Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Washing machine garden beds update



The beds are actually growing vegetables.
I don't want to crow too loud but the washing machine beds seem to have escaped the notice of ducks, possums and chooks alike. I very carefully don't check on the progress of the little seedlings growing in them while I can see anyone in the yard as all the various life forms seem to take notice of what we humans think is interesting and investigate themselves.
The process for watering or checking is ridiculously clandestine; first I go out the door on the opposite side of the humpy and mess around in the yard for a few seconds, once everybody gets the news that I'm out there and the paparazzi starts to gather I casually drop a handful of grain on the ground and retreat from the ensuing feeding frenzy back inside.

The paparazzi gathering

Then I very quietly go out the back door and water, check, feed or whatever I need to do with the beds, all the while keeping my eyes open for visitors. If I see a duck or chook come back around the side of the house I just pretend to be admiring the scenery until they leave.
Why not just lock up the ducks and chooks I hear you ask? Well... the ducks are muscovies and are quite territorial so they chase the possums out of the yard, they patrol all night and all day. They contribute to the safety of the garden without even knowing it. The two chooks left running wild in the yard are delicate in nature (Big; our old rooster is too aged to be in the general population any more and Curly is a special case who just doesn't fit in anywhere else). Also, I sort of enjoy the challenge and the sneaking around.


This is Curly; our special needs chook.

The snow peas, carrots, silverbeet and beetroot in these beds are all doing really well so far, I'm hoping for a full harvest this year.

Carrots and peas

Silverbeet

Peas, beetroot and lettuce

Peas and beetroot

Lettuce

Peas and beetroot

Lettuce
I will write a post about our special needs chook; Curly soon. This chook is an interesting case...even for us.

Thursday 20 August 2015

Square foot gardening and Hugelkultur planting mash up in containers

Well spring is really here, I have been busy planting the trailer bed using the square foot method and wishing for just a bit more planting space. Then it occurred to me that I could use square foot planting in almost any container. As luck (or my slatternly habits) would have it, I found the perfect containers in the useful pile; milk crates.
We have been collecting milk crates for years, they are so useful. I use them for book shelves, storage boxes, wood boxes, animal cages (with lids fitted), recycling bins and now as garden beds. Is there anything a milk crate can't do?
My first move was to line some crates with old hail netting to hold the soil in, then I began to think about moisture retention. After much thought I decided that a plastic shopping bag or two spread across the bottom of each crate would hold the moisture long enough to be absorbed by the lumps of old wood I threw into the bottom, I then added compost from the chook pen a layer of straw from the sheep shelter and planted them. A cover over the top to protect the tender little seeds from predators (chooks, ducks, possums and Shaun) and it was done.

These little beds are a combination of Hugelkultur and square foot gardening, I don't know if it will work, but it seemed worth the effort.


The trailer bed, all planted out, but still with some parsley from the last planting.

My new planters

Now the long wait to see what comes up.....

Shaun 'helping' me in the yard.

At presentation day at work (school) last year I got a peach tree as an end of year gift. I promptly planted it and it has grown so well. Now it has it's first fruit on and I will have to start thinking about how to protect the fruit from...well, everything.

My peach tree has little peaches.

It doesn't seem so long ago that I planted this little peach.

After a hard days work Shaun likes to relax with his friends by the fire.

Saturday 10 January 2015

Mowing the lawn with sheep




The lawn has become a bit wild over the last storm season; with waist high grass in some places. In contrast outside the home yard is mowed like a bowling green to a distance of 30 metres or so. The reason for this is sheep. My girls (and now three boys too) mow the fire breaks for me by simply doing what sheep do; eat, poop and do complex mathematical equations in their head while chewing cud. The sheep have not been allowed into the yard for months because when they are in there they eat everything they can get their hooves on; the vege bed in an old trailer, anything in pots, fruit trees and I have even caught one licking the rabbit (she looked very guilty when I caught her). However, the lawn needs mowing...so I have put wire covers around the trees, moved the pots and let the vege bed go to seed, something may survive.


This is the edge of the driveway outside the yard. You can see how low the girls keep the grass (except bladey grass)


Kraken hiding by the pond

Yes, it's a mess. No excuses, I just got lazy


Using sheep to mow the lawn is hardly a new idea; lawns were around long before mowers were, in fact lawns were created by the grazing of animals around a building. There is even a landscaping feature designed to prevent livestock from straying onto the garden while they mow the lawn, called a Ha Ha wall. Paris (the city in France, not the socialite) began the move back to sustainable lawns last year by introducing rare breed sheep as lawn mowers in some parks, if it proves efficient, the system will be extended into the city (and beyond).


Woodrow Wilson used sheep to mow the White House lawn during World War 2

The girls look a bit ragged at this time of year, they are in the process of shedding their wool.



So I am continuing, or rediscovering, an ancient practice which feeds the sheep, trims the lawn and fertilises the ground. If only I could train them to stay away from the garden plants all would be perfect.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Lanikai - My Mum's garden - some more photos.

Last post was really photo heavy, and so is this one. Mum's garden is an amazing place and I just want to share it. So here's another photo feast;






No they aren't real. They are just one of the little tableau to be found scattered around the garden.  

Here's another one




Saturday 27 September 2014

Lanikai - My Mum's garden

Recently I attended a garden day at my Mum's place. The local Garden Club visits members gardens once a month and there are always cuttings to be had. I haven't been for a long while (years in fact) due to work/study/life commitments, but I had a day free and my mother invited me, so I went.

As I wandered around the garden, catching up with friends I hadn't seen for a while, it struck me that this garden had matured and changed over the last three decades. This is the garden I grew up in and it had changed along with me. The old swings had gone and a fish pond taken their place, the vegetable garden and orchards had changed places several times and the trees had grown in size and number. It has matured into a stunningly beautiful place to spend time and somewhere it is possible to get lost in the endless grassy paths leading to secret spaces. These days Mum and Dad run a camping place and charge people $5 for a tour of the garden and a cup of tea with scones (usually some cuttings too), and it is well worth the visit.

I would like to share some pictures of my mum's garden with you.
This is a random selection of images from the garden, there is more that I haven't shown, and no they aren't all from the garden day I went on, some are taken by  my Dad at other times.