Bees. Hives need checking.

I have been slack with the beehives.  I know, who'd have thought!  But I know that I need to go out and have a look at them, I *know* they will need extracting.  I keep saying it's because I am too scared but maybe, probably, most likely, it's because I am too lazy.

Husband is away and I want to get it done before he gets home but keep putting it off and now the weather has cooled down and it has been raining and they might be a tad grumpy so I have again put it off.   And now he will be home before I get it done and wont be pleased if he has to do it!  And rightly so.  My hives, my hobby, my job.

I don't know if it's bad for the hive or the bees to be left alone for so long but I do know that I have run out of honey to sell and people are asking for it.  That in itself should get me out there...but hasn't.   I am a bad beekeeper.

I have tidied and cleaned the extracting shed though so that is ready to go when I do finally get-out there.  We bought more jars a while ago and they are cleaned and boxed up ready.    If I leave it too long though the place will need dusting again!

I was going to have a go this morning but it's been raining and is too cool.  Maybe tomorrow otherwise Thursday for sure.  Unless I need to go in to Vinnies then it will have to be Friday....see this is how it gets away from me.  I was going to do it 2 weeks ago but it kept being put off for one reason or another...And now it's nearly a month since I've even been out there to check on them!   Bad beekeeping.

Spaghetti Squash.

A long time ago I went to some markets and was given a spaghetti squash plant. It had a tag saying it was in fact a SS.  I planted it, it grew a bit and I ended up with 1 fruit. 
This morning I went to a garden SSS meet up and brought home a Spaghetti squash.  The woman that grew it, and several hundred others! said that it was in fact a SS.

Hmmm.    Are these actually the same thing?  Is one just malformed?  Or not ripe yet?  Or something completely different to a Spaghetti Squash?

I will cut them open sometime this week and see what the insides look like but thinking mine isn't *quite right*    But maybe it is *quite right* for what it really is...

Someone will know and that someone will tell me.  I hope.  And thankyou if that someone is you.

Update.  I knew someone would know!  I have just been told "Green Hubbard Squash. It's a pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima species." It's ripe and I eat it like pumpkin.

SSS and visiting another garden.

I am going to a neighbours house this morning.  She is having a SSS morning so I am hoping to get all inspired and interested in the gardens again.    The SSS stands for Swap, Share, Shuffle and people will bring something garden related to SSS and we'll have a look around her garden and talk gardens.  I'm looking forward to it in an I can't really be bothered doing anything today way.  But I need want this, I need want to get me gardening mojo back!

I feel I am getting old and I'm not, I'm just eating too much crap and not doing enough.  As I do HoHum.  I need to get interested, need to do stuff, need to challenge myself again.  Today is the start of all that!  And as I write and think about it it is looking like a fun way to spend a few hours!

Have you heard of SSS days?  Do you have gardening friends that you visit and talk with?   It should be interesting.

I have yet to decide what to take though.  I have lemon balm that needs thinning and that grows easily and the sweet potato grows from slips so decision made, I will take some of that as well and hope others take it home with them.   

Last evening I weeded all the half 44's along the driveway then mulched them with the composting grass and weeds from the chook pen.  They look much better and are ready if I bring anything home.  It's always better for any plants I bring home if I have a spot ready and they can be put in right away.   Some poor plants have to wait a few weeks and then they don't do so well.

If you have any ideas on finding lost gardening love, let me know them please.

December 24th 2015 Fruit.

End of December and we are starting to get grapes.  Lots of grapes.  We have 8 vines growing, maybe 6 different varieties but I am unsure what they are.    They get ripe, I eat them.  I don't need to know what they are called to enjoy them.. 
We have black ones over the pig pen, maybe not quite ready as they are sour but they are dark and look ready.  It's not 'til you bite into them that you realise that they are not.  I had some really dark ones this afternoon and they were a bit better but still not quite there.

 I know we have Red Globe, they are not ready yet.  One vine grows along the chookpen fence along the driveway.  We have put stocking over these as last year the birds got most of them.  We did, or didn't prune this vine last year, I remember hacking some branches off as they were in my way but it wasn't a proper prune so there isn't as many grapes on here this year.  But we have covered a dozen or so bunches and they are growing nicely.

The grapes we are eating now are small sultana grapes.  These grapes always end up with Powdery mildew and it looks like this year will be the same but there are plenty of bunches out there that are clean and we are enjoying these now.  I didn't stocking these, thought the birds would get them and I should but we have been lucky and are getting plenty.  I should stocking some before the birds come, and I may yet do that.  These grapes grow over a chook shed and wire topped yard.  They look pretty good the way they hang down and we can walk under them and pick as we go.

