05 January 2011

December

20110102m Lavender
Lavender field as at end December 2010

20110102l The veggie garden
Vegetable garden as at end December 2010

After a very hot November, we had rain for pretty much the first three weeks of December. And the weeds grew like wildfire. Luckily the weather has been pretty good since Christmas. I haven't managed to get into the vege garden to deal to the weeds, but I've had a couple of goes at weeding the lavender and it's not looking too bad. Still lots to go though and I started with the easy stuff.

You can't really see from the photo above but I have a lot of veges growing in the garden. Everything is obscured by all the potatoes and a few weeds which have sprung up lately. The vege count this month is:

Potatoes: HEAPS. None are ready and not sure if they will be either as they are last years stock replanted
Lettuce: 6 Planted 1 a week and all coming ready now
Brassica: 6 (two broccoli, two cabbage and two cauliflower) Planted 1 a week and the early ones are doing alright but the later ones are swamped by the potatoes
Tomatoes: Planted 6 Roma but only 3 survived. Planted another 3 beefsteak. Plus 2 more beefsteak and 2 cherry tomatoes planted in pots on the deck
Zucchini: 1 Only planted one this year after the success of last years
Cucumber: 2
Capsicum: 1
Pumpkin: 2 Found a couple growing wild in the compost heap and successfully transplanted them into the vege garden where they are now growing quickly and have flowers too
Sunflower: 0 The kids planted one each but they got bent over in a storm and seem to have died
Strawberries: The shade cloth I put over didn't really work. The ones where there is no weedmat are completely covered by weeds. Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Coming along nicely although the bird net blew off and it took me a while to put it back on again
Plums: Yes, we have a plum tree I never knew about and it is fruiting lovely this year

In late November/early December we had a family of starlings living in an old watering can that was hanging outside the front door. Every time we went outside, mummy bird would fly away. Every time she came home the babies would squawk and make a racket. But it was fascinating to watch them grow. It took just over two weeks from when they were eggs, to when they flew the nest. When I realised they were gone I felt quite sad, as I'd gotten used to mummy birds comings and goings.

20101122b Birds nest 20101129a Baby birds 20101202c Baby birds 20101208a Baby birds 20101213a Baby birds

P and I have finally been able to put some work in to clearing the logs and rubbish from the bottom paddock, logs which have been there since the big storm two and a half years ago. Am hoping to continue the momentum in January.

-M