Karim was in Manilla for most of August, so I threw myself into the garden to make the time pass quickly, and we’re now fully prepared for spring. I started with a garden plan, listed each bed, what crops were in there before (or still are), what would be suitable to plant next according to crop rotation principles, the soil condition, any bed preparation required, and a calendar for when to sow the seeds and transplant seedlings.
These photos were taken today from the front gate, so we can gauge the progress each month over spring and summer. The front beds covered in manure and hay are ready for potatoes, which are being planted there specifically to build soil in what are currently very shallow, heavy clay beds.
The biggest challenge is clearly going to be winning the war against the slugs, which became a huge problem just prior to winter. I’ve now adopted several strategies… going out there at night with a head torch on and throwing them into a bucket of salty water (death rate = 300 in 30 minutes woo hoo); leaving small containers in the garden overnight filled with a mixture of yeast, sugar and water, then emptying them in the morning (death rate = 80 in 15 minutes); laying boards or cardboard down and removing the slugs from underneath the boards in the morning (death rate = 50 in 15 minutes). To raise the bar we’re also getting four Khaki Campbell ducks in October, which are not highly vegetative eaters but are renowned for eating slugs. And finally, when I plant out the seedlings I’m protecting them with milk bottles during the early stages of growth, which also protects them from frost. I’m determined not to use slug pellets, as even the organic ones also harm small birds, lizards and (no doubt) other soil life, so wish me luck!
The green manures which Carly and Dan helped sow and nurture in chook tractor #1 back in March grew perfectly over winter, and we’ve now given the chooks access. They’re foraging through the oats in there, heads down bums up like all their Christmases have come at once.
So we’ve blocked access to tractor # 2 now, which the girls have been doing a wonderful job scratching, weeding and manuring for the past few months, and have planted the next crop of green manure forage species. Dean, only 18 months after you and I filled massive holes with rocks, only you could really imagine my pure delight at this soil, it’s enough to promote tears of happiness!
All the fruit trees have been prepared for spring with tender loving care. As the orchard area is moving toward being a poultry forage zone and the vegetables are moving over to the mandala, we’re trying to maintain a slightly acidic environment through the orchard (low pH), which fruits thrive in. To achieve this naturally, we’re working on the principle that slightly acidic soils have higher fungi to bacteria ratios. So firstly I pulled all the old mulch back, naturally collected dozens of slugs that were enjoying its shelter, then laid wattle kindling on the mounds and covered it with mushroom compost (the wattle provides a surface for the mycelium to attach to).
A generous layer of fungal biased compost was then applied, which we created several months ago using the ratio of 25% nitrogen (chicken, horse and cow manure), 30% greens (weeds, grass, food scraps, urine, coffee grounds, azolla from the frog pond), and 45% woods (fire ash, wood shavings, shredded paper and hay). Of course other household waste such as hair from our brush and vacuum cleaner dust was added to the pile, along with several fruiting mushrooms.
Finally a very thick layer of barley straw was added for mulch, hessian was tied around the base of pear and plum trees as a trap for the cherry slugs, and Bordeaux was applied to the peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots to prevent leaf curl. The trees are budding now and we look forward to an array of pretty flowers through the garden soon, then hopefully our first fruit!
Anna and I have been eradicating a ridiculous amount of Spanish Heath from the forested areas by digging it out at the roots. We’ve contributed over 100 man hours to the task and burnt millions and millions of seeds before they release in summer, which is very rewarding. It’s time to get back on to the blackberry now. Anna has also been helping me get fit and strong ready for the house build, through our own boot camp sessions, ab blast workouts and swimming. Every time it hurts I just tell myself that I’ll be lifting over 400 straw bales soon, so as Ben would say “drink a tin of cement and harden the *$#! up”!
As the weeks fly by the fact that we’ll be building soon is becoming more of a reality. Karim enjoyed building a loft and shelving in the sea container so we can access things easier, and it’s ready to accommodate more building materials… 
We’ve stored the outdoor setting in the container to clear the carport as a work zone, and Karim made this wonderful workbench using second hand timbers from the tip.
I realised that we’ll need to plant out the living roof as soon as it’s constructed (hopefully by next May before winter hits), and it’ll require over 500 plants, which would cost at least $1500 to buy. So I researched plants that have been used successfully on living roofs in Melbourne and found similar or equivalent Tasmanian native species that I could grow from seed. I also purchased just a few of each plant that I couldn’t buy seed for, and have been propagating those by root division and cuttings. If successful, the whole roof will be planted for less than $150, all native and even some bush tucker. Here’s the first lot of babies that will eventually end up on our roof… 
We’ve also completed the lighting and electrical plan, met with the electrician and booked the excavator driver to start in October (praying for good weather). The camera tripod is set up above the house site ready to take snap shots. The first stage will be constructing a carpark, curved terraces and drainage along the slope above the house (where the green survey tape is), then removing the old cottage slab, crushing the concrete to use as fill, and cleaning the stones so we can build the lounge room wall with them.
Hopefully the building plans will be ready to submit to council by the end of September, then it’s all systems go! Sunny days please weather gods… but not too sunny (I’m a redhead remember)!
