TWIG 12

l

(a couple of sunflowers - how appropriate given the sunny weather!)

goodness – 4 seasons in one week – on Thursday we edged over 40C then the next day the temperature was only half that! So the garden is showing signs of water stress and singed greenery.

(the gladioli were just emerging when the hot dry winds hit them
- poor things - the flowers are singed around the edges)

The promised 'rain' only arrived in dribbles (10mm – big whop-dee-doo....) but the predictions are for a wet christmas (oooo please santa! Bring us bucket loads!)




TO DO

oh I don't know why I'm bothering to think about all the new things that MUST be done when so much of my previous 'to do' list remains incomplete.... and we are just a few days of Christmas....


Completed

* vege garden thoroughly weeded

* FP has the first of the magnificent animal exclusion 'cages' built – aren't they wonderful! No wonder they took a while to complete

(the new 'cages' are covering the emerging carrot and replanted beets - in front is a couple of kipfler potatoes - its tricky to get seed stock of these - so we are nurturing the precious 2 plants in our raised beds)

* capsicum and more lettuce seedlings transplanted (iceberg and mixed oak leaf),

* beetroot seeds re-sown - AGAIN (that's 3 times) – the last time all the little seeds came up – were going strong....then I came out to find half of them missing one morning – and the other half missing the next morning... so depressing...ahhhh well – replant

* other seeds sown - hollow crown parsnip, yellow scallop squash, tongue-of-fire beans, wild rocket (arugula)

* multiguard snail and slug pellets applied (multiguard is safe for pets and native wildlife and is approved for certified organic gardens) – and I say 'take that you pesky slimeys'


picking/ eating

green cos lettuce (the last of these), red cos (the first of the outer leaves), baby beetroot, italian cabbage, spring onion (oversized), and a smattering of raspberries (YUM!)

TWIG 11 - invasion of the beetles!

This week we have been inundated by a plague of christmas beetles of biblical proportions! We've never seen anything like it – every eucalypt in the garden (in the whole area...) is covered in the beasties (if you stand under any of the trees you can actually hear them munching the leaves – scary!) At night, they attack the glass windows and doors of the house madly trying to reach the lights inside. The poor gum trees – they are being stripped of their foliage.


I suspect that the beetles emergence 'en masse' has something to do with the vile dry dry dry weather... I just hope that they move on before all the trees are killed.

And I can't blame the beetles for the ongoing troubles in the garden - yet another collection of beet seedlings has been stolen by a garden thief (I'm thinking my seedling thief is either birds or snails/slugs - I haven't caught either in the act though....)

grrrrr - I thought I had enough to whine about with the lack of rain....


To do

sow early parsnips, capsicum/chillies, more leafy greens,

weed the herb garden (again)

and of course try to get on top of all the things not done on the 'to do' list!


Completed

not much!

Sweet potato seedling planted (in raised tyre mound – for extra warmth)

berry garden weeded

FP is building some amazing bird/creature exclusion 'cages' for our seedlings – but as he is a perfectionist, they are taking a while to complete (wait until you see them - fabulous!)


Picking/Eating

baby beetroot, italian cabbage, spring onions, cos lettuce, and a smattering of blueberries and raspberries.

TWIG 10

white hydrangea from beside the front verandah

The dry continues.... We had a small stormy shower last sunday (right after I posted my weekly garden gripe about the lack of moisture..... so I'm hoping my whining might work again...)

and it's not only the continued dry conditions that my poor garden has to contend with – there's something munching off our little seedlings as they emerge (snails?) and another something stopping our seeds from sprouting (ants?) so this week I've had to re-sow the carrots and beetroot, lettuce and beans.... grrrrrrrrr

I have lots of pumpkin and squash seedlings emerging all over the garden - I've utilised the spare space in the hot border to squeeze in lots and lots of pumpkin/squash plants.

FP is hard at work constructing seedling protection and I'll hopefully have something to show and tell by next week


to do: I'm reluctant to add to the list – as I've barely scratched anything off the old list! Hopefully I'll get more done in the coming week....


