My fruit tree row

 I've had the hardest time committing to where I should plant trees. Really, it's not a huge deal because I can easily move them while they're still small.

But I've settled on this little hill in front of the house being my fruit tree garden. It's great because I can see it from the kitchen window, it's close enough to the tap and most importantly will give us some much needed privacy!

What I didn't plan on was needing a fence around it, so I now need some defined borders so I can add a fence (that looks and stands up better than my quick fix).

Originally the fence was to stop the hares...

But now the birds have found my garden! The currawongs and magpies have been stealing tomatoes and strawberries, they're not too bad, but the cockatoos are so destructive and will destroy plants and trees.

So instead of getting trees in the ground, now I'm painstakingly measuring, marking and planning the perfect garden bed in order to install a proper fence. And according to my new plans, the sublime tree is in the wrong spot, just when it's starting to look happy and start flowering!

Between the wildlife, pets and a three year old I'm lucky if I get to eat anything grown in our garden!

Ditch planting started

 There is probably a better name for it but I call it the ditch which runs between our property and the road. It's a big slop that has a lot of grass and weeds, along with bare patches where the soil is getting washed away in heavy rain.

A couple of months ago I started with this little section and it has held up well so far, to be fair we haven't had any heavy rain (or light rain really) so the true test will come in summer. I don't water it often because I don't want to cart watering cans out here or waste our precious water in a spot that just runs straight into the ditch. Survival of the fittest for this "garden". Ultimately we want the grass gone as it is not easy for Ray to whipper snip along here.

I'm also trying to not spend too much money out here so random rocks and sticks are creating little terraced sections to hold and soil and plants so they don't slide down the hill.

The dead tree is supporting a dragonfruit I planted a year ago, it could really do with more consistent watering, it's surviving - definitely not thriving! Otherwise I've randomly planted things quite close together so they can outcompete the grass, and spread lots of roots to hold the soil in place.

So far I've got coreopsis, a ponytail palm, dogbane, geranium, gazania, petunias, cineraria, some aloe from the neighbours and some plants mum gave me. All in all they're still alive, not doing a whole lot, but that's the same for the grass and most of my plants. 

Winter will be over soon, the rain will start and everything will grow faster than I can keep up. Hopefully it looks amazing soon so I can share an update - you'll be able to tell the difference between the mulch and the grass once it's all green!

And these little pardalotes are making a nest in the culvert right next to this garden, they're insect eaters so I'm sure they will appreciate the new garden.

A little orange tree

 I've been making progress with my garden planning, as well as changing my mind and moving a couple of trees! But so far my method of planting them in this horrible ground is doing well, I suppose the true test will be after a full year with all the seasons.

My process is as follows:

• Dig a big hole (width is 4 times the size of the pot and the depth is the same as the pot)
• Add a whole lot of mushroom compost and mix in and break up the clay soil
• Plant the tree about 20cm above ground level, mounding with mushroom compost/soil mix
• Create a ring around the edge of the hole (I mainly use the clay soil for this part) 
• Cover with mulch

The little ditch around the tree is necessary as it is so dry here that the water never gets a chance to soak in. I tried a mini swale with the elderberry I put in the chicken yard but it couldn't compete with the possum traffic and the gum tree. Next was a panama berry using a little ditch all the way around and it's doing great, although to be fair it was a small healthy plant that I grew from a cutting. I then planted a sublime tree that was on clearance and desperately needed to be planted which seems to have settled in so hopefully this little orange will do well, if not I'll blame this horrible cold wind we keep getting.

Next project is to figure out a fence for this section, the hares have found this garden and even chewed the top of a mango and avocado seedlings! Currently a very floppy and hastily set up chicken wire fence is keeping everything safe, although the magpies have been eating the strawberries so maybe I need to consider bird netting as well...

Drying statice

 I haven't really had the motivation to look after that garden lately, thanks to a certain dog deciding that he now likes to use my flower garden as a toilet and sandpit! Because of that I plan to do a really simple fence around it, the wobblier the better since he is afraid of that type of fence. 

Regardless, I have flowers to collect and dry for the flower girls at my sister in laws wedding and the statice are doing great (and thankfully not bushy enough to be Archie's choice of toilet). Ordinarily I hang them to dry from from the kitchen blinds using these hooks and curtain rings. It works great for small things like paper daisies, but I picked way too many so these sock hangers now have a new job! 

