Jarrah saw dust

I sourced some jarrah saw dust for the garden and we picked up a big bag of it last Sunday. It has a red ocker colour, fine consistency and a lot of dust came up when we bagged the saw dust for the tansport. Again demonstrated how little occupational safety and health is involved and how little we were prepared for the dust. We tipped two bags each straight into the raised garden beds. Not sure what is next to prepare the soil for good winter planting. There was enough to fill the beds half and we had leftover for a decent stock pile close by. 

I watered the saw dust in and it takes a lot of water. It seems to keep the water well, as layers further below were still dry. I could not find much on the internet about jarrah saw dust and gardening. Probably a too rare material to come across here in Perth. I made sure that the jarrah is untreated otherwise I would not have allowed it into our garden. The jarrah saw dust comes from a metropolitan backyard mill. The timber originates from the old Emu Brewery in Fremantle. It was never treated and is now finding a new purpose, being turned into floor boards.

The next months will be a bit of trial and error  will check what to do with it and how to best use the saw dust. This morning I put a bucket full into the next compost batch with a bucket of greens, a bucket of emu  manure and a bucket of leaves. Will tonight add moist cardboard and see what else I can prune into the mixture.

A friend gave me more zucchini plants, hybrids unfortunately, but I still planted the four seedlings yesterday. One went into garden bed three and this morning there is no trace of it. This must be the capital of the slater population, the place they want to keep free for parties, where they try to keep the ground clear of any vegetation. Two seedlings went into tomato pots. As the tomatoes are on the way out I thought the new plant would have time to establish and grow. By the time zucchinis would be ready for harvest the tomatoes can be removed. Both plants were in the centre of a slater nursery this morning and I doused them with a pyrethrum-chilly-garlic spray. That might assist.  The fourth plant fared the best. It went into a newly cleared area next to garden bed two. I just added compost and put it straight into the ground. Watered well and covered the surroundings with straw. It looked pretty unscathed this morning.

My moon planting calender showed a good time slot yesterday for planting root vegetables. So I finally added heirloom carrot seeds that I got for my birthday last year to the bed. I also planted a ginger rhizome at the edge of bed one after noticing that it started sprouting in my kitchen cupboard. I also found fresh growth in a spot in bed one where I grew some sweet potatoes in the past years. We must have overlooked a bulb or two and nature takes its course. The leaves look healthy and I added straw to mulch the spot and assist the plant in getting to the moisture and nutrients it needs. 

The weather is friendly, we had a few cooler days with temperatures in the high twenties. Friday's prediction goes up to 40degrees again, need to increase the mulch and water well.  Yesterday morning I watered with seasol and gave the plants a treat. With the additional watering in this hot weather, nutrients are more likely to wash out and need to be replenished. The plants simply need a bit more love and care.

Summer heat

We went away over the holidays; nine night down south, Margaret River, Pemberton and near Albany. We had a lovely time away from the garden and it was a bit of a shock when I cam back and saw how much it had grown and how much had actually died while I was away. The temperatures in Perth were mostly in the high thirties during that period and the plants had difficulties coping: not enough water and too much heat.

The green tomato shoots were brown, dry edges around the pumpkins and bed one had a very sad look indeed. But I knew how resilient plants are and got back just in time. I decided to give it a good watering on the afternoon we got back and then applied worm juice, diluted 20 to 1, the next morning.

But there was good news too. The first pepper has reached a noticeable size and the rockmelon is looking more like a rockmelon, hanging from the frame. More fruit has set, about four melons are growing at the moment. I harvested plenty of tomatoes and their taste is sweet and yummy.

The garden sounds have changed. We have more crickets and a few frog like sounds can be heard too. A few native wasps fly about and clean up around the plants.

The potatoes in one of the raised garden beds were getting a bit high and needed more compost to grow well. One of the compost lots was just ready after three weeks in the barrow. The earth was moist, nutirient rich and just right. A few fence droppers and four wooden boards gave the right hold to the new earth. Straw to be added soon as mulch.

Today is the fifth day since we got home and I have been busy pruning, weeding and was cutting many leaves with mildew off the zucchinis and pumpkins. Slowly the garden is getting back into shape. I very much enjoy the many tasks in the garden! They keep me balanced and focused, a bit like meditation where nothing else counts apart from the health and wellbeing of the plants.

