September 2006

6th September

**What I will be planting in September:

Amaranthus (hopefully this will self-seed) Basil Beetroot Borage (self-seeded) Broccoli Calendula (self-seeded) Capsicum Carrots Celery Choko Gourds Jeruselum Artichoke (these were planted last year and will come up by them selves from now on) Leeks (self-seeded) Lettuce Lupin Parsnip Peas Poppy Potatoes Pumpkin Radish Rhubarb Salad Burnett (self-seeded) Silverbeet Spring Onions Strawberries Sunflowers Swedes Tomato Zucchini ______________________________________________________________________

6th September

**Why I LOVE Chooks:

I have 10 chooks, 7 are bantams and three are standards. They are supplying 6-8 eggs a day at the moment. Over Winter we had them off the lay for about 2 months, which I was surprised at, I really thought they would be off the lay for longer. So at least I know now that we can store eggs for that without having to preserve them. They are wonderful at eating scraps. I no longer have a need for a compost bin, we just throw all our scraps into their yard, even if they don't eat the food, they dig it into the ground. I no longer need to dig fertilisers or compost in, they do it all for me. They also eat meat scraps. I no longer have to throw it away, in fact meat fat is very good for chooks to eat, so is old vegetable oil, both supply valuable energy for them, and when a chooks body temp is around 41 degrees, in Winter they need this extra food. Chooks are also great to watch, I find myself now sitting at the longue room window and watching them rather than watching the TV - and I never seem to tire of their antics. Chooks are also very good at weeding, I now only weed the areas the chooks do not have access to, and then throw these weeds in with the chooks - they love them. So, go on, out you all go and get some chooks! ______________________________________________________________________

21st September

**Well, It's CRAZY at the moment! The equinox is tommorrow and I thought I would try and update what I have done in the garden the last couple of weeks. Today I will be planting Celery seeds, planting out bean seedlings and Zucchini seedlings as well as making a couple of gates from old cherry plum wood. I saw the idea in the Open Garden Scheme magazine last week, and two nights ago we had strong winds and we discovered that the metal boards we have put up temporarily around our faery garden (to keep the chooks out) make a hell of a racket in the wind (sorry neighbours! Thank Goodness I have fresh eggs as bribery) and that out trellis gate does not hold up in the wind either. So I thought I'd have a go at gate construction today - yeah, I told you I was nutty! My hubby has just learned to shake his head at me and not say a word. Anyway, as for seeds. I have planted about 600 cells out with most of the seeds listed above (6th September), as these germinate I then move them to polystyrene boxes that hold 12 cut down milk bottles. So far I have about 8 boxes full of seedlings. Once these grow big enough to defend for themselves against snails and slugs, I will lift them out (milk bottle and all) and place them in the garden. The milk bottle protects them from the bugs and creates a little mini climate for them. Although I have discovered that snails will do ANYTHING to get to beans, and chooks will do ANYTHING to get to snowpeas! As I plant out the seedlings in to the boxes, I replace the cell with a new seed. So I'm guessing I'm gonna have a seedling (and not enough room) problem pretty soon, but we'll see what happens. ______________________________________________________________________

21st September

**Well, I made a gate, it is actually the ugliest gate in ALL creation, but at least we will sleep tonight. I used cherry plum wood and managed to nail it together (round wood and hammering on a flat surface = sore thumbs and toes). Then I wrapped some wire around each corner and crossed it over in the middle for extra support. We didn't have any spare chicken wire so I nailed some old chook feed bags over it - so yeah, it's 'interesting'. Now that I've eaten, I'm planning to fix the broken gate now, and then get some seedlings planted.... ______________________________________________________________________

25th September

**So on Saturday I planted out beans, snowpeas, zucchinis, corn and tomatoes. The gate still hasn't been fixed and the celery seeds aren't planted, but at least that gives me something to do this afternoon. I also noticed this morning that I have another 20 snowpeas germinate, several beetroots, a carrot, more beans, and 7 yellow pear tomates - guess I will be quite busy this afternoon actually... ______________________________________________________________________