Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Shade house extention....

   Covered the last section of the Veggie patch yesterday...... With the days Supposed to be getting hotter/sunnier I thought I would get a jump on covering the last section....



Shall be planting the next lot of Lettuce & Zucchini  up the back as it just gets to hot in Bed's # 1 & 5 in the afternoon....


Have a great one all....

: )»

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Seeding time !!

pHad a nice quite day today....
 Made some up some Dairy spread this morning.... It's easy to make & we know what goes into it...
 I use a Ratio of 2:1 Butter & Rice Bran Oil... It works out heaps cheaper than buying the "spreadable" butters & is a lot better to cook with as you get the butter flavour but it doesn't burn like normal butter due to the oil content... Taste great on sandwiches & toast as well....
Method : Just add the softened Butter to a mixing bowl & beat or whisk with Electric Beaters/Stand Mixer... When the butter is all smooth & creamy add the Rice Bran Oil a bit at a time.... I keep  Whisking it until it becomes pale & increases in volume.... I store it in decor 500ml containers & freeze until needed....
Costing : 
1Kg butter $4.58
500ml R/Bran oil   $1.63 (4L for $13 at Woolies on sale & I have a small stockpile..)
This works out to be  $0.42 per 100g or $2.10 for a 500g tub....
 The closest everyday cheapest equivalent is Aldi at $2.99 for 500g.... 
We don't like the Aldi brand due to it having Canola oil in it & that it spits everywhere when using it in cooking due to the water content.... Have been making this version of Dairy spread for a few years now after modifying a Recipe we found on the Simple Savings Site....
 This post has been copied & pasted onto our new Blog,   Bits Around the House..



In the Garden.... 
 Put up the Trellis for the Cucumbers & Climbing Beans today as well as planting out the 3 vacant beds....
  In Bed # 6 we planted, 
2 rows of All Season Carrots from Eden Seeds
Around the outside of the bed we planted,
Red Toga  Spring Onions from Johnsons Seeds,
White Lisbon Spring Onion from Hortico....
  In Bed # 7 we planted,
Blue lake Climbing bean x3
Marketmore Cucumber x 2
Lebanese Cucumber x 2
Purple Top Milan Turnips x 24-30
All these seeds were from Eden Seeds..... 
The Trellis runs the length of Bed # 7....   

  In Bed # 3 we planted,
Brown Beauty Bush Beans x 12
Cylindra Beetroot x 2 rows
Thai Green Eggplant x 2
Silverbeet Lucullus x 12
All these seeds were from Eden Seeds.....
Crimson Globe Beetroot  x 2 rows from Hortico

We are trying to use only old varieties of seed from the smaller seed suppliers as we try & save as many seeds from previous years as we can..... We have had great luck with Eden Seeds in the past & already have a couple of seeds saved from previous crops.... 
OH, & nearly forgot !!!! We bought a "long sweet Yellow" Capsicum seedling a few weeks ago & planted it out today In Bed # 1....  



This weeks harvest....
Kale, Silverbeet, Snowpeas, Broccoli, Zucchini & have gotten 3 eggs every day.....

 Have a Great one All....

: )»
 



Saturday, September 25, 2010

Up but not quite running.....

WOO HOO !!!!!

  Finished the last Bed yesterday... 
**Does Happy Dance**
It is shorter than was first planed but we now have extra space for a seat/storage box/workbench as well as a few chairs... I now have 3 beds to plant out.... Just need to work out what goes well with what...
 Saturday....
    Was a busy day today with a break in the showers so I decided to mow the lawn, fix up some dodgy paving, & put up some scratch barriers on the Chook yard... They went onto the fence & gate to stop them from spreading their straw onto the walkways...


Update Pictures.....


The Zucchinis (left) are coming on great & we are using the Kale a lot more now we know how we like to cook it...
The Snowpea/Cabbage bed (Right) is still going well... Hoping to get at least 2 more meals from the Broccoli before we pull them this week...


Honey Pod Peas & Thai Egg plant (left) are flowering furiously as is the Mini Roma Tomatoes (Right).... We should be harvesting some of  the Peas later this week....The Pumpkins in the bed at the back are doing well.. We will plant some Kent seeds just to make sure we have heaps to see us through next winter...

The Carrot, Lettuce & Beetroot bed (Left) are going great guns... We have been picking lettuce & beetroot leaves all week for salads.. Koo's Strawberries in the barrel (right) have heaps of fruit on... We have been picking the Silverbeet regularly for ourselves & for friends......


