How can it be Autumn already?

It is not possible that it is Autumn.  It has come around so fast.  However we have been having lovely  warm days and quite cool no cold nights for us at this time of year.  We had a fire on over the weekend all day.  However this week is set to see temps warm up again.   Mind you I feel a wimp talking about cold when I look at blogs in the Northern Hemisphere where record levels of snow have been falling, I really have nothing to say about cold.  lol 

On a drive home from Cygnet (our little village closest to us) two days ago  I saw so many beautiful scenes and end of summer and colours that evoke cooler weather.  These rose hips just too attractive to not photograph.

The grape leaves have begun to change into their Autumnal colouring after the couple of quite cold nights we had

 

My DH's eldest daughter bought me a bunch of these the other day

such an amazing colour. I am not sure what they are called, 

they last for ages as cut flower

I have been getting some delicious cherry tomatoes, and runner beans.

The summer garden has not been a success as previously mentioned.  I am delighted to have any vegies coming from the garden.

My beautiful chooks are laying two eggs a day at present and my youngest one is finally looking as if her combs and wattles are beginning to grow.   I think I have two girls laying good eggs firm shells and lovely dark colours as Barnevelders should be.  I found an egg two days ago that was thin shelled and very flexible and fragile, it was also very pale.

 My four Barnevelders having their monthly worming treat.

This is one that weighs in at 43gms and

has this amazing speckle appearance.

Which you can see more clearly in the close up

below.

I went out a bit later in the day when their had been a raucous lot of clucking to be able to take this photo.  No other chookie was about so I think she may have been singing out to celebrate, or is it moaning from the exertion?

Yes that is a golf ball.  It is my fake egg.

Seems to be working.

It is amazing what I see sometimes when I walk out the back door.  I was watching a Kookaburra sitting on a branch, and I decided to go and grab my camera.  He was sitting watching something in the undergrowth and just after I arrived back and took this shot he swooped down.  There was a rustle in the long dry summer grass, up he flew with a small rabbit in his mouth.  I was not quick enough to capture it, well the one photo I managed was just a bit of his wing. 

Ahhhh home is bliss!

Thankyou for your support, comments and prayers in respect to the last post they are very appreciated by us both.Oh it is so great to be home, just a little up date we have been travelling to Hobart for radiation treatment and now have no more appointments in Hobart YIPEEEE!   This will be our first weekend and week with no visitors, no appointments just my DH and me, well Toby, the cat and four chooks as well..lol
So the garden has really suffered this summer so far.The hope chest seedlings well most have fallen along the hard season due to weather and absences.   Being away so much and dealing with such emotional situation has seen not much action in the vegie garden, nor the garden in general.  Daisies giving up, salvia's so much and the rabbits have been breeding so lots of things nibbled.
I have discovered we have a couple of wallabies living in the bush that is part of our land just out the front door(well it is really back of the house) Every morning I hear them hop away when I go out side and often when no one has been out that way for a few hours you hear them.  It is a great place as they have the dam and protection. Toby does not chase them. 

It has been unconditionally hot here.  We have had 8 days in the last two weeks over 30d Celcius which is very weird.  So many of the plants I had put in have not survived as I have not been home to water them often enough.  Fortunately the chooks survived, the heat two days were over 38  clost on 100 degrees farenheit. 
We had no rain for the whole month of January.   Nights have been very warm for us too.  22d C at 7am yesterday!   YUK!      

Toby watching the formation of the storm, he was so hot that we put wet towels over him and I had to spray the chooks with water to keep them going yesterday.  Such a distressing thing to see your girls panting I kept checking on them to make sure they were drinking and almost bought them to the house to put them in the bathroom to cool off.
 The storm clouds get darker and darker, day becomes night...


 The storm broke and the sound of heavy rain filled not only the rain water tanks, but my heart.  I had watered the garden in the morning and knew that the ground would absorb the moisture and not just let it run off.

 The raspberry canes just may survive to give me some Autumn raspberries. 
 The grass was so long and so very dry that it made the place look such a mess, when combined with the two wattle (acacia) trees we had to have removed and all the debri that was lying around, it was just too much for me to tackle.  We have some lovely kids as neighbours and the 3 boys worked solidly for a couple of hours moving all the heavy timber and branches.  What a difference.  I paid them as I would have a man.  One of the boys was hoping to have enough money to buy an ice cream, his delight on his face when he realised that he could now buy a new game for his Wii?  was reward enough..lol. 
We came home on Wednesday to find one of our lovely neighbours had been over and mown this extra long grass, where the felled trees had been lying, and around the berry bed and near the house.  Such a genorous and unexpected gift. 