Statice seem to grow well here, plus they are a lovely perennial plant so I think I'll be planting lots more, and looking into some different varieties.

Jam

 I bought a tiny little cumquat tree from Bunnings last year, and it kept insisting on setting fruit so I finally gave up pulling them off. And it gave me enough for 4 small jars of jam! 

The rosella is finally fruiting, and doesn't seem to be stopping! The guineas have really been enjoying rosella leaves so I've started cutting off the lower branches for them. 

The cumquat jam was no problem to make, and is the perfect texture, I'm not really sure I like it though so I might not make it again. This is the recipe I used.

The rosella jam however, I burnt the first two batches. First thing I noted for next time was to let it settle longer before putting it in the jar as it turns out it was very frothy and needed to be skimmed. Second is to add the extra water to the seeds next time as it has ended up very thick. Last time I made it I did not have this much trouble, I'm blaming the stove in this house! If you'd like to make some, I used this recipe - that site is also a great place to buy seeds.

Tidy pump area

 Once of the first things we changed about our house was getting the downpipes for our house tank converted to the underground sort - we were very sick of hitting our heads. I also asked for another tap (there was only one outside tap on this house?!) which meant another pump and outdoor powerpoint.

It has been great saving our heads, but it was a mess from all the earthworks - and bare clay is the worst especially near a tap. So I finally fixed it...

Added bonus that I used random free bricks and the rocks I'm trying to clear from the weed garden around the other tank (which are covering old carpet... worst idea ever!)

Eventually I'll add a hose reel, and decide on a better solution for the power box. Long term I'm hoping to get dichondra covering the whole area rather than sugar cane mulch. It has started creeping through some of my first mulched areas and is already throughout the whole property. 

And right where I'm standing to take this photo are two offcuts from a small rainwater tank that our neighbour gave me! I'm really happy with how my garden is starting to look - I should really take some photos of the whole area to share with you.

Chicks and keets

 We've got baby birds! With the chicken themed party for Lily, I decided it would be perfect to get her some chicks... and then I got some guinea fowl keets instead.

Originally I was looking at silkie or belgian d'uccle chicks, but we've had quite a few eastern brown snakes around the house, so we picked up the keets in the hopes they'll help deter snakes when they're older. 

Turns out Lily doesn't really like them as they are very flighty even though they were hatched in an incubator. So a week later we got some silkies, because they're supposed to make great pets for kids...

And they're almost as crazy as the guineas since they were raised by their mums for the first week. 

They're about 2 months old now (I should get updated photos) and altogether in a chicken tractor next to the house, although I think the silkies have had enough of the guineas who run and fly around all day. Luckily we're building their big coop so the guineas will move into that once it's finished, and get them used to the older girls who they'll be living with eventually.

The plan is to build garden beds for the tractor to sit on, that way the silkies can fill them up using the deep litter method, and clean up any garden beds that need a refresh in the future. These little fluff balls will have an important job as well as being pets. Now we just have to wait and find out the gender ratio to decide who we're keeping - it currently looks like I've got three boys and three girls with no favourites to tip the scale.

Watermelons

 Whenever I go to Bunnings I obviously look at the plants, and I found a multipack of melons - honeydew, rockmelon and watermelon. We ended up growing them on a trellis made of fencing wire and conduit. Which was fine until the watermelons started getting big and heavy!

We successfully harvested these two once the caterpillars destroyed the leaves and started to munch on the watermelon skins - at least they didn't make it inside like they did with the honeydews and the only rockmelon. Luckily the chickens like bug infested fruit so they didn't go to waste.

I'll definitely grow watermelons again since Lily loves them (as do the chickens) but it won't be up the trellis again. And these were too big for our little family so something like Sugarbaby might be a better size.

I always find it funny how excited I get when I harvest something from our garden, but it's nothing compared to watching the excitement of a three year old when it comes to harvesting and eating the produce from our garden - or produce that my mum or our neighbours have shared from their gardens!

Bottle tree planted

 Exciting news, Ray got the post hole digger out so I could plant this bottle tree! Well exciting for me, especially after planting my blueberry in what is the hardest ground I've found so far.

This lucky tree even got a rock edge from the fire pit I've been disassembling. The mulberry tree that you can see in the background, just behind the trampoline hasn't been too happy so it will need to be moved, but I'll wait for it to go dormant in winter. Things just do not grow very fast here, the weather and the soil aren't ideal.