I also have joined Permaculture WA and am starting a new gardening network in Mount Hawthorn under the umbrella of Grow It Yourself Australia. Letterdropping in my local area are on my to do list. I also need to get back on the waiting list for free mulch. And the planning for the winter crops need to progress. My moon calendar tells me that the 25 January is a good day for seeding root crops and a ginger bulb in my cupboard started growing and looks promising. Time to put it in the ground later today.

Redbacks and Rain

The time between Christmas and New Year is a time to tidy up, start new projects and think about plans for the year ahead.

I had not thoroughly checked our garden furniture and noticed some tiny and tidy white balls on the garage wall that were guarded by a fat red back lady. I had not turned over the garden chair for a while and noticed some fuzzy webs that were bursting out of the corner joints of the wodden chairs.

We ended up killing five fat red backs, first using spray and then squashing them on some bricks. Red backs are creatures I would not want to share my garden with and although sad to kill them they had to go. We sprayed the furniture and the shed side, trying to avoid the hunting places of the daddy longlegs.

And then the rain came, 16mm total. I calculated that we have the rainwater tank fed by 80m2 roof area. 1mm rain collects 1 litre of water per sqm. 16mm therefore might have deposited 1280l water into my tank. What a catch! I love the sound of water dripping into the tank. It filled up by a third and the danger of running out of water by the end of January is banned. The water should last until well into March. Great start for the year. Here is the Watercorp chart showing the rainfall until today:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	16.4												16.4
2010	0	0.2	40.4	25	88.6	51.4	142	63	43.6	20.6	11.6	17.4	503.8
Average	9.5	12.7	19.5	44.1	117.5	175.7	169.7	133.6	80.6	52.2	22.1	12.8	850

But the water did not only bring happiness. The wet and humid climate brought me some mildew, diligently identified by some permaculture friends yesterday. Affected were one pumpkin and today I discovered mildew as well on a zucchini, all in the first bed. I cut them off and the cut-offs went straight into the bin. Cutting off the leaves also brought a bit more light onto my tomatoes.

The weather is better now and the humidity has disappeared. Hopefully I called all of the midew fungus. My grapes and the tomatoes look fine. A least for the moment. But I will keep a proper look out for the signs.

The rockmelons have set fruit. They still love the climbing frame and I love it that I can see it grow without even bending over.

I removed all pumpkins from the second patch this morning and put them straight into the compost. Now the capsicums have the place to themselves and get more water and light. The first fruit has set here as well.

After the rain I replanted a zucchini from the first to the second bed, did not get enough space where it first was and will now grow with two sisters. With the plant I took a good chunk of earth aiming to not disturb the root system. The earth looked great, healthy, moist and in good shape, despite being removed from the very far corner of the first patch. The rainwater had penetrated at least 15cm. I think we did something right when preparing the ground or it had something to do with many years of leaving the soil ti itself after an intensive gardening period on the block in the fifties to seventies. Definitely not the sand only soil type one would expect in Perth.

Accident free new gardening year 2011

I wonder whether there is such as thing as "new gardening year"? Anyway, 2010 has been and gone and 2011 has commenced. I was in bed by midnight and it felt just right. Unfortunately I stabbed the top of my right foot on Christmas day on a dead branch of my lavender bush when using my leftover washing machine water to water my favourite and only rose "fragrant cloud".

A piece of the dry twig penetrated the skin, broke off and got stuck. A 50cent-size area of the foot blew up like a blister. I had difficulties pulling the piece out and the swelling went down soon after I did. Still, I copped a major infection and the foot got worse by the minute, swelled up and around the wound it got a red halo. I applied my "magic oil -NeoBallistol Oil" that I have brought over from Germany regularly with friends. But it did not bring the swelling down and the red halo around the would grew. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and then two public holidays only saw me getting to the doctor on Thursday. He said it was possibly a staph infection and he put me on a high dose of pennicilin which I have to take four times a day, four times 500mg for five days. Not only bad for my stomach, but he also jabbed me against tetanus and the arm is sore still...

What did I learn from that? I am wearing gloves and gardening shoes now each time I go out! Sometimes learning is painful. More tips on safety precautions while gardening from Victorian Health Authorities.

It has been hot for a while and now at night time the temperatures stay up over 20 degrees, challenging times for the garden.