Completed: Seeds sown: detroit beetroot, danvers carrot, golden hubbard squash, baby blue pumpkin, triamble pumpkin, tongue of fire bean, green cos lettuce, rondo de nice zucchini, rosita eggplant, muncher burpless cucumber, blue banana pumpkin, replacement climbing princess bean, 'tasty' lettuce seedlings transplanted.

picking/ eating: white icicle radish, mixed lettuce, italian cabbage, spring onions, our first tentative (and tiny) berry crops - blueberries and early season raspberries.

TWIG 9

(asiatic lilium)

The last 2 weeks have been dreadfully hot – on the Friday I wasn't here it reached 43 degrees C.... FP has worked tirelessly to keep everything alive (just) with a small amount of watering – a few showers are predicted after the weekend – let's hope we manage to get something this time!

And I've not only been absent from the garden as I had a quick trip away – I'm also snowed under with full time work at present – so FP is doing all the garden work – mid-week will see the end of this nasty (but necessary) situation – and hopefully I'll finally get to all the jobs on my garden to do list (especially the erecting of my shade cloth over the leafy greens bed.... it will help things no end)

to do
all the stuff not yet started from 2 weeks ago!

completed
not much!

picking/eating
mixed variety lettuce, white 'icicle' radish, italian cabbage, spring onions.

TWIG 8

I've been off in Sydney over the w.e. - hence no update on the garden or a new list of things to be done.... and the weather has been so impossibly hot that even thinking about the garden is depressing... and now I'm snowed under with some of life's other bits and bobs - so for the next week and a half I'll only be in maintenance mode with the garden (and I'll have to get FP to shoulder the bulk of the load of looking after things)

at least the plants are still alive (it was 43 degrees C here on Friday.... high 30s for Sat and Sun whilst I've been away) thanks to FP's vigilance

I hope our water holds out.... this is the state of some of our dams presently....



.... and this shot was taken a couple of months ago - its only getting more desperate down here...

TWIG - 7

Yesterday the whole Sams Creek mob ventured off to Tanja (just a wee bit down the road from here) for an afternoon of garden visits – 3 neighbouring Tanja gardens were open as part of the Open Garden scheme (and on the way home we stopped off at 'long' beach next to Bermagui for a spot of shell collecting). We all had a lovely afternoon – I've come away with a heap of new ideas (FP is developing a migrane!) – the productive vege gardens were fabulous - and the layout of Catherine and Philip's young garden was spectacular!

Catherine and Philip's vege garden – both lovely to look at and incredibly productive – a sensation

Deb and Jack's vege garden (love the drip irrigation, raised beds and giant bird net covering the whole affair!)

The day reminded me that the simplest pleasures – like a day out with the family - are indeed the sweetest

and that this area really is a special place – it's sometimes easy to forget that, when you've lived in the area almost all your life.... and when the dry weather continues to bring such difficulties....

EJ liked the large pond at C&P's the best – it was filled to the brim with tempting tadpoles....

To do

weeding in vege garden and herb bed

erect support for the climbing beans

erect support for the raspberries

move shade arch to the leafy bed (in preparation for the hot weather yet to come)


Completed

seeds sown: green cos lettuce, bulls blood beetroot, danvers carrot, rosita eggplant, golden capsicum, rondo de nice zucchini, yellow bush scallop squash, climbing princess bean, early wonder & armenian cucumber, replaced cherokee wax bean (where none emerged),

transplanted basil & ivory eggplant seedlings and moved unknown type (free growing) tomato and squash seedlings

hot border, vege garden and parts of the decorative garden were given a big drink (it was necessary as its been quite hot and dry – and many of the plants are at a tender stage)

mowing (yet again)

picking/eating

italian cabbage, cos lettuce, red onion, apricots (they're not fully ripe but we're trying to beat the birds), the last of the bok choy & broad beans

such excitement...

Its been a very exciting week here at the creek - mid-way through we took delivery of these...





not exciting did I hear you utter? you are soooooo wrong - look what those boxes contained....




yes it's 6 solar panels now fully installed on our roof and a 1kw invertor tucked in under the back verandah - yeee-har!

its not hooked up to the grid yet but when it is - we will be feeding our home-grown and harvested solar electricity into the local electric grid (and collecting the credits as we go) - double yee-har!

we took advantage of the federal government's rebates on solar systems - which unfortunately were rudely removed in mid-june (in the middle of our application process - lucky for us our local provider - Pyramid Power - moved heaven and earth to ensure everyone got into the scheme before the rebates were yanked). The bit I think I like the most about the whole thing is that our panels were part of a bulk buy - which meant for every 30 homes that signed up, Pyramid Power donated a 2kw inverter and 12 solar panels to a community building of mutual choice.... so my participation helped to put a solar system onto the roof of the local School of Arts hall - I think that calls for a triple yeee-harr don't you!

oooo I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy at the moment...

