New vege patch #4

New vege patch #4
Originally uploaded by Catch That Mountain View

This is the ariel view (taken from the deck) of the new vege patch at the front side part of the house. This area we predict will actually be the best place for growing veges - it gets the most sun, most of the day. We will eventually have 4 here in a grid pattern, one to the right of this one, then two more further on.

I have planted in there some heirloom lettuce from The Lost Seed (see link to the right). As well as some other seeds from The Lost Seed including Butternut pumpkin (from the 1930's). The seedlings you can see at the top of the picture are Celery and the one lone one along side the two steps is a cucumber bush plant. Not sure what it will do - but will wait and see.

The soil in this area is beautiful. None of the rock and sandstone we kept hitting in the back vege patches. And with A's new hoe to do the plot prep it was a lot of fun.

New plantings in Vege patch

New plantings in Vege patch
Originally uploaded by Catch That Mountain View

With a beautiful Sunday to be outside I bought a whole new batch of vege seedlings to replant my vege patch. I have read about crop rotation - but not fully sure of the theory. I decided anyway to at least plant all the lettuce in the reverse bed to last. (that's all the lettuce in the foreground). I have also planted some red cabbage, more rocket, and also some weird looking "round" carrots and some spring onions. This time as well , i have also planted the first of the asian veges. I hope to eventually have continual asian veges going for stir frys etc. (like bok choi). They suit cooler climates and can be grown in throughout the year.

In the far back of the photo you can see the peas and beans slowing climbing up towards heaven.

The New Chooks

It seems a little heartless, but really the right thing to do for Mrs Fatso (and me!) - We replaced the dead chooks with news ones within a couple of days. We have acquired a laying araucana (Miracle), a young black chook (Blacky! (again!) ), two young icy browns (Berry & Marmalade (again!) and a young Rhode Island Red called 'ranger. (slang for orangatang, in turn slang for a red headed person - not really politically correct, but kind of funny at the same time) . The naming of them was interesting. I'm not sure if it's a difference between boys and girls, - A's 7yr old girl carefully named her chooks. A's 9 yr old boy, just named them the same again!

None of those are laying yet - and in fact are so skinny from lack of food as wells as maturity, they have slipped right through our wooden gate and into the yard on a couple of occasions. This wouldn't be a problem except for two things - my vege patch is right next to the chook run and our kelpie hasn't been fully tested for his chook hunting abilities. Here is a slide show of some of the new ones.

3 Chooks have died

Sad news to report today. Three of our four chooks were killed by a fox last night. A' found two beheaded chooks in the pen this morning, (Blacky and Arky the Arakuna) with Marmalade completely gone, abliet a few feathers. A suspects she was taken off. Mrs Fatso - the head of the chooks lived to see another day. We can only assume a fox has gone into their nesting pen during the night and dragged them out one by one and didn't go back for Mrs Fatso. It's a strange feeling. Chook's aren't like dogs, where it would be devestating, but there is a sense of loss, and a sad feeling of the terror that the chooks would have suffered for a short while. I had tears in my eyes, but not a all out blubber. It's almost a feeling of this is what happens in the country and I need to get used to it. Having said that we will now be closing the pen gate (which we hadn't been doing) at night time now. The gate separates their pen to the run they spend the day in. A (and now I) really hate foxes, - they don't just take what they need - they also massacre everything else just for fun. We have been down to the local old guy who sells chooks and such (affectionately known as chookman sheepman to the locals.) He lives in this big old property at the deadend of a street nearby. His living quarters is an old caravan. There are chooks and duck running around everywhere. The story goes that he lived in a beautiful house which was burnt down by a rogue relative - and thus the insurance was void. So he now spends his days in this caravan, occasionally greeting locals who stop by to buy a chook. This morning we brought a replacement arakuna - but will wait to replace the others until later in the week.
I will post photos of the new chooks in the next few days as they arrive. (click here to read blogs about our old chooks)

Native Spear Grass

You can see in this photo our native spear grass that A acquired from a native nursery. These plants are impossible to buy commercially really - as they can't be grown - they are only found in bush and come available when there is replanting etc required. More can be read about this rare plant here

The Wooded Glen

We have expanded the back path also known as "the wooded glen" with liliope? sp? that mum gave us. It's really forming now. It continues beyond this photo to a stroll under a tree and out to the back near the chook pen.

Herb Garden #2

Planted on 28/12/08 featuring:
Santolina
Santolina Greek
Vietnamese Mint
Greek Basil
Chives
Varigated Oregano
Oregano
Marjoram (dead already from the monster lab - Larry)