Basil I just do not seem to have any luck growing it. The planter I had started actually looks smaller than when it was first put in.  I can not work out what I do wrong!
In the picture on the right there is a pink label and just under it is a tomato plant that is not growing.
Anyone have any ideas what it is I am doing wrong?














Fortunately my French tarragon is growing really well this season.  I transplanted the dormant plant during winter out of the garden into a polystyrene box and it sits on the deck in full sun(as does the basil).My little watering gnomes help to keep the roots moist.

     

Look past the sweet pea flowers and you will see the freshly mown straw, it sure is not grass..lol.

  Many of my flowers also have suffered and our beautiful Happy Wander which climbs over the front fence of the deck is dying.  Wether this is due to too much winter spring rain or what.  There is one part of it that is greenish so I hope some of it will survive as it looks so lovely in flower in winter.  It will be interesting to see what grows back after this summer rain.  It has revived my need to get into the garden and sow some winter seeds. 

 

I do miss not having a camera, my neighbour has been great in lending me hers, however not keen to borrow it too often, I value our friendship!.lol

Okay I have begun my vegie garden with the sunken terracotta pots (no holes) that I purchased some time ago.  They have been dug into the bed and the saucers have become there lids.  I mulch over the lids when I fill the up.  The first two weeks they have been working well, as in I filled them and the tomato seedlings, beans and aubergine are surviving.  This week we have had 37mls of rain so I have not needed to refill them.  So far I only have organised one of my beds this way.  I had to cover this bed with hessian as the temperatures during the day and at night have been somewhat cold.  We have been having a fire in the house for a few nights a couple without and again needed on last night.  It is summer down here truely..lol
It does mean that I have still to finish putting my other seedlings out.  They look healthy and happy so hopefully this week.

The chooks are settling in well, and one hopes that at sometime Toby will stop rounding them up.  He does not do it all the time, and they ignore him often, but everyso often I look out the kitchen window and he has them all going round and round the silver birch.  They pop into the chook taj mahal and out the other side or just to escape him at times.  The two that are bigger have tried to let him know that they want to be left alone, by pecking at him.  The smaller two just flap and run often, so of course he chases them and rounds them up.
They are just begining to get the redness in their wattles and combs, they are about 13-15 weeks now and how delightful they are.   They are getting their full plumage now and the Barnevelders pattern is really lovely.  I love sitting in the sun stroking one they feel so soft, and the soft noise they make as they sit is beautiful.  I also love it when they lay in the sun with a wing up!


I noted raspberries on my vines today, not quite ripe so I have netted them a bit.
My cherries are hopeless this year!  I went out to net them but the birds had basically taken most and theyare still green, there were a lot that had not developed correctly either. I am putting it down to our weather and perhaps shock from when the tree was removed that was quite close to them. 

I have been getting some strawberries every day, just a good handful, as I am the only one that eats them apart from the lizards and snails, it is good.  I also had some lovely sugar snap peas the other day.  Morning tea consisted of strawberries and sugar snaps on the deck with a cup of chai.

The broad beans are nearly finished and have been a terrific crop over 10kgs.  yum!

I pulled some of the garlic on Monday as the leaves were almost dead as Toby had jumped on them, and as we were expecting more rain was concerned that they would get water inside and begin to rot.  Wonderful and I will have photos hopefully next posting.  (camera I hope will be back end of next week)

I went to the local herb and alternative therapy market last weekend. The weather was lousy but I was able to buy some horse raddish and other herbs, mostly for the chook run.  So they all have to have beds made and be put in, or I may put the wormwood in a large pot and place it near the Taj Mahal, to keep flies away. 
The others will go into a bed or two, and be fenced off until they are big enough to cope with the girls in and about them.

My kiwi fruit is flowering well one is, the other has buds, as they both have to flower to cross pollinate for fruit I am really hoping that very soon the other one's buds will open so fruit is on its way. 

My passionfruit has gone downhill, and I am going to buy another. If I can get one that is not grafted I may try that, or I just may get two.  One grafted and one not, and compare them.  I have decided these will go along the out side of the chook run fence. 
Well cool, wet and windy here in tassie.  I am not complaining as water tanks are full, things are green and growing.

Hope Chest is full of hope...

The Hope Chest has taken a bit of a battering, first lot of seeds were knocked over by my DH accidentally...

Second lot well a kind neighbour was looking after them for me whilst we went away on our holiday....

Something ate them all when they forgot to bring them inside at dusk.....