TWIG - 6

tall bearded iris

Observations

No sooner had I posted my report last week of 'no rain' – and we had a lovely couple of days of storms – and about 10mm rain – perfect... I only wish that there was more on the horizon – but the bureau of meteorology says 'nay'

For the past two weeks a small pee wee has been waging an increasingly more violent war against its reflection in our windows.... I do hope it wins soon as the scratching bashing noise is driving me a bit batty!



I've noticed a heap of caterpillars (3 different types) all through the garden – two of the blueberry plants were stripped of their foliage (they are making a slow recovery) and a number of camellias have had similar treatment...

the cherokee wax bean seedlings are emerging – and looking good – so too are nasturtium and sunflower seeds planted in the hot border

david austin rose (I think it's eglantyne...)

To do

move wild tomato and random squash family seedlings into different vege bed

work on the 'chimney' decorative garden (it's presently completely empty with a tempting covering of eucalypt mulch... I'm not sure what to plant....hmmmmm)


completed

resow amish paste tomato seeds (the dogs rampage through the vege garden wiped out the first little plants...grrrrrrrr)

potatoes hilled and covered with mulch (a mixture of sugar cane mulch and chopped lucerne)

hot border weeded

spent rocket plants removed (and added to the compost heap)

golden hubbard & blue banana squash seeds planted (in a spare spot in the berry garden)



picking/ eating

carrots, red onions, italian cabbage, baby bok choy, black mulberries (only a few though - the damn satin bowerbirds stripped the tree before we got to enjoy the fruit... grrrrrrr), broad beans (almost at their end – the hotter weather is knocking the plants about)

T.W.I.G (5)

There's been no moisture this week – rain is predicted for early next week and I'm trying to hold out on watering some of the dry bits of the garden (the hot border and NE decorative garden are really in need of a drink) – the dam that is our garden's water supply is looking grim.... water/dam levels are a constant worry so conserving as much water as possible is my every present thought

(the vege garden - with potato beds in the foreground)

In the vege patch the beetroot and carrot seeds have emerged and the potatoes are doing well, we've picked the last of the leeks and both the rocket and silver beet are trying to set seed (I keep pull the emerging flowers of these to halt the process)

beetroot seedlings just poking through

to do

tidy the garden beside the studio (this will be an all summer job I suspect... I'm not expecting to even start this during this week)

move old bath to sit beside the open compost heap – in preparation for forthcoming water vege garden

plant pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini seeds (my moon planting guide indicates NOW is the time for fruiting annuals like these)


completed

transplanted plant flower seedlings

planted hubbard squash seeds (in a space near the berry beds)

moved red geranium plants from herb garden and white decorative garden (oops they were meant to be white!) into the hot border bed.

Weeded front decorative bed

unnamed florabunda rose

picking/ eating

baby broad beans, italian cabbage, diggies silverbeet, rocket, red onion, leek, little finger carrot... the leeks are now all picked – and this week were turned into potato and leek soup (recipe to follow shortly)

T.W.I.G. (this week in the garden 4)

chicago peace climbing rose

The potatoes are all up and growing and the radish has just emerged (no sign of the other root crops yet ) - and as I write this a light mist is beginning to fall out in the garden (fingers crossed it turns into real wet stuff). The ground is warming up and all thoughts turn to the vegie garden at this time - but its great to see so many of my roses blooming already - this is the best year yet for my chicago peace rose.... it's planted next to our oldest lemon tree....



To do –

sow climbing bean seeds

weed sunken garden (prepare to plant pumpkin and squash)

plant ivy geranium and seaside daisy seedlings

and I still haven't moved that oldhamii bamboo.....


completed

seeds sown – amish paste tomato, yellow pear tomato, yellow capsicum, cherokee wax dwarf bean, red cos lettuce

moved 'lambs ear' from herb garden to decorative garden next to the orchard to form a ground cover.

