Wednesday week 5

Liz's birthday. We had a chat on the phone.
After breakfast we went for a ride on our bikes. 7 km and slightly faster than last Friday. We are putting it on Strava.
Today I made fruit buns and we had hot ones for afternoon tea.
I finished sieving the mulch from the tip and will go out for more but no more sieving as it is dusty and we have enough fine stuff now.
My book In the Shadow of the Sword arrived at last. It took a month.
Em is coming up sometime so I have replanted her herb trough with oregano, parsley and thyme in fresh potting mix, and the other one has lettuce, kale and silver beet.
I planted out another Clerodendrum near the letterbox.

Monday 20 April week 5

It has taken a few weeks to get on to the diary of the 2020 lockdown because we are so busy.
Monday morning started with a run at sunrise. Dick is pacing me and improving my speed and has come on Monday around Cotswold Hills twice now. We start the week at the top of our Highfields parkrun virtual Strava group, then Emily comes on, Marty in the afternoon.
I got another bed of the vegie garden sown with some broad beans and pea seeds I had saved in the fridge, then I got the sleeper for the last bed in position. It was nice to resolve the design with existing materials and it all looks much more tidy after the neglect of the past couple, or few, years.
I went around watering all the small trees I have planted lately.
I am still working through Asterix noting the interesting words and meanings, and getting a bit more knowledge of the Roman invasion of Gaul in 56 BC. Also reading Karl Kruselnicki's book which I have listed on Gumtree.
We are watching a thriller on TV called Capture, catching up on 6 episodes.

Sunday 19 April week 4

I planted out the cauliflower seedlings I germinated and also sowed radish and beetroot in the third garden bed, then prepared the fourth.

In the afternoon we had a zoom meeting with the Covs and Tavs, all with glasses of red wine. Toby also joined in. It worked out well.
We also had a long phone chat with Jim and later with Em.

Mulchers

We bought our first mulcher in Mareeba to keep our block pruned, providing us with mulch and firewood for our barbecue. It has worked very well.
It gets regular use at Cotswold Hills but around 2007 it needed some welding repair when the internal curve in the tube came away. Vicki Battaglia had it fixed for us and the welding continues to hold up well, however it gave way again in 2013 so we had it welded by Michael Crok Ally Arc Welding McDougall st. $40
At the same time, Aldi had a mulcher on special which we bought for $199. It works in a different manner and should complement our older one.

History of mulch

When we moved here in October 2004, the garden beds were mulched with a cypress woodchip.
Our first mulch purchase was a single trailer load from Toowoomba Landscapes on Bridge Street, near Mort. It probably went on the extension of the top bed behind the new shed.
A year later, when Steve got 2 semi-trailer loads of expensive hoop pine [?] mulch for his banks, we were influenced to order a truckload 14 cu metres from Garden City Landscape Centre on McDougall Street in November 2005. We got cypress woodchip, similar to what was originally on the garden. [$357 plus $15 delivery]
In September 2006  we got 2 cubic metres of forest mulch from Garden City @ $25.50 per cm then a week later we got 3 cubic metres more from them.
After that, perhaps 2007, I found that I could get a load from tree loppers and got some twice from Rob Habben, at $50 then $70 [ September 2008] cash.
The next source was the Ergon community pile in McDougall street, where I shovelled it into the back of the car  perhaps 3 or 4 times, then they closed that as people dumped rubbish there.

Fortunately by this time we were producing more of our own mulch.
In March 2009 I got a pack of lucerne mulch from Bunnings, then 2 bales from Garden City landscapes for $20. This led to about 3 car loads of lucerne bales from Vicki Bataglia over the next couple of years for the fruit trees and vegie garden.
We then put it off for quite a while before ordering recycled stuff from the concrete recyclers for $180 in August 2012. It seems quite dusty as well as lumps of wood and stuff. We will see how it goes. Maybe our next purchase will be a bit more up market, but this might just get covered with natural litter from our garden.