The Back yard looks good after being mowed.... Has been a tad wet lately so was happy to have a few dry hours today to give it a quick trim...
The picture to the Right is of the neighbours Blood Grapefruit tree.... I have never seen that many flowers on it before & though it looks rather spectacular....

That's about it for now me thinks....

Have a Great one all......
 : ) »

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Chook Screen.....


 


This week I bit the bullet & bought some Bamboo Screen to hide our Girls from the preying eyes of potential purchasers of the block for sale out the back....













We have had showers on & off all week (36mm since Monday) so haven't been able to get out the back to do much until today.... Finished off the frame for the last Veggie Bed & should have a few pics up tomorrow after I fix up some paving....  Depending on the weather, I may be able to finish bed itself... Just need to go & buy the Sand for the Reservoir....
Just though I would finish off with a Beautiful Zucchini Flower..... They always make me Smile !!!!

Have a great one.....

: )»

Monday, September 20, 2010

Rain Rain : )»

 Have had about 10-15 mm of rain in the last 24 hours.... Glad I didn't fill up the beds as I was counting on the rain doing it for us....

Didn't get much done yesterday except a bit of paving but I can see the end in sight....
Have been waiting to do this bed as the paving around it was a bit rushed & needed a touch up.
I have the tin & organised the angle so will only need to buy some sand for the reservoir then last bed can go in... Will need to lay some paver's at the other end & all the beds will be finished for this Year..
            **Does happy Dance**


We have had a few visitors in the garden this week, a pair of crows..... Thought they were harmless enough to begin with but have discovered that they are nicking the eggs from out of the chook house.. Will have to wait for the Chooks to lay before we let them out from now on Me thinks..

Have found a few other more welcome guests in the garden.. Have come across 10 or so of these little fellows as well as some rather large skinks that are just to quick for the camera...







Just a few update shots from around the garden....

Left : Rainbow Silverbeet, Sugarloaf, Wombok, Bush beans, Strawberry Barrel..

Right : Honey Pod Peas, Thai Egg Plant, Bush Beans..


Left : Russian Kale, Zucchini..

Right :Carrots, Beetroot, Lettuce & a feral Sweet Potato..





Left : Chilli's, Leeks & shallots..


Right Front Bed : Mini Roma Tomatoes, Capsicum,Zucchini..

Right Rear Bed : Golden Nugget & Butternut Pumpkins..



This weeks harvest....
Kale, Beans, Snow Peas, Silverbeet, Chilli's, Shallots, Lettuce & Zucchini....
We got 3 eggs most days until our guests moved in....


Have a Great one All....

: )»

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Plans MK.......... Something !!!! Part 2......

Well, the rain never appeared so I had a chance to finish the 2 new Beds.....
Also had another thought on the layout of the Garden.....

The last bed will be smaller so we will have a bit of space at one end for seats & a small table/box... The bench/box will still be built but placed elsewhere.... This will allow for some extra Wicking barrels to be made & placed around the patch....
We still  have plans in the future to build a few new beds down one side of the patch... We need to build a retaining wall & new fence first so not to worried about not having as much garden space for the time being...

Have a great one all....

: )»

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ready for the rain.....

Have had a bit of a catch up this week in the Garden....


It started with a few little fix up jobs around the Chook yard.... I put up a fence & gate around the back of the chook shed to extend their run & replaced the 2 makeshift gates into the yard with a single gate....

Was getting tired of having the Girls scratch dirt all over the path way so decided to recycle the side boards from the old garden beds to act as a "Retaining Wall"  & wired them to the inside of the fence..... Works well as you can see from the second Picture... : )»


    We have been told to expect  rain all weekend so I got stuck into the 2 wicking beds that are replacing the old Herb bed....

Finished putting the frames up on Wednesday & fixed the paving up on Thursday after I did the new Chook Gate... Today we filled the reservoir's with recycled sand from the old Spice bed & some Clay balls that were leftover from a previous attempt at Hydroponic gardening 11 or so years ago...
We are using a mix of soil from 2 of the old beds that was sieved & searched for Curl Grubs First...  We shall be adding some Mushroom Compost & 5 in 1 to the soil just to freshen it up a bit.... The top layer will be some Premium garden mix leftover from the the last few beds that were renovated..
The paving came up great between the 2 new beds... Hopefully we will have the Seat/Storage box there for the tools & chook food by Monday so shall update then...

