It’s funny how the climate and seasons can twist, turn and dance to their own beat. One minute you’re thinking that the rains have returned, the next finds you in an old school proper Indian summer. Happens every year, and the mysterious topsy-turvy spring portends cooler and moister weather, maybe. But that ain’t here tonight. It’s warm and the doors and windows are thrown open. Pesky thrips flutter around the the devices us humans use to ward off the dark night. At least there’s no need to run the wood heater!
Just took the large dog Ollie out into the evening to do his business. The warm air is quite pleasant. The journey took an unexpected turn because the canine almost met Kuato the overfed possum. Belying the unathletic appearance, the marsupial bounded high up into a fig tree out of harms way. Plenty of ‘Leave it!’ commands were heard before the Bull Arab admitted defeat and did what was expected of him.
The fig was a gift from a local many long years ago now. The story was recounted that her grandfather had sourced a cutting of the original plant when he was a young bloke and travelling in northern Africa. The tree here is now many generations old, and given the rate that the tasty fruit is disappearing, it’s clear the local wildlife are enjoying the benefits of the tree.
At the base of the fig tree grow a few varieties of the local ferns. They’ve been growing in that garden bed for a year now, or is it two? Hard to remember such details. Anyway, it’s easier to recall that the weather has suddenly turned warm and dry again, mostly because each day there is a long list of plants which require water. And those ferns are some of the plants which have required a little bit of watering each day, not much, just enough to keep them alive. It’s not a quick job.
Elsewhere on the property, some of the tree ferns appear to have died. At this stage, it’s hard to know whether those ferns have actually died, or whether the deer and other wildlife have merely eaten all of the fronds. The answers to these and more questions will be revealed in time. Right now though, they’re not looking all that healthy.
Hot and dry summer growing seasons can be super productive, if a garden has access to plentiful water. The extra energy from the heat causes plants to grow fast, and if they can obtain heaps of water to drink, well, that’s the very definition of the tropics, isn’t it? On the other hand, if it doesn’t rain here regularly, there’s only the water stored in the tanks. That can be used, until that runs out. It’s a finite resource.
Fortunately things are not yet dire with the water reserves here, but it’s not a comfortable story either. Regular readers will recall that last week, several oak tree seedlings were relocated to a sunnier location. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and with the weather surprisingly turning warm and dry again, those trees have to be regularly watered. Moving a tree is easy when there is plenty of regular rainfall, that just hasn’t been the case.
A plan formed. Connect up a garden tap and hose near to the oak trees. Seemed easy enough. On Thursday we travelled about half an hours drive to the nearest big outer suburban area. The town has an irrigation supply shop, as well as a big box hardware store. Australian’s will know which one it is.
Both businesses seemed well stocked, although they appeared quieter than previous experiences. That may have been because the visit occurred around lunch time, but it’s hard to know really. Anyway, grabbed all of the various parts required to complete the rest of the water tank / pump project. That was when sticker shock set in. Was all that stuff really $400? Turns out it was.
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock? Forget about what you’re told, prices are definitely on the up. Years ago with visits to such stores, you’d chuck a few of those items over there into the basket, maybe some of those other ones as well, they’ll be useful at some point in the future. Forget about that nowadays! Before venturing to the store, I’d already raided the spare parts bins here, and about half of the parts for the recent water system upgrades didn’t need to be purchased – they were already here waiting to be used.
Prices, prices, prices. When we planted out the first fruit trees, they were $10 each, and some cost less than that. Nowadays a fruit tree will cost anywhere between $40 and $60. Having known many of those trees for over a decade and then some, you get to realise that some of those trees aren’t producing well. Quinces for some reason are a total disappointment here, regardless of where they were sourced. Removing some of them might free up growing space and resources which can be redirected to the remaining trees. Dunno. Fertiliser is not cheap either.
The ever rising prices gives the thoughtful person a moment’s pause for thought. It’s an unsettling period of cogitation. What does it all mean? Most likely it’s probably not good. The idea formed that at some point in the not too distant future, due to economic realities, we may no longer be able to expand the infrastructure here. There’ll be a point reached where the funds we do have and earn, will probably go towards maintaining what’s already here. Beyond that point, the future looks dark, although the plan is always to eat well, as will Kuato and company! When faced with this big picture stuff, all a person can ever do is take action and hope for the best. It’ll be fine, maybe.