Mulch

In recent years we have been making our own mulch from prunings. This has been quite productive but over time the mulch layer has almost disappeared in some places on the upper and lower banks.
I called for quotes 6-18 months ago - I can't remember when. Nor can I find the 'piece of paper' that I wrote my research on. I thought it was in my notebook.
Eventually I called the concrete recyclers that I had visited at the start of that exercise, when I thought their cheap coarse product might not be suitable. This time we went together to look and found them very friendly and helpful, recommending the cheap coarse product this time. It is different to what I remembered a couple of years ago, being recycled builders rubbish I think, but we will see how it goes. We got a 12 cu m truckload which is not as intimidating as I expected.

cheap mulch

We have been gradually getting cheaper with mulch. Although we produce quite a bit from our block, with regular pruning, we find we need to top up the mulch on the garden every couple of years.
We started with expensive cypress chip mulch, similar to the existing mulch, then moved down to forest mulch from the Landscape Centre. After this we got a couple of loads from Rob Habben, a tree pruner who gave us a load for cash - $50 then more the next time.
I then found the Ergon mulch pile in Boundary St/Hursley Road and loaded mulch a few times in the back of the Forester, before they closed that due to rubbish dumping.
By September 2012, the need was great on our banks and we decided to try 12 m of cheap mulch delivered by the Concrete Recyclers in Griffith St $184.80. It appears to have a lot of building rubble in it but it is turning out well, although we have been slow to move it all.

Open Day at Crows Nest Nursery

On Saturday we visited Crows Nest Nursery for their Open Day. Not that I needed any more plants, but I got 15 and had a lovely weekend planting them out along with a few from my green house. I also updated my blog which records the plants and can be sorted on families and genera.
Rain is promised again this week so it is a great time to be digging holes.

Salad days

I have lettuce, endive, rocket, radishes and various fresh herbs in the garden. Add some fetta cheese, and perhaps some tomato or cucumber and I am finding this a very satisfying meal.
Outdoor grazing these days includes sugar snap peas, radishes straight out of the ground [while hosing] and strawberries.
We have not had rain since late June so hosing is needed often.

Sharing plants

I have been given a lot of plants recently by friends. I enjoy potting them into tubes and pots and the green house is filling up in expectation of a big planting when I get back from New Zealand in March.
I will have an interesting lot of herbs, thanks to Ann and two Margarets, and quite a few local natives as well to spread around, thanks to Ann and Judy.
I guess I will also have to look at sowing seeds when I get back.
Let's hope that we get some rain in March and April.

Coming together

We were busy on the weekend; cleaning, mowing and putting the path to the tank back together after the big slump in November. The mesh fence is now in place around the tank with tomatoes, purple king beans and native clematis attached. Hopefully it will be a green leafy fence soon. The beans below the tank were waving around looking for direction and have already started producing so I will need to walk down there each day from now on. Fortunately the grass is now growing down there after all the construction traffic from recent months. The compost bins are also busy with the third one now full of weeds, so I have emptied the first one into the other two with some compost going to the potatoes.
This activity was all prompted by lunch on Sunday to celebrate Dick's last day before turning 60. The forecast hot weather and rain did not eventuate and we had a very pleasant afternoon with friends.

Our combined culinary efforts with Jim produced an antipasto tray, crudites with basil and pistachio pesto dip, macadamias in sour cream/garlic, asparagus/veg tarte, pizzas, smoked chicken breast and salad, cheesecake with mango and fruit cake. Allan brought a sample of his first home brew which was followed by some of mine, then wine.
We were lucky to find George, our resident dragon, in the front garden as our guests were leaving.

photos taken by Allan

Things are happening

This week the plumber is connecting the tank to the house. This involves a lot of trenches, pipes, wiring and things. The rain has gone and it is good weather for it.
On Sunday afternoon I found a new eucalypt seedling on the top part of the block, then on Monday another, and today yet another. That makes 13 volunteers. At this rate we will have a nice stand along the top boundary, extending the line along the ridge. Won't the birds be pleased!
I wonder what else will come up on our native grassland?

On mer bike

My knees are calling for more care these days and I am faced with getting out on my bike or pedalling indoors; an alternative I have already rejected, so this morning I made it with a bit of help from my friend and we rode 7.4 km to the shop for a paper at 10 degrees with some SW wind. I enjoyed it. It's about time I got over the fact that we live on a hill.
Yesterday morning was quite hot at tennis, then I went out to lunch, visited a native garden at Cotswold Hills, made a Far Breton, and we had a full moon campfire at Mt Peel. It was a lovely clear evening but quite cool away from the fire. I had chestnuts to roast but perhaps I was already full of food by then as I was not taken with them.