But all is well. I took out a few pumpkin seedlings for a friend yesterday and found the earth in good shape, moist and looking like earth should. I have been watering twice a day, small amounts only. Seems to be the right amount to keep the earth moist. The straw is doing a good job as mulch no matter what people say.

The first patch is looking great, lots of fruit has set and the two pumpkin plants in front are doing fine. They have sent their shoots in all directions and I am guiding them around the garden bed for further protection against the sun. Some tomatoe plants have climbed as high as the shade cloth and we need to adjust it accordingly, probably changing the direction of the cloth as well as using higher bamboo stakes to accommodate the plants.

The beans in the fourth bed are doing well.  All 24 beans came up (four varieties of six beans, half climbers half not). Eight were planted in toilet rolls, they had more difficulties getting up from their confinement but seem to grow  healthier looking leaves. Three beans had their young shoots eaten by some creature, possibly slugs. Slaters are busy working especially next to the water tank but they seem to leave the plants alone. First tentacles appeared on the climbing beans pointing towards the poles.

The third bed has been dedicated to the growing of pumpkins. I tried to plant spring onions, beans and capsicum without success. All disappeared within a week, most plants were eaten. I guess this was due to shredded but uncomposted  newspaper that we added after wetting only to increase organic matter in the patch.

The pumpkins are more hardy. They came up from compost and are doing fine.

They are shading the feet of the grape vine, good service on our hot summer days. The grape harvest is coming along beautifully. Grapes look fine! They ripen slow by slow. Every day plenty of ripe ones and lots of green ones on the vine too. The variety is quite loose and allows enough sun onto each grape to make it sweet and juicy.

Unfortunately a small number of grapes have split open, may be due to too much water. So I am a bit more careful with watering the stock.

The rock melon has embraced the climbing frame and made attempts to attach to the peppermint tree close by. No fruit has set yet, might need more bees to do the job. A friend of mine shared her story that recently a rockmelon plant in her garden came and went without setting any fruit at all.

There are plenty of flowers, although I am not sure how to distinguish the males from the females. Should be a similar issue to pumpkins and if need be I will become the fertility angel.

I am relaxed about it at the moment but will watch this space. I think it might have something to do with the variety of plants involved. The three plants that grow in the second patch were bought in a garden centre. I am not sure about what variety they are but promise myself to grow more heirloom varieties next season to ensure they are hardy and fertile!

My latest potatoe experiment is doing well. I put more compost on the heap recently and shaded it with a swim suit of my boy on an old clothes rack. Better to be in the ground than in the bin. They are making a start in my new raised garden bed. See how it goes.

All is well and my foot is nearly healed. Hope the weather will cool down soon. Today it is overcast and 32degrees, 50% chance of rain. My watertank is still half full, but could take a top-up.

Potatoe blight?

The potatoes are not looking as good any more, suspected late blight. Probably caused by the humid weather last week and my watering of the leaves with the watering can.  Late blight only affecte potatoes and tomatoes. Lucky so far it is only on the potatoes and the tomatoes are planted about 20m away. I cut off the most affected stems and added more compost and straw manure. Will stop watering from the top, but only target the roots of the plants. I also pulled out the pumpkins and added them to the compost, some I even put directly under the straw mulch on top of the potatoe heap.

I found out that potatoes only grow above the seed potatoes that you planted. So I added a lot more compost around the base of the plant. The potatoes were struggling in the hot wind. Good that our compost is getting ready quickly, I even used a bit of the compost that I only put on a week ago, it had already turned into earth, smelled fine and was no longer hot, but that might have been a bit early.

Both compost barrows now share the mixture that was too heavy for one. I also added a lot more leaves to balance the veggie scraps from the market. Looking better and no longer smelly too.

The other day I put some more potatoes into my new garden bed just because I had them, and they were no longer eadible. They are already showing leaves. I have put an old bathing skivy from my boy on an old clothes rack over the leaves to protect from the sun. Re-use, reduce and recycle! It's amazing how far you can go with what you have.

I also noticed more yellow leaves on my tomatoes patch and gave them a magnesium mixture this morning, just a few spoonful of epsom salt or magnesium sulfate mixed with rainwater in the watering can. I also cut the yellow leaves off generously. There is plenty of green and I want them to put their effort into making fruit. The dead leaves went straight into my rubbish bin, no good for the compost.

When there is enough water the growth is just phenomenal at the moment. I water a small amount twice a day.

