shiukopuppy's Blog
shiukopuppy's September 2007 Entries
Last Post 41 days, 22 hours Ago
Sep 29, 2007 | 11:34 PM PST
Tags: black tulip , grevillia , Cherries , raspberries
My grevillia above is blooming! I find it fascinating because it doesn't look like a flower, it's more like an alien! Hopefully some birds will come to appreciate it and eat it, though I'm not sure how..
Sadly, discovered the sparkly trails left behind by snails. It is that time of year and the evidence of snails everywhere. I used some environmentally friendly snail pellets but I hate their color and they break down quickly. There was another sale at the garden center so I bought a Lebanese eggplant seedling and a two-story marigold seedling. Then we decided to go to the nursery that sells native plants at a discounted price. I decided to plant some pink blooms near my front door so I bought a purplish boronia, a pink bottle-brush and another pink grevillia. We planted them near the front door this afternoon.
I was at the supermarket earlier today, and I couldn't believe that frozen cherries cost $19.99 per kg! and frozen raspberries cost $15.00/kg! ! (for reference, i think that a kilogram is about 2.2 lbs). I'm glad I'll be growing both fruits this year - will not waste a single one!
Other things that I find expensive at the shops are fresh herbs, snow peas and gourmet lettuces. So I'm going to have to be even more motivated to grow things. I did get some reduced lettuces (damaged) and gave some to my chickens to peck apart. I went outside and one of them was running around happily with some lettuce.
Sep 28, 2007 | 7:50 PM PST
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I've been very busy lately! I started by planting the rue and feverfew
in a portable planter so that I can keep it in the chicken coop as
needed. I also have to move it under cover at night because the possums
nibbled them. we received the chicken forage seeds that we ordered by mail: pigeon pea, lablab and linseed. I'm still waiting for my wormwood cuttings to take root so that I can landscape the chickens' area. I've been giving them lettuce and Asian greens, but I think that these plants will be better for them.
Garlic is sprouting up which is exciting - it's my first time growing garlic. Today I transplanted a baby pumpkin plant called 'Gold Nugget.' My peas are covered in flowers and I saw some pea pods peeping out between the petals. Yay! Above is my partner's quince bonsai in flower.
I bought lots of roma tomatoes to make sun dried and semi dried tomatoes later in the summer. Today I realized today that I had forgotten to plant lettuce! So I planted mixed chicory, mixed Italian lettuce, cos, mignonette, mizuna, mesclun, radicchio, a red and green salad mix and plain old lettuce for my chooks.
Sep 25, 2007 | 3:46 AM PST
Tags: chickens , eggs , coop , nest , silkie bantam
This is a view of the inside of the chicken coop. I've just realized
that they did not get named! Will need to chose them a name with our
neighbors who share them. These darling chookies are so tame and
affectionate. They're also very curious - more so than my previous
chickens. Their hairstyles are so puffy that I haven't seen their eyes!
Sep 25, 2007 | 3:35 AM PST
Tags: almond , nashi , Asian Pears , apple , bonsai , flowering
Here are the first spring blossoms on my almond tree! The nashi pear, cherry, and apple trees also have blossoms which is very exciting as they my first fruit trees ever! I've spent a lot of time in Japan where they go to view the spring cherry blossoms and also the autumn leaves. My partner is into bonsai so he has been creating the same scenes in miniature! Some of his bonsai are flowering, and all of the deciduous bonsai are growing leaves again. You should have seen autumn in his tiny maple forest!
When a chilli or tomato grows from a flower, it's very exciting, so I look forward to the flowering of fruit. My avocado tree is extending its branches but it had an infestation of tiny white 'dots' - possibly aphids? I gave it a good spray of pyrethrum. I went to the hardware store to get some bird netting to protect the berry canes and couldn't resist getting some more spring onions (they were getting quite large!) I bought some planters to grow the chicken forage in too.
And is there any advice on fertilizing a herb garden? I haven't fertilized it for a whole year as I'd heard herbs don't need anything, but my partner was saying that they do need something. hmm.
