June 2007

1st June

It's the first day of Winter! To celebrate Abbie the chook escaped and dug up my entire vegie garden. If it wasn't for the fact that she was so recently nearly killed, I think I could have been just cranky enough to consider what vegies to serve up with her As a result, I have put more chicken wire around the vegie patch. You know, when I bought 50 metres of the stuff, I thought I would never need it all, I used the last of it today.

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2nd June

Thanks to Abbie, I have sprinkled the following seed throughout the vegie garden while i wait for the seedlings to get big enough to plant: Brussel Sprouts Pak Choi Lettuce - Mesclun Mix Broccoli

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4th June

I discovered the most DIVINE nursery yesterday in Wandin. It sells a huge range of barerooted fruit trees. I only had enough money on me to purchase one tree. It was a toss up between Cox's Orange Pippin apple and Golden Queen peach, but the peach won. Now to start saving so when we go back I can get the apple as well as some late variety rasberries, guavas (3 different varieties), an avocado, a double grafted almond, some blueberries, and goodness knows what else...

I moved the pot with the Coffee plant and the Sugarcane down against the northfacing wall and covered it in a mini hot house as they were both looking a bit pale and sickly since planting it.

Last night I was reading Jackie French's 'The Earth Gardener's Companion' and this is what she said for June: 'This is the waiting time, the watching time, the time to clean up and plan.' (page 38 ) I disagree whole-heatedly with this. I tend to go nuts in June. I don't know why, maybe it's because it's cold, and the earth is wet and easy to dig, but I just feel this insane need to get out and DO STUFF in the garden in June!

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8th June

I decided to buy an arch today after finding a blue climbing rose on special for $5. Lets just say that as a result of trying to put it together, the cat now has many more 'interesting' ways to use the 'F' word after perching on the fence to 'supervise'. I will never, EVER buy that brand of arches again!

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9th June

I decided to have a bath today, Bob the hen heard the water running and thought she had better perch on the window sill and chat to me through the window screen. Very cute, but just a tad bit disturbing to have a chook watching you...

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10th June

Well the hubby came home with a Cox's Orange Pippin apple today!! Tres happy I am. He also bought two different raspberries and a climbing loganberry. I pruned all the fruit trees and stuck most of the cuttings into the ground at the base of the trees, maybe some will grow?

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11th June

Well.....I bought another one of those dreadful aches today. After reading that the loganberry was a climber I just couldn't help myself. Thankfully this one came together in no time

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12th June

We had our first frost this weekend (can't remember which day).

I have a plan to 'Think Globally, Act Locally'. I call it 'Share the Wealth'. I plan to write up a short pamphlet explaining how easy it is to grow vegies in a suburban backyard, but more importantly WHY it is so important to do so, then I am going to attach some of my saved seeds (probably Silverbeet and/or peas as at the moment they are in season, and ever so easy to grow) and drop them anonymously into my neighbours letterboxes. Maybe some of them will actually plant the seeds....

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18th June

It's that time of the year when I itch impatiently for the Winter Solstice. With the shortest day comes the changing tide as the days start growing ever so slowly. I know that the worst of Winter is still yet to come, but I like to think with the passing of the shortest day, Spring will be not far behind...

So this weekend we bought a Thornless Loganberry, a thornless Blackberry and a variety of Blueberry we didn't have called Denise. The berries will be planted next to the arch I put up last weekend.

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22th June

Happy Winter Solstice!

The longest night has passed and now as the days ever so slowly lengthen, I get crazy for the approach of Spring. In reality Winter has only just begun, but the itch to start Spring seedlings has hit all ready. The Oat seeds have sprouted, but I think the pesky blackbird has guzzled all my Spelt Wheat seeds. The cherry tree has finally lost it's leaves and loads of seeds are sprouting in the seed trays.

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23rd June

With the darkness and chill of Winter I got the sudden urge to plant flower seedlings EVERYWHERE! Come Springtime, our garden should look divine (I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the blackbird doesn't like flower seedlings as well as everything else). So I planted carnations, corncockle, flanders poppy, stock, canterbury bells, hearts ease and linaria along both the bottom vegie garden and the garden bed along the path to the front door (where the asparagus should sprout to edible size in Spring).

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24th June

At 10am this morning there is still frost on the ground.