Tree Lopper

 A rest day beckons as my arms have had an extra workout this week and I am also returning to the Willie washed out track tomorrow, so today is not exactly on the couch but I am using the armrest. Haha.  Yesterday, I started out with the very long sweeper broom which is suprisingly an arm buster.  The very top sections of covered awning require the broom at full extension. There was a lot of accumulated dust, webs and the remains of the bug plague that blew in a week back.  Then in the afternoon it was another solid workout with the large limb cutters. Some of those branches were thick and manoeuvring the thing is tricky. At some stage we have to get back to finish trimming the lemon tree. 

Lemon Spears

 Yes this lemon tree does not have prickles, not even spikes, it has spears. These pointers can pierce your gloves as well. I did an initial attack trying to get the vertical skyscrapers back under control. There are still more to do and will need another go. This time around we will go into the centre to cut out the chaff so to speak. There is a lot of spindly green growth and old growth in a crowded under carriage. I put 12 lemons out the front yesterday and one couple took eight of them. The older one goes "These are grapefruit."  I have another 30 lemons now but have only put half out. I need to recover from the puncture wounds. How do possums avoid getting stabbed? I notice they have only been gorging on fruit they can reach from the fence.

sharp

Garden Update

 My physicality today is lawn mowing. We have green bin at the weekend which is looking busy so that means tidy up is today. It's not all cuttings and mulch though as the neighbours delivered 2 dozen eggs and a big box of potatoes for doing their mowing.  The barter system at work, grass for food. I found someone has dug a hole in the lawn out the front. This would have happened when we were away somewhere maybe when we were in Willie a few days back.  The hole is where the pit cover is for the comms cables running beneath.  The turf has been put back but there is a neat dead rectangle there now.  Elsewhere the blossoms are out in force on the apricot tree so we are looking for a bigger yield this time around and the nearby dreaded ivy seems to be dying off after the new owners got a crew in to clear out half of next doors plants.  We need to get some lemons out the front.

Aerial View

It has been calm as here for a few days and if it is pleasant then the gardening overhaul must continue. A neighbour bailed me up while I was coming back from the beach and announced he had found another gardener (me) for the cause. He was told this area was off limits so he went on his way.  We are going to borrow the neighbours green bin. They have artificial grass for one thing and its an airbnb as well so that bin has never been used. I have the new designs from above.  Moving tons of rocks around is more like landscaping than gardening.

It is hard to compare this still scene with the wind scene

Cylindrical Garden

 There has been a metal circle in the garage for some months just waiting for the right moment to be installed. The dirt facing edge had already been primed so it was time to move it out. It seems a bit prominent to me right at the front and will catch the weather but looks like it has always been there. Elsewhere the orchids are spraying and I now count thirteen spikes out the back and just two in the centre courtyard.  May need to pay more attention to those ones with a bit more feeding. Finally the apricot tree has had a prune as well now. This should have been done after fruiting.  The lemon tree needs some attention but we are running out of green bin space for now.

Poisoning the Pavement

 We are due for a few dry days here so I spent at least an hour pumping and splurging 5 or 6 litres of poison into the paver cracks and crevices. This has not been done for some months and a forest was sprouting in the cracks. I was able to pull quite a few trees out by the roots before hand. I find a bit of a back ache is induced as it seems you have to stoop to get more accurate with the spray nozzle. Also the watering system sprays onto the pavers but I should get almost 24 hours of drying time before that. 

before

FIGJAM

Yes a few footballers have been known by this moniker over the years but this time it's the neighbours who are feeding us again. It seems possums love figs, so great lengths are needed to keep them out, like building a complete enclosure, with door, to envelope the tree.  It worked so well there is now a bumper crop but then what do you do. Figjam. We also got a stack of whole figs which I do not think I have seen before. As a kid my father would eat dried figs and I never could try them and that idea stuck. However the undried variety were sweet enough but the texture is hard to describe. Also the jam has all the skin left in the cookpot so I have been feeling around inside the jar to get the peel out. Feel I'm Good Just Ask Me.

A Delivery of Stones

 It takes a day or two to get back into the rhythm of stuff and when it's also Easter and the next day everything is closed so the day after there are twice as many people out and about, yadda yadda. The garden here has been ignored for a while so the grass has had a cut and a trim. There are also bags of stones. If stones are the paint for a rock garden canvas then there is going to be a lot more painting. We have bags with small stones and bags with big stones. Out the back I had a quick peruse and there is nothing doing. The tomatoes are green balls now on wilting stalks and no strawbs. The olives look to be thriving and will be an oliviathan harvest.

