AT LAST!!! - Water Tank Installation -

The site for the tank has been prepared. It was levelled by digging out the higher side of the slight slope and filled with fine gravel/sand.













The tank is put into position.


















The tank, in place, is connected to the down-pipes.










Now with the tank in place I can continue with the landscaping of the back garden. Until this stage I had to leave the area free to make it accessible for the tank delivery.
It won't be long before another area of lawn is replaced by a garden bed.

Rain & Frost

It’s been an uneventful couple of weeks in the garden, including a week of almost continual rain. A week ago, between showers, I was able to plant out a punnet of leeks and a handful of broad bean seeds.
I also made an effort at recycling our old clothes line by using the arms as posts and reusing the wire to create a climbing frame where I hope to grow next years butternut pumpkins, thereby freeing up more ground space for other things.
Unfortunately the wire looked vey untidy. I couldn’t stretch it tight enough without pulling the posts out of position, so I had to use other means for cross pieces on the framework.

The period of rain was followed by a few days of frost. One day the official temperature was -3. I’ve been covering the Grevillea Ned Kelly each night, but despite the precautions it has still suffered burning on the leaf tips.
Unfortunately, due to her size, I haven’t been able to cover the Bulli Princess and I’ve noticed burning on her leaf tips too. I’m not looking forward to the two or three heavier frosts (down to -6) that we always get each winter. They are likely to cause significant damage. Hopefully the worst of it can be pruned, leaving the Princess not much worse for wear.

The major recent development is today’s installation of my 10,000 litre water tank. I’m missing out on all of the fun because I’m at work, and I have to rely on regular updates from home. Gloria is also taking every opportunity to photograph each stage so I can see how things progressed throughout the day when I get home.

I’ve been a bit worried because it took longer than expected to get the work done. The main holdup was the delivery of the tank. I was under the impression that the government rebate expired at the end of the month and I though we would miss out, but I’ve just found out that it expires at the end of June 2011 so we’ll be fine.

I think rain is forecast again for later in the week, so hopefully we’ll get a significant start on filling the tank before too long.

Productive Politics

Here is an excerpt from an article on the green-change blog that suggests a veggie garden at the Prime Minister’s Canberra residence would be a good idea.
The Obama’s were quick to turn part of the White House garden over to veggies – so why not the Rudds? It would definitely be a healthier and more productive way for Australia to follow America than ways taken in the past.

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Kev’s Patch

The Obamas have famously planted an organic vegetable garden on the lawn of the White House in the US.
The idea was first posted at OnDayOne.org, a site collecting proposals for the new president to undertake upon entering office. It was picked up by newspapers and media, and quickly became the most popular proposal on that site. The web site EatTheView.org served as a focal point for the movement.
The Eat The View proposal eventually went on to be voted the grand prize winner of the On Day One contest.
On 20 March 2009, the Obamas started their new White House Kitchen Garden. They’ve even published the layout as an example for others.
This simple action is inspiring families all over America to do the same, which can only be a good thing for their health and budgets!
So Why Not The Lodge?


The whole article can be found here
http://green-change.com/kevs-patch/

Frost Protection

This morning we had the second noticeable frost of autumn. Everything has survived so far, but I am concerned about the impact the heavier frosts will have through winter. Last year I lost a lot of shrubs that were supposed to be frost hardy.

I think some didn’t survive because they were too immature and hadn’t become established in time. Others, like the Grevillea “Ned Kelly” are not the best kind of plant to grow in a heavy-frost prone area – but I didn’t find out about that until I lost one last year; and a second barely pulled through. That surviving plant is now looking very healthy, but it will certainly suffer again when we get those few -6 degree days that are a regular winter feature in this area.

I’ve been trying to think of a convenient way of protecting some of my frost prone plants overnight. I don’t want to use anything permanent because I still want the garden to look attractive during the day. I don’t feel like covering significant parts of it for a complete quarter of the year.

The best idea I’ve come up with so far is to drive two garden stakes into the ground beside it. I’ll put them in at an angle, leaning over the susceptible bush. Each evening I’ll tie plastic sheeting to those stakes to form a lean-to which will hopefully keep the worst of the frost off the plant. I wasn’t sure how to secure the plastic at the bottom to make sure it wasn’t blown around too much in the wind; then yesterday I heard a helpful tip on the Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast that may be adaptable to suit the situation. It was a suggestion for reusing empty drink bottles.
I will try tying 2 litre plastic milk bottles filled with water to the bottom of the sheet, which will hopefully give it enough weight to hold it securely.

All of the sheeting and the bottles can be removed in the morning and therefore return the garden to normal during the day. The stakes themselves shouldn’t be too intrusive and can be left in position over winter.

Fruit & Veg

Beetroot

This is the first time I’ve grown beetroot in a properly prepared bed and the difference is clear. It’s taken me a couple of years to give up trying to improve the soil (clay!) in the garden by digging in organic material. I realised that it would take far more compost than I could produce from my inadequate compost bins. So now I have built some borders with concrete blocks to create raised beds.

