The chaos I came home to!

Hi ho hi ho its off to work I go and by the time I got home this afternoon the house seemed to have regressed into some sort of chaotic parallel universe!

I returned home after nine hours at work and find that my driveway is almost completely blocked with a massive pile of palm tree mulch. Sure I should be happy about this a gigantic pile of mulch (as tall as me and probably three standard car lengths long) but the access into our carport is nearly blocked. Not such a big deal one might say but the other half spent did spend about forty-five minutes this afternoon clearing out a flat enough section in the mulch pile so that he could four-wheel drive over it to get his car out from behind this pile. All this drama just because the dumper of the mulch was too slack to listen to instructions, which required them to open a gate and then dump the excessive amount of palm mulch next to an existing pile of mulch in a location that wouldn't create such inconvenience.

So this is my first 'shock'! The next was the realisation that this large pile of mulch was smothering my just fruiting snow peas! Now this nearly floored me and certainly I had to restrain myself from screaming down the pathway to my other half to explain or justify why I shouldn't be strangling someone. This fabulous pile of much was soon to be killing off my fine, organic, locally obtained snow peas grown from seed, in a newly cleaned out garden bed, with the newly grown fruit easily accessible to my food-fussy toddler (who will eat these off the bush) and I am not very impressed!

I managed to restrain myself from screaming like a banshee about this, but the next thing that struck me was my withered and chewed brightly blooming grafted Eucalypt ($50). As I struggled through the front gate whilst trying not to step on my bottom lip, the tree appeared to have either been attacked by a lawn mower or a more likely explanation a dog's mouth. From the damage, I certainly suspect it was one of my dogs! Basically they have chewed off the top of the tree in frustration probably whilst feeling frustrated at my other half ignoring their barking whilst he over at the neighbours' negotiating a bargain on the large pile of palm mulch that now is residing in my driveway!

This palm mulch had better be the best damn weed-suppressing mulch ever - that's all I've got to say!

(Source: Backyard Poultry)

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Rosella cordial

After planting my rosella bush at the beginning of the year, I have been inundated with flowers/buds. The continuous development of flowers and the fact that I have only one bush, means that I never have had enough flowers/fruit to harvest all at once to cook with. However, rather than letting all these buds go to waste I have been collecting these lovely red buds as they reach "maturity" and placing them in the freezer. 

On Friday I finally decided that I had enough buds and associated requirements that I would try to make rosella cordial. Many people make rosella jam, but since I have never made jam before I thought cordial would be easier since there is no setting process required (which I have heard is quite difficult). 

So Friday afternoon the cook up began! I followed the Green Harvest rosella cordial recipe and below shows you how I went about it.

 

 

Extract the rosellas from the freezer

 

 Fill your largest saucepan with rosellas, until it is approximately 3/4 full. 

Cook/boil and then strain the pulp/buds off and keep liquid. 

(I put the pulp into my compost bin...don't want to waste these things)

 After you have added sugar to the liquid, let this dissolve and boiled for a little bit more 

you add a lot of lemon juice (thankfully my lemon tree is in full swing and I managed to 

retrieve 8 lemons from my tree to add to the mixture)

 Finished product! Tip of the day: don't let this boil over because it is a sweet, sticky syrup 

now and getting this off the floor is also a sticky business

 And here it is, my first batch of rosella cordial all bottled up!

Now my first taste of my rosella cordial! Yummy!

My batch made about three litres of cordial and apparently it will keep for up to a year. That is, if I have sterilised the bottles properly! So, I expect the above glass of rosella cordial will not be my last.

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Compost - what I need to be doing!

Organic matter in your vegetable, fruit or flowering garden is an essential ingredient to keep your plants growing over the long term. Initial plantings directly into your garden quite often do well, but overtime your garden's minerals and nutrients become exhausted and the overall soil health diminishes. The addition of organic matter, particularly in the form of compost, is a welcome and worthwhile addition to any garden to allow the same successes over and over again.

