Growing nicely, thank you!

We've now been in this new house for two months - the time has just flown by!  We've made two trips back to Melbourne, plus with work being rather busy the weeks kind of roll into months and suddenly it is almost November.

The chickens have well and truly settled in and without any issues.  They are now laying 6 eggs a day, so I am having to think of creative ways to 'preserve' the eggs:

• Pavlova -uses 6 egg whites, but only lasts a day!
• Quiche - 3 eggs, but this recipe adds half a pint of cream, plus cheese.
• Baking - a dozen blueberry muffins used 3 eggs.
• Give-aways - a dozen eggs to a neighbour (traded for some greens for the chickens).
• Fresh Pasta - 7 eggs in total for two pounds of pasta.

The garden is also growing really well.  The sandy soil in Western Australia used to really frustrate me, but after four years of working in solid clay the sand is so easy to work with!  I'll have to mulch really well to retain moisture once summer really hits, but for now the plants are growing really well:

Kids Garden

The kids garden has gone well, with the radishes almost finished, and a planting of carrots having just been sown to replace them.  The snow peas up against the house have replaced an attempt at a row of sunflowers - birds and slugs ate those faster than they could grow!  The cherry tomato is around two feet high, almost ready to fruit.

Carrots and onions

The carrot and onion bed is a bit of an experiment of sorts. The oldest carrots are on the left, with a couple of rows of leeks next to them.  This row of leeks has been topped up with some manure and mulch to help keep sunlight off.  As I say, all experimental!  There is then another small row of carrots, a later sowing to try to have them mature at a different time to the first planting.  Then there's another row of green onions and leeks, then parsnips on the right.

Tomato and related plants

The last garden bed in this section is for the tomatoes and related plants.  On the right with stakes are some heirloom tomatoes, then some Roma tomatoes in the mulch alongside those tomatoes.  There is a capsicum/pepper plant along the path, then some salad tomatoes on the left.  Next to the parsnips is a row of chillis (way too many, but I'll make lots of chilli sauce for the year), and some eggplants. Note to parents: when you bury eggshells next to eggplants it reinforces to your kids that eggplants grow eggs!

It's only been two months, but we're already well on our way to a bumper harvest!

Getting ready for Summer

We're only 30 days into the Australian Spring and I'm pretty confident that this is the most prepared I've every been for a summer harvest!  The chooks have settled into their chicken pen, and one has started to lay eggs already.  I suspect it is one of the Leghorns or Isa Browns, but haven't yet caught them in the act.

Chooks lined up ready for the kids to feed them weeds.

Our chook egg on left, shop bought on right.

The kid's patch is coming along nicely.  A few radishes have been picked already, with a bonus that the kids actually like them!  The cherry tomato has had a few flowers blossom, but I doubt that they'll really turn into anything at this early stage.  While the beetroot and strawberries are progressing, the sunflowers have basically just been snail food, and they never get to actually shoot very far before the snails get to them.

Half of the main bed has been set aside for tomato and related plants in a semi-rotational system.  In the photo below are blueberry, blackberry and black currant plants in pots, with tomatoes immediately behind (on the right of photo), and eggplant and chilli behind on left.  The bare dirt between the eggplant and brickwork will be for some Roma tomatoes.  The tomatoes on the right are various heirloom varieties -I figure that we'll end up with cherry tomatoes (from kids and one of my heirlooms), salad tomatoes, saucing/sundried tomatoes (from the Romas) and some green tomatoes (green zebras).  My sister's favourite movie for a while was Fried Green Tomatoes, so I've always wanted to grow green tomatoes just so I can make her one!

The three plants at the back of the garden bed are three of my propogated grape vines.  While I'm not sure which variety they are, a friend works for a liquor wholesaler and he's pretty confident that he'll be able to pick the variety.  Around three quarters of the propogated vines have established themselves, and I've been able to transplant 6 in total to our new house here (another three in pots elsewhere in the garden).  This will be their second season, so hopefully with the warmer weather we will get some fruit this time around!