We did net one whole vine.  Husband cut the vine back so the net would fit and we bought some small clips to hold the netting.  It looks alright and there is nothing getting to them.  Last year the chooks jumped up and started on this lot and then the birds and then the wasps came in so it was a bit risky trying to pick any.  This year we will get more than enough.  A couple more weeks and they will should be ready

 

 

 

We have 3 other vines, 2 different sorts, they too need to have stocking put on them before they get ripe and the parrots find them.  I did think of doing it this afternoon...but didn't.  If I want some of these ones then I need to get them covered.

A few years ago I bought a couple of boysenberry plants.  Stuck them in the ground and left them too it.  The prickly plant grew everywhere, husband hated it, the chooks ate the fruit, the prickly vine kept growing away from the fence where I wanted it, husband kept threatening to rip it out...This year I started caring for it a bit, have been trying to keep it under control but a not succeeding.  Husband has brought in some 1/2 drums for me, we will fill these with dirt then get the plants into the drums.  This way they should grow up the fence and it should be easier for me to keep them off the ground where they root where they touch.  There is a bit off fruit on them now and as long as I keep the water up to them they are really sweet and lovely.  I have netted them from the chooks and parrots but it is still a work in progress.

We bought some raspberries and they too have fruit on them.  Only one plant from the 3 and I do tend to forget to water these but I'm hopeful I will get a taste a least.  I have more than a dozen other plants that were swapped for some chokoes but I have just put those in a 1/2drum until I figure out where to plant them.  They are getting big though so I need to figure it out soon.






The bananas are growing well.   Husband is trying to get these growing along a few fence lines and also out the back and it seems to be working.  We have 2 clumps at the moment that have fruit.  Well, 1 plant from each clump has a bunch of bananas. 

The bananas from the plants we have here are smaller than the shop bought one but so much sweeter and much more bananary.  I still buy bananas though as I like them and they make a quick and easy snack.

We have talked about pulling up the peach tree as it always gets over ridden with fruitfly.  This year husband is giving it 1 more chance.  He has netted it and if it still gets fruitfly then we will probably pull it out.  We haven't bee able to get any edible fruit from this tree for the last few years because of the fruitfly.

So far the fruit is looking clean so fingers crossed we will get some.








The Apricots have finished.  This year these ended up with fruitfly again too, I netted too late.  I was relying on the Naturelure to work but will know better next year and will get the net on before the fly gets there.

We are eating strawberries, not many but some each day as I wander around the yard.

I didn't get any watermelons to mature though.  Actually, didn't even manage to get the plants to survive more than a few weeks.  Maybe next year I will get some growing but for this Summer, I will buy them.  Summer means watermelon so if I want one then I will buy one.

Since we started growing our own fruit there is a lot that we no longer buy from shops, it is not as nice as the stuff we grow and we would rather go without than eat inferior stuff.  We now eat fresh, local, in season fruits, mostly grown in our own backyard.  I love being able to do that.

Some people say that I eat too much fruit.  Maybe I do but it is fresh, it is free, it is there...so I will continue to do so.   

I would encourage everyone to grow some of their own fruit and though trees take a long time before you get anything berries are quick and strawberries can be grown in a pot or hanging basket.and fruit easily.  Try it, grow some fruit, enjoy eating your own.

December 24th 2015. Vegetables.

I haven't been here for awhile, not sure why.  Too lazy?  Too boring?  Too busy?  All of the above?  Whatever the reason, I hope to get back here on a regular basis next year.  And as next year is next week then I better get some stuff going so I have something to put on here.

I did take the camera out early yesterday morning, so I now have a bit of a record of what the yard looks like.  Well, what it looked like yesterday morning anyway!

The fridge gardens out the back are going well.   We have 2 with strawberries in, 2 with potatoes, 2 with sweet potatoes
 One has tomatoes that are near on finished, this one had potatoes too but they're not doing very well.
Beans are in 1, I don't know what sort of beans as I can't remember but if picked young then they taste pretty good raw and just picked.

The tank gardens up nearer the house are full of weeds but there is some food in there too. 

There's corn in here, too much lemon balm, kale, capsicums, rockmelons that might give us a couple of fruit if the slaters don't get them.  I'm hoping the stocking will protect them as well as support them while they grow.


 




Pulled our first carrot last week and it was a pretty good looking carrot considering I'm not too great at getting carrots to grow.  It looks yellow but is orange

We have had dozens of cucumbers, eaten lots, given heaps away and still have a fridge full so will make some bread and butter pickle soon.  That s always worth making and is a great way to use up the excess.  The plants are looking a bit sad but still producing.