The beetroot is in the first of these beds and their leaves look much more lush and healthy than in the last two years. I suppose this could have meant that all of the plants growth was in the foliage with nothing of value happening under the ground, but a recent inspection showed that the roots themselves are also growing quite well. After only a month and a half they are already as big as those several months old in previous crops.

Our beetroots are one of the essential vegetables we grow – without them it’s impossible to bake the chocolate beetroot cake that is one of my wife’s favourite cakes to make (and one of my favourites to eat). I’ll try to post the recipe at a later date.

Australian Garlic


I am growing three different known types of garlic. This is the third year that I’ve grown Russian (or Elephant) garlic after buying one head from the diggers club two years ago. From the original crop I saved two of the five heads for replanting and this year and I planted around twelve cloves saved from last years crop. This is one of the milder varieties and is actually a type of leek with very large cloves.
I also bought two heads each of Australian White and Silverskin, both of which have are now displaying short shoots. The Silverskins have only just broken the soil surface but are showing a lot of promise.
We use garlic regularly and have recently used the last of our home grown cloves and had to buy some from the supermarket. Fortunately they had some local garlic for sale for a reasonable price. I intend to use some of that to supplement the named varieties that I’ve already planted and maybe next year home grown garlic may last longer.

For the last two weeks I’ve been listening to The Alternative Kitchen Garden, a very informative gardening podcast from England. One episode helped to clear up a mystery that’s had me puzzled for a while. We found that some of the garlic last year failed to form into individual cloves and grew as a solitary ball and we didn’t know why.
This year when I harvested my Russian garlic I noticed some small growths on the side of the cloves. With a little pressure these broke off reasonably easily. Through The Alternative Kitchen Garden I learned that these are bulbils, and if left in the ground they will develop into the individual garlic balls. These balls, which can still be used as normal garlic, will develop into fully formed garlic cloves if replanted and left for another year.

,

Broccoli - first sign

This week I saw that the broccoli is developing well with the first tiny head starting to develop. I have two different types planted out. The most developed is one I bought from the nursery as seedlings. The other I grew myself from seed and planted out a couple of weeks later.
Last year it was hard to keep up with the heavy cropping plants. Eventually we ended up blanching and freezing the excess. For some reason broccoli is not as easy to give away to friends as zucchini are.

Vegetable Beds.

Snow peas, beetroot and Russian Garlic to the left.

Broccoli and Mini Turnips in the centre bed.

5 types of onions to the right.


I’m not sure how my bed of onions will develop. I sowed some into punnets in early autumn and planted it out two weeks ago. According to the seed packet they should have been sown in winter. Some of the seedlings didn’t survive after we had a few hot days but I still had enough to plant out a couple of rows. There were two varieties in this planting, both of them red onions, but one was a longer “Florence Red”. I’ve seen something similar in the supermarket that is being sold as “Tuscan Red”. I’m guessing that they are the same thing considering Florence is in Tuscany.

After planting these two rows I decided to take a gamble and I sowed the rest of the bed with a few different onion varieties instead of firstly sowing them into punnets. I still don’t know whether this will work out okay. After a week there is no sign of anything, so patience is required. I did sow them into furrows of seed-raising mix, so I can’t see that the conditions are too much different to being sown into punnets. I’ll probably just have more work to do transplanting a few of those growing too close together when they mature enough to be moved.

Those additional varieties include a brown onion (cream gold I think it was called), spring onions and barletta, which appears to be the same as those the supermarket sells as “salad onions”. They are white and flatter than the commoner round onions. I grew a lot of them last year and they are quite mild.





Tahitian Limes

The limes in the photo are most of this years crop from a dwarf Tahitian lime. After the photo was taken they were all zested and juiced, producing about 2 litres of lime juice and a good amount of zest.
The juice was frozen in ice cube moulds and later bagged, ready for future use in cakes and deserts. Our lemon tree of a similar size is loaded with fruit.

Both the lemons and limes are extremely juicy, have very thin skins and very little pith.

Grevilleas

When the opportunity came for me to have a garden after more than 13 years of living in a Sydney home unit, one plant near the top of my wish list was the Grevillea.
I’d grown a very successful Robyn Gordon many years before and was so impressed with it that Grevilleas became my favourite species of native plant.

My garden now has many different types of Grevillea but unfortunately the larger flowered types like the Robyn Gordon do not survive well due to the heavy winter frosts. As well as the Robyn Gordon I tried similar plants such as “Coconut Ice” and “Ned Kelly” before I realised that the conditions just weren’t suitable.

I still have one very impressive, leafy “Ned Kelly” in the backyard. It barely survived last winter and had to be cut back severely in early spring to remove the frost damage; but eventually recovered well. Now as winter approaches again I’m nervous and don’t hold much hope for it. It is very susceptible to frost burn when the frosts are heavy, and our temperatures can drop to -6.
While it is now a very attractive bush, it has never given a good display of flowers. At the most we’ve had a short spell with one or two, but most of the time it’s had nothing but leaves. But that seems to have been a problem with a lot of our Grevilleas. They are often described as being long-flowering plants but ours, if they flower at all, do so for only brief periods.

