Aug 30 Plantings

Today I put in some peas - 2 varieties, some capsicum seedlings and 3 azaleas. 

The pea seeds I put in ages ago were mostly eaten by some thing before they even sprouted, and those that did sprout got attacked by slugs and snails.  I even put in more seeds but that same things happened.  Hopefully these seedlings will take off.

The capsicums are in bed 4.  I added 1 bag of compost and 1 of chicken manure and mixed that around on top of whatever was still in the bed.  Then I added 2 bags of garden soil but only to 1 half as it wasn't going to be enough to fill it all.  I will have to get some more soil to fill up the other half of the bed.

The azaleas are outside the laundry.  We used to have a self sown olive tree - at least I think was an olive.  We did get these tiny black berries on it over summer.  I am amazed the poor thing actually survived.  It never got watered, was in bed only 18 inches wide and next to our neighbours garage wall.  If you are wondering why I am talking in past tense about the tree - hubby cut it down once the solar panels got installed.  It had gotten tall enough to cast shadow on the roof.  So rather than do annual maintenance to cut it back he took the whole thing out.  Oh well.  It wasn't like we used the fruit from it.  He also removed all the mulch from the bed it was in and all that was lying around on the path.  I was very annoyed by that.  I think I may have mentioned it.

But now I have some pretty azaleas to relace it.  Two pinks and one white.  I hope they like their new home.  My parents have an azalea that was planted over 50 years ago and it is still going strong.

Everything got mulched with sugar cane mulch.  I like this stuff.  It comes in a big bag and seems to spread quite far.

In a few days I will get more soil and fill up the rest of bed 4.  Not sure what veges to put in.  Maybe some pumpkins?  The pansies and primulas in bed 3 look good.  I think I will put in a couple of tomatoes in between these.

I am also thinking of getting 3 more of the same beds to fill up my lawn space.  I watered the whole lot the other day with weed kill.  It doesn't appear to be doing much yet, but I know it will and it will be fairly sudden.  If not, well I will just go over it again

I would also like to do something with the space under the clothesline  - we have a large rotary line.  There was a plant in that bed but I cut it out as it was getting in the way of the clothes on the line.  so now I have weed infested garden bed.  The issue I have with this bed is that it is out the back and I'm sure the dogs would dig it up.  They get into one of the rose beds and dig around one of them.  They are only trying to get cool but it is so annoying.  I go out the back and find dirt and mulch all over the path and a dog asleep under the rose bush.

Solar Panels and Worm Farms

The solar panels have been up and running for about 2  months now.  We have all the gauges in place too so now we can keep a eye on what each panel is doing all by it's lonesome.  It sure has kept hubby busy of a night.  He likes to 'tinker' with any new toy he gets to see how it works.

I did some pruning yesterday as today is green bin day.  We intend on pulling out the front lawn and some of the front yard garden bed so we can easily get cars in and out - we now have 4 of them.  So I started to chop up some of the plants in the garden bed.  It will be a long process if I only use the green waste bin.  It only gets cleared every 2 weeks and I don't believe in packing things in there tightly.  I have seen hubby do that and sometimes it gets stuck in the bin.

I also had a good look at the vege patches.  I still need to fill the last one with soil and remove all the grass from around them all.  I had started to dig up the grass, but I think I will just give it a good weed spray and then cover it with my preferred mulch.  So much easier on the back and hands.  Won't being do it today though - too windy.

I planted some pea seeds awhile ago.  I put in 20 - most of the germinated but nearly all of them have been eaten by snails (I'm guessing).  The plot they are in was not mulched so when I do that and plant some more seeds they should grow for me.  I'm happy with the way the spinach and the lettuces have grown, though the mignonette ones are still quite small. I picked one last night to have with dinner  but since I was not home to finish off dinner it got left in the fridge - oh well it can go on our lunch.  I added some spinach to last nights lasagne - eldest asked what it was as she ate dinner, but it has no flavour when cooked with other foods.  That's a good thing in my book.  The leaves are large and thick, have a have a thick stalk and  holes in them.  I want to give carrots another go too.

I have been thinking I will get some large-ish pots and plant them up for veges too and put them along the edge of the vege area.  That will then give the drivers a visual on how far up the lawn they can go.  I have some edging I want to put in to separate those 2 areas and to keep the mulch where it belongs.

I have also been thinking again that I need to put together a worm farm.  I found an old polystyrene box we've got lying around that I thought had been thrown out.  I checked the internet for make your one warm farms and found 1 that uses such a box.  I also found a set up using 4 black plastic tubs with lids that looks promising too.  Maybe I can use them together??  To purchase a worm farm would cost around $90 and that's just for the plastic tubs.  It's another $35+ for the worms.  I figure I can get 3 tubs at $10 each and use them with the found box.  If I put the box on the bottom to collect the liquid I can use 2 litre milk bottles with 1 side cut off to drain the liquid into.

With all that I want to do in the garden, it's a shame I don't get any offers of help.