With the addition of compost to your garden, you will increase the amount of nutrients available, increase the potential water availability, decrease the amount of nutrients made unavailable in traditional landfill, reduce greenhouse gases being generated unnecessarily in landfill, provides soil structure in your garden and increases soil microbial activity leading to healthier and more productive soils over time. 

(Source: Abi Homeschools)

In recent years, I have always had a compost bin and presently my bin is not being loved as much as it should.  I really haven't had a significant amount of time to dedicate to the established garden beds at my place and thus, I haven't been maintaining my compost with love and vigour. I do regularly add food scraps, occasionally brown "goods" (such as leaves and branches) and when I just happen to have some green waste (fresh leaves and grass clippings) in my hand as I walk passed these go in too. Another ingredient that I have added to my compost bin is a few bags of fresh horse manure. I just did this because my understanding is that it isn't great to add manure straight to the garden and horse manure also quite often contains a large of weed seeds and the composting process will kill some of these off.

Things I should be doing to my standard compost bin to allow it to be composting more effectively and in a shorter period of time, include:

• aeration - I should be forking it over at least once a week (at present), to re-establish a bit of air flow and allow the breakdown process to become re-activated and mix the "ingredients" through each other;
• checking the moisture levels - if it is too wet or dry, decomposition of materials will be significantly slowed;
• getting a better balance between the ingredients - adding a significant larger proportion of brown goods over the green ones.

Once I have established a better routine for my compost, then it is likely that my compost bin will be more productive and the end product will be an ingredient that my garden will love in the long term.

So, what is stopping me from doing all this you may ask? Well, firstly time is a little against me at the moment, but I think the more important thing is that my compost bin is actually in quite an awkward location to access. As such, putting things into it is certainly a chore and attempting to do anything more than drop an occasional bucket of food scraps into it can in fact be quite dangerous (it is located on quite a steep hill on top of a small retaining wall). I think the re-location of my compost bin to a more appropriate location would re-engage me with my beneficial garden waste and overall inspire me to a new level of commitment to this nutrient recycling process in my garden.

Given that it is currently compost awareness week, maybe you can make a difference to your garden by re-engaging with your composting activities or establishing a new bin. Happy composting!

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Queensland Herbarium seminars 2012

The Queensland Herbarium holds monthly seminars at their Mt Coot-tha facility and they are open to the public. Their website currently outlines the seminars for 2012 through to June. These are held on the second week of each month between 12 and 1pm.

Seminars that have been announced so far include:

February 
"The flora of the Desert Uplands Bioregion."

March
"Historical vegetation changes to the grassy islands in the Whitsunday."

April
"The Springbrook wireless sensor network."

May
"Priority threat management to protect Kimberley wildlife."

June
"The fauna of forest red gum ecosystems following the raising of Awoonga Dam near Gladstone."

Maybe you might find some of these topics of interest, so make some time to learn from some of Queensland's researchers. Pin It

Guide to Eucalypts and Wattles in Brisbane region

The Queensland Herbarium (part of the Department of Environment and Resource Management) has a couple of fabulous and easy to understand and follow guides to eucalypts and wattles of the Brisbane region. These guides have been available for a number of years now and I have found them a fantastic resource. If you print them double-sided onto an A3 piece of paper they fold into a nice brochure size pamphlet. They are easy to take with you and have great illustrations that allow you to easily identify these species in the Brisbane region whilst you're in the field.

(Source: Wikipedia)

The Eucalypt guide is available at: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/plants/queensland_herbarium/publications/pdf/eucalypt_key3.pdf

and the wattle guide is available at: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/plants/queensland_herbarium/publications/pdf/wattle_key3.pdf

Hope you find them as useful as I have found them over the years! Pin It

Hakea

Photo of a hakea on the farm I use to live on. A flower farm is a lovely place to live!

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Pineapple update

In early June I wrote about my quest to grow my own pineapple from a top of a pineapple I purchased on the side of the road. 