My “Coconut Ice” clings to life in my native “bonsai” garden near the front fence-line. While it hasn’t been affected by frost (it is sheltered by some kind of Melaleuca) its roots have been restricted by the concrete-like clay that lies under the raised garden bed. Nothing has thrived in that particular bed, and the “Coconut Ice” demonstrates its distaste for its home by refusing to flower.

This week I have noticed that several Grevilleas have started to bud. They are the sharp leaved types like the G. Rosmarinifolia. One is near our front windows. It is one of the few existing plants that we kept after we moved in. At the time it was a tiny specimen that seemed to have self-sprouted in a crack in the concrete garden edging. It has now grown into one of the most robust plants we have and when flowering is a favourite of the Red Wattle birds.

The pride of our Grevillea collection is the Bulli Princess, a plant that was discovered at the Bulli Grevillea Park near Wollongong. Ours has been here for less than a year so I am concerned about its chance of survival over winter. It is now over two metres in height and about the same in diameter, so it’s a bit too big to shield with plastic. There is a photo of a “Princess” flower in my article “Gardening Progress”; however the photo does not do the it justice. The photo was taken at the Bulli Grevillea Park. Our plant has so far joined ranks with my other Grevilleas in being stingy with its flowering. To date we’ve had only one flower from it.
The experts at the park seem confident that it won’t be affected too badly by frost. They know of one growing in Canberra where the climate is very similar to ours. But then again, survival can also depend on which part of a garden the plant is growing in. Some parts of our garden seem to be more protected from the cold than others.

Grevilleas in my Garden:

Bulli Princess; Fireworks (x2) Poorinda Peter; Longistyla; Ned Kelly; John Evans; Rosmarinifolia “Nana” (x3); Unknown Rosmarinifolia; Coconut Ice; Lady O; Amethyst; Scarlet Sprite;.

There are two more whose names elude me. For some reason the name Molongolo comes to mind for one, which is a very dull rust colour with absolutely no vibrancy. The other is one of the “woolly” Grevilleas; I think a type of “Lanigera”. The latter are quite common in nurseries around this area so I’ll be able to check the name next time I go plant shopping.

Problems due to change of template.

I have recently changed the template of my blog to (hopefully) improve its appearance. Unfortunately the change has affected some of the text leaving large sections of blank space; seemingly deleting some paragraphs.

As I notice these “deleted” sections I try to fix the problem. It is not always easy to find those sections that are missing so if anyone comes across a problem of missing text please let me know.

Gardening "Progress".

I’ve recently been reading about gardening achievements that others have described in their books and blogs. This has made me think more about what I’ve done in my own garden and what I want to achieve in the future.

The reassessment of my gardening “progress” perhaps started a few weeks ago when I came across the book “Velvet Pears”. This in one of those very attractive books full of gorgeous photos interspersed with personal memoir.


The book details the creation of a stunning garden and the restoration of a house, at Tilba Tilba on the south coast of NSW. It’s the kind of story that will inspire any gardener; but also has the potential to plunge them into frustration and despair when they realise their own efforts fall well short of the apparent perfection the book portrays.

Moving on from the book I came across the blogs of two people who have recently moved house and now have gardens that are blank canvases to work upon. Their situation is similar to my own when I moved to my current home almost three years ago. I had all kinds of plans and prior to the move and I enjoyed sketching them out – trying to picture what I could do.

The basic parts of my planned garden started with the desire for roses, native plants (in particular grevilleas) and a veggie patch. I knew more or less which parts of the garden I would dedicate to each and to a great extent I was able to stick to that plan. Unfortunately the reality has not lived up to the dream.

What went wrong?
I’ll ignore the fact that I had no gardening experience – even though my ignorance was most likely the cause of every one of my problems. I now always say that my gardening efforts have been a process of trial and error, with an emphasis on the latter.

The first hindrance to fulfilling my gardening dream has been the block of land. Its width exceeds its length, and on a smaller block I don’t see this as ideal. This makes it more difficult to create the individual areas I wanted. I tend to think a longer block makes it easier to divide a garden into separate “rooms”.
Every part of the backyard can be seen from the windows of our back room so with any attempt to create “separate garden rooms” the joins are clearly visible so the intended illusion of individual secluded spaces is lost.

We also had a large, fixed clothesline right in the middle of the back garden that gave a very “picturesque” view from the back windows of the house. That problem was recently fixed. We removed the old clothesline and put in a new removable one at the side of the house.
Other problems are not so easily fixed such as the soil. It is very heavy clay. When dry it tends to bake like concrete, and I have found that it forms a hard crust about six inches deep, beneath which it is soft and powdery. However, that powder soon becomes thick and sticky when it gets wet.
The soil has caused most of my problems, the most noticeable being an area of natives I planted near the fence-line of the front garden. I attempted to create raised areas of free draining soil for each native plant but the results weren’t good enough. After a promising start several of the plants died and others were uprooted by the wind, having insufficient depth to give them an anchor. The growth of those that remain is very stunted, creating a collection of bonsai grevilleas.