Have a great one all.....

: )»

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Plans MK.......... Something !!!!

This is the FINAL plans for the Veggie patch..... I hope.... PLEASE !!!.....



   The Herb bed has been removed & there is now 2 beds waiting to be "Wicked" tomorrow or the weekend weather permitting....  **Crosses Fingers**
  
   Been doing little bits in the patch this week as time permits & will do a full update when Pictures have been taken.....

Have a great one all.....

: )»

Monday, September 13, 2010

New Beds....

Made a start on the 2 small beds that are replacing the large Herb Bed....
The first bed is up & just needs to be "Wicked" out & it's done... Will start the second on Tuesday if the school schedule allows for it... I also need to scrounge some paver's from under the stairs for the gap & design the bench/storage box as well..... Should have enough bits of timber around to knock one up, just need to find some wire mesh to rodent proof the base....
Will have to look into better fencing around the base of the Chooks Mango yard to stop the soil being spread far & wide as you can see from the picture.... I have some bits of tin I can wire to the base of the fence to stop the spread....
Thinking about putting up a Bamboo or Reed screen on the wire fence behind the Chook pen to shield it from the vacant land to the rear of our place.... The owners are trying to sell the block & I don't really want people Peeping in on our Girls & Garden....

Found a little Native Gecko in the bed as I was building it... I must of spooked the poor little fella & it dropped it's tail... : (» 
It was relocated into a nearby Crape Myrtle tree where it could blend in well.... I'm glad to see them slowly move into the yard & Veggie Patch to devour the bugs....







Have a great one all.....

: )»

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Digging in the Shade.....

  Saturday.....
The weather has started to heat up a bit of late & we were a tad concerned that we  may loose the Snow Peas & Broccoli so decided to put the shade cloth up over most of the beds....

We have noticed a difference in the Snow Peas already... They are standing up all happy & the pods  firmed up within a few hours... This time we did it a bit different... We sewed the sections together using bits of the straw bale twine....  150-200mm gaps were left between the joined sections to allow some natural light in as well..... Other sections will be added when we fell the plants require it.... Some think its a bit of overkill but we are already getting about 8 hours of direct sunlight on the patch with no shading until about 2 hours before sunset... In summer it increases to 12 hours of unshaded sun....


 I think the Broccoli heads will flower before they fully mature so they will be taken off for Tuesdays dinner... The Chooks love the leaves, plus we eat a lot of Broccoli stem in stir-fry & steamed with other veg so we shall keep them in for now....

 Sunday....

   Finally took the old spice bed down & will be using the corner posts & tin in other beds.... The corner post have already been tagged to go into what used to be the Herb bed.... The sand from the reservoir & soil is being stored in the old timber bed waiting to be used else where...  The Herb bed is now being split into 2 separate beds with a bench/storage box in between the 2 beds...  I have saved the perennial Basil, a tub of Shallots, small pot of garlic chives & some Lemongrass... All are in pots at the base of the stairs for now until we decide what is going into the 2 "New" Wicking beds... The plans for the bench/storage box are still swimming around my noggin & will probably surface in the middle of the night knowing me... **Sigh**

 The evil curl Grubs of DOOOOOOM !!

  While digging out the Herb bed we came across our old Nemeses.... 

 We got about 60 large & over a hundred small grubs which answered some questions regarding to the early demise of some plants... We found them in groups of 2 or 3 in  clumps of roots... The Chooks had a ball fighting over the first 20 or so but by the end of the day they had all had enough... Some have been put into a bucket of soil to feed to the Girls during the week as a protein treat & Bunny the dog has got the taste for them now as well so none shall go to waste....


  
Wetpots.....

This is why I Love using Wetpots & won't be parting with any even though we aren't using them at the moment...
These are pictures of what an Italian Parsley plant (like the one pictured below) did to this pot....
You can not see any exposed clay as the roots have totally "enveloped" any non glazed surface.....




Found a couple of legless lizards living in the beds while we were dismantling them.... The first lizard we found was about 30-40cm long & the second was only a baby at about 15cm... Both were relocated to safety away from the Chooks & the Bunny Dog....


Weekly harvest....
This week we picked,
2 large Zucchinis, Shallots, Basil, Silverbeet, a few lemons, 2 Passion fruit, & a large Mignonette Lettuce... 
Also got 3 Goog's a day from the Chookies...
That's about it for now Me thinks...
Have a great one all....
: )»