I have pulled out more pumpkins and have removed all but one that have come up from compost near the potatoes as I read that pumpkins and potatoes do not go well together.

Also the rock melons need more space. Two plants grow in the front left of the picture in a stand that my good friend Dick made some years back out of an old garden hose, some wire and four stakes.

The third rockmelon plant grows close to the fence on a thin bamboo stake. I hope the plant likes the lofty spot, so far no fruit has set, but they are in full flowers now.
I decided to make the second patch a dedicated pumpkin patch. But I also put in a tomatoe that needed a home as its pot was invade by slaters.

Looking at the garden in a holistic way, I would like to make it more attractive to good insects, this means planting a few flowers. I have been reading about companion planting recently. Marigold as is one of them. I also want to seed some chamomille and still have a few dodgy red potatoes left. Where shall I put them?

Tomorrow we will put the garden beds into the proper spots and screw bother sides together for good. We will use bitumen paint to seal the side that has been cut. I am thinking about making one bed a no dig garden bed and filling the other one in a more conventional way. There is plenty of time until summer is over.

Hot Christmas harvest

Temperatures have warmed up and will consistently reach above 33 degrees in the next days. Today the prediction is in the high thirties, getting worse tomorrow. Hard times for our garden. I am pleased the the garden beds are all protected from the morning and afternoon sun due to a big ficus in the middle of the garden. He provides much welcome shade until late morning and about 3pm shade is back from the neighbouring property to the West. Therefore it could be a lot worse.

The shade cloth is holding up despite heavy winds last night. The big tree again protects our plants from the wind and diverts the path over the roof of the house.

The beans have come out of patch four and raise their heads into the sky. The lucerne mulch does wonders and now that I know where each plant is I water that spot more exactly. I put some mustard seeds down and will see what happens. I used spice from the kitchen and hope that works just the same.

The water tank is still more than half full after 10mm of rain last week.

Most struggling with the heat is my lettuce experiment. It is starting to go to seeds. The spring onions are doing very well but I should have planted them more closely together.

The first tomatoes are ripe and I cut them in slithers to be eaten right away.
The grapes are turning red and get more juicy by the day.

The cat is still fending off predators and has a very successful hunt last night where we let her outside because of the heat. She came in at 2:30am this morning and  locked her away. When I got up and went into the garden for watering I noticed a lot of foot steps in the patch where I spread out the dug up dirt from the banana planting. The cat loves this spot, as the soil turned back into sand when drying out and staid loose and easy to move.

And then I saw the dead rat. Probably has been dead for a while, it started to be eaten by ants who nibbled on the ears and are visible on the photo which I took before I got rid of the dead animal in our rubbish bin.

Good to have a cat. Although she has killed two willy wagtails, one dove and two or three other birds in the past 1.5 years she has terminated at least 20 mice and ensured that we have something to harvest. A new pair of willy wagtails have moved into the garden and these ones seem to be more clever than the last birds.

 

The fourth bed - preparing for beans galore!

We prepared the fourth garden bed last Sunday as well, to the left of the water tank, about 2m by 1.30m wide. The earth was very poor and dry. We removed the weeds, set an outside boundary with bricks and pavers and added plenty of organic material. As we turned over the soil, a lot of black dust went up and got stuck everywhere. I wonder what heavy metals are hidden in there. We added compost, sheep manure, two big buckets of dead leaves that we first soaked in water, some bentonite or kitty litter to improve the moisture holding content and the composition of the soil.

We planted beans only, four different types, including a native one; two climbing beans, one dwarf and a normal variety, eight seeds for each variety. I had soaked the seeds in a wet flannel for about 36 hours before planting. From each variety we planted two seeds in toilet rolls. I read about the planting in toilet rolls in my favourite gardening book and we wanted to give it a go. I think the toilet rolls are secondary, what really matters is the moisture and mineral content of the ground. But we will see and this experiment will gives us a bit more of an idea.

Today is the full moon and we wanted to get the seeds into the ground before then. Moonplanting seems fascinating and worth while trying. Also on Sunday the moon was in taurus and that is good for beans because it is an earth sign. 12 hours before the full moon one should stop planting. I am pleased because I got the banana plant into the ground in time as well.

The pink spots in the picture are oleander flowers from a big bush to the left that provided shade from the morning sun. The bush will have to go and make place for another water tank.