The clay soil also slowed down the success of my veggie garden. I was foolish enough to think I could deal with the clay by digging in a bit of gypsum and composted cow manure. While this did have a slight effect, it was no where near enough to turn the designated area into a veggie friendly garden.

I took similar short cuts with the area I set aside for David Austin Roses. Instead of building up a significant area with decent soil, I decided to restrict my work to improving the soil in and around the planting holes. This did not have the desired effect. While I’ve had reasonable results from the roses, they have not grown as well as they should have done. I spread thick layers of newspaper around the plants to suppress the weeds and I covered this with sugarcane mulch. While this MAY have had an effect on the weeds for a while, our resident blackbirds soon put an end to that effectiveness by turning the paper into confetti as they dug through it in search of worms.

The last of the physical aspects I want to highlight is the aspect of the block. The front slopes towards the south which doesn’t help with frost. Firstly it is sloping away from the low winter sun and secondly it performs the perfect conditions to funnel early morning cold air towards the back of the house, aiding the forming of frost on my veggies and other plants. Last year we lost several plants to frost burn including a couple of grevilleas. I am now tentatively awaiting this years -6 temperatures and hoping they don’t damage my prized Bulli Princess which has grown to more than two metres tall since I planted it last year. It is now too big to protect with a tree guard.

In addition to the physical aspects of the land, my impatience to make a start on the garden has left me with some less than perfect plantings. I made use of the plants we had already purchased in Sydney prior to our move. This included a selection of red salvias and lavenders. I planted these in the first section of garden to be built from imported topsoil. It was along the side fence and I didn’t make provision for any taller screening plants because the salvias and lavenders grew far wider than I’d made allowance for.


I added a few other plants that were available at the time, but apart from a standard rose, nothing in the garden grows higher than about a metre. I am now trying to rectify this by adding a few taller growing shrubs. The first of these is a pencil-like conifer that should grow to 2-3 metres tall but no more than 50cm wide. The second, planted a few days ago, is an Acacia Decora (Western Golden Wattle) which can grow to 3 metres high with a width of 2 metres. Unfortunately the only suitable position for this was beside the standard rose, which will now have to be transplanted when winter arrives.

Tank Installation

More than two and a half years after moving into our house I have arranged for the installation of a water tank for the garden.
The delay wasn’t totally wasted time because we can now get the tank size we preferred without obtaining council permission. When I first made enquiries the maximum size allowed was a 5000 litre. Anything bigger had to be submitted to council for their assessment. That limit has now changed and I can install a 10,000 litre without seeking their approval.
We will also now have the benefit of a Government rebate to assist with some of the cost – and that wasn’t available when I first looked into the tank issue.

According to the company installing the tank, it seems it should be installed in the next week or two. After the tank is in I’ll be able to make a start of the landscaping of the rest of the backyard. Until now I’ve had to leave most of the back untouched to allow access for the tank. When that’s in place I can create garden beds much closer to the house and I’ll be able to do something about a paved area for an outdoor table and chairs. I’m not sure whether the best option would be for paving or for compacted gravel. I think the latter would have a less formal appearance which is maybe what I’d prefer.



The intended tank site.

Vegetable Garden - Approaching Winter

I spent Saturday afternoon trying to finish the border around my latest veggie garden. We harvested the last of the butternut pumpkins the week before and I have enclosed the area where they grew with grey concrete blocks to match two previously created gardens.
Demonstrating my usual DIY aptitude, I built a low, crooked retaining wall. Hopefully next weekend I can correct the mistakes I made and straighten it up. I think the extent of the crookedness is emphasised because the garden is in direct line-of-sight from the back door.



Taking the photo at night helps to hide the shoddiness of my work.














At least now, through trial and (multiple) error, I have a clearer idea of how to do the job right and can hopefully improve the appearance.

I’ll probably make this new garden into a no-dig area, building up various layers of organic materials which will hopefully break down into a reasonable quality soil. The first layer will be a combination of chopped up pumpkin plant and part-ready compost. On top of this I’ll start with layers of newspaper, composted cow manure and straw. Time will tell how successful this approach will be and how long it will take before it’s ready for use.

The beds I created earlier (the borders of which also need a bit of maintenance) seem to be going well. The first was started with beetroot, pak choy, snow peas, and sugar snaps. I also used an area close to the back to plant some excess Russian garlic cloves and the last of a packet of radish seeds. The radishes were picked and eaten over the weekend.

One row of beetroot looks like being the best I’ve grown, but the second row is too close to the pak choy and is being overwhelmed by pak choy leaves.
The snow peas look very healthy but aren’t yet producing many pods. The sugar snaps are a total disappointment, and have barely grown more than 6 inches. I’ve never had much luck with Sugar snaps.