Time to add a room!

One of the problems with renting a house is that you're firstly stuck with the layout as it comes, and secondly there is not much you can really do about it.

Take this house we've just started renting.  Because of it's age (1930's - 1950's at a guess) it has good features such as high ceilings, a lot of land, great storage in the kitchen and a good number of rooms (especially with the extension of a new master bedroom, second bathroom and another living area.

On the downside, the laundry wasn't built for washing machines the size of the modern era machine.  Not that ours is particularly large, but the placement of the laundry trough doesn't allow us to actually use the laundry as a laundry! So our laundry is outside on the back veranda, but this then leaves it exposed to full sun for most of the day.  And we're not even in summer yet.

The hoses etc are connected OK through the window, which unfortunately is always (locked) open.  Over the fence at the end are the rubbish (trash) bins, with a couple of ropes tied to the bins and the fence so that you can open the lids from over the fence.

We've then tied a tarpaulin to the beams in the roof, which stretches the tarpaulin across most of the back.  There's still a gap on the right to make it easier when you're walking out of the house into the backyard.

The end result is a new laundry (of sorts).  Cost all of about $10, and won't be an issue when the landlord makes their next inspection!

On the move...

With a recent promotion at work, we're no longer based in Gippsland!  I'll keep the name of the blog, since we're expecting to move back eventually, and while in the sunny Wimmera (Western Victoria) I'll keep gardening, preserving and budgeting!

Our new home is a rental but with quite a large backyard.  Most of it is grassed, then there's the old pool area that is now a sandpit and paved area so the kids have got a lot of space to keep them occupied. There are also two largish areas that will make nice vegetable gardens.  Eventually.

The first area is by the clothesline, and with a path down the middle, already divided into three larger beds. This first bed, the largest, will be for carrots, leeks and parsnip on the left, grapevines along the back, and then tomatoes, capsicums and chili toward the right.

The second bed in this section will be for the kids - sunflowers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, beetroot and strawberries. An eclectic mix of foods and flowers they enjoy and smaller produce they'll at least have fun picking!  The third bed is a work in progress and will likely be the herb bed.  Still close to the house so we'll be able to pick fresh herbs to add to our cooking.

The other main area is an unused section at the back of the block.  Under true permaculture guidelines this normally wouldn't be for vegetables, since it isn't near the house.  It is however relatively clear from weeds and in full sun.  As a result I've started planting out potatoes, and will use this for corn and other plants as well that can mostly be left for long growing periods.  The walk to the back isn't a huge burden anyway and I can certainly do with the extra steps!

We are also very fortunate that there was already a chicken run in place, plus a very accommodating landlord that was happy for us to keep chickens.  We've bought 6 in total - 2 Isa Browns, 2 Leghorns and 2 Australorps (only one pictured).  The kids love them, the chooks love the weeds the kids feed them and we should start getting eggs within a few weeks.

Happy days ahead in the Wimmera!

New Brassica Garden Bed

Through the middle of summer I was trying to add a new garden bed.  The overall design of the garden is turning out fairly organically - where there is a little space available, I will try to grow veges in them.  By growing things in that space I also gradually clawback the grass that surrounds that space and in turn grow the size of the garden overall.

One garden bed I was wanting to create was some space for some brassica - specifically Brussels Sprouts.  It is again surrounded by strawberries until I get the space for a specific strawberry patch.  The inside space had some spent compost as a base which I then covered with lawn clippings and a layer of manure.

Then I continued to layer grass clippings and straw with manure and topped it off with a layer of straw.

Finally I added some bagged compost over the straw to plant out some Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts and mixed lettuce.  The seedlings then start to establish themselves in the compost as the straw and manure breaks down.

The level of the garden then allows for the strawberries to send runners into the garden bed and establish themselves.  After these get established, I'll transfer to the proper strawberry bed - at least once I've built one!

The Berry Field

Ok, so it mightn't be a field as such, but since we're heading into Spring I thought that it would be a good time to tidy up our raspberry patch.