Fingers crossed it will be happy in this spot and will give some shade when it's bigger, I feel like everything I plant here is an experiment!

Potted grape and trellis

 So I made a decision recently to only buy more plants if I had a place ready to put them. Then we went to Bunnings where they had a grape vine on clearance...

Now to be fair, I put it back, then changed my mind and went back to get it again before actually buying it. So then I spent the drive home trying to figure out where on earth I was going to build a sturdy trellis for these grapes. By the next day I settled on where I want them, and the trellis I'm planning... but that is really low on the priority list.

After some more research, I made a quick, rustic stick trellis in a large pot for now. Future plans are to build a trellis along the side of our house that gets full afternoon sun, and where we store a whole lot of untidy junk for everyone to see as they drive past! I'm thinking I'll have shade cloth between the house roof and the grape trellis so I can use that space for my orchids and ferns. When the grapes are dormant I'll grow peas on the trellis to keep the privacy and shade.

Until then, I'm learning how to care for the grape vine, and will be able to propagate using cuttings when we have their future trellis built.

An english mulberry tree

 When I went to visit a plant nursery, I was looking for maybe a mandarin or a few natives, I definitely didn't plan to bring home another mulberry tree!

Terrible photo I know, but this is an English Mulberry which has very different leaves to all my others... obviously I had to buy it! So I've got the cuttings from my black mulberry we had at our old house, the native mulberry and this new english mulberry.

And then Ray went to "Coles" and bought me a weeping mulberry for Valentine's Day! And yes he did go to Coles on his way home, I was wondering what was taking him so long!

Beetroot harvest

 Most of my garden has not been enjoying the heat, but thankfully the beetroots have done well!

The varieties I planted were cylindra and golden globe. Both grew well and tasted nice, but I got the cylindra variety thinking it would be easier and more consistent to slice.

Beetroots are actually pretty versatile, the leaves are edible so we used them fresh on sandwiches, and have used them like spinach in stir fries as well. Some beets were grated raw into our salads, and added to the pan for roasting, while the rest were boiled and pickled following a recipe by Emma on Kitchen Mason. I did the first batch with white vinegar because I didn't want to drive to the shop just for vinegar, and the second batch using brown vinegar. Now we're trying to wait two weeks before we do a taste test!

I did pull all the beetroot out of my garden bed because it was in need of a refresh, but I regret it now that we don't have any beetroot leaves for salads or beets to add to roasts! I have sown more seeds, and will be doing succession plantings to have a continual supply of beets ready for whatever we need.

Garden apron

 I made myself a garden apron! Because half my clothes don't have pockets which is really annoying when you're on acreage.

Of course I'm happy to finally finish my new apron, but nowhere near as excited as Lily is! I tried it on to show her and she was stuffing all her pens in the pocket - I assume it'll be full of 'pretty' rocks whenever we go outside.

This is the tutorial I followed, with a couple of changes. First, I cut the pocket front and lining the same size so I could keep as much of the print visible so I don't have the decorative trim at the top. Second I didn't have any D rings so I cut the tie piece 9" longer - I can just tie it in a bow, so definitely needed to add a few more inches.

And then I went and made an apron for Lily using the same fabric...

I used this tutorial, but when it came to sewing I found it easier to follow their video. I didn't add a pocket into the bib as I turned the skirt into one huge pocket! It is simply a second skirt layer with some hand holes cut out of each side, I finished the pocket edge with bias binding since it was a curve.

Flower pit

 My "flower pit" is the new trench for the septic that the previous owners put in before we bought. You can see in this post how it was just bare dirt with lots of weeds. It took me awhile to weed it and then cover it using a round bale of hay. Silly me forgot to take a photo of it in winter when my flowers were looking beautiful, so you get to see it now in summer after the winter flowers have all died off.

All the winter bulbs have died down, but there were freesia, anemone and sparaxis planted. The best performing were the petunias which are still going strong, the snapdragons were beautiful and a couple are trying to hang on. The paper daisies are still flowering well but the wind from all the storms is knocking them around and now the zinnias are starting to flower.

Not the best idea, but I cleared a row and scattered a mix of seeds, they're sprouting, but so are lots of weeds and I'm not familiar enough with my seeds (or the weeds here) to tell them apart.

