Carzee's shed

[Carzee]

Bit of an update after a week. I have been calling in and watering the snow pea corner every day or two. Other plots are coming on as well as members seem to be getting busy.

Today's weather was all over the place with plenty of rain and big breezes too. In the photos you will see the tressle corner for the snow peas has a bit of wrap to try to stop a repeat of the roos trampling thru which happened the day after the seeds went in.

I've spent most of the time doing some more excavation. Mixing of soil and compost and mulch continues. The 1m or so wide strip alongside the road has finally been decontaminated through my efforts with Mr Shovel -I have finished digging out the layer of bluemetal.

Spent money today as well. Visited the tip and got some cheap stuff: a garden box $8, a big bin with lid to suit composting $10, plastic chair $2, another milk crate $2 (I only use Parmalatt's), and a wooden packing crate roughly 1m wide and long and 30cm thick $5. Still haven't scored any cheap chook wire.

About 4pm the work was stop and start as SMS/txts began about the AFM auction. Stevie and I ended up with a small Haulmark.

In short another busy day off..

[Carzee]

It turns out that the very chilly days around the period Aug 5/6/7/8 when I took the photo of the snow on the Brindabellas, posted above, Simon and family (who did the yearlong lap with the family and made a internet photo blog in 2015) came through the area to go and camp in the Kosciuszko NP and play in the Perisher snowfields. Used the same Land Rover Defender and camper-trailer. Here is the link.   
https://110aroundoz.com/2017/08/14/perisher-sun-6th-to-mon-7th-august

[Carzee]

The snowpeas have survived 2 frosts so far, -3 degrees, and have grown up to 15mm high so far. So a trellis wire job is coming up this week. Also a fox or dog has been making small digs in the dirt heaps and composted plots. Hmmm.

This week the mulch and compost and soil mix continued. This bed was then covered with plastic to keep it moist for planting in a few weeks. The front strip will be finished in this fashion tomorrow.



Photos from Sat 26th Aug (perfect blue day) when the plastic went on... whilst noisey neighbours had an Open Day at ADFA. [ https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/openday/events-program ] F88 and probably F89 fire, choppers, FA-18s, Herc, and those Roulettes which did a turn overhead and checked out my vege patch. Pretty cool place for a vege patch for one day a year at least. This reminds me to add that down the back are some WW1 era trench warfare trench remnants used for training obviously 100 years ago.

Before the Open Day excitement I had visited the local compost supplier and loaded up the Number 5 again. Unloading it was put off a few times and left to the last minute -well after sunset- so I had a small accident when tipping the Number 5 up to unload with the coal shovel. In the rush I left the NATO plug hooked up and so the loom was ripped out and was left hanging under the drawbar, swinging in the breeze. The NATO male stayed where it was on the Perentie....

[Carzee]

Fathers Day present. Trust all the dads had a good one.
THE best present may have been a american lawn mower i saw at Costco, not a ride on, just a normal one except it had duel cupholder on the pushing handle. One tinnie for the front yard and one for the backyard.
Didn't get that but got something else:
My eldest daughter has been working on a family tree for the english branch, on my mother's side. I knew my grandfather was in RASC during ww2, now it turns out my great grandfather enlisted in December 1914 and captured at Ypres_Menin zone of the western front in the summer of 1915. POW and repatriated dec 31 of 1918.
On his enlistment form it states he has 4 children and was 37yo. Private in the Infantry, Lincolnshire Regt.
I imagine he worked at a place like Downton Abby because his occupation is stated as "Nurseryman". Maybe that explains the garden project.

[Mick]

Nice piece of family history there Carzee , lucky your great grand father wasn't a "Highway man " 😜

Cheers,

Mick

[Carzee]

Sorry Mick, missed that, after 2 months I catch up with it. Ah well.
This week was action stations because its close to Melbourne Cup and vegie planting time..

I now have a snow pea jungle going gangbusters. Its close to 12 weeks after planting. I was clueless and planted them too close with no room to use the water bottle idea. I have been eating the snowpeas this week.

I spent time this week preparing the last 2 vegie beds for planting (seeding next week or as soon as I can).

I caught sight of the Light Horse re-enactors and Cav contingent in ANZAC Parade commemorating 100 years since the Battle Of Beersheba.



(The Cav berets made me remember a 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers' Guidon Parade we attended up in Muswellbrook. Pride of place was given to an old square metre model of the battlefield under glass in the shed where all the M113s were. That was the one and only time I got a ride in a bucket, and it was in the streets of Muswellbrook. After the parade the day must've come over all hot or something -everyone drank a lot of beer that day).

A couple of days later I heard the band again, somewhere in the distance, the bass drum beats coming over the river on the breeze. At the AWM they were celebrating 75 years since the Kokoda Track: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2017/11/02/kokoda-remembered-on-75th-anniversary.html

Anyway, the gardening group is in full swing. All the members who have allotments are very busy. At least the weather is still pretty cool. When we begin getting hot days, 30 deg and over, I am informed that the snowpeas will go all Norwegian Blue and become ex-peas... then its time to redo that lattice further apart and plant the tomato seedlings.

[303Gunner]

I caught sight of the Light Horse re-enactors and Cav contingent in ANZAC Parade commemorating 100 years since the Battle Of Beersheba.

It has always interested me that as the modern town of Beersheba grew and expanded, the land across which the charge occurred and the Turkish lines have remained undeveloped (with the exception of a minor road across the "Start Line"). The area of the Turkish lines have been preserved as a park, and a short distance behind that is the memorial site. It would be possible to walk the length of the charge on ground that is largely unchanged from 100 years ago. I'm glad it hasn't been obliterated with a suburb, shopping centre or factory.