Lawn mowed (thanks FP!)


picking/ eating

baby broad beans, italian cabbage, diggies silverbeet, rocket, passionfruit, red onion, leek, little finger carrot.

wistringea hedge

just to prove the hedge has indeed been planted I thought I'd prove it in pics!


The new hedge consists just over 20 wistringea 'smokey' - bought as small tube stock (to reduce the expense!) Wistringea are tough little blighters - that grow particularly well here at the creek - in no time these will form a nice hedge leading from the entrance path up to my studio doors (I've already got a smaller hedge of wistringea 'jervis bay' growing on the other side of the path to the studio)




to give them a bit of protection whilst they are small I've put plastic tree guards around each plant - now lets hope for a nice growing season....

T.W.I.G. - (this week in the garden) 3

This week in the garden (TWIG): we've had a few more odd showers and storms which has lifted gardening spirits even if it hasn't filled the dams



many of the citrus are setting fruit - the lemons are looking particularly good at present




mulberries aren't ripe yet (the weather has been very cool) - other deciduous fruit trees have fruit on the way (the later apples have been blossoming) and we've given the whole orchard a liberal application of organic fertiliser

But much of our attention is now being focused on the vege garden... here it is at the end of winter/ beginning of spring - the two new beds in the front here are planted with pontiac potatoes - which have just emerged this week




here's the garden viewed from the west - and now that we have the 6 big beds I'm going to number them (to keep rotation in mind)




the closest to camera (and left to right) will be beds 1 & 2.... 3 & 4 are the raised beds in behind them... and 5 & 6 are the beds with the spuds this season... (I'll drawn a mud map when I get around to it)

bed one now has the first of the leafy greens planted - that's what it will be having all season

bed two will be our fruiting bed (tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant etc.)

bed three will be legumes (currently has a start with late season broad beans)

bed four is root crops - and here is where this week I've sown the first of our root section with royal chantenay carrot, white icicle radish, early wonder beetroot

I am hoping to do a lot of my vege planting according to my moon planting guide - but practicalities mean I have to plant when I have the time.... this has apparently NOT been a good planting week for anything.... oh well....

to do

left over jobs

sow first legumes

sow early tomato seed

beds 2 & 3 turned and prepared


completed

wistringea hedge planted (including attractive tree guards)

nasturtium seeds sown

early root crops seed sown

transplanted lettuce, pak choy, onion seedlings


picking eating
red onion, baby broad bean, chinese cabbage, tuscan kale, leek, carrot, silverbeet, rocket, passionfruit...

passionfruit preserves

I had a great time making passionfruit butter (our preferred name for what others may call passionfruit curd). Passionfruit Butter is a great way to preserve passionfruit and it's not dissimilar to lemon butter/curd. It can be used as a spread for bread/toast - or it can be used as a filling for mini tarts and pies. Passionfruit butter is not as astringent as lemon butter - and this recipe isn't as sweet as many spreads can be. It keeps in the fridge for about a month (if you can keep the family away for it for that long....)

soooo if you are inundated with ripe passionfuit why not give this recipe a go:

Sams Creek Passionfruit Butter

Ingredients
4 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup passionfuit pulp
200g unsalted butter (chopped)

Method
Beat eggs in a heatproof bowl and stir in sugar, lemon juice, passionfruit pulp and butter. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Stir constantly with wooden spoon over low heat (about 15 mins) until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon (this can be a little tricky to gauge at first... but it really must coat the back of the spoon as you swirl it around....in fact it actually feels thicker too... and it looks a little more opaque when it's ready)

bottle into sterilised but not super hot jars. Seal hot. makes about 5 small bottles (I double the recipe usually...)

eat cold!

this week in the garden - 11 oct

This week in the garden or T.W.I.G as I'll now refer to it in my blog post titles!


We've had a welcome fall of rain – about 65mm over the week of very cold wintery weather (Brown Mountain was closed at one point due to sleet and snow) - which has meant that many outside jobs have been held over – and a few surprise activities took place instead.

This was one of them - FP cobbled together a bulk compost area from found materials (a couple of old gates, bit of welded fence, fencing wire and star pickets) - it's designed to be accessed by the tractor so that we can add cow manure and the like in bulk - and use the tractor to remove the compost and add it to the nearby garden beds.




and look we've already added the first layers of manure, green stuffs and dry garden matter.



to do

* all the jobs not done last week!

