Fruit and Flowers

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Posted on May 6, 2014

We planted the new blueberry bushes on Sunday.

We bought 3 each of 4 different varieties that seemed appropriate for our climate. I collected enough rocks to create a border around the new patch. At the moment there is residual grass but we are planning to mulch the entire area. We will order a load of pine mulch which is acidic and suitable for the blueberries. Underneath the mulch we will place several layers of newspaper to suppress the grass.

The passionfruit vince which we bought at the same time as the blueberries has been planted next to the chicken run so that it can grow on the fence..

Finally, I wanted to show you one of the ornamental plants in our garden. It is a gorgeous apricot hibiscus which was here when we came. The shrub is nothing to look at but the flowers are stunning. Here is one that managed to escape under the old sleeper which is placed to stop the chickens escaping under the fence. There are lots more buds on the plant and soon it will be covered with beauties like this.

We are considering planting the garden bed infront of the verandah with a selection of hibiscus shrubs. There is a display at Woombye (Sunshine Coast) on Saturday so we are hoping to go and get a few ideas.

The New Arrivals

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Posted on May 3, 2014

On Thursday evening there was a card in our mailbox advising that there was a large parcel at the Post Office for us to collect. We collected the box early on Friday morning before we went to work. It was our fruit trees that we ordered online from Daley’s Nursery. We ordered 12 blueberry bushes and a passionfruit vine.

Here is the box after I had slit one side open (as suggested in the attached instructions). The plants were well-packed and in excellent condition. Once again, we followed the directions and removed all of the wrapping and put them out in full sun.

We watered them well and have placed them in the area where they will be planted – hopefully tomorrow. It may be a bit difficult to see in the photo but I had already placed rocks to mark where we are going to plant them so it will be a relatively simple matter of digging the holes. The ground is quite soft as we have had some rain. Blueberries thrive in a slightly acidic soil. I have never actually tested the pH of our soil but the other indicator is that azaleas and camellias grow really well in our area and they like very similar conditions.

We have four other blueberry shrubs which are in the area which is now the chicken run. You can read about them in this previous post. We did not give them as much care as they probably needed but we still managed to harvest about 1.5kg of berries this summer. That was predominantly from 2 shrubs. We have now pruned them quite hard and mulched them thoroughly.

The other exciting news is that we have completely finished fencing the vegetable garden area.

As well as the completed fencing you may also be able to see the black hoops over the garden bed in the distance. This is some large poly pipe which I am planning to use as a frame for some exclusion netting to keep the white cabbage moth off the broccoli, kale, cabbages and cauliflower. I am looking at buying the vege netting from Green Harvest. We are fortunate that this business is located in Maleny so we are able to place our order online and then pick it up in person.

The chickens are rather unhappy that they are now permanently excluded from the garden area and all of the freshly dug soil and earthworms.

Weekend Work & Chicken Wings

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Posted on April 30, 2014

It is Wednesday already and it is nearly a week since my last post. I have been busy doing things instead of writing and unfortunately have not always had the camera handy. However, here are a few photos of some of the things we did on the weekend.

The existing blueberry bushes have been pruned, enclosed with wire surrounds and mulched thoroughly. These bushes have been in for several years but are now in the wrong place as they are located within the new chicken run. I previously had the entire area enclosed to prevent the chickens from digging around them and exposing the roots but I decided that individual enclosures were a better idea.

The fencing around the perimeter of the vegetable gardens is almost complete. I the meantime I have temporarily closed off the last bit to exclude the chickens. This meant that I was able to prepare a new garden bed and be safe in the knowledge that it would not be dug up immediately by the marauding feathered army. The rock edging is made from some of the hundreds of rocks that litter our property. The bed is inside the fence nearest to the house so I plan to make this into a herb garden.

Finally, I clipped the wings of the chickens in order to make sure that they could not fly over the 1200mm fence into the vegie garden. I had wanted to do this for ages but never felt quite brave enough. With some advice from an online forum, a Youtube video and The Duke to hold the chicken I was able to clip the flight feathers on one wing of each chicken. The exercise seems to have been successful as there has been no more instances of flying over fences.

Planning – A Haircut

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Posted on April 24, 2014

I had my hair cut yesterday. Now that does not sound terribly exciting but I planned it carefully. You see, it is 15 weeks tomorrow evening until we fly to the UK for 6 weeks and since I regularly have my hair cut about every 7 weeks it was important for me to have it done just before we go.

We also have a milestone birthday celebration for The Duke 6 days before we leave so I want my hair to be freshly cut for that event.

When I went to the hairdresser I discussed all of this and with the aid of a calendar we worked out the appropriate dates. I will have 2 more haircuts before we leave – 12th June and again on 31st July. I will look a bit like a shaggy dog when we arrive back in the third week of September so another haircut will be on the agenda as soon as possible after we return.

The other thing we did this week was more directly related to our upcoming trip. We had new passport photos taken and sent off the forms for the renewal of our passports.

Project 333 – My Favourite

Finally – A Fence

Birthday Business

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Posted on April 20, 2014

Today is my birthday. No particular milestone but time to reflect on the year that has passed and look forward to the year ahead. I have been blessed with lots of lovely messages from family and friends.

Our wedding anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and we did not have a particular celebration for either event. However, in the past fortnight we have had a picnic with family, been to the movies twice and eaten out at our local Italian restaurant.

Today we spent the time together working in the garden – re-arranging, planting and naturally planning the next project. My brain works faster than my hands!

I did stop and make lunch which was as good as any cafe offering and the view from the deck is pretty special, too.

I hope you are having a relaxing Easter break.

6 Days Later

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Posted on April 18, 2014

It is hard to believe that it is 6 days since I last wrote a blog post. I am still here but have been busy.

The day after my last post we went on a picnic with a group of my extended family. I had intended to take some photos but that did not happen. We had planned this outing a few weeks earlier but unfortunately a late-season cyclone put a bit of a dampener on the event. We went ahead as planned at Suttons Beach on the Redcliffe Peninsula, north of Brisbane.

It didn’t quite look like this last weekend but I would highly recommend it as a venue, especially if you have young children as there is plenty of grassed areas, fabulous playgrounds and a sheltered beach within easy reach.

Regardless of the weather, I am blessed to be able to share events like this with my extended family and see everyone enjoying each other’s company. I have been reading a series of posts today on a popular forum about family relationships and particularly between children and their grandparents. I am saddened to read of the bitterness and resentment that various family members hold against their parents and children. The reasons are many and I am sure some are entirely valid, however, it reminds me to be thankful for my exceptional family who are very dear to me.

This weekend we finally have some glorious autumn weather and The Duke and I are making the most of it by getting some jobs done in the garden. I hope to take some photos and wil share them with you tomorrow.

Foodie Friday – Kids in the Kitchen

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Posted on April 12, 2014

I didn’t get back to post this last night. Miss O and Izz have been staying for a couple of days so the food focus has clearly been about them. They enjoyed shopping at Simply Good yesterday and discussing many of the different fruits, nuts and grains that we bought. Miss O was keen to practise her recently acquired spelling skills to read the names of the ingredients on the storage buckets and fill them up when we arrived home.

They picked pumpkins and tomatoes as well as collecting eggs. It is great to see them understanding where their food comes from. 4 year old Izz wanted an anatomy lesson on how the eggs get out of the chickens!!

Tomorrow we are going to a picnic with extended family so I made some choc fruit nut balls and Miss O helped by rolling the balls in the coconut.