The proper size according to husband tomatoes aren't ripe yet but we have been picking and eating the small cherry type ones for months.  He says he doesn't like them as they are too small but I will keep growing them as they produce for such a long time. And if they selfseed and grow I see it as natures way of saying they should be here.



The drums down the driveway are hit and miss but there are some nice looking tomatoes in some, we will get a feed or 2 of corn, dug up a small amount of garlic last week, the asparagus never gets inside, the gogi has berries on it but not many, I think the birds get them before me, A few of these have potatoes in them and there is always enough for a feed if I want to go bandicooting for them.

 

These ones have raspberries in 2, a chilli/capsicum plant in 1 and some JA's coming up in the 4th.  I had though all the JA's had rotted away but am pleased to see they hadn't.

So as you can see we still have food growing, not as much as I'd like but enough to keep us from going hungry. I buy onions and carrots but not much else.  Next year will be better.

Still pottering along.

Another beautiful Spring day here in my backyard.   I will need to quickly get my inside jobs done so I can get out there and do my half hour.   A half hour stint usually turns into way longer just pottering about but it's so good for the soul, the mind, the whole body health thing.  I'm so pleased that the weather is now nice enough to be outside most of the day.

A couple of weeks ago a daughter helped me with getting a pile of seedlings planted, looks like I will have more Kale than I know what to do with!   All the seedlings are growing great but the seeds that I planted, not doing too well at all.  For once I was going to do the plant some now, plant some later thing so as not to end up with too much of one thing at the same time.  Looks like I am just 2 weeks behind with the growing though as most haven't even emerged.

I tried carrots, again.  Even covered them to keep them moist until they started, still nothing.   Corn that should have been poking it's head up last week, nope, not even a bit of dirt pushed out of the way.  Lettuce seeds, again, can't see any where I sprinkled them but the self-sown ones are coming up in a few places so they will keep us going for a bit.  I will get more of everything in this week and see how that lot does.  Even the Luffa seeds haven't come up and they are usually pretty reliable.

Chooks are laying.   I have more than 10 doz eggs in the fridge now so will take some down to Vinnies later and see if any of the vollies want some.  In the meantime, eggs for breakfast but there is only so many eggs 1 person can eat.  Husband is home tonight so he will get a couple with his tea.   But 2 eggs from all the dozens we have...Hmmm, if my maths is right we'll still have lots left!

I have started riding the pushbike again, will go for a ride before breakfast then will start the daily list.  

New Challenge.

Soooo, I still haven't made a list, still haven't planted much, still haven't weeded and prepared enough gardens for when I do plant...

I started a discussion on our local haveachat FB page and other people are doing what I should be.  What I want to.  What I will do.  I wanted to hear what others were doing so that I would be inspired and get motivated again, I think it's working.  One woman lives out the back of me, she has already started preparing, planting...she probably never stopped!   I will use her as my inspiration, Thanks N.  

It's raining here and it has brought out the snails.  I have had a walk around and collected what I saw and thrown them to the chooks.  More slugs out there this year than before, I wonder why.  Slaters are still in huge numbers but I am going to juice some Oranges today so will use the half peels and see if that attracts them and makes it easier to collect them to feed to the chooks.

I planted a few Kale seedlings a week or 2 ago, thanks to daughter Lee giving them to me.  They are looking OK but the other Kale that I have needs to be chopped right back so I will give the chooks a feed later on.  What I should do, and might, is make some Kale chips.  I have done that before and they weren't half bad.  If I do I will let you all know how they turn out.  I also need to, again, ask Lee what type of Kale it is so that I can make a sign so I don't keep forgetting.  I forget, I ask her, she tells me, I forget so I ask her...I sign should stop all that.

Out there growing and ready to eat at the moment?   Lettuce, cabbages, capsicum, a few sad looking chillies, I could dig up potatoes and sweet potatoes if I wanted to.  There is Silverbeet and I think spinach, onions but not enough to keep me going more than a month or so.  Hmmm, doesn't look to abundant does it.  There are still plenty of Oranges and we have 10 dozen eggs in the fridge with more cackling happening out there as I type.  Oh, I picked a tomato yesterday!  and 2 last week.  There are plenty of greens ones and we have plants with flowers so I hope they take off when it warms up a bit.  The broccoli all went to seed when I was housesitting a while back and not here to keep picking it and the caulies didn't do too well at all.  I think I managed to get 2 from a dozen plants.   The bees are liking the broccoli flowers though and I will collect some seeds when they are ready.