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Sep 20, 2007 | 4:19 AM PST
Tags: salad , rocket , arugula , lettuce
Tonight we ate a salad with lettuce, rocket and wild rocket from our garden! It was tasty.. we added virgin olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice and kalamata olives from the farmer's market! When I harvested the rocket, the fragrance that was released was as exciting as harvesting cilantro.. mm! We also ate some fresh eggs from our new chickens today.
Most of the time in the garden lately has involved organizing the coop but I also found time to plant herb seeds for spring - Thai basil, Flat leaf parsley, basil and cilantro.
Sep 20, 2007 | 3:47 AM PST
Tags: parrot , rosella , bird
These are the local parrots that browse around my garden - rosellas. I've been trying to plant Australian flowering shrubs to encourage the local birds to visit - have been warned about building a bird feeder full of unhealthy junk food!
There are a few types of parrots/pigeons that visit here. I'll try to catch them on film in the future.
Sep 15, 2007 | 4:54 AM PST
Tags: silkie bantam , chickens
Yesterday, I bought several types of flowers to add to the garden. I also fell in love with a young mandarin tree and another callistemon shrub which we added to our basket because they were so affordable! There were many varieties of vegetable and herb seedlings on sale for spring, but I couldn't allow myself any more of them after planting so many from seed.
Anyway, my neighbors who share our garden woke up excited by spring today and visited the same store. They built another vegetable bed and helped us with our chicken run. They planted seedlings of carrots, cauliflower, spinach and corn.
In the afternoon, we picked up the chickens from our friend's house and when they arrived at our house we opened a bottle of champagne with the neighbors and celebrated our new arrivals and the day's hard work.
Sep 13, 2007 | 2:50 AM PST
Tags: green manure , oats , lawn , organic
These are my oats that I planted as a green manure. They've grown long enough for me to till them back into the earth. I'm bulking up the soil in this small plot to plant my organic lawn - I bought a mixture of lawn seed that is suited to my local conditions. I think I already mentioned that it will be watered with gray water and it will reduce the erosion that has been happening with every rain.
The chicken coop (dog house) is being painted with an organic sealant at the moment. And we are building our chicken run. Last time that I discussed seeds, I had the feeling that some had gone missing. I have since found the rest of the vegetables I planted: more eggplants, tomatoes, chillies plus cucumbers and peppers.
I've been so busy at work these days that I think the gardening is falling behind! Will make sure to work extra hard this weekend. Phew..
Sep 12, 2007 | 4:55 AM PST
Tags: wattle , hakea , protea , banksia , grevillia , kangaroo paw , callistemon , dedonia , Australia
This wattle flower in my driveway is blooming - it looks like it
grew wild here. I like its 'gum leaves'. The yellow puffy flowers had
to grow on me - I didn't appreciate natives when I was younger. Love
this wattle lots now!
Our native Australian flowering garden also has a wattle plant but it isn't blooming - probably because the soil is so terrible. Our other native plants include grevillias, banksias, hakeas, kangaroo paws, callistemons, dedonias and a protea (not native, but often mistaken for it!)
Sep 11, 2007 | 2:36 AM PST
Tags: chickens , pesticide , DDT , herbs , vegetables , flowers
The discovery of pesticide residues in my garden came as a bit of a
shock, but I'm now trying to find ways to work with what I have. My
main approach will be to build the beds up with imported soil and plant
in this soil only - no digging, no root vegetables, no direct
planting.. It's inconvenient, but what can you do when pesticides
remain there for decades? I'd say it's probably a very common sob story
and I'm just glad that I do know what's really in my soil - my old
chickens probably did serve me DDT infused eggs, but I just didn't know
about it!
