Earlier in the week we’d set aside fifteen minutes to do what was meant to be a simple work task. Due to recent changes, what had once been easy, has become bafflingly complicated. Three quarters of an hour later, the matter had been resolved to a satisfactory conclusion, but we were left shaking our heads wondering how things have gotten this hard. A graduate would have been destroyed by the challenge, but we’re made of tougher stuff having long been abraded by the uncaring demands of bureaucrats who come up with these systems.
You don’t need to convince me that there are diminishing returns on increasing complexity! Things were easier in the past. Far out! The house insurance bill arrived in the mail this week. Is it normal to feel relieved that the increase over last year was only 9.4%? We’ll still phone the nice insurer up and request an explanation, which theoretically may knock a few hundred bucks off the bill. Always worth the effort, although like every other bureaucratic process, it’s made painful and time consuming. Candidly speaking, if the bill had risen at the official rate of inflation, which is a hard-to-take seriously 3.5%, I’d not call them, and they wouldn’t have to take the call. Things don’t work that way though, do they?
This sort of stuff eats up my time, personally and professionally. I’d have to suggest that it is all counter productive and produces very little of consequence for all the effort involved. The cynical side suggests that wasting our time is the goal.
This week marked the official commencement of the season of Spring – whatever that means – on this continent. It’s an enormous chunk of land down here, with a multitude of climactic zones, and my local weather has almost nothing in common with say, the city of Cairns up in the far north eastern tropical coast. Yet, it’s spring now in Australia and the growing season here at least, is in it’s early phase.
We made the difficult decision today to finish the forest clean up work for the winter season. Regular readers will recall that we’d been doing lots of this in July and August. It’s complicated. Right now, the land is very damp after a wet start to the year. Bonfires are nice and all, but embers can waft up into the lofty tree canopy and begin a fire. I’ve not had this happen to me, but I’ve seen a 50m / 165ft tall tree in this area with a fire way up in the canopy which was started from a bonfire ember. The tree had to be felled otherwise the fire would spread. I wanted nothing to do with that situation, but had to help out all the same. And the felling job was stuffed up by the person. A couple of alarming hours of my life wasted, which I’d not want to repeat. Next time I’d advise the person to contact the emergency services.
Anyway, once the ground vegetation dries up enough, even if it has rained, an unattended fire can begin creeping away from the core. Those are the traditional times of the year that the land was burned by the indigenous folks in this area, and it makes perfect sense. The fire cleans up a lot of small plants, dead woody material, gets fire reliant seeds germinated, and the ash is a fertile growing bed devoid of plant competition. There’s a lot to like. And if a big fire comes through later in summer when the winds and temperature are on the up, then it’s impossible to burn what has already been burnt – so the big fires get stopped in their tracks. We try to do that same work, but with mowers, physical labour and chainsaws. But is it enough to reduce the summer fire risk here? I don’t know.
In the distant future, I’m almost certain that cool burning the land will be used again. Right now though, I’d almost certainly face serious local censure for attempting that activity, and nobody wants to be the most hated person on the mountain range! I’ve heard about the guy who set off the fire at the waterworks in 1983 using an angle grinder in long grass, over forty years later! A cautionary tale. Also the state government has a massive amount of resources which would likely be thrown at putting the fire out. A very complicated solution, for a simple problem.
The plants are beginning to wake up from their winter slumber.
The other day I noticed one of the local ‘mother shield ferns’ (Polystichum proliferum) producing new fronds, the tips of which will eventually hold little baby plants – thus the common name. A lovely plant which gives the place a cool vibe, even when the thermometer suggests that the air in the shade is over 40’C / 104’F. All this growth is a sign, that the time has come to walk away from the forest clean up and look to the needs of the plants growing here.
Last week, the roses and raspberry beds were thinned, pruned and fed. This week we got stuck into the grape vines and blackberries. During the most recent summer, some of the grapevines had issues with fungal diseases. In order to address this issue, we’ve removed the many lavender plants which grew next to the enclosure. This will allow more light, air movement and heat into the grape cage.
The ten vines grow along two levels of very sturdy stainless steel wires (on each side) which they’ve been trained to grow upon. A few days ago all of the vines were given a hard prune. Sandra did half, I did the other half, and then we swapped sides and went back over each others work. This could be a challenging prospect for many couples, but professionally we’ve always had to check each others work, and have long become accustomed to that. There’s something to be said about acting with civility!