In the other bed we had a very good crop of beans (as mentioned previously) and I’ve now reclaimed part of the bed to grow broccoli. After an initial caterpillar attack the plants are now growing well. A couple of applications of derris dust seem to have solved the problem.

Immediately behind the broccoli I sowed two rows of mini-turnip seeds. On Saturday I saw the first signs of germination, so they seem to be going well. The Kohlrabi seeds I sowed into punnets at the same time aren’t yet showing the same promise.

Sometime soon I’ll have to find somewhere to plant out the two types of onions that are now ready in punnets. I have a lot more onion seed to sow including a new packet of Barletta that I recently received from the Digger’s Club. We had a lot of success with onions last year, especially with Barletta. Unfortunately onions take so long to mature that they tie up an area of garden for several months. Successful management of garden space is not one of my strong points so slow maturing things like onions and garlic can be a problem in making the best practical use of my garden.

Birds in the Garden & in the Bush

Quick quiz.
Which of the following photos was NOT taken in my backyard?




















It's quite obvious that the photo of the emu is the one not taken in my back yard. There wouldn't be many bird baths in the bush to attract so many Pied Currawong's to one place to drink/bathe.

I saw the emu alongside the road somehwere between Narrandera and Hay about a week ago. It was the first time I've had my camera nearby when I've seen an emu - and I was also lucky to see it in one of the few places where there was room to pull off the road.
There were a few more further along but they were too far away to get a decent photo and the road was too narrow to stop.

It's been a good week for close encounters with wildlife. On the trip home from Hay we almost ran over a fox, then yesterday on the way home from work there was a mob of Kangaroos in the roadside paddock just outside of the work's security gate.

Vegetable update

I ordered some garlic from the Digger’s Club and it finally arrived today. I also received my member’s free seed entitlement. As far as I can recall they have sent me my first choice seeds – mini turnips, kohlrabi, barletta onions and nasturtiums.
I’m not sure what we can do with the kohlrabi. I had a quick browse through our books (both gardening and recipe) and couldn’t find any advice on how to use them properly.
I thought their inclusion in the free seed offer would give a good opportunity to give them a try. According to the sowing instructions they’ll reach maturity in approx 60 days.
I should be able to find room to sow some of the seeds. I have half a bed of bean plants to pull out when I get the opportunity. I also still have room in another bed alongside beetroot and Pak Choy.
The garlic is perhaps more of a problem. I should have prepared somewhere to plant them during the month I’ve waited for their delivery. They take so long to grown and mature that I don’t want to tie up my usual garden beds. I think I need to prepare a specially designated area for them where they won’t get in the way of other things.
That’s what I did with the Russian garlic, which I planted mostly in an area otherwise devoted to ornamental plants.

This year I’ve tried to keep track of how productive my veggies were, but I was only able to keep a reasonably consistent record of the zucchinis and the beans. The totals I compiled aren’t totally accurate because a few were given, freshly picked, to the neighbours over the fence and therefore missed out on being weighed.

Now that the crops of both have finished, the final results are:

Zucchini: 42.285 kgs
Beans: 15.95 kgs.

Unfortunately the zucchinis can’t be stored for long so what we gave a lot away. Some of the excess was converted to a delicious soup and frozen. We also tried freezing grated zucchini and that seemed to be successful too. Maybe next year we can try freezing more.

I am now able to pick a few butternut pumpkins. Most are still not quite ready, but I may have to harvest them anyway. Last year we were hit by an early frost and several pumpkins were lost when they started to rot before we had the chance to use them.

So far I’ve picked 18 butternuts and there are many more left – although nowhere near the 80+ that were grown last year.

Other productive plants are the two varieties of “spinach”. I have a healthy patch of silver beet and a very vigorous climbing spinach. The latter has a much firmer texture. It can be used in salads or cooked and has a milder flavour than the silver beet.

THAT ISN'T A ZUCCHINI

THIS is a Zucchini!

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

Since moving to the country over two years ago I’ve kept a record of the identifiable birds that I’ve seen from our house and garden. I’m quite impressed with the variety and surprised by some the visitors we’ve had.



In no particular order:

Pacific Black Duck – The dam at the nearby retirement village seems to be the attraction for ducks, and they are quite commonly seen flying overhead in pairs but it was a bit surprising to see them walking around our garden. I saw one pair in the back garden possibly a year ago; I’ve since seen another pair walking across the front.


Brown Goshawk – I caught a glimpse of a suspected small bird of prey emerging from the wonga wonga vine growing above our side fence. Several months later a group of birds chased a similar bird across the garden only a metre away from where I was standing. After checking the guidebook it seemed there were only two possibilities – a sparrowhawk or a brown goshawk. They were the only birds matching the size and the markings across the breast. The goshawk seemed to be the most likely candidate considering it seems more common in my area than the Sparrowhawk.

Masked Lapwing – I saw and identified these birds in the grounds of the nearby hospital as I was driving past. I quickly returned home and viewed them from the edge of my front garden to make them eligible for this list.

