HANSA CHIPPER ORDERED WOOOO HOOOOO

I'm excited I have ordered my Hansa C7 Chipper, will arrive next week some time. Australian made commercial grade, heavy duty garden chipper. Now this will mulch/chip anything thing up to 65mm. But I've read people are mulching up to 100mm if it's green. So no more burning off for me at home. All the bark which falls and all my prunings, green waste, newspapers, compost the chooks don't/won't eat can me mulched and composted. We are also  having a large gum tree cut down soon which is on a decent lean over the house. I've been able to negotiate a much cheaper price as I can now mulch all the foliage myself. They will just drop the tree to the ground in bits then I will chainsaw up all the fire wood size, split and stack that, then mulch all the small stuff. Neighbours and I will use the mulch on our gardens in no time.
The great thing about this chipper is that it's self feeding and has a huge chute so branches with forks can also be put in. I'll post some photo's when I get it and when I'm using it.
If it was just for me I couldn't justify the cost. But a lot of my clients are also very happy I'm getting it as I will able to wheel it around peoples garden and mulch on site and put the mulch directly back onto the garden. No more burning off no more expensive tipping fees. And all that goodness goes back onto the garden improving soil structure and humus content. WIN, WIN, WIN. I can even claim it at tax time and depreciate it on my business. What more could you want.

Planting the Cherry Trees.

This week I was driving home from Emerald and passed a Plant Nursery with a sign out the front advertising bear rooted fruit trees. Impulsively I had to have a couple of Cherry Trees!  So in I went and purchased two, a "Stella" and "Van".   But because this was an impulsive purchase I didn't even think where or if I had the space to plant them. So when I got home I looked for a place. D'OH!!!!

"Van" Cherry Tree planted

"Stella" Cherry Tree planted

I realised I couldn't plant them where there was space because we are having a large gum tree removed in the next month leaning over our house, they would be destroyed by falling timber during the process. ARRRGH these needed planting now, they wouldn't last bear rooted for a month, they will be at bud burst in the next week or so.  I knew where ever I planted them they would have to be netted so the birds and possums didn't eat the bounty of yummy fruit they would  start producing in a few years time. Then it hit me. Yes why not plant them inside the chicken pen. Hell it was plenty big enough and at 2.5m high, with pruning they could be kept below this height. Best of all I wouldn't have to net the trees each year. The chook pen was already bird proof!!!! And they will be mulched and fertilised automatically. So that is where I planted them, some times working under pressure creates the best results. Genius!!!!!

Cherry trees planted in chook pen
Genius!

Weeding and Mulching front garden beds!

Garden beds full of weeds. (before)

The front garden has been a little neglected over the last month, also spring is on the way and weeds have grown. Our lovely neighbours 'G' & 'S' have planted some yukkas, native grasses and bird of parradise on our boundary on our side above the retaining wall. (im sure they are trying to make thier view more palatable) we must paint the outside of our house some time. Add it to the list!!!! Anyway not only have they planted plants on our property they have also mulched it and it looks great. 

SO time to pull my wieght and bring the rest of the front garden up to spec as well.
So I weeded the garden beds long the boundary, around the bird feeder and the wine barrel fish pond.
When I removed the pine trees along the drive we had them mulched, leaving a large pile of mulch at the bottom of our front garden. our neighbours have been using a bit much to my delight but now it was my turn to push, heave and get wheel barrow loads up the hill and onto the garden beds.

After weeds gone and mulched. Much betterer!!!

A client gave me a few tree ferns she had me
remove from her garden. A welcome addition to mine!
from 'G' & 'S' property looking back at our place.

The out come is awesome. I put the mulch on thick 3-4 inches thick. This will help keep the weeds at bay for a while at least. It looks great.

STOP THE BIRDS!!!!!!

Now it didn't take long for the local bird population to discover the food source in the chook pen.
I scatter seed and other food on the floor of the pen and in the morning leave the gate open of the pen so the chooks can come and go as they like all day. HOWEVER parrots, rosellas, gallahs & other birds have found thier way into the pen. Now most of them get out no problem, but it's becoming an annoying problem that some can't find thier way out with out considerable help from me. During the process the birds get stressed and bash themselves up to the point of bleeding at times. It has to stop.

Chooks comming 'home' though the new chook door

So today I built a little chook door so the big door can remain shut all day.

Chooks locked in for the night both gate and little
chook door closed.

I cut a hole out of the wire next to the gate, dug a hole and put in a short post and then cut an off cut of form ply 40cm x 35cm to be used as a door. This was attached to the existing gate post with two hinges and then a gate bolt was screwed to the chook gate and a hole drilled into the new post for the gate bolt to slide into the shut the little chook gate closed when needed. I put a paver under the chook gate so foxes/cats/dogs can't dig under it.  There is existing chicken wire under the ground as well as added protection.

Showing chook sized door hinged & bolted shut.
Chicken wire is nailed to door frame with U nails.

And the chooks have taken no time at all to work it out and use it. Hopefully the birds don't learn to use it as well!!!!!!!!

Digging out a flat space in rear garden.