My third and final lot are showing promise.

Basil seeds sprouting..if anyone can tell me how to get them up in the garden by direct sowing I would love to know.

Dwarf Capsicum with a little capsicum on it already and more flowers developing.

 Bean, tomatoes, melon, seedlings

Nasturtiums,  zuchhinis, pumpkins, honey dew melon,

Eggplant (Aubergine), Chilis, tomatoes,

Choko(green wrinkled thing), Avacado seed, and Rockmelon

 

Fig and one of my grapes,

I have been picking Broad Beans, and still my silver beet is going well.  Some is begining to go to seed.  I have purple podded peas, and snow peas.  g

The warmer weather has seen the garden just go crazy.  Everything is growing at such a rate, I will have to do a lot of pruning when the flowers have ceased on many of my shrubs, as they are almost making the pathways impenetrable. The scent from the Jasmine flowers is rather heady on the warmer evenings, and the curry plant in the foreground is just budding up for flowers.

Between the Diosma (small flower shrub behind the foxgloves) and the white daisies is one of our paths, (which I had almost cleared and begun to regravel, in early winter) The rains put an end to that and now the pathway is overgrown, pretty but ...

It is an amazing year for the foxgloves, and in the background some of the broad beans I plantedin the flower beds are almost ready to pick the pods from.

The irises are still coming up, a lovely white on on the right of the picture, (my photos are not quite as good as a friend kindly lent me her camera and I have not any idea how to use it..lol)

 

New Leaves on my Kafir lime,

Look carefully you can see a flower bud or two on my Tahitian lime fingers crossed..









So all in all things are happening in my Spring Garden, and my hope chest is full of positive hope! 

 

Wind, water, washing and wallaby

This morning I was greeted by this site as I came out our front door.  Morning sunlight amongst the trees.  

 Quite beautiful. 

I decided that since it was going to be windy, with sunshine that it would be lovely to have the clothes dry out on the line instead of over the stair rails in side.  Which is how the drying has been happening for almost the last two months.  To show how much rain we have had over the last two months you can see the new water feature that has been added to our garden.  Not something we planned and it does make for interesting times when hanging out the washing. Very muddy and slippery.  Fortunately I did not add to my washing by slipping or muddying my clothes!

What I did not notice until it hopped away was a lovely Bellamy's wallaby that must have been coming down to drink at the new water feature, if you look at the picture below you can see it in the lower third of the photo.  I just caught him with the camera.  I must say it was lovely to have company as I hung the washing out.

Today is a day for catching up, finishing of the marmalade, generally tidying up, preparing for work and a night away from home.  I am also going to slow cook a roast chook today, for our dinner tonight.  

I made a cake last week apple and walnut (though I used pecans) and it looked lovely but oh it was lacking something.  It was heavy and well it has been fed to the worms in the worm farm, now that is unusual here.

So perhaps I will bake a butter cake/maderia cake.

My seedlings are doing well I have peas up, cabbage, and sunflower, sprouting quite well.  It must be the worm castings and potting mix I planted them in.  Now I am hoping that in several weeks I will be putting lovely healthy seedlings into my vegie beds.

I noted that the rocket has gone to seed, so that will mean some seeds for next season and maybe some will self seed, if I miss them. 

All in all a day a full of varied and different things, my darling man is cleaning out the gutters, in preparation for the next rain, they filled with wattle flowers, and gum leaves, and the other day they began to overflow in the extra heavy rain we were having.  Again there is snow on the Hartz mountains in the distance.  So still winter time in the south of Tasmania. 

Our Garden and some of our home grown produce

Dec 2008. I am so lucky my DH gave me a lovely digital camera for Christmas, and I have been getting used to it by taking photos of our garden. You will get an idea how dry it is, and why I was so upset when I accidentally left the tap on and we lost one whole tank of water. (reliant on tank water). Despite this my garden is growing, my new seedlings are taking. It is a work in progress, and fencing things to save them from the possums, wallabies, potaroos, bandicoots, and birds, has been a on going learning curve. The netting over the raspberries is working well. We have been eating raspberries from our garden. We have also been feeding the neighbours chooks, and getting eggs and some raspberries from their vines too. I picked a kilo to share for Christmas lunch. One of the covers over the cherries is fine, but the other cherry was invaded by a mother black bird and her three young, we evicted them and felt we had sealed the net up well. Only to come out the next day to find little birds in the cherry tree. Still we did end up with a lovely bowl of cherries from this tree, which we also took to share with family Christmas day. Much sweeter (if smaller) than the bought ones.