Crested Pigeon – These are some of our most common visitors and they’ve nested in a couple of our trees. Their “nest” is a small and flimsy looking platform built from small twigs and grasses. Its amazing how their eggs and young remain secure for long enough to hatch and reach maturity.
They are often heard flying around with their distinctive whirring sound and their courtship dance is quite entertaining as is their clumsiness on landing.

Galah – These often roost in trees near the retirement village. Clouds of them swoop overhead throughout the day. They bring to mind the flocks of seagulls that were common when I lived near the coast.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo – Usually heard before they are seen. Most of the time a solitary bird will fly over head and I can’t recall seeing any large groups.

Superb Parrot – We’ve had only one visit of these parrots. A group of three landed in our neighbours wattle and stayed long enough to have their photos taken.














Eastern Rosella – A pair are occasional/regular visitors.(see top of article)

Red Rumped Parrot – a small flock visited for a few days, inspecting the front and back lawns. But after those few days we haven’t seen them again.














Superb Fairy Wren – a constant visitor. So far this year we have one pair that appears to be nesting in bushes across the back fence. They spend a lot of time around our compost bins and in the veggie patch. The hen is particularly bold and often hops around within a metre or two of where I’m working. The male has also been seen investigating its own reflection in the back windows of our house.















Red Wattle Bird – one of my favourites that I grew familiar with in Sydney. I can recognise these from a distance now by the way they glide around and also by their raucous cry. They are regular visitors to our grevillea bushes.

White Plumed Honey Eater – This is the first new bird I saw from our property. I was lucky enough to get a clear enough photo to allow me to identify it from a guidebook. They have a very loud song for their size. Not long after we first moved in I found a baby on the ground and tried to pick it up and move it to the safety of some bushes. Its parents aggressively swooped at me trying to protect it. Unfortunately it struggled from my hands and slipped behind the fence. The parents and the chick were calling to each other for hours afterwards.
Just a few days ago I found another young one huddled against our front window. I picked it up and it was able to fly the short distance to a nearby melaleuca. Later I heard some adult birds calling from across the road. I suspect they are nesting in trees over there – and the young bird made an early attempt to fly, only managing a downhill journey to our place. It had only recently been fed because its crop was quite full.














European Goldfinch – only seen in the early days when the garden was still a bit neglected.

Australian Pelican – perhaps one of the biggest surprises considering there are no sizeable bodies of water around – but the continuing drought has sent many bird species out looking for more promising habitat as their natural homes dry up. Probably this bird was merely passing through and investigating the retirement village dam on the way. The dam at that time was well depleted and would have been no incentive for the pelican to stay.

Common Black Bird – Common IS the word. They are ever-present throughout our garden; scattering mulch everywhere and excavating the garden beds in search of worms. At times they almost uproot well-established roses as they dig all around. They are very annoying pests in the garden – but they try to compensate with their singing.

Silvereye - my first encounter with these birds was unexpected. I was watering the roses when a group of silvereyes swooped across and started darting from bush to bush less than a metre away from me. They showed no concern at all about my presence.


The list continues with the following:
Magpie Lark
Willie Wagtail
Blackfaced Cuckoo Shrike
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
House Sparrow
Welcome Swallow
Common Starling
White Ibis
Feral Pigeon
And an unidentified Heron

BEFORE AND AFTER

A few photos to show some of the changes I've made to the garden. The first is the backyard before, the second is the backyard after.
The third is the front yard before, the fourth is the front yard after.

A Gardener's Diary part 3

It’s now over a year since I started on the garden. Progress has been slow and not everything has worked as I hoped.

Somehow the yard shrank. What seemed to be an overwhelming amount of land to fill with plants quickly became too small to accommodate all of the things I would like to do.

Unfortunately the block is wide but not very deep. The house is perhaps set too far from the road, giving us more front garden than back. And I can’t do a great deal with the front because most of it is needed to give driveway access to the side of the house.

One of the failures has been the garden of Aussie natives. This was more or less my first project after moving into the house. Most things remain stunted. I didn’t give them enough depth of soil to get established and there’s too much hard clay under the surface. It seems like I’ve developed a native bonsai collection.

The roses I planted at the front of the house are having mixed success. All of the books tell me that roses need 5-6 hours of sunlight per day; but they didn’t say that too much direct sunlight isn’t very helpful for the flowers. These are in direct sun for most of the day. Almost as soon as they open, many become discoloured – or dried up.
The biggest disappointments have been the Red Pierres. These red climbing roses develop massive clusters of buds – most of which turn brown before they even open. It’s only now, at the start of autumn that we are getting some good colour in the blooms.
Our Double Delights have been anything but delightful. They seem to develop one problem after another and the flowers have been few this season. I am thinking of transplanting them over winter – if I can find a more suitable spot for them.

