The Heat is GONE!

Scarecrow's Log: 22:11:2009:
This log covers the fortnight from 9 Nov 09 to 22 Nov 09.

The only relief to the heat last week
was a small cloud over the midday sun!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 12C
Lowest Max 19C after the cool change
Highest Max 41.8C
37mm Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?
10 days of record (for November) heatwave (temps over 35C) conditions, where the main gardening activity was watering the thirsty plants in an effort to keep them alive.
Relief finally came with some rain!!!!

Last weekend we picked up the Trees For Life materials for this year.
First seeds are due in this week!

The Native Rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus
survived through the heat
and has now flowered.

The heat has made the cherries colour up so quickly
that we had to net the tree!

The Loganberries survived the heat well
in their wicking bed and are ripening nicely.

Propagation:
Seeds:
Popped in some Climbing Bean - Blue Lake and Red Lima - seeds to replace some the slaters and/or grasshoppers have stolen!

Planting out:
Comfrey Symphytum officinale
Lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus
Queensland Arrowroot Canna edulis
Into the bed in the compost area.

Eggplants - Long Purple and Casper
Capsicum - Hungarian Yellow Wax Sweet
Planted into Bed 1 in the Main Veg Garden

Cuttings:
Pink Violets
Loganberry (because a piece came off when I picked some )

New in the Garden This week:

Saturday morning we picked up the new chicks!

5 Faverolles

5 Barnevelders

It's good to see them get stuck into their work
at such a young age!



The Barnevelders love lucerne straight off the plant...
...this poor plant has been caged to re-grow!

They are around 10 weeks old, still chirping
and already more friendly
than those crazy Farmyard Feral chooks...
...who have now decided to go broody,
well 3 of them have!

Harvest Tally: 9/11 to 22/11:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
It was too hot to be picking much at all!
Strawberries***125g
Loganberries***Just for testing their ripeness Yummy!
Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley.

Eggs for the fortnight:
30 from the Farmyard Ferals
7 from the Ginger Girls
2 from Blackie

The Heat is On...

Scarecrow's Log: 8:11:2009:

...and it isn't even summer yet!

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 3.4C
Lowest Max 19.8C
Highest Max 36.8C
No Recorded Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

With the heat on it's way the shade covers are up, we use 50% white shade cloth on the vegetable beds as it allows enough light through for flowering but cuts the heat. We left the main cover loose so we can move it as the sun goes over. The newly planted seedlings will need all the help they can get this week.
Sugarcane mulch has been applied, now all we have to do is get through this week or as long as this heat lasts!

Propagation:
Seeds:

Kakai Pumpkin seeds saved from last year.
These are a hull-less seeded variety.
They germinated quickly in the hot weather.

Planting out:

Cucumber Marketmore seedlings in Tank Bed a

Seedlings of Basil Genovese planted on Bed 2
with the Roma tomatoes

Potting up:
Cuttings of Sage - Golden Salvia officinalis variegata and Purple Salvia officinalis 'Purpurea', Yellow Yarrow Achillea millefolium, Clove Pinks Dianthus caryophyllus, Mints - Moroccan Mentha spicata subsp. spicata and Egyptian Mentha niliaca

Cuttings/Division:
Plumbago auriculata

Around the Garden this week:

Red Drumhead Cabbages

Red Lima Beans slowly emerging in Tank Bed a

Blue Lake Climbing Beans in Bed 3

Mauve Pigface

Kamut wheat heads,
pity those farmyard ferals
didn't leave more than a few plants for us.

The Cherries are colouring up already!!

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Asparagus***150g
Beetroot Detroit Red Globe***1249g (Doc has pickled this)
Broad Beans Early Long Pods & Coles Early Dwarf***124g
Onions Red***200g
Strawberries***86g

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley.

Eggs
23 from the Farmyard Ferals
4 from the Ginger Girls
2 from Blackie

Bugs to the Rescue...Yet Again!

Scarecrow's Log: 1:11:2009:

Dusty Miller Centaurea gymnocarpa is flowering,
when it's finished I shall prune the plants back hard for shape.

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 4.9C
Lowest Max 19.8C
Highest Max 36C
No Recorded Rainfall

What's happening in the garden?

The Loganberries are setting fruit but with the arrival of the hot weather we've put the shadecloth cover over the bed...that black thing is the solar panel for the light in The Black Ninja's house ...the Strawberries on the ground (also ripening, yummy!) will benefit from the shade too.

The Berry Bed's living mulch of Red Clover was flowering.
This has now been cut as mulch for the berry plants!

We are under attack!! Well not us really but those nasty aphids that had invaded the Celery. Tiny wasps, Hoverflies and mostly Ladybirds/bugs have moved in to rescue us (well, that is, the celery).

...and even some tiny baby Ladybirds too!

After rescuing a couple of ladybirds from a bucket of water in the heat today I decided to make them a drinking tray with rocks in so that they are able to climb out!

Hoverflies love plants with tiny flowers
like this Yarrow Achillea millefolium.

Propagation:
Seeds:
Pumpkin Kakai a hull-free seeded variety
Beans Red Lima sown directly, into Tank Bed a
Beans Blue Lake sown directly, on the edge of Bed 3

Potting up and Planting out:

Potted up over 150 Old Man Saltbush Atriplex nummularia seedlings that had been donated to our town's Community Garden for a much needed windbreak.

Pumpkin Baby Blue seedlings planted into Bed 5

New in the Garden This week:
The Ginger Girls have been moved to their old run at the back of our house-block. We had a phone call from the chicken breeder this week to say our new chicks will be ready with in a month. These will be Barnevelders and Faverolles and we need to clean out the Orchard run and house ready for their arrival.

...and I thought I'd harvested all those Jerusalem Artichokes
but here they come again!!
I'll thin them out and get another crop!

Weekly Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily basis or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Asparagus***147g
Broad Beans Peruvian Emerald***2999g
Broad Beans***337g
Peas Blue Bantam Dwarf***490g
Tomato Ida Gold***57g
Strawberries***57g plus some tested for ripeness!

Plus a yummy mix of greens for soups/stirfries/salads...Kale, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Sea Parsley, Silverbeet.

Eggs
27 from the Farmyard Ferals
11 from The Ginger Girls
2 from Blackie