The ground had become quite weedy, so I nuked the plants and mulched up the grape cuttings with the utility mower set on it’s lowest setting. This machine has been something of a lemon in the past, so it’s always exciting as to whether it will start or otherwise. But when it works, it does a great job.
A garden hoe was used to remove the weeds growing close to the trunks of the vines. We’re still a bit concerned about the fungal issue though, and decided to dump a whole bunch of crushed rock with lime over the surface. Not only will the enclosure be more pleasant to use in wet weather, but the rocks and fines will slowly filter into the soil, and as everyone knows, a bit of extra lime helps reduce the incidence of fungi.
The interesting aspect of this crushed rock is that as it is walked upon, the small rocks abrade one against the other, and slowly over time produce even more fines which will end up in the soil. A garden hoe and regular patrols will be enough to keep the enclosure weed free for the rest of the growing season.
The blackberry enclosure was also heavily pruned and weeded. We did exactly the same process, but cut out any old and dead canes. A few of the plants had grown too large and were thinned, with two being relocated.
The limed path in the blackberry enclosure was deemed good enough for a big old dog to lay down in and enjoy the early spring warmth!
We’re unhappy with the blackberry enclosure. The plants are spaced too closely together and the path is too narrow once they produce their enormous canes. So we’ve been hatching longer term plans to widen the enclosure. Without going into too many details, the path and row on the right hand side will be lowered in height yet both made wider. A rock wall will be installed to retain the soil on the left hand row, which will also be made wider than at present.
On the downhill side of the blackberry enclosure, is the long row of gabion cages. There is heaps of room to expand the path and garden beds into that area. There’s just the little detail of finishing that massive undertaking!
The third layer of gabions now has two full cages. The second was sewn shut this week.
The area immediately above those first two cages has two enormous boulders that we were unable to split. We did try… They’ll soon form part of a new rock wall for a path leading down into the blackberry enclosure (which may happen during winter). In the meantime, to shore up the soil slope below these two monsters, we’ll create the patented Fernglade crazy rock paving, which has been used successfully elsewhere. Work on that task began this week.
Sort of flattish rocks were brought back up the hill from the forest edge.
The rocks were then laid in place where they fit best. Eventually crushed rock with lime will be poured between the joins and gaps, and it’ll set pretty firmly.
Another steel rock gabion cage was made, which will be the third in that top layer of cages. We’re getting pretty fast at making these things, but it still requires a couple of hours work.
Just prior to a late lunch of garden fresh pesto, a chunk of tasty cheddar cheese, all slathered on hot bread just out of the oven, we finished making the new gabion cage.
It took a few minutes, but we soon had the new cage in place waiting to receive loads of rocks.
Observant readers will note that the blackberry bed sits just above the long line of gabion cages.
Earlier on Sunday morning, I had a few hours free on my hands, and decided to head down to the forest edge and begin breaking up a couple of boulders into large rocks for various projects.
That lot should be used in the coming week.
One day midweek was extraordinarily wet and cold, and so outdoor work was out, and indoor work was in! A few months ago I bought a mid 1990’s old Yamaha amplifier. It sounds flat to my ears and is in need of a freshen up. The replacement parts were about $45, and I began the methodical work of removing old parts, and replacing them with new ones. Unfortunately the job couldn’t be completed because I’d purchased some parts which were the correct ratings, but the wrong shape. Replacements were ordered, and now all that is required is to wait for the parts to arrive from the land of stuff.
It’s been wet enough that Ollie and I had to clear off a couple of mountain ducks which were testing out the local amenities.
The carob tree is a self fertile variety and has produced about a dozen pods. I’m waiting for them to turn a darker colour and then they’ll be ready to dehydrate. I was surprised last year to discover the powder comes from the pods and not the seeds. Who knew?
Silverbeet (chard) and Radish are growing fast in these conditions. We deliberately crowd in the silverbeet plants to ensure they don’t grow too fast which gives us a longer supply of smaller fresh leaves.
After last week’s feed and salting, the Asparagus spears are roaring through the fertile soil. These plants probably require the best quality soils of anything growing here, but they’re worth it. Most years we have spears to pick from for about six months.
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 8’C (46’F). So far for this year there has been 912.8mm (35.9 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 886.0mm (34.9 inches)