At the time of the post, I hadn't planted the pineapple top yet, but was letting it cure, as recommended by Gardening Australia. After the week of rest I planted the pineapple top into a styrofoam box (for ease of transportation) with some potting mix and sugar cane mulch and maintained as with any new seedling/plant, with a nearly daily watering regime. The tips of the leaves did brown off during the early stages, which concerned me a little and just prior to our move I thought it was going to give up. But I am pleased to announce there is new life in my pineapple top, in the form of new central sprouts since arriving at our new place. 

Now I just have to continue my maintenance program, worm wee every now and watering every few days and maybe in a couple of years I can tell you how succulent my pineapple is. Here's hoping! Pin It

The journey has begun....

As you have seen from some of my previous posts, we moved into a new home recently, with the idea we would become a little more self-sufficient and enjoy the Queensland outdoor lifestyle a little more.

We have now started the transformation of our house from a typical suburban/semi-rural house into my "dream" home.  So, what have we done in the three weeks we've been here?

• installed a black cold compost bin;
• started to clean out the gutters on the house to ensure we collect maximum amounts of rain that hits the roof (as we are on tank water);
• checked out the water tanks and determined they require some maintenance works;
• got a water filter for our drinking water;
• started getting quotes for solar hot water systems; 
• enquired about grey water;
• put in some herbs and lettuces in small areas in the garden; 
• investigated heat-retardant blinds for the western facing rooms; and 
• started planning where other permanent garden features/beds will go. 

All of these have all been done in spare time around work, other commitments and this week around colds (guess it all caught up with us). But it has been fabulous being outdoors, having each morning greet us with visits from the local native birds and a lovely sunset view in the evenings.

No matter whether you've been in your space for a long or short time, view the natural world with new eyes and see what can be done around your place.

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Flying foxes and Hendra virus

Hendra virus has been in the news a lot in recent months. This virus is carried by flying-foxes here in Australia, which in some instances can be transferred to horses, leading to illness and in some cases the horse's death. Why is this of broad interest to the community? In some very rare cases there can be transmission between an infected horse and their human carers or veterinary professionals.

I am concerned because some sources have raised inappropriate concerns in the broader community about flying-foxes living in close proximity to Queensland communities, as a result of Hendra virus "risks". This unnecessary concerned has led some ignorant people to harming flying-foxes and/or attempting to move flying-fox camps away from residential locations.

It is important to be educated on this matter and not bring hysteria and misconception into the equation. The Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation has some useful information on their website. The important messages that I got out of the information provided is:

• the virus cannot be transmitted directly from flying-foxes to humans;
• people that have been infected with the virus, did so from extremely close contact with horses;
• infection from horses to people requires contact with respiratory secretions (eg mucus) and/or blood from the horse;
• despite exposure to infected horses, numerous people have shown no signs of infection.

Queensland Health also have relevant information on their website, which is useful to consult to understand symptoms in humans of infection.

As background, flying-foxes play an important role in the environment. They are pollinators and seed dispersers for many native plant species. A single flying-fox is reported to potentially be able to disperse 60,000 seeds in a single night (source). They might be noisy, a little smelly in some instances, but they are likely to be in your backyard for a very short period of time.  Overall, they are vital to keep many species within our environment. Let's look after them and become educated about their role and the likely impact they may have on you, your family and your environment, which in the case of Hendra virus is minimal.     Pin It

Where is my lemon peel?

My new house has a luxurious lemon tree near its back steps. Another fantastic thing is that this fruit tree isn't currently infested with the sooty mould that quite often affects citrus trees and has seen me running scared from venturing into these fruit crops previously.

My tree is currently supporting about 10 lemons that are ready for picking and then there are about three lemons which are completely intact, except they are missing their peel. These three fruit are completely intact, still hanging perfectly on the tree, but missing every inch of their peel. What is this all about?

I assume there is some very pedantic animal scurrying around the bush and up towards my house to neatly   remove every bit of peel from lemon. I would love to catch this little animal in the act and see what is munching so delicately on my lemons and over time figure out whether I can sacrifice a few lemons to this critter or whether I need to come up with some clever contraception to protect my fruit from them.