* transplant onion seedlings (a gift from my auntie joy)

* transplant lettuce and pak choy seedlings (punnet bought)

* thin fruit in deciduous orchard

* plant salvia seeds in seed raising mix



Completed

* bulk compost bay constructed

* beds topped with new compost/manure

* passionfruit preserves (I've made wonderful passionfruit curd/ butter and I'll share the recipe sometime in the week)

* seeds planted in hot border

* banksia planted (hot border)

* herb garden weeded



picking/ eating

carrots, leek, tuscan kale, rocket, raddiccio, italian cabbage, 'diggies creek special' silverbeet, passionfruit, lemons, the last of the peas,

what you see....

I'm feeling stupidly pleased with myself. I've finally created a 'mud-map' of sorts of the large house garden here at Sams Creek - and I couldn't wait to plonk it up here... looky....

(click pic for a larger view)

yes I know its a bit rough and ready looking - but because I've overlaid garden bed/area shapes on a satellite pic it's actually quite accurate. Now at present I'm sure all these coloured blobs look very strange so I suppose a key and a clue to scale would be in order...

garden key

Black = buildings
Brown = the vege garden area
Purple = decorative garden area
White = the decorative white garden
Pink = the deciduous orchard
Red = the hot border garden
Orange= the citrus orchard
Dark Blue = the herb garden
Light Blue = berry garden beds
Green = sunken garden
Dark green = hedge

and all the round natural green blobs= actual photos of trees and shrubs in the garden

scale: the external perimeter of the house yard is represented by thin black line - the highway fence line is approx 75m (just under 250ft) - the longest fence line is close to 100m (330ft) and the total yard area is between 2-3 acres.

whew! so now when I talk about 'doing things in the white garden', or ' I'm going to tackle the weeds in the hot border'! it will all make perfect sense....


Now for a few other bits of background information. According to the Australian National Botanic Gardens plant hardiness zones chart, my area is typically zone 3 (which is apparently equal to zone 9-10 for anyone in the US) - and I'd agree - our lowest winter temp would be about -3C, maybe -4C.... our highest summer temps of course can reach 45C (nasty!) we had a couple of those shockingly hot days last summer... eek.

Presently our area is experiencing extremely dry conditions - so much so that the district has been granted 'Exceptional Circumstances' declaration from the government (I'll no doubt write more about this over the coming year as we weave our way through gov red tape to access assistance for the farm) and it's these current extraordinary conditions that have prompted my quest for record keeping.

Well - there you have it - a very basic introduction to the garden here at the creek.... I need a lie down after all that map making!

to do... and done

Well I've written out my first 'in the garden this week' list - and as I'll be changing the contents of the 'to do' and 'completed' lists each weekend, I'll also make a quick post (so that it is archived) with a few more details

TO DO

*dig compost into bed (to be root crop bed)

* preserve passionfruit (I have a monster load of passionfruit to dispose of - small children can only munch through so many... I have given bags away, I'm planning on freezing some in ice cube trays and making passionfruit curd with some more)

*mulch currants bed (with sugar cane mulch)

*spread remaining mulch in sunken garden (with wood chip - next year this bed will planted with rhubarb, artichoke, asparagus and 'wet' herbs - this season I'm hoping to use it for pumpkin and squash)

*plant wistringea hedge (along path to studio - 30 plants to go in)

*move oldhamii bamboo clump (not sure where to... but its gotta go from where it is)

COMPLETED

* prepare potato beds (FP moved in tonnes of soil for 2 new beds in the vege patch)

* plant seed potato (FP managed this late last night - just before drizzled rain arrived - he is always in charge of the potato crop - this season we have planted only pontiacs)

*order seeds (from Eden Seeds)

p.s. I know I promised I'd give some basics about the garden first - like climate zone and layout and etc - I'm still drawing up the mud map but I PROMISE I'll do it NEXT POST... PROMISE!

the new (growing) year

Well it's the beginning of October tomorrow and that means in spite of the dreadful dry conditions, my thoughts are turning all green...