I bought our first raspberry (Heritage) around 2 years ago, and keep getting good harvests from it. It started to run in the first year and I was fortunate to be able to propagate a second plant from one of the runners. The patch that we had these plants in though was starting to get a little overgrown.

To tidy it up a little, I thought it would be good in a raised garden bed. Our soil is a heavy clay and raspberries really prefer a deep rich soil. The raised bed allows for a no-dig or lasagna type garden, and by using the besser blocks I can grow strawberries around the outside. Now we shouldn't have any issues with berries this summer!

To start the no-dig garden, you place a layer of newspaper down. This will stop most weeds growing into the bed. While I'm intending to remove the turf because it is Kikuyu it is near impossible to completely remove. The newspaper makes one extra barrier to at least help control it a little. I've placed the besser blocks on the newspaper simply to stop the grass growing into where the strawberries will be planted.

Next up is a layer of mulch to help with drainage and a little aeration. I'd trimmed back some hedges this afternoon so they were conscripted in for this. I also added a layer of fresh chicken manure and charcoal. The charcoal had been soaked in some worm castings and should help with the delivery of nutrients to the garden.

At this point you then start alternating straw and manure in layers of around 10cms/4in. Because of the size of my bed, I probably went a bit smaller but I've not had any issues in previous years with this.

I topped it off with a layer of mushroom compost to plant the raspberries into (rich soil, but not too rich like the raw manure would be), and a layer of pea straw as a mulch to keep it all moist. The strawberries around the outside were simply planted in potting mix.
Last year we did reasonably well with our raspberries, although lost a few (and almost all our strawberries) to birds. With the rich soil and a bit of netting for protection, we should have a bumper harvest this summer!

Oh yes, oh yes, It's Springtime!

So Spring has sprung in a big way over the last few weeks! Winter has officially left, and the plants and chickens have taken their cue and started to get more productive.

Firstly, our Rhode Island Red chickens are almost a year old and up until two weeks ago they hadn't laid a single egg between them. With the warming of the weather, between the two RIRs and two Australorps we are getting up to three eggs a day. It's an awesome feeling to be getting more eggs than we can eat at the moment!

Secondly, the plants are definitely reacting to the warm weather too. The deciduous ornamental trees (such as our Liquid Amber) are starting to shoot again, along with the stone fruit trees. I think there are about 3 flowers on the Cherry trees, not quite a bumper harvest, but it's good to see they're establishing themselves.

Today I'd planned to do a fair bit of work, but the weather's conspired against me and we're in for rain most of the weekend. In between the showers, I've been pottering a little. My main aim this weekend was to build a small retaining wall for one of my raised garden beds. Lately they've been getting "attacked" by some of the local wild birds chasing bugs and worms. I find though that the birds prefer to dig at the base of the garden beds rather than from the top. Hopefully just a single layer of 20cm/8in besser blocks will help stop them digging as much.


This is the first garden bed I'm working on. The garden slopes a little, so I will backfill with dirt on the right side of the photo, but from the house you'll be able to see the blocks (rather than just the garden bed). To make it a little more interesting though, the blocks also provide a great planting space for other small plants, so this one will have a border of strawberries. The strawberries will also benefit from a sort of micro-climate in that the blocks will warm up in the sunshine, as well as having them elevated off the ground. We lost quite a few last year to rotting on the ground.

After filling the holes with potting mix, I then transplanted and divided a number of plants from elsewhere in the garden. When we moved in last year, I really just put plants where ever we had room at the time, now that we're getting more established, I'm finding more permanent places for them.

The remaining plants in the garden bed are a row of Savoy Cabbages, Garlic and Cauliflowers. There were more cabbages and cauli's, but the birds destroyed a few searching for worms. The garlic was simply some left over shop-bought garlic from the fridge - it's really just an experiment to see how it goes.

There's still a bit of work left to do, but I'm anticipating it will be a great summer harvest!