Dear Daffney

 We have had two daffney's one on either side of the front entrance.  Last year I cut one out because it was dying off. It's just what they do we are told, they die prematurely.  I took out the other one this morning as it was turning a moldy shade of yellow. The ground did seem a bit dry but the root system was all fresh and moist so basically we are giving up on those plants. Debbie turned her attention to another plant out the front which has the opposite problem. She tried to kill it off. Cleared the whole thing, digging out roots and shoots but up it comes again. It is some sort of daisy that invited itself. So now it is being coralled in a metal enclosure and will be severely cut back and shaped but not with the new gizmo which does not actually cut anything. We are not too cut up about it.

yellowed

a cutter NOT

after

on the level

Garden Fail

We have taken the eye off the ball or actually the eye off the zuchini. There had not been much growth action so who was going to look underneath those big fat leaves anyway. I mean there were some flowers earlier and those shrivelled up. Maybe it was becuase one took hold and kept growing, secretly low down where it could hide. We found it and had trouble picking it up. I checked the tomatoes, still rock hard green cricket balls. I checked the strawberries and still mostly green tiny specks.  We do have one lemon starting to yellow but that is all . Debbie has turned attention to the lady plant sculpture which has gradually declined over two years. It seems there will be a restructuring of her in some way.

Garden Update No 321

 The lemon tree is still trying to recover after those poaching possums devoured everything on it. Nearby the new strawberry plants are struggling to bear berries but there are a few green ones to be seen.  The tomatoes are scarce and previously we could have held our own tomato festival however this time around there are some green ones showing thru just now.  I think I can see a few zuchini or are they cucumber, anyway they are elongated.  The large pots are being cleaned out for a Winter planting.  I don't like the sound of Winter plantings when we still have three weeks of Summer left.

Apricots and Eatmenots

 Yes the ones on the ground with holes pecked in them or ants crowding in, are the eatmenots while the ones in the tree shrouded in netting are still Apricots.  I did not want to wait any longer so I parted some of the pegs and reached in for the picking.  A few had been scraped by bird beaks so I got those out first. They were the ripest.  There were another dozen or so that I took off. Fruit picking is satisfying when it is off your own tree but getting fruit pickers to go a whole orchard is getting harder and harder. These generations are used to pushing buttons to get things done.  

Fruit Wars

 We have admitted defeat with the lemon tree. We can't net it as it is too big and the spikes are ferocious even it you did try.  The possums have left it alone of late due to there being only small green fruit on there however the apricot tree is ripening nicely. We have netted that one but I see dislodged fruit laying in the nets and some of it is bruised with holes.  I assume it is birds and not possums.  Some apricots are hard against the net but only a few. Maybe I should be picking these.  I left some affected fruits on the ground but these have disappeared now. I was hoping that peace offering would be enough.  We  unleashed the flowers of war being the marchng marigolds however the new strawberries have got holes in them as well.

Summer Clean

 Just when you think it is time to put your feet up there is something else to do, like poison the brick paths then follow up with a pressure sway on the precious way.  Then rake all the garden beds and lace them with plant food and fertilisers as well as bedding them with sugar cane mulch.  Don't forget the ornaments that have been rusting for a while, as it is a good time to brush and scrape and apply an antirust to prolong their decoration. Someone has to record this in photos.

On the Fence

 It just seems like the other day that this old paling fence got a coat of paint.  Some repairs were done recently and I also reattached a few palings but the main problem is the plants.  I took to them with the hedge trimmer and got a decent gap so that paint could flow. This time around Debbie used a small roller which was much quicker. The neighbours completely ignore their side which has the rails and those have rotted mainly as the plants are up against them. They are way older than us and don't live there. Now it seems I may have to mow their lawns. If you can afford a spare house you can afford a spare gardener.

all done

Red Browed Finch

 There has been a return to the garden beds lately and a whole new one has sprung up in the corner. There is also a new candidate for the smallest bird I have seen here.  Maybe the recent garden action has attracted them but for two days now I have seen a pair of red browed finches drinking at the pop up fountain out front.  I have some pics thru a salty window as they seem very flighty.  There is also a type of blight appearing on the leaves and apricots. It maybe nothing but they are as green as grass and seem a long way off ripe. The possums are really living it up here. Playing chasy games across our roof, peeing on outside rafters and spending the whole night eating lemon rind in our tree. Those possums.

Putting Session No 6

 Weather conditions are conspiring to limit my putting practice. Not to forget ailment conditions like a sore left elbow and the currently required face eating cream which are both painful distractions. In any case I tried a session this morning and I believe there is a slight improvement out to 9m. Hooray. Also I am keen to wear the paint of this put ball becuase it would be a telltale sign that I have talked the talk but not walked the walk or maybe fronted the foot but not putted the put.  Also I have spied a strawberry guarding marigold that has popped out of our patch. They are meant to deter the aphids. 

Indoor Flowers

 It is orchid season or just finished as far as going outdoors is concerned. The weather and availability have conspired to let time pass however the theory is that the orchids are delayed and may still be out there.  I have made do by recording the state of the blooms inside here. Of course tremendous work is spent on fostering growth. Sure!  There are new shoots on the way and there was no need to cut off a leaf.

yesterdays rubbish haul

Reel Time

 It used to be unreal but now it is reel.  There are three new hose reels dotted around the place, two of which needed their own post.  Also some maintenance was needed on the water tank outlet which was blocked by dirt etc carried into it from off the roof. There were other down pipes similarly blocked due to fungoids that grow on the roof and then get washed into the gutters. The very high ones have not been checked as yet and I know there are bird nests in some of those. We have a lot of spare hoses now.