What I need to do is get some more potatoes in, figure out where to plant some corn and melons.  This year I WILL!! grow a decent watermelon!  Well I need to just get out there and make a start, even 1/2 an hour every day, regardless, will see us eating better with yummy homegrown produce.  And I have fruit trees to get in the ground.  It's going to be a wet weekend so the perfect time for it...just need to work out where they are going, dig the hole, plonk them in...job done.  So why haven't I yet?   After today there will be at least 3 more trees planted!

And there be a challenge to myself.  Half an hour in the garden doing *something*  Something productive that will get things growing not half an hour wondering around or sitting and reading a book!   

Anyone growing lots of stuff that I can read about to keep the motivation going?    Though once I start I'm usually pretty good with it but reading about your gardens is fun too.

Must Do's

Really must get back into writing here.  I have no idea what I have done, what needs doing, what I planted when or where...I need to start another list of things to do and I think getting back into this on a regular basis will be near the top. Yep, blogging is a mustdo.

Friends Furneral Today.

I'm still over in Mandurah housesitting but making a special trip back home today to go to a friends furneral.    This woman has been sick for a while now but lost the battle last week.  It will be a sad day,  there will be hundreds of people there, she was a well loved person with heaps of friends.

My heart goes out to her family...

The furneral today was the most beautiful furneral I have ever been to.  It was up at the weir in Waroona so everyone was overlooking the clear calm lake with green hills dotted with cows beyond.    The people talking all said lovely things, people wore colourful clothing and the rain held off until it was over except for a light sprinkle as the coffin was being carried back to the hearse.

Debbie would have loved it, such a pity she wasn't there to see it...or maybe she was...

Housesitting.

I'm housesitting at the moment, been here for just over a week and have just over a week to go.  There is a cat, a dog and a 13 year old boy.  
The cat belongs to the boy and is suposed to be fed and cared for by him...So far there has been at least 2 nights when he hasn't fed it.  I fed it 1 of those nights but I'm pretty sure the cat didn't get it's wet food last night either.  The boy will disagree and argue if I mention it.  
The dog belongs to the elder son that doen't live here at the moment.  He is is fed morning and night by me and I take hime for walks 2 or 3 times a day.  My shins hurt.   The dog is used to being *walked* by a runner, I am barely a walker so he pulls, I hurt.  I don't know this dog well enough to let him run loose, haven't found a leash off area here yet so we walk slower than he likes, faster than I want...Good fun.
The boy...this kid is different to how he was when he was little and lisened to me.  When he did what was asked and didn't argue, swear and call me names.  I don't like him as much as I used to.  It's sad.   The first 2 days here and I was ready to knock his block off.  We aren't allowed to do that any more but I tell ya, I wanted to!  So we wont be doing anything fun together, I don't really care if he spends his days home in his room.  I'd rather not talk with him.    I don't like the way he makes me feel.  Or another way, I don't like the way I feel after dealing with this kid.   It's sad but I think I'm getting to old for this shit!

I used to look after the kids in this family when they were little, probably started 10 years ago now but haven't been needed since the boys got bigger and started school fulltime.   That has been the way with all the families that I worked for, fulltime school puts an end to it except sometimes during school holidays.

I am here now because the owner has gone overseas to visit her family, it might be the last time she sees them and as she has had a crap year so far when she asked me to help I said yes.   I'm not sorry I did but I miss being home.  This is a big, clean, tidy, low care house, ours is small, messy, dirty, high care...I prefer ours.  Mind you, there are bits to this place that I need to take notice of and maybe incorporate them somehow into home, it's been good being here, it's showing me what I do like about home, what I don't like, what should be done and things I have whinged about but really now think they can stay.  And it's shown me that I really miss our yard and my gardens.  And the chooks.  Who'd have thought that I'd miss chooks that don't lay me any eggs!   I miss chopping wood for the fire and love how toasty warm our little house gets.  This big house gets cold and I hate turning the aircon on to warm it up so tend to leave it too long.

I am travelling back to Waroona to do my shifts at Vinnies, twice this week but 3 times next week and the petrol costs are adding up but that's to be expected.  I'm not used to travelling so far and wonder at the fulltime workers that do it 5-6 times a week.   Some travel further than the 45 minutes each way that I am, how do they manage that.  Less time at home with family, less time for hobbies and fun stuff, less money in their pocket after paying for fuel...So glad I don't have to be like that.

What am I doing while here?  Not a lot.  Reading, finally got that book finished.   Going on internet and looking at blogs and ways of doing stuff for when I get home.  I went into Mandurah on Tuesday and watched some dolphins play out near the marina.   That was pretty cool.  I think I like water, the peace and the calmness of it.    I'll go do that again before I go home.

Do you housesit?   Would you like to?  What would you do with a kid that lies, goes into your room, backchats, argues and calls you swearwords?