[Carzee]

Thats interesting. The landscape may be standing still but the news piece on the ABC said Beersheba had become a national secret squirrel digital center.

As far as gardenning goes down here, its been 19-20deg max (with a cold breeze) last few days. Maybe after the Cup it will warm up.

[Carzee]

Another busy week. The day after the Cup I planted the sweet corn. I also got some seedlings (cherry tomato, capsicum) and cleared the base of a tree near the corn beds.

Then my packages of sawdust from ebay arrived and I used the trailer to dump the sawdust onto the cleared patch not really from ebay. A shady area will be good to have for a few months. The tree will be going one day as it was one of the ones inspected and deemed a problem by the local rangers.



I raked the sawdust last thing that day and the next morning there were some fresh tracks from kangaroos and the fox that has been sighted lately.

The Open Day is Sunday the 19th and the members are all busy doing tidy up jobs etc.
The snowpeas are in full swing and have shot up again, nearly reached full height.

[Carzee]

Well, some news on the garden this week. One thing for sure, I have never been so careful to listen to weather reports. Lately its the main thing. We had another squall and small hail/heavy rain again. I think thats 3 times in 2 weeks.

When I saw the dark clouds I went over and picked the snowpeas as much as I could see just in case. I did the same thing last Friday when we had a storm too. The fridge is filling up despite having snowpeas on the plate every lunch and every night. We have given some to family and some to the cooks at last Sundays (excellent) Annual Open Day.

The Open Day was a big day. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and a lot of people came out to see all the demos and take a guided tour. I was asked a few times about my patch, the 2m high snowpeas, and the raised garden beds and the watering methods I used. I told the truth - I was hand watering once a day since the sweet corn had sprung up. Later that Sunday I had time to check out the demo garden where the more knowledgable members had put a drip watering system together. So all the prep work by all the co-op members for the Open Day even helped me learn something. This week I found time to put in a dripping system myself. Then we had more rain that night. And then more squalls and rain today. Of course. Todays top was 29deg and that would be the hottest day since March or April. Things are warming up. The peas will go in the heat soon and then the tomato plants go in.

[Carzee]

BTW, we had a refresher lesson in the farm shed on first aid for snake bites from a combat medic posted in recently. He and his family have a plot close to mine. Crepe pressure bandages are out, the new type are in and I ended up getting a couple on-line since the pharmacy didn't have them: https://www.firstaiddistributions.com.au/setopress-compression-bandage-10cm-x-3-5m

[STDDIVER]

Good one Ross, always a great read!  I like the added info on snake bites too!   

Frank 

[Carzee]

Thanks Frank. I have learnt a few things with the vege patch. Today I filled my hat with peas again. Also got more stained fingers from the Mulberry tree at the farm. A deal with rellys occurred - we swapped some snowpeas for some cherrys, roughly weight for weight.

Yesterday I helped Wayne move some things on his holding out near Dalgety, southeast of Jindabyne. You can see snow on the main range tops starting from the Berridale section of road. At the property there were still small collections of snow in the shadows/shady bits. Snow.. next Friday is December 1st, still snow around.

About 1430 the afternoon the sky turned dark and there was a thunder and lightning show then lots of hail and a downpour for an hour. We got wet but kept warm by not stopping the work. The paddock was door handle high with pasture when we went into it and after the heavy rain it was very slushy and the Haulmark single axle was loaded with lots of timber and other materiel. We made about 8 loads to the other place half a kilometre away. There is no track on the acreage (undeveleped). We used low range after the rain.

We went down there in Wayne's Perentie towing my Haulmark single axle and the highway performance was a treat. Wayne has a KLR turbo on his GS 4x4 and a KLR-Ashcroft R380 conversion (as well as KLR HD clutch kit and rear discs). The Monaro highway has some good size hills and very scenic. The Perentie cab noise level at 100+kmph was much better than my Perentie, especially in that 5th gear. Wayne has floor mats in the cab but the tunnel is uncovered (you have to fit a different tunnel for the R380 and the standard tunnel floor covering does not fit... a small problem, and Wayne has not yet got around to fitting a cover). An impressive Perentie to say the least. Wayne liked the way the trailer towed and performed with the different loads and is going to get one.

ps - We had one member of the public ask if it was ok to take photos in the Jindy shops carpark. Uh huh. True. This person had seen that Greys "were auctioning the Land Rovers" but was not aware of the REMLR forum or the fakebook group either. There you go.

[Carzee]

On Nov 24 I posted a photo of the corn. Its jumped already. Some stalks are 300mm high.



I also said something about expecting the hotter 30 deg weather of December to kill off the snowpeas... but its been pouring rain instead. I think the snow peas (planted early August) have peaked.



The tops are high and there are still producing peas but down on the bases and lowest sections there is a lot of rot going on now. I pruned a few rotten plants and got rid of them to stop the rot but it was only a couple of days and the rest was going rotten as well. Maybe the snowpea plants will only last another week.

[Carzee]

BTW a brown snake was seen last Monday, and it was watched while having a drink at the puddle at the lowest point of the demo spiral herb "feature" built recently. This is smack in the middle of the social/rec area of the farm and near the pizza oven!

I have put up my photos of the Open Day event from 2 weeks ago in an album which has a pic of the spiral herb creation:

https://postimg.org/gallery/2biucvo3q/

While I'm here, here's a couple of my flukey sunset pics from last August too:

https://postimg.org/gallery/1s3tp1bja/