Mild Weather Workout

Today I was up early and working between houses. Progress is being made, but there is still not enough time in the day and too few lifetimes.

The main priority today was getting to the rabbits. Spot needed more attention to her ears and her hutch moved whilst the other rabbits also needed a move and a bit of strategic planning in order to be able to cover both hutches, plus the female guinea pigs with insect netting.

It is our pre-emptive action against the Calicivirus that was released a few weeks ago. I would hazard a guess that given there were fresh diggings on our lawn this morning out the front that the virus hasn’t quite made an impact at this end of the beach yet. Though there was a rather dishevelled rabbit carcass down the road yesterday morning that looked more like a sick rabbit than a road kill. Anyway, hopefully we won’t need the net for too long once the virus has moved through, but $18 for a net was cheaper than $45 per rabbit every six months – with no guarantee!

I also managed to harvest some broccoli seed for hanging and clear part of the raised bed to get it ready for summer vegies. And watered the garden. Plucked several dozen juicy snails from the garden and checked over the fruit trees.

Finally I managed to mulch the wattle branches that I had cut a little while back. They were easy to mulch and gave several bags of mulch which I put on the garden paths to break down over summer and give a decent cover for the whole of the lower garden through the heat of summer.

Then there was spinach that required harvesting and preparing for storage – blanched and frozen. Some of the older plants are starting to go to seed so I have selected the plants for seed selection and have pulled some of the others out. These were used in the kitchen or for animal feed.

There was no turtle movement to record today. Even after I have removed the awaiting wattle branches from the back area I didn’t find any indication that they may have dug and laid eggs under the cover of the branches. I did find a big bullfrog hiding there. Strong and powerful he was. Definitely a Spotted-Thighed Frog with the markings on the back and the padded front toes. Confirmed now by sight and sound!

Even the garden at the other house is busily growing in this weather. I have spotted several fruit tree seedlings that have sprouted in what used to be the chicken yard. Very handy.  Any green waste from the house there has been brought over to the garden here to add to the new garden bed which is sinking down in the warm weather as it decays. I am still not sure what I will plant into it when it is ready, but I do want to get it nice and hot to kill off the weeds and seeds that are in it.

Mango seeds, avocado seeds and loquat seeds are finding their way into the garden from our household, perhaps to grow into trees in the time ahead.

I am making the effort to post my actions, observations and thoughts a little more frequently at this time of the year as there is a lot going on and I will use these posts to prepare for the season in advance next year.