Acer palmatum in spring green attire

I'm starting to get itchy fingers to be planting out the spring garden. Over the winter months we have done an incredible amount of cleaning and sprucing up around our very large yard - laying tonnes of mulch, clearing out weeds, consolidating garden beds, pruning trees and hedges....

grevillea 'moonlight'

This growing season I'm going to attempt to keep better garden records - I'm inspired by my late grandfather, who was a spectacular gardener, and used to keep wonderful records of all his planting and harvesting times on the back of used envelopes - which he tucked into the local telephone directory... well new times call for new methods (I'm not knocking your envelope/directory system Pop!) so I'm going to keep my record of planting times, bed rotation, harvesting, seed varieties and such like - right here!

On a simple level I just thought it would be nice for me to keep accurate records of what's happening in the garden, so I can look back on things and keep an eye on what worked and what didn't - then I thought, if I'm recording it all here, maybe it might be useful or interesting for other gardeners - and well to be honest I thought that maybe it will help me stick to my 'to-do' list if I post it publicly!


So my plan is that once a week - on the weekend, I'll put up my 'to-do' list in the side bar of the blog, and in another part of the side bar I'll have a 'jobs completed' list - and here in the posting section I'll highlight some of those jobs with a few nice pics and maybe the odd instruction or two.... well that's my working plan - and as any good farmer/gardener is thoroughly aware - plans should always be open to change according to the prevailing conditions (that's my out-clause!)

Banksia baxterii

I think it could be loads of fun for all the family (hey I've got to motivate the mob here somehow...) and as I think this season is going to be terrifically tough, I think it's worthwhile documenting it....

So stay tuned - in the next post I'll try to give some basic information about the garden so that everyone understands the garden's state-of-play (and I'll have that first 'to-do' list posted... I promise!)

parsnips anyone?

The rapid onset of warmer weather has meant I've got some changes to make in the vege garden - first thing - all the remaining parsnips have to lifted right away... and just look at the size of some of them!




you'd think that a parsnip this big would be a hard and horrible creature - but no - this monster was soft and lovely from end to end - but what to do with such a HUGE specimen (there's only so much baked parsnip one can eat in a single meal....)

when faced with a parsnip deluge - my thoughts turn to...

SOUP!

and as I think my parsnip soup would make a convert of hardened parsnip avoiders, in the interests of parsnip appreciation I'm going to share it here:

Sams Creek Parsnip Soup (2009 version)

one monster parsnip (or about 6 ordinary sized ones!) - roughly chopped
3 small leeks (or one med. onion) sliced
1 small potato - cut into small pieces
1 litre vegetable stock (you can substitute water for a much milder soup)
1 teaspoon of each: mustard powder, tumeric, middle eastern spices, yellow mustard seeds
half teaspoon of each:mild curry powder, celery salt
salt and pepper to suit
dab of butter/olive oil



1. using a heavy bottomed saucepan - sweat leeks in butter/oil until soft (use a low temperature)
2. add spices and seasonings then parsnips and potato and stir - make sure spices coat the vege mix
3. add vege stock (this should just cover the vege mix - add water if more moisture is required) and bring to the boil
4. reduce heat and simmer until the vege mix is very soft and yielding (approx 40 mins)
5. roughly mash the vege mix - then blend the mixture until smooth




serve with a dab of greek/natural yoghurt or sour cream (serves about 4 hungry bodies)


yummmo!

in the garden...

Despite the shocking continuing dry conditions - parts of the garden are springing into spring...



dutch iris are so cheerful... these are some of the plantings in the 'white' bed that also contains white camellia, penstemon, salvia, geranium, roses, and other cottagey lovelies - oh and it did have foxglove - these got 'weeded' by Sass yesterday - don't hold your breath for pics of this year's blooms...




It's so restful to look out onto the white bed from my kitchen window - and to imagine that I'll someday have the time to sit out on the front verandah with a book....

ahhhhhhh wishful thinking!

Like waiting and hoping for rain.....

leaping lizards

I noticed this dear when it was cornered by our very naughty kitty 'boots'. After I removed said naughty kitty I rushed back to make sure that this lovely creature was ok - he is a small (and so I'd guess still young) eastern water dragon - I've noticed a few dragons in the garden over my time here at the creek - they are such characters!

In previous years (when the creek had water....) I've seen some considerably larger specimens - I once glimpsed one that was at least 1.5m long - he jumped into the water hole before I could get a piccie, or even a decent look at him




This one was only about 25-30cm long - just look at the face! look at the lovely skin! I just think they are soooooo adorable!


