The Early Birds

January 24th
Well, here's the answer. The mother (or father)  and baby that have been hanging around for some time have found a feast in the wet mulch. They toss it around and every now and then come up with a tasty morsel. I hope too many of them aren't worms. The baby seems to have finally learnt how to fend for itself instead of squawking for a feed.  It still looks around nervously if the parent leaves.

So at the end of the projectI I ask myself if doing it has made me more mindful of my surroundings and I think the answer is 'No'. It made me take photos of the things I noticed but I don't think I noticed more or questioned more.  Occasionally I looked up something so I could report it properly, but not nearly often enough. It has made me realise that I can be quite sloppy and not worry about it unduly.
I'm actually quite relieved that it's over.  I don't like to give up so I doggedly plodded through, but it has been quite time consuming.  I could have spent some of the time more usefully actually in the garden.
I may from time to time add something really interesting (to me). But apart from that, that's it.

Il pleut

January 23rd
It's a few days later in January than last year when I started but the weather is suddenly the same. It's been raining constantly for two days, not just summer thunderstorms in the afternoon. The rainclouds come and just sit there.  Fortunately it hasn't been raining much over the Wivenhoe dam catchment area so there probably won't be a big flood like last year. Hope not.  Some people are not back in their houses yet from last time.
However, it has been raining buckets here.  There's very little wind so I wondered what had caused these strange tufts and holes in the mulch.

Pepper

January22nd
The pepper plant not only survived, it thrived. When I first saw the fruits I checked back on the seed packet to be sure I hadn't planted chillies. It's actually at italian Capsicum del Torno which I'm guessing might mean horn.  It's certainly not a Bell Pepper.

Echidna

January 21st
If I can't see you, you can't see me!  The roadsigns in Tasmania don't show kangaroos and koalas. they show echidnas and wombats. We didn't manage to spot any wombats, probably because we were usually done with driving well before sunset. We saw this guy scurrying across the road, so we stopped for a better look and a photo op. At first he ignored us but eventually he decided we'd been looking too long so he started to curl up and burrow in.

Franklin River

January 20th
This is the famous last wild river in Tasmania. A very well coordinated and publicised protest managed to force the tassie government to back down on plans to dam it for hydro electric power.

Thistles

19th January
Some of the 'towns' in the Highland region have scottish names and clearly some of the early settlers came from there.  So, my question is; did they naturally choose locations that felt familiar to them or did they actually bring thistles with them to make themselves feel at home?

January  18th
Travelling across Tasmania we soon realized that it's a good idea to stop for coffee or petrol whenever you can. The next town on the map may only consist of two houses. In the same vein, if you think you might need a shop, go to the first one you see.  That may be it for hundreds of miles.  We stopped for coffee and a "break" in a tiny hamlet called Hamilton.  There wasn't much to do there so the hamletters had put their efforts into gorgous cottage gardens. They reminded me very much of England.

Poppies

January 17th
Cool weather plants are much more delicate and less showy than tropical ones.

Big Tree

January 16th
An extremely old and large tree

Air walk

January 15th
The view from the Air Walk. People had thrown coins onto the chopped trunk. I suppose paper money would have just floated away.

MONA

January 14th
A garden at MONA

Hobart

January 13th Our garden in Hobart

January 12th
The inside plants have all had a good soaking in the laundry and some water crystals in the soil.  They'll also be visited twice.  Hope they survive.
This would actually be day 366 if I had kept count properly, but abandoning the garden for a holiday  seems like such a wimpy way to end. So I'm going to drizzle on for a few days at least till I get back home.

Marigolds

January 11th
The marigolds will be left to their own devises. I'm only really growing them to dig back into the soil, as they are good for nematode control. Apparently nematodes can help viruses spread between crops and someone suggested to me that my very spindly unhealthy crop of tomatoes a few months ago might have been caused by a virus.  So, being an extremely unscientific gardener I thought it was worth a stab. So bed #3 is resting with a covering of marigolds.

Pepper

January 10th
A capsicum prepared to be abandoned for 10 days.

Pumpkin

January 9th
This butternut pumpkin also has it's own lifeline but it doesn't look to be fareing particularly well. Perhaps it doesn't like where I have put it.

Well prepared

January 8th
This passionfruit seedling is the only one so far to grow big enough for the great outdsoors. The leaves look a tad burnt so it probably wasn't quite ready for the great adventure. And there is more in store. On January 12th we head south to Tasmania for cooler climes and I will not be arount to hover. So, the new irrigation system will have to keep the plants supplied with moisture. This seedling has it's own personal dripper.

Black Sapote Fruit

January 7th
The sapote keeps on growing fruit but they just drop off.  They're still quite small and don't look ripe. Better do some research.
Pick the fruit when it is hard and green. Fruit begins to soften and go brown within 3-6 days after picking. This is the ripe stage - you should be able to press the skin with your fingers and leave an indent. Start harvesting when all the local birds move into the area and start to feed on the fruit.
Ok, now I know.

Food Preparation Cut in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon and place in a mixing bowl. Stir in the flavouring you choose until it is the consistency of a smooth dessert sauce. Great served with papaya, and ice cream. Black Sapote Bread, Pudding and Pie

Garden Salad

January 6th The cucumber, beetroot root and leaves, tomato and beans are all from the garden.  Kylie and Greg made the mango chutney.

Seed Outing

January 5th
Its been overcast and showery for a couple of weeks.  The seedlings on the patio are all beginning to list dangerously in one direction. The insect screen filters the light anyway, but on dull days it's even darker. So these plants are all out for an outing on the lawn to catch a bit of sunshine. It reminds me of people in the English parks in the summer. I hope the plants don't all decide to shed their leaves.

Brunfelsia

January 4th
I know these are extremely common in Australia, but I cannot get too much of them. Not only are they beautiful in flower, they smell delicious in the evening.  This one is on the edge of the garden so you have to make an effort to stroll over there and breathe deeply. Once the kitchen garden has expanded to its full length I will plant one of these so the scent drifts in through the window and also to the patio.

Pink

January 3rd
Getting pinker every day. This lillipilly should be renamed Little Girl's Delight.

Stage 2

Day 365   January 2nd
Stage 2 of the water system is the timer which is now in place.  Now in theory I can go away for weeks and the plants that need cossetting will get their moisture.
This looks as if it should be the last day of the blog, but I know I started on January 28th.  Somewhere mid year I probably transposed a couple of numerals and now there is a mismatch. I' not going back in to sort it out.  I'll just keep plodding along to Jan 27th.
Or I could stop now.

Efficiency

Day 364   January1st
The first day of the new year, a fitting day for a photo of the new efficient water system. It's mainly efficient in terms of my time.  I won't have to go around individually watering all the plants.  The system will quietly deliver a stream of drops to them.

Unhappy Tomatoes

Day  363  December 31st The latest tomato plants have not looked very healthy from the start, even the fruits look a little seedy; mottled and cracked. They taste ok but they're not very tempting. I don't know what the problem is.  They're the same seeds as the last batch and have had pretty much the same treatment.

Passionfruit

Day 362   December 30th
All the way from Kyogle, a red Panama passion fruit is reaching out to attach itself to the fence.

Rosemary

Day 361   December 29th
Finally the new kitchen garden is ready to plant.  This rosemary bush has been biding its time in bet # 2.  The first rosemary I planted grew so big and woody it really took over the garden bed. I don't think it's a suitable plant for beds were everything else is seasonal.  This garden will have some of that but mainly it is for permanent shrubs.  Before I removed the huge plant (with some difficulty) I took a couple of cuttings for when I would have a more suitable spot.  It's been a while.