The dry weather was motivating, and many hours of work this week was (please excuse the pun) poured into the water systems. As part of the work, four treated pine posts were cemented into the ground. The posts themselves were used in the original chicken enclosure. They were recovered years ago when we dismantled the structure. Three of the four posts will support garden taps, whilst the other one will support a quick release (cam-lock) connector for an electric water pump which won’t be used very often, so doesn’t need to sit out in the sun and rain all day, every day.
There are water pumps at each end of that long line of water tanks. One pump sends water downhill, whilst the other sends water uphill. In the above image the pump housing and system there sends water uphill. It’s not a bad idea to have a garden tap near to that location, so a treated pine post was cemented into the ground.
On a sunny warm morning, a couple of hours work connected up a garden tap to that system and timber post. Plus observant readers will note that in the next image, my hand is resting on a very solid hose hanger.
Another post was cemented into the ground near to where the oak trees were relocated last week.
A day’s work earlier in the week extended the existing downhill water system to that timber post. It’s got a tap and neat hose hanger as well. The oak trees can now be watered easily using a hose. It’s worthwhile mentioning that we can now send water downhill at least 60m / 200ft below the greenhouse. Not a bad idea if there is a bushfire.
If you look really closely at the timber fence post nearest to Ollie, you’ll observe that we’ve begun to install fence extenders so as to keep the Sambar deer out of that large enclosure.
And whilst deer have been bounding the fence, the wombats and rabbits have been burrowing under it. Yes, there is much work yet to be done with that fence. And one of the two under fence mischief makers have dug up and eaten all of the sugar beets. All of them. They were probably sweet and tasty what with being 20% sugar.
At least the newly relocated oak trees are growing well and enjoying their new sunnier location.
Two other treated pine posts were cemented into the ground next to the large plastic house overflow water tank. One of the posts will have a garden tap attached, whilst the other is for a quick release (cam-lock) connector which can attach a water pump. With those two connections, water can be sent uphill from the long line of water tanks to the house overflow tank, or from the house overflow tank further up the hill to the house water tanks. Is that all clear? Hope so! Just to confuse matters further, with the system, it can even send water directly from the long line of water tanks, all the way back uphill to the house water tanks. This hot and dry year, the system in it’s makeshift form has proven that it is necessary.
A whole lot of dead vegetation had to be removed near to the large water tank in the above image. A couple of rabbits have made their burrows in that impenetrable mess, as well as a few disturbingly large rats. The plan over the next month or so is to remove the last of the Echium plants from any garden beds. They just produce too much dense woody material which naughty critters love, and the dogs can’t get into. Fortunately the plant is a softwood species and the chainsaw eats up such organic material.
Apparently Easter Tuesday burn off restrictions will be lifted. The Echium material will slowly then be burnt off, but we’ll wait until the conditions are safe to do so. You can always tell that an election is soon to be held for any government, because a burn off was conducted in the nearby state forest. About time too, lazy so-and-so’s.
Another plant was removed this week, but for different reasons. It was a succulent ground cover known as ‘baby sun rose’. A truly great and super hardy plant, it was simply in the wrong location and was taking over. We’ve decided to relocate a round raised garden bed to that location instead.
The many Japanese maple seedlings which were dug out and potted up earlier in the growing season, are now almost little trees. They sure grow fast those plants, and best of all, they were free!
In the warm weather this week, most of the seeds for the winter vegetables have germinated. And they’re growing fast too in the suddenly warm weather.
This year we grew a new type of berry which I’d not seen nor heard of before. The plant was a gift from a visitor a few years ago, and at one point was even pulled out of the ground because we’d confused it with a weed! It s worth noting that the plant has only been watered less than a handful of times all summer long, yet it produced some very fine tasting berries. They’re so tasty and reliable I was recently pondering the idea of removing all of the blueberries and replacing them with the Midyim berries.
We’ve already harvested plenty of the pumpkin crop, however the suddenly warmer week is working wonders with the fruit still remaining on the vines.
The wildlife are always up to interesting activities. The smaller birds often use the dogs water bowls as a water source and swimming hole. Earlier today I spotted a Fairy Wren using the water in the dish to spruce up her feathers. Perhaps the lady was heading out on a date?
This week’s video is on the relocating of the oak trees:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 9am is 15’C (59’F). So far for last year there has been 150.2mm (5.9 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 148.6mm (5.9 inches)