May report

Despite some predictions of good rain in the last days of May, we have only managed 5 mm for the whole month. It has been quite windy in recent days. Our recent electricity bill shows that we generated 413 kWh or 58% of total power used for the quarter.
Today is World Environment Day and my thoughts have moved to wind power generation. A 1 kW system is not very expensive, especially if it could be directed through the existing inverter. This may be next year's project. Meanwhile the tank is poured and waiting for a lid. Then for the fun of replacing dirt around it and redeveloping the site.
Food for thought? We are enjoying lettuce and rocket from the garden, pea and ham soup with home-grown carrots and spring onions, ricotta and ruby chard pie, and still some beans.
Last Tuesday we walked between Spring Bluff and Murphy's Creek cemetery.
Yesterday I mowed the paddock. We are rethinking our management of the native grassland. Although we had a good stand of Queensland blue grass last year, we have lost a great deal of it due to the extremely dry conditions. It has done well on the upper part of the block which was top-dressed with soil last year. In the favoured area below the roof bubbler, it does not seem to suffer from mowing on the highest setting, so we are looking at more frequent mowing than once or twice a year. There are a few prickly pear and white foxtails but only odd Rhodes grass plants.
We have found a new volunteer gum seedling adjacent to the volunteer ironbarks on the top bank above the house. It has grown between the abutting ends of two railway sleepers and is about 15 cm high. It is very pleasing to have well-positioned natural renewal of the native vegetation of this ridge.

May days

The month of May is slipping away and we have had 3mm so far. It is very dry here.

We walked at Stringybark, on hills south of Helidon on Tuesday 13th.

Jim came up for the following weekend and played golf with Dick on two mornings - nice and chilly. I planted out more Xerochrysum seedlings and some lilies I got from Ann. On Saturday night, the wind faded and we were able to have a campfire with roast lamb and vegies cooked in the camp oven. It was very quick, cooked well and tasted delicious. It also used minimal wood, consisting of old garden prunings.

Our tank project is happening quickly. Last week I posted the contract and deposit and the hole is already prepared, and the tank will be poured this week - unless we are washed out!

Last Monday I met up with a Clark second-cousin, Neal Price, who was visiting Toowoomba for work. We have corresponded for a few years.

On Tuesday we walked in the Grapetree creek area, descending below the cliffs into a creek in the reverse direction to our last visit. In the evening we had a sunset/full moon campfire. I cooked chicken drumsticks with vegetables in the camp oven. It worked really well.

On Wednesday I hurriedly cleared the tank site of remaining vegetation and mulch. In the evening we had a Twilight Recital at USQ featuring Collusion and modern music.

On Thursday the hole was dug.

On Friday we had an extra working bee at Franke Scrub.

Yesterday we walked from Peppers Resort to Spicer's Peak, just south of Cunningham's Gap. It was a perfect day. The morning was cool with fog on the Downs. We descended a razorback with nice views of the Main Range to the east, then climbed through rainforest to the western peak, where we had lunch on sunny rocks in a small saddle before some of us continued out to the escarpment above the Cunningham Highway. The views to the east extended to Mt Warning.
It was a long day ending in quite a steep climb back up to the resort and a drive home into the sunset with a hot bath to look forward to at home.

The lucky spot or a lurch from despondency

We were in the right place yesterday when this week's storms passed by. We scored 30mm which seems to be pretty good, and we certainly needed it.
The MJO is lost in its navel and the Elders 28 day outlook for rain is very pale, so I have planted out most of the Xerochrysum seedlings in front of the house. I also added Caesia bulblettes [what is a baby bulb?] and Bracteantha seedlings to the inner circle.
Yesterday we walked on some roads near Merritts Creek and in some forestry. We tried a road reserve with mixed weeds, vine scrub and eucalypts and also passed a flock of Yellow-tailed black cockatoos which are very impressive with feathers spread out above.

In the garden

Today we have recorded the first rain for the month. Things have been pretty dismal lately and I have grown tired of watering with no end in sight, so it was a relief to have a cool drizzly day yesterday and 9mm in the gauge. Things have continued to grow, with new growth continuing on gums and wattles and the small recent plantings are going ahead well. We also continue to pick beans, lettuce, zucchini and ruby chard and I hope the corn has had enough water to yield a crop.
Our hakea is flowering nicely and I bought an olive tree on Sunday. Yesterday we picked the first lime. The camellias are also flowering.

The shed

The rest of Saturday was spent tidying the shed. On Friday we bought another set of shelves for my garden corner. I have reduced by one shelf and Dick has taken my older ones for his workshop end. I have washed all the pots and we have hung the tools.

We also renovated the lounge suite last week, washing the covers and fixing the straps. That might do it for another ten years.
Tennis on Sunday was well fought and I was beaten 4-6 although my partner strained his back trying hard.

Front boundary alignment

After John and Kelly installed gate posts right out to their front boundary on the house below us, we decided to move our garden edges out almost to the line between the survey pegs, using some railway sleepers from along the top bank. This meant that we bought three metres of forest mulch $76.50 from Garden City Landscape Centre to fill the extra metre or so of width which we then planted with local natives from Crows Nest Nursery.

Forest mulch

We got two metres of Forest Mulch from Garden City Landscape Centre $51