From now on I will only be sowing one type of seed at a time, and will also sprout some in one of my self watering juice bottle planters on the windowsill. This way I can learn what the plant looks like vs weeds. Handy now, but also in the future when they self sow everywhere.

And as an added bonus, we have extended Archie's yard so he now has access to the pit which has helped with the wildlife eating my seedlings (and even the flowers)!

Planting chicken shade

 The chickens have a lovely spot under the gum trees, but unfortunately now that summer is here they don't get enough shade in the afternoon. I have hung shade cloth and covered their coop with a tarp, but it's not good enough. My next idea was using sticks and fresh murraya branches to create a lean to against their coop - and they're really enjoying that spot, especially when I put blocks of ice in there on really hot days.

My first attempt at planting in the chicken yard was this elderberry, but between the gum tree with a possum climbing it every night and the mice making tunnels underneath, it struggled along and eventually gave up. 

My second attempt is further away from the gum tree where I've started rosella seeds in one of these garden rings. Once they reach the mesh I plan to add a cage around it until it's a decent size, then replace the ring and cage with logs or rocks. 

At our old house I planted rosellas in a spot that had really dry sandy soil and they did great. Hopefully they'll grow just as quick here to give the chickens a cool, shady spot. I'm also planting them out the front of our house for some quick privacy. And if all goes well, there'll be lots of rosella jam in our future!

Eventually the chickens will have a permanent coop and run under this mulberry tree. Until then they get their very own little shanty town under the gum trees!

New Veggie Garden

Well I finally have one veggie garden bed complete, and now it's so hot that the plants aren't coping in the full sun. Which means my next project is building a shade structure to go over the top.

I've planted a couple of tomatoes, basil, beetroot and zucchini. There's also hollyhock and marigolds in there for the bees.

I'm considering trying a dwarf fruit tree in the middle of one these beds just to create some natural shade for the plants. Honestly I need to get trees planted everywhere as it's just so hot being all grass around the house!

Banana planted

 Looking forward to seeing how this banana plant does here, so far it's looking good after one month. This is a super dwarf cavendish, which I found at Bunnings and as you can see it had a pup forming. A couple of days after taking this photo I noticed there is actually another tiny one popping up. I'll have to do a bit more research to try and figure out when is a good time to transplant them.

I've got it planted right near the kitchen as they only get 90-120cm tall, but I think I'd like them a bit further away so I can use this spot for herbs or veg. Although it should create a bit of shade, which would be a relief for the other plants as this is full sun - and by that I mean if the sun is up, it hits this spot! 

The good thing about banana plants is that you do need to transplant or remove the pups regularly so it isn't a big deal if I decide this is the wrong spot. At least for now it is close for easy watering.

I'm trying out the Green Well garden ring, although I didn't install it correctly as I wanted a deeper garden bed. I liked this one as it is a sturdy plastic and slides apart on one side to remove, this will make it easier to create a larger garden bed later on. I've got two more to try - if I ever decide where the next tree is going!

Another mulberry planted

 I have another mulberry cutting in the ground, I suppose it's not really a cutting anymore, but it doesn't feel right calling it a tree when it is so small!

But it is a great thing that it is small because it means I was capable of digging the hole to plant it. Younger plants are better to plant as they settle in much quicker than larger plants anyway, plus they're cheaper, and most importantly I only have to dig small holes in this rock hard ground!

The good news is that we bought a post hole digger, except I can't use that either so now hole digging is Ray's job. And I have to wait patiently...

Native bees on begonia

 The native bees were absolutely loving the begonia flowers one sunny day. Normally they are enjoying the marigolds and violas in this planter and previously, I've only ever seen the odd bee visiting the begonias.

It is a keeper for our garden simply because our toddler loves eating the flowers, but it's even better knowing the bees love it too!

Without my little bee watcher who likes to get a really close look at flowers, I would have never noticed them on the anemone flowers. I've tried to choose the photos with the most noticeable bees on them. Red has one at the top, purple has two at the top left and pink has three.

Finger limes coming soon!

 My finger lime was flowering before we moved but unfortunately I trimmed it right back for our move. Luckily it flowered again at the new house and now I have some adorably tiny fruits setting. They are so hard to notice - and the only reason I did was because I was looking at a caterpillar (dainty swallowtail I think).

Now to wait and see what colour they are inside! We were given a a pink one as a housewarming gift but it isn't as vigorous as this one. I plan to add both of these to the bee garden, but this one will have to wait until it has finished fruiting.