A veggie garden thread
The old matriarch kookaburra here had a huge paralysis tick growing at the front of an eye blinding its forward vision on one side. Didn’t seem to stop it flying flat stick amongst the trees though . I was waiting for it to embed its beak into a gummie and snap its neck . Even though I know most native animals can handle the poison I was worried for the little bugger.
It got to the point that I had determined I’d remove it next it came around even though it’d probably freak it out badly . Then one day it turned up and the tick had just fallen out on its own . Stoked.
Kookaburra - the bird they couldn’t root , shoot or electrocute
yeah, the adult ducks seem to be able to handle the ticks but the young ones just get paralysed.
takes 'em about a day and half to slowly die.
got to check the kids (young goats) daily too.
thats great fun.
Two days in a row near enough to 40° (38.9 yesterday, 39.6 today with winds gusting over 100km/h) and it's friggen carnage out there.
We hit 40 at 1:30 today.
I was putting a handrail on the verandah and started getting stroppy. Couldn’t work out why . It’s just heat and it’d never be a patch on Pilbara heat . That’s when I checked the temp and decided to ease up a bit.
Turns out the east coast does have a decent go at a proper hot day and it also turns out I’ve gotten soft as fuck.
Looks like I’ve picked the wrong day to quit drinking beer.
I'm sending you all my best wishes for a safe bushfire season.
By the sounds of things it's more a matter of when rather than if.
Take care everyone and especially those close to the bush.
I love the heat ,doesn't bother me at all ,, my vegie garden not so much.
Just put a sprinkler on and the local birdlife has decided to cease all hostilities and it's all in for a communal shower. The baby lorrikeets are so faarking clumsy it's hilarious.
Southerly change just went through Bellambi, should be here in minutes.
Just took the twins for a walk in the rainforest up on the escarpment. No signs of bird life down on the flats, while each species is singing in chorus up there. Awesome to sit on a rock underneath and listen. Even hushed the twins up for longer than thirty seconds, which is rare.
Crazy light too; all that pre-frontal weirdness happening in the lower atmosphere.
Bought a four pack of Balter on the way home. Blame it on the weather.
Reports from the frontline:
New shoots on the avo tree all black and burnt.
Half the okra dead.
Same situation tomatoes - though a few fruit can be euthanised.
Most cucumbers survived due to emergency water delivery during both days of battle.
Zucchinis looking worse for wear but will survive with medical attention.
Chilis didn't miss a beat. Fuckers are bulletproof.
give em a good drink in the morning.
nice weak seasol mix will bring them back to life.
Hydrate hardcore before the heat and they’ll fair better .
Same as humans .
Devastating to watch the goodness in peril. Last year was friggen tragic around here.
I don't know if it's just me but those white cabbage moths have been around in numbers . Not just on the home front but my windscreen was caked in their corpses after a recent daytime run back from the tweed to the MNC. Those bastards are an absolute menace , in the garden and on the highway.
Didn’t know they were cabbage moths tubeshooter, but they have been around in hundreds up at central coast for 3 weeks or more.
Apart from that a few other moth events up there, and one or two nights of flying something or others. Mostly though these days the lack of insect life is really noticeable these days. Canary in the coal mines right there.
@GF,
Gonna look into getting a shade cloth attached, though that was a highly unusual weather event. Two all time records broken within a day. Gave everything a hearty drink this morning.
Stu, bugger.
At least the chilis should be nice and hot! Apparently the more distressed they get, the more heat they put out.
The one good thing about the early heat at my place is all the brown orange 'stink' bugs can't handle it when it gets over 35 and crawl down to the base of the trunk on my citrus trees making them easy targets for the trusty thong.
Wonderful thread. Went back to the beginning.
When the building next door finishes soon (started two years ago) we might get our backyard back in some order, and then I can start thinking about all this. Quite a sloping backyard on sandy soil/sand, so there will be terracing involved and much soil enrichment required, but drainage won’t be a problem.
Grass tree spike in the garden thats grown in the last 2.5 months, now into flowers and producing a great amount of nectar, attracting a wide variety of insects, birds and mammals.
Cheers Craig, tree is about 15 years old and it just spiked out of nowhere. Next door neighbour keeps bees and they are just feasting themselves
Not really related to veges but for interest, every year just as winter starts to kick in, a Mole comes to visit my yard and spends a couple of weeks tearing it up. I don't mind as it doesn't really do too much damage and in a way kinda tills and aerates the soil on its quest for worms and bugs before the lawn starts growing again in spring.
I like the cool little underground paths it takes.
hey sea slug have you ever seen those tiny little native bees?
they look like a tiny wasp.
they should be all over that grass tree flower.
That's awesme Zen, how far below the surface do they burrow? Looks to only be 10-15cm or so with that lift?
I'll trade you moles for a small herd of goats in the garden.
Managed to lure these reprobates back into the paddock before they did too much damage.
Mate ......you should open a petting zoo in your back yard.
Will any of them ever feel the blade ?
Although there’s always this ( vomit emoji ) https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3112185/singapore…
I couldn't say how deep it is Craig, I guess you're right, probs only just under the surface. I've never actually seen one.
Looks like they are quite intricate and go deep..
"The burrow system can cover an area of 200 to 2,000 square feet with the main runway situated parallel to the surface and about 6 to 18 inches below."
Wow, cheers Craig. I never expected such intricacy.
I like how I have my own version of crop circles, albeit on the dyslexic side.
Gee in my yard I have possums, an ant eater and a massive blue tongue that I’ve seen. I don’t have the trees to attract the koalas but they’re outback of my place them and the tiger snakes.
Hard to compare with FR’s effort but I’ve got rainbow bee eaters burrowing in the front yard, a foot-long lizard that lives in the house and doesn’t mind making itself at home on your bed, and a mum magpie and it’s two chicks which wander into the house at will and leave the occasional deposit.
Any day now I’m expecting an echidna or maybe a swamp wallaby to lob up, put its beers in the fridge and kick back as well.
By the way, classic photo Steve, reckon you'll treasure it one day if you don't already.
What's the mole's name, Zen?
Don't tell me it doesn't have one....
I planted a heap of Papaya seeds in April with about 99% germination rate.....had to cull a heap but I have a few bad boys now that are hitting the 12 foot mark...
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/MJBmarine/Papaya_2.jpg?width=2…
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/MJBmarine/Papaya_2(1).jpg?widt…
hahah, you can't see me high-stepping it because those goats were mobbing me and those sharp curved horns are at testicle level.
Ornery little fuckers.
The goats, not your testicles.
I'm guessing.
Hey Steve, do you know of anyone else who's living a life like that so close to town?
Last of the old-school hold outs?
they are actually very sweet natured and intelligent.....much less ornery than I thought.
two of them have been born here, both males and both have no qualms about climbing into your lap and having a snooze.
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Is there a gardening thread? I haven't seen one but I've seen lots of posts about people's veggie growing tips. How about we help each other out?
Planted first garden in about ten years today.
Lettuce, broccoli, swedes, kale, thyme, parsley. Raised bed under straw. Peas and carrots go in tonorrow.