The back garden is looking more promising. We trucked in a few loads of soil to give a decent depth of raised garden beds above the clay. This area has become a mix of natives and exotics. Most things seem to be thriving – though some are thriving too well. Everything now seems to be planted too close together and the salvias are taking a lot of work to keep under control. Most of the salvias seem to be “Hotlips” which according to the illustration on the label should be red with white tips. However, for most of the year white seemed to be the only colour being displayed – nowhere near as spectacular as the brilliant red flowers that were our first introduction to the salvia family.

A newer area was intended to be dominated by David Austin Roses. This was another disappointment that didn’t work to plan. Two plants bought through mail order died after a few months. This wasn’t surprising because they were the most pathetic rose specimens I’ve ever seen. If I’d seen them at a nursery I wouldn’t have given them a second look. Despite the poor start, this bed is now showing a little potential. Between the roses I’ve planted a few salvias. These are a deep burgundy, a much more impressive colour than the “Hotlips”. The surviving David Austins are Winchester Cathedral, Othello, Hero, Mary Rose and Heritage. I’m not sure whether I’ll try to replace the departed Glamis Castle and New William Shakespeare with other roses, or to try something else instead.

Behind the rose garden I’m trying another area of natives. A few haven’t survived, but so far it seems to be going reasonably well. The biggest failures have been Banksias. None have survived so I’ve given up on them for now. Also a group of Correas all gave up the ghost one by one after showing a very promising start.
The biggest surprise has been a native hydrangea. It was tiny when I planted it, but only months later it’s the most dominant plant in the back yard. It has almost overwhelmed the only non-native in the area – a burgundy iceberg rose. The burgundy of the rose contrasts brilliantly with the purple of the native. I had intended to transplant the iceberg away from the natives, but the colours are so effective together that I might keep them alongside and just move the rose slightly aside to give it a bit more room to grow.


The veggie garden has been a mixed success. For the second year we’ve had a good crop of butternut pumpkins. I don’t know how well I’ll go with them next year because I don’t want to devote as much area to them. I might try growing them as a climbing plant if I can make a suitable frame to support them. I’ve read that they can be suitably grown in this way.
Then again, we can’t believe everything we read. This was made very clear by the failure of my potato crop after I tried to grow them under straw as per an article I read last year. I don’t want to know how much I spent on this method. Not only was there the cost of the seed potatoes, I lost count of the number of bales of straw I had to buy to keep them adequately covered during their growing season.
We’ve had more success from one or two Ruby Lou potatoes that must have been left in the ground after last years crop were dug up.

This year’s zucchini crop didn’t seem to match the one we had last year, but it was more than enough to keep us fed. We just didn’t have as many to give away – and we didn’t need to make zucchini soup.
A big success was our first attempt at growing onions. They were Barletta onions – a mild white salad onion. The seeds germinated well and most of those transplanted matured into good size onions. I’ve now sown the remaining seed from the packet into punnets and they’ve now started to sprout. But unless I buy more seeds, the next crop will be much smaller.

A Gardener's Diary part 2

After a week's delay I was finally able to get to my house and prepare a small area of the garden for some roses I want to plant. For a few minutes I was pleased at the quality of the soil - then I hit rock. At least that's what I thought, until I realised that I was hitting hard, compacted clay. It made my digging very heavy going. It took me a couple of hours, five bags of composted cow manure and about 4kg of gypsum, but I think (I hope!) that I've done enough to give my roses a suitable home.

I topped it all off with a good thick layer of sugar cane mulch to stop weeds from overtaking before I can get back to it. However, I suspect there will be another dry spell and a few days of gusty wind, and I'll find the mulch blown everywhere except on the garden where I put it. I guess that's a problem with long-distance gardening (but hopefully long distance for only a few more weeks).

It seems like someone in their wisdom had tried to improve the drainage problems caused by the heavy clay - by adding copious amounts of pebbles - which didn't help. It was like digging into half-set concrete.

Considering the area I worked was only about 5 or 6 square metres, I had a very significant reality check regarding the work I had dreamed of doing around the garden - now I have the rest of the 900 square metres to look forward to. But I'm sure I'll see the benefit and get a little encouragement, when the first roses have been planted and start to thrive.

Unfortunately this has been an easy task in comparison to some that I face. There are several old tree stumps that need to be removed. I also have a tall unidentified deciduous bushy thing beside the house that I want to remove - it's right next to the place I want to plant one of my Red Pierres - but its trunk at ground level is about 30cm diameter. At least it divides into significantly smaller branches not too far above ground level. I had enough fun removing two metres of wisteria roots from the area I dug on the weekend, so I'm not really looking forward to dealing with the unknown monstrosity.

Gardener's Diary part 1

For over ten years we have lived in a suburban flat with a balcony that gets insufficient sun to grow anything worthwhile: therefore gardening was never an issue. However, a year and a half ago we bought a house in a NSW country town that we rented to tenants, with the intention of moving in ourselves when the time was right.

