small building projects.

    Our local librarian mentioned that she has noticed alot of people gooing in the take books out on how to garden who have never done this before.So it may be common (again?) for back yards to be majorly planted out.

    My new garden calendar said not to plant anything out during the new moon phase (I find it ironic that its called new moon when its Not even there).
    As most of the seedlings were still small,I decided to keep them in their trays for alttle long on the off chance that it will make a difference.
    Up to now I havent really paid much attention to when I plant out.

    I usually use the first week or two in the new year to contemplate the last year, sort thru the goals list, achieved, not done, no longer important etc...
    This phase of the moon thing got me thinking that the middle of summer is perhaps not the most appropriate time of year for this and that some time in winter would be a more suitable.This being a wind down time of year rather than using a manmade time frame.
    So this year I have continued with my tradtition and come winter I will reset and start a new tradition.

    Researching differnt food preserving methods has lead me to how other cultures do things.
    In some ways I find it sad that I am having to go to poverty struck 3rd world countries to learn, but I have learnt quite abit from this quarter.
    For example in Nepal they wilt all the outer leaves of leafy vegetables and brassicas and the next day finely shred them then jam them into a jar and fill it with water.
    Fresh water, not salted.
    Now I have always thought of these leaves as waste products fit for the compost or chooks til now.
    Not sure on the no salt bit tho, but an thinking of trying it at some point.
    Right now I dont need to and the chooks need those greens more than I do.
    It did make me realise that by using these as food I would again have to rethink how much of what I planted out .
    Could this free up space for another type eg. more beans for drying for winter?
    Next year when I move the hens onto their next station, there will be food in the ground there for them to eat rather than me harvesting and taking to them.
    I will take this into consideration when I work out what and how much to plant out each fortnight.

    Another interesting thing I learnt was a Nepali flavouring is the seeds from lovage.

    A couple of weeks ago I accidentally snapped a tomato leader when I was tying it up.Luckily it didnt break right off and I had a foil seed packet in my pocket.
    SO... After tying the top of the leader so it didnt flop around, I wrapped the seed packet firmly but not tightly around the break, eased the tie below it up so it held the pkt in place and put another tie at the top of the pkt.
    This seems to have worked with the tomato still growing taller and with flowers coming along.I took pictures of that oo so soon perhaps with alittle help I can post them somewhere.
    If it hadnt worked I would have only got one cluster of tomatoes as all the laterals had been pinched out.

    I thought the gherkin plants were looking alittle conjested with misshapen fruit and yukky looking leaves so I have thinned the leaves out and taken off alot of those fruit. Hopefully this will get some airflow thru and they will start growing alittle better.
    Next year I will leave the gherkins till late spring/early summer.They arent grown for summer eating but pickling and are obviously getting knocked around by the changeable spring weather.
     
  20. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    We have started our eat only from the garden and apart from the potatoes that had already been bought and onions its going really well.
    No gluts of anything and a varied diet of fresh greens and turnips with herbs.
    We are still waiting for the tomatoes which I think are really slow, but its been awile since I grew them so maybe I have forgotten.

    My favourite seat in the garden is a 20 litre bucket with lid.This sits under the clothes line so I can put my washing basket on it and not have to bend down so far.
    It is supposed to be the home for my trowel which I quite often put down and forget where but I have been good about taking it back to the 'potting bench' in the porch.
    I find that this bucket is just the right height for me to comfortably sit on, easy to move around and if I should see a weedy patch that I feel obligated to take to the chooks, it handles that too.
    I noticed that sitting in different parts of the garden gave me an insight as to how hot or windy each part was and is far more comfortable than squatting to observe the wildlife.

    Every now and then I check back at what the original purposes of doing this was and are we still getting that.. and yes we are.It needs alittle tweaking but for a first year-great.

    I started looking more closely at what the ethics and priciples of permaculture.
    It occurred to me that the '70's was a long time ago and there are so many forms of organic movement and that there must be overlaps happening with things being called ..(whatever) when they are really just another part of the organic movement.

    I decided that the thing that separates Permaculture from other things is the Ethic and the Priciples that were laid out as a guideline and so have started to take notes and compare what I have and whether it complies or follows these and how we are either moving more toward or away from these.

    Such things as being able to grow seed are part of horticulture and as such automatically are drawn into the system you follow, but that is just basic horticulture really.

    If I was to start this system now I think I would get the nurseryman down the road to grow my seedlings for me.
    There is a knack to getting them to the right size and at the right time and I'm not getting it (I keep saying this).
    I feel that would have been a better solution, he has the skill and local knowledge on the weather front (as well as a nice glasshouse).

    Principle # 5 Use and value renewable resources and services)

    That would then have freed me up to concentrate on establishing the system,( not sure if Im saying this very well.) rather than worrying over one lack of skill that will come with more experience.
     

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