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)