I had a look into my seedling diary for the spring expectations - am waiting for these darlings to grow:
Vegetables:
Thai, Bangalore, Cabai Burong Chilli
Tomatoes: Cherry Pomodoro, Tomato Mix, San Marzano
Eggplants: Machiaw, Melanzana, Asian Bride, Thai
Leek, Soy beans, Watermelon, Pumpkin
Herbs:
Lemongrass, Coriander, Shiso, Thai basil, Basil, Chamomile, Dill, Parsley, Sage, Chives
Flowers:
Foxgloves, Snapdragons, Poppies, Toadflax, Thistles, Sweetpeas,
Wisteria, Natives, Platycodon, Calendula, Cornflower, Strawflower,
Marigolds
I also bought some Rue and Feverfew at the garden center on the weekend. Will plant them with the Wormwood cuttings I took recently - they will go around my chicken run to keep them healthy. For the chickens, i will also grow Pigeon Pea, Tagasaste, and Lablab, plus my soy leaf scraps and linseed too for omega content in the eggs! The coop is still being built.. we are architecturally challenged..
I was sure I planted cucumbers and other things - will need to investigate further!
Above: 2 cute chickens from this Japanese website: http://www.is.hallab.co.jp/~a
ndo/index.html
There are loving photos of these chickens as they grow up!
Sep 5, 2007 | 12:34 AM PST
Tags: pesticide , DDT , DDD , Dieldrin , DDE , silkie bantam , soil test
We got garden soil test results back and it was depressing! We wanted some pet chickens but had read that pesticide residues in the soil can be toxic for chickens and also humans (because the pesticides will also collect in the eggs). A good friend of mine has some silkie bantams to spare that she was going to gift to us but we have to be very careful how we protect them - if we accept them at all. (Above is cute little silkie from a breeder's website who I must credit - http://www.chickedeefarm.com/)
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The results of the soil test found that we have:
0.24 mg/kg DDE
0.02 mg/kg Dieldrin
0.05 mg/kg DDD
0.18 mg/kg DDT
If I had moved in chickens without testing the soil, they would have been living in conditions 200 times the maximum amount of pesticide they should be allowed which would also have harmed me. And I know that pesticides can be absorbed by root vegetables as well, but I can't find any information about the safety of fruit and vegetables grown in soil like this. Is it any healthier than buying store-bought vegetables, or is growing them pointless. Any advice?
Sep 3, 2007 | 4:12 AM PST
Tags: green manure , choi sum , pak choi , kai laan , oats , companion planting , organochlorides , pesticide , Bokashi bucket , almond , snapdragon , coriander , mint , spinach , lettuce
After all of my uploaded images were deleted, I lost faith in garden
blogging. But I have done my grieving and am going to try again because I've had lots of fun hanging around on gardenguides. How have you all been? :) I've
also been busy preparing for Australian spring lately which left me little time for computer distraction..
During the last month, my boyfriend and I bought a cheap greenhouse and set it up in the backyard. There are shelves for his bonsai trees and cuttings and I have filled my side with seed trays that will grow my companion plants, herbs and vegetable seedlings. I've also sown lots of flowers and sprinkled some flower seeds over the lawn.
We sent our garden soil to a lab to test for organochlorides - if that goes well, we will get a couple of chickens to move in. If there are pesticide residues here, we will have to do without them. We also invested in a Bokashi bucket which uses beneficial bacteria to prepare compost, and prepares meat, citrus, eggshells for composting too, so there is minimal waste. Spring bulbs are flowering and cherries and plum trees are starting to blossom!
LOVING UPDATES on my pre-existing plants:
Almond tree: the buds are swelling, and it looks like the flowers will be pink and white!
The snapdragons look like they will also burst soon..
The nashi pear buds are also swelling but I have had to protect the buds with paper bags because the possums decimated all of the leaf growth last year.
Coriander, mint, spinach, lettuce, peas and flat leaf parsley are thriving. Onions are growing along steadily..
Asian greens - mibuna, pak choi, kai laan, choi sum, mizuna etc. are doing very well.
The green manure (oats) is almost ready to be dug into the soil to prepare for the gray water lawn.
And my garlic is growing! So satisfying.. ^_^