Nature is so peculiar. Will post some photos soon. Pin It

New garden

I am so daunted. We are about to move into our new home and we have a significant amount of land. Well it seems like it to me who originates from the suburbs. We have a 1.25 acre block which probably has about half of it covered in regrowth and remnant native vegetation and the rest of it planted gardens and open space. Given my passion for both producing my own food and native plants I feel overwhelmed with the ideas that I have for the land. Organising these thoughts and making them work is bringing me to panic. I think I should be taking some of my own advice and just do one step at a time. This surely will be the best plan of attack.

Photos of the blank canvas to come.


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The importance of fire

Here in Australia much of our vegetation is dependent on fire. I'm sure those of you who grew up here in Australia have heard of this, but what does it mean? Basically, the plants in Australia have evolved over a long time (for at least the last 40,000 years) in conjunction with fire. These fire events are both natural, as a result of lighting strikes, and as a result of human modification of the environment, with Aboriginal people using fire as a land management strategy.

What does this co-evolution of our Australian flora and fire mean for our vegetation communities in these modern times? Some our most popular native species, such as banksias and hakeas, are dependent on fire to produce the next generation. Such species must  experience a fire event before they will release seed from their seed pods. Other plants have adaptive 'behaviours' that assist them to survive in a fire event. For example, eucalypts produce epicormic growth (growth from under the bark which is stimulated when there is significant damage to the crown or the top of the tree) and these are then utilised as a survival technique after a fire event allowing the plant to continue photosynthesizing and obtaining energy and food. Fire in itself is also a way for the environment to manage fuel loads. More frequent and less intense fire events control fuel loads and reduce the risk of high temperatures and severe fires that we have witnessed and experienced in the southern areas of Australia in recent years.

Overall, it is therefore important to recognise the usefulness of fire and the importance of fire to some of the vegetation communities here in Australia. When well managed, undertaken in appropriate conditions and implemented in the right place fire is a useful land management tool. Pin It

Useful Native Plant Identification Books

Here are three readily available and easy to use native plant identification books useful in South-east Queensland.

• Wild plants of Greater Brisbane - Queensland Museum
• Noosa Native Plants - Noosa Integrated Catchment Association Inc.
• Mountains to Mangroves (there is a new edition available that combines the previously available two volume set) - Logan River Branch of Society for Growing Australian Plants

These are all photographic plant identification books and group the plant species into their supporting habitats/ecosystems. Easy to flip through to identify and no keys or fancy terms necessary.

Great reference texts and if you're keen it is a great idea to carry at least one of them in the field with you (if you're back can handle it) to help expand your knowledge of native plants in South-east Queensland! Pin It

Weed wash down

Weeds are significant issues across Australia and I often think about what the country would look like with intact vegetation and no lantana or the many other weeds that are invading natural bushlands and in some cases smothering them. 

There are numerous pieces of legislation which outline declared pests. Here in Queensland, we have the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act. Local councils also quite regularly identify lists of environmental weeds, these are usually invasive species that are non-native but widespread and unlikely to be completely removed from Australia without significant effort and investment. 

Weed control in your own patch of land is important, but where opportunities present themselves it is important to undertake weed seed spread prevention methods where available. I came across a public wash down facility when I was in North Queensland a couple of years back. 

 

I thought this was a great initiative but I don't think many other drivers on the road where even aware of the facility (it wasn't mandatory and you almost had to know it was there to see it) and certainly didn't seem to be using it. Therefore it probably wasn't very effective at this location, but you never know.

Here is a photo of the wash down facility in action. 

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Red-flowering melaleuca

Have you seen one of these? I have one in my back yard. I'm sure I knew what its scientific name was when I planted it, but it has been a couple of years since it was dropped into the ground, so the label has long since disappeared.

Just thought I would share some of the natives that I currently have in my back yard. I definitely think it is important to add natives to your back yard. They add to the foraging resources for the native animals but also either return or add to the native species (either abundance or diversity) back into your local area. If you can, add native species that previously occupied your area. In this instance, the red-flowered melaleuca doesn't come from my area but it still is beautiful. Pin It