I'm pleased to report that a few seconds after I took these pics the dragon beat a hasty retreat back into my overgrown garden bed

fathers day with cats

Meet Rocky – he's the newest addition to the Sams Creek collective – he's been a part of the family for almost 2 months now – but he has not been co-operative in the photography department.... at last I've got an almost decent pic to share with you!

This is what I normally get....

I'm sharing it today as it's Father's Day, and our favourite dad here at the creek FP, is rather mad about cats (MAD!) and this is his baby really – Rocky is a Burmese (FP previously had a beloved Burmese who passed away about 3 years ago, so he has a soft spot for the breed). Rocky likes cuddles (especially the all-night sort), food, racing around the house like a demon animal, food, jumping up on the … (insert any piece of furniture that is out of bounds to little kitties), food, killing the pipe cleaner, food, and playing with Boots. The kitties have 2 preferred games – 'hide and seek and kill' , which is self explanatory and 'substitute mummy'... where Rocky attempts to suckle Boots (the desexed male bigger kitty).... hmmmmm not the smartest furry critter at the creek is our Rocky...

but it is nice that the 2 boys get along so well – and I think it's because Boots is shaping up to be quite a special kitty. He is only about 10 months old - but is very patient and gentle – great with Sass and EJ (he has already been to school for 'news' with Sass – and so very impressed he was with the ordeal too!). He is also very very BIG – I suspect he has his eyes on the guiness book of records 'heaviest cat' entry....

Next time I simply must post some pics of all our dogs - I can't believe that I haven't had a chance to tell their tale here yet – oh goodness no one tell them I've put the cats first or I'll never hear the end of it!

rusty

This is Rusty...




He came to live with us in the yard a little over a month ago. He was abandoned by his mum... when this happens FP rounds up the herd - puts them in the yards (with the calf in separate section) and waits for one of the cows to claim him... usually after a short time, with the young calf calling out, a mother steps forward.... not this time - so after 3 days of waiting it was obvious this one's mum was not coming back

soooo FP is his mummy now


Rusty is bucket fed once a day on powdered milk - and as calves were designed for teat feeding from cows - this can be an 'interesting' arrangement...



Some calves never really get the hang of drinking from a bucket - for those times FP concocts a makeshift bottle from a teat and a used soft drink bottle - fortunately Rusty took to bucket feeding with relish!




It CAN get a little bit messy! oops milk up the nose again!


As I write this I can hear Rusty calling out to his 'mummy' - 'feed me, feed me, feed me, feed me'

pruning

I'm pleased to report that the pruning is now all done (whew just in time! spring seems to be rushing in)



I have a simple - 'one method fits all' style of pruning... everything gets the old 'vase' shape hair cut.... (yes I know some deciduous fruit trees would rather a different shape - but this is all I can do!)

I start by taking out with the long arm loppers ( that I affectionately refer to as 'the bolt cutters') and cut out any growth in the middle of the tree - next I go around the outside of the tree and remove long branches to keep the tree nice and compact (I've got a lot of trees in a tight area - keeping them neat and trim is a must - it also assists with superior fruiting). Then I reach way up high and take out the top. Time to stand back and take in the emerging results... anything that catches my eye as standing out from the crowd gets a bit of a trim.

Now it's on to the smaller secateurs... all the little weedy little growth gets the chop - so too all the damaged or diseased stems... chop chop chop.

Around and around the tree I go (singing 'here we go round the mulberry bush' of course!)


and voila!

Abas apple
whilst I love my pruning results here it's not a very productive tree...

it's all done.... next victim....

spring?

Its not spring until next week - but tell that to the trees...




the apricot began its blossom run a few weeks ago (and with it - so began the aphid invasion.... grrrrrrrrrr)



The white (or 'king shahtoot') mulberry (Morus macroura) is not far behind - the leaf bud is about to unfurl and with it will come the fruit.

But before I can gobble into their super sweet long fruits its neighbour the Black mulberry ( M. nigra) will be ready - look its already got fruit on the go...




YUM!

all this reminds me - I haven't pruned the trees yet - eeeeek! this happens every year...

note to self - DO THE PRUNING IN JULY...