The little buggers have only been in for a few weeks, and one has a fruit already! Enthusiastic little tykes, I'll say that for them. We dynamic - ed them a few days ago and it looks like all systems go for this years crops. We may have so much that storage becomes an issue.
Sugar cane mulch:
What can I say? It's fantastic! Watering has been cut down this year to 2 10-minute lots a day, morning and night. The plants are growing beyond all previous records and every single store-bought seedling survived. We're definately getting this stuff for the rest of the yard.
On another note, we planted out the last of our home-grown tomato and capsi seedlings, and they have been a dismal failure. A single survivor out of some 50 seeds, a failure in anyones language. Nothing was different, but every single plant failed to live or thrive. We'll try again next year and see what happens.
The chicken wire has been purchased at last, so it looks like full steam ahead for the chooks as well. That's going to be a "fun" day putting all that together.
Oh well, some pain and annoyance must be had I suppose. Can't all be cocktails and watching stuff grow.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Cutting the herb garden
Just taken the first real cuttings from the herbs around the side, and they're gently drying in the pantry.
The lack of cash has delayed things quite a bit, but as we've gained lots of suitable lengths of tin, we'll be able to finish the apricot bed soon. It involves using the tin as edging, and filling the large rectangle with good soil. We're also going to use some shorter lengths to edge it into about 5 smaller beds, where the herbs can finally go into the ground and grow to their little herbie hearts content.
And I think I've finally talked Pete into letting the mint actually be planted out, rather than just keep it in pots. it will look nicer and with the spearmint on one side and the choco-mint on the other, it'll smell wonderful.
So, that'll take care of the apricot bed at long last. Then we can get stuck into finishing the chook pen. Unfortunately, that also means we'll be back to slabbing again, but you can't have everything.
The lack of cash has delayed things quite a bit, but as we've gained lots of suitable lengths of tin, we'll be able to finish the apricot bed soon. It involves using the tin as edging, and filling the large rectangle with good soil. We're also going to use some shorter lengths to edge it into about 5 smaller beds, where the herbs can finally go into the ground and grow to their little herbie hearts content.
And I think I've finally talked Pete into letting the mint actually be planted out, rather than just keep it in pots. it will look nicer and with the spearmint on one side and the choco-mint on the other, it'll smell wonderful.
So, that'll take care of the apricot bed at long last. Then we can get stuck into finishing the chook pen. Unfortunately, that also means we'll be back to slabbing again, but you can't have everything.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Apricots and fruit flies.....
So, the apricot trees who had only gone in a few months ago, had a grand total of 4 fruits on them.
However, some little black ants had made tiny little holes in them, about 4 or 5 per fruit and I noticed some syrup congealing on the skin. Didn't seem to be doing anything to the fruit though, so we left it. Then a cold snap came through, and within a day 2 of the fruit had rotted on the tree.
When we took them off, they were infested with little worms, all chomping away merrily and very disgusting. So either a) they were already infected and the cold allowed them to develop, or b) a stray fruit fly came through early one morning.
Either way, we'll have to get little mesh bags and cover them next year. Spraying the fly is time consuming and not a great success, so little bags it is.
However, some little black ants had made tiny little holes in them, about 4 or 5 per fruit and I noticed some syrup congealing on the skin. Didn't seem to be doing anything to the fruit though, so we left it. Then a cold snap came through, and within a day 2 of the fruit had rotted on the tree.
When we took them off, they were infested with little worms, all chomping away merrily and very disgusting. So either a) they were already infected and the cold allowed them to develop, or b) a stray fruit fly came through early one morning.
Either way, we'll have to get little mesh bags and cover them next year. Spraying the fly is time consuming and not a great success, so little bags it is.
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