Since buying the house, gardening has become a passion - even though, so far, I haven't been able to indulge in the practical side of things. While not able to get my hands dirty, or work up a sweat using a spade, I've been using my time to plan what I'd like to do when we do move into the house. There will be a native garden at the front and a rose garden at the back and I also want to grown some of our own fruit and veggies.

Very recently the tenants gave notice of their impending departure and we have decided it is now time to sell up in Sydney and start our new life in the country. It's an exciting prospect - made more tempting by the chance to finally get some dirt on my hands.

At the end of June I'm hoping to undertake my first constructive work in the garden. Prior to this, the only gardening project I accomplished at the house was an act of wisteria-cide, when I disposed of a rampant plant that was threatening to overtake the front of the building.

I intend to prepare a couple of small areas where I can plant a few roses. The eradicated wisteria had been growing on a couple of wire covered frames at each side of the house. I will use these to support Red Pierre roses. I will also grow a few Fiona's Wish and Double Delights in the same general area. One of the frames is very near to the front door and I'd like visitors to be greeted by something welcomingly fragrant.

At the moment, pots of roses are overtaking my balcony. While they won't grow to maturity here, hopefully they'll survive well enough during the rest of this winter until they are planted in the garden. In addition to a Red Pierre and two Fiona's Wish - bought in pots from the nursery, I took a gamble with three bare-rooted Double Delights, bought from a chain store. I've potted them and I'm trying to keep them well watered until they rejuvenate. They were possibly a bit too dry when I bought them so who knows how successful (or not) they'll be, but at $3.00 each I thought it was worth a try. I gave them a good 24 hour soak in a bucket of water prior to planting. Only time will tell whether they were past all hope.

As the time for my first project approaches, I have to find a suitable mulch to apply after the garden bed has been prepared. I want to avoid material too light or dusty that's likely to blow around in the wind. So far the best option seems to be a product sold by a local rose nursery. Basically this is small cubes of lucerne hay (possibly combined with appropriate nutrients). This appears to be perfect for the job, but seems to be quite expensive.

TOP TEN BOOKS

Over the years I have compiled a list of my top ten books. So far I have only found three that made the grade.

To qualify, a book needs to appeal to certain unspecified criteria. Unspecified because I, myself, am not sure what they are. All I know is that a book has "IT" - or at least had "IT" at the time when it was read.

The thing about this top ten (three), is that a book doesn't necessarily have to appeal to me now. My tastes have probably changed and what once appealed may no longer interest me in the slightest.

Well, after that preamble - the books.

1)Dune by Frank Herbert.
I read this some time around 1976 and immediately after I'd finished it, I started reading it again. I was thrilled to find there were sequels and looked forward to continuing the story through the subsequent volumes. However, despite several attempts I never was able to get all the way through the second, Dune Messiah - despite it being the smallest of the series.

2) That Eye The Sky by Tim Winton.
I read this some time in the 80s. I enjoyed its Australianness and the use of Australianesque narrative voice. I've tried to read this again, but have never managed to stick with it. Maybe it's like that first cup of coffee. It's always better than the second.

3) Dracula by Bram Stoker.
A relatively late entry, read some time in the early 90s. I'm not sure whether I saw the Coppola film first and that led me to stick with the book after several failed attempts in earlier years. However, I finally succeeded and felt the book was worthy of addition to this list.

What do these three different novels have in common? The only thing I can see is a type of spiritual content. Each deals with spirituality in a different way, yet it's a dominant feature of all three. They don't necessarily contain spiritual ideals worthy of aspiration - but they spoke to a hunger for that "something more" that we all experience at some times in our lives. Even if they were fictionalised explorations - they at least gave that vicarious satisfaction that great fiction can give us during the time we immerse ourselves in it.

Maybe others don't see them as great fiction - that's fine. You can all compile your own top ten books, and maybe you'll be able to include more than the three that made my list.

THE OBSERVATIONS OF A LAZY BIRDWATCHER

I'm now a little over halfway through Sean Dooley's book, "The Big Twitch"; his account of the year in which he set a new birdwatching record in Australia, by observing over 700 different bird species in a calendar year.

Inspired by his effort, yet feeling little of the obsession that saw him travel extensively around the nation, spending his inheritance in the process, I made an effort to note as many bird species as possible during my drive to work.

Firstly I was hindered by the weather. Wet.
Then the road was quite busy, and travelling along a narrow three lane, busy main highway doesn't leave much attention left over for bird watching. This is the quite disappointing tally:

1) Two adult and one juvenile Currawongs on the front lawn of Concord Hospital
2) Two Kookaburras sitting on electric wires (resist temptation to include childish rhyme about their pants being on fire)
3) Two more adult Currawongs in someone's front yard


Others not included in official tally due to poor viewing conditions.
1) A small group of flying parrots seen only in silhouette, but probably rainbow lorikeets
2) possible pigeon under the Victoria Road bridge.
3) Suspected Indian Mynah also under Victoria Rd bridge.
4) Several unidentified doves (or maybe one taking a short cut to keep ahead of me on the road - also sitting on power lines).

Maybe the drive home will be more productive.