Ordering more fruit trees from Daley's Nursery! Re-inspired by re-reading Lawns Into Lunch, I figured I'd just get in early and buy my own Christmas presents, so I ordered myself some fruit trees, LOL. Looks like that umbrella tree out the back is coming out! Shhhh, don't tell DH, 'cause he'll have to do it ;-) I've ordered two Pinkabelle apples (what the hell, I'll give 'em a whirl even though I don't have a Granny Smith pollinator[not cold enough here]), two dwarf coffee plants, a red paw paw, another mandarin (a mid-season to compliment the early-season Emporer I bought last year) and a chinese water chesnut (last year's corms didn't survive the winter in storage, sadly). The water chesnuts will be going into my watercress bowl that my youngest DD turned into vegetable "soup" recently. At least that means I can reuse the organic potting mix she tipped in there (along with the dozen lettuce seedlings that were growing in the mix).
Making: Wholemeal bread. Dog food. Dishwasher detergent.
Dinner: Baked cheese polenta with silverbeet, and garden salad.
Challenge/s: Dealing with the onset of summer pests and diseases with organic gardening principles. The state of my potatoes is abysmal, but the disgusting things eating holes in my lovingly tended tomatoes, chewing every bean plant down to the ground and making lacework of my capsicum leaves, is moving me almost to tears. Having said that I'd rather just not eat any of the vegies than spray them with anything non-organic.
Solution/s: On Scarecrow's advice, I might try Annette McFarlane's molasses spray, one of her Do It Yourself sprays. Annette claims chewing pests "would rather starve than eat leaves sprayed with this mixture" - I hope she's right!
Transgressions: Ordering more fruit trees. On the credit card. *Ahem*
Reading: The ice cream maker instruction manual.
Utilities for November: Gas 38.3MJ/day; water 332L/day; electricity 11.9kWh/day.
Contemplating: Ripping out even more ornamental plants and trees.
5 comments:
congratulations on buying more fruit trees ~ I need to get off my butt and do that too!!!
I'd rather have any plants than lawn but unfortunately J wants some grass.....I'll just gradually shrink the amount of it by increasing the garden beds, lol!
Yes that's exactly what's been happening at my place too Ali, but DH has been happy because it's less lawn for him to mow - especially now we have a push mower, LOL.
Looking forward to hearing about your ice-cream amker Julie! Good luck with the pests - have you looked into companion planting I thought marigolds were good for warding off some vegetable pests of some sort???
Depending on what's doing the eating of your garden, diatomaceous earth might help.
I'm a new reader and look forward to reading more.
Hi Lis, I'm making my first batch of frozen yohurt as I write! And yes, I should companion plant some more flowers like nasturtiums and marigolds - I've just used up every square cm of the veg beds with vegies, LOL.
Hi Katie, thanks for the tip. Now that you mention it I did read something about diatomaceous earth not that long ago, I should dig it out, thanks :-)
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