I thought I would dedicate this post to all the little
things I often forget to mention so expect a bit of everything and some random
photos, just because I can. Now, where to start...?
Well, the gardens are doing fabulously...the sunflowers are
getting noticeably bigger by the day and the Urenika are looking lovely. I have
lots of new seedlings coming up, gherkin, dragon fruit, about four more
different varieties of tomato, luffa, eggplant, cucumber, pumpkin, chilli and
more bantam corn because the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago got nibbled
by the chooks and then squished under my derriere whilst trying to wire the
fence together.
Speaking of chooks, I have broody girls. Doris spent most of
last week in the nesting box, unwilling to move despite the temptation of
treats. She is now back to her normal self but between the four girls I am only
getting one, maybe two eggs per day. A neighbour down the road suggested maybe
they are hiding them as a couple of his girls did the same but I have searched
high and low and not an egg to be seen so I am not sure if they have stopped
laying or if they are just very sneaky. They will soon have a new hut though as
I have been watching them squash themselves into one nest box to lay despite
there being four boxes...seems it’s just the one they like. When two of them
get into one box at the same time to lay there is very little room so sometimes
an egg will go astray. So I am going to design and build them a new hut with
boxes all along the top and a roosting perch which I hope will encourage them
to nest in their own “apartment”. This weekend I have two bales of hay to pick
up for them so that should keep them happy.
I have another project to start shortly and the two bottles
Andy and I polished off on Friday night will be perfect for my trial run. A
couple of months ago I started researching how to cut the bottoms off glass
bottles to use in the garden for watering the roots of the plants. The idea is
to half bury the bottle in the soil so that the water, when put into the
bottle, seeps down to the roots where it is needed most. That way there is very
little water waste and you know how much water the plant is getting. Some
people use plastic bottles but I like the idea of having pretty glass ones
adorning my garden. I also have a glass grinder from my lead lighting days
which will ensure nice clean edges on the cuts. First I need to find the best
way to give them the chop and if you have a look on the net, there are a ton of
tutorials on the subject so it might be a matter of trial and error.
Today I emptied out an old single concrete tub that was here
when I arrived. It had these lovely tall succulents in it that I have now
placed in the little garden around the back that I have slowly been clearing. I
still have part of it to bomb out but what I have done so far looks so much
nicer and tidy...there was so much rubbish in it! The concrete tub was full of weeds as well,
now it is empty and topped up with soil I will be able to put something in
it...maybe the pumpkins or corn?
Oh and I pruned the olive tree...It looks so much better
now. I chopped off alot of straggly, dead branches and gave it some shape. One
chap said to prune it into a vase shape for easy picking but as much as I
tried, a vase it was never going to be. Hopefully though, the trim it has had
will bring on some good growth and maybe some yummy olives to process.