The rear garden is being designed to be productive with as much fruit and vegetable plants as possible. However every garden needs an area to help engage and enjoy the garden. I need a flat entertaining area. So I dug out an area put the soil on the down side of the slope retained that with rocks making a nice rock wall. I decided that the curves of the bank on the top side of the flat area was a bit messy so today I dug out a nice curve. (with the help of all the chooks of course).  The area created now is a much more asthestically pleasing and creates more useable space. The idea is to have a sunken fire pit lined with blue stone blocks. This will be able to be used to burn off the never ending bark and branches that constantly fall from the remaining gum trees in the rear garden. It will be a focus point for friends and family to sit around on cool winter nights.  I will put a post with a BBQ plate attached so I can cook on this fire pit as well. That is the vision for the future,  today is the foundation of the area.

The chooks 'helping' dig out the the bank. The Black
area in the middle on the left of the photo is the site
for the fire pit.

More Pollination Please!!!

I want the orchard to be visually beautiful as well as productive. To help fruit set by attracting bees with the mass of flowers they produce and to make it look good I decided to plant Rosemary & English Lavender between the apple and pear trees in the Garden Orchard. I alternated Lavender - Rosemary - Lavender, Etc, Etc.  And again they needed protecting from the chooks. So I put plastic tree guards around them. The rosemary and lavender can both be used for more than just their beauty when in flower.  The strong oils and smell of Lavender is said to possibly deter bad insects from coming close to them. We will see, but I know they will attract insect to aid pollination in spring. WOOOO HOOOOO!!!

The fruit trees and lavender/rosemary plants all planted
and set to grow this spring.

The Cirus Trees Versus the Chooks!!!

Make sure mulch is away from trunk of
citrus trees. Collar Rot is a big risk if this
occurs

Using plain wire U pegs to hold down wire

Citrus trees have lots of very shallow roots and I've noticed the chooks scratching up the ground uner the citrus trees and have started to expose some of these feeding roots.  NOT GOOD especially in summer. I had been mulching around the trees but gave up as the chooks just scratched it away.  BUT I came up with an idea to stop this today. I cut some lengths of chicken wire cut a line to the middle of the square of chicken wire then put the wire flat on the ground with the trunck of the tree around the the cut line. I was able to mulch under this wire then use short lengths of plain fencing wire bent in the shape of U's these pegs were then pushed into the ground to hold the wire and mulch in place. So now the chooks can walk over it poo over it peck through it but can't dig and scratch it up. PERFECT. It will also have the added benefit of providing small areas in the garden where insects can be safe away from the chooks and breed up numbers. This should mean my back garden doesn't become an insect desert because the chooks eat and destroy everything in sight!!!

Now it doesn't matter the chooks are
under the citrus trees. Mulch & roots
are protected with wire.

Rosemary & Lavender to Attract Bees & other Pollinating Insects...

 The fence in front of the chook pen ready for planting

I've been reading about pollination lately and decided to make sure I get a good fruit set with my fruit trees I would plant some plants that attract insects. No seeing I want this to be a productive garden as much as possible I thought I should look for not just flowers that attract insects but a plant which flowers but can also be used and of course it had to look and smell good too!!!

Lavender & Rosemary was my answer.  I found a great deal at my local nursery in Mobulk a tray of 42 tubes for $35!!! A bargain, and seeing i will be stripping all blossom and fruit of the trees in the first year to let the trees get established, the small tubes will have a few years to grow in size as well.

The little tubes planted just the mulch to go
then it's done.

Knowing these small tubes would have no chance against the rage of 7 sets chooks feet I needed me some serious protection from them.

I decided to plant a hedge of alternating Lavender & Rosemary along the front of the chook pen. the chooks could keep it trimmed as it grows throught the chook pen and I can hedge/cut back else where when needed.

I used star pickets and some wooden stakes to support a fence of chicken wire.  The tubes where planted 50cm appart the Rosemary and lavender aternating. they were then watered in using Seasol, a sea weed fertilizer.

The I mulched it using straw from the chook pen. And now i wait and watch it grow!!!

Finished, all mulched and planted out!

Looking from the neighbours side of the boundary fence

The chooks like the Raspberries! Help!!!!

Yep walk away chicken you are not
welcome to our raspberries!

I noticed the raspberries I planted a week or so ago have started bub burst. I noticed this when I noticed the chooks pecking at them. MMMM they needed protecting or the chooks would decimate them let alone when they start fruiting!!!

So I used some star pickets to make a trellis system around the Raspberries. I then used strong sighting cord/string to make a fence around the canes.

Now the chooks can't scratch around the canes i mulched them with straw in preparation for summer.

Bird netting will be drapped over the trellis to protect fruit in summer.  I want the raspberries not the chooks, birds, possums and other critters that love em just as much as me!

The fence erected just the mulch to
be added now.

Planting natives on the earth bank below the widened car park

Now the earth bank below the widened car park area has had 3 weeks to settle, I decided it was time to plant some natives to help stabilise it and provide a little privacy once they grow up.
red bottle brushes were planted to help attract native birds and I just love them. Easy to hedge/ prune once they get to the height/size I want. Native just love to be pruned, they LOVE it. With the idea of eventually putting up a double bay garage/work shop/shed it will provide shelter/shade for it as well.

Trees in guards to help them settle in and grow

Planted in amongst the rocks. It will look
great once they have grown up and bushed
out a bit.

Insect Home to Attract the Good Guys!!!

Bamboo in top 'frame', Straw behind
slats in enclosed bottom section.

Well I finally got around to building a beneficial Insect Home to hopefully attract lady birds, lace wings, spiders and solitary wasps. These are all good insects to have in the orchard and garden in general to deal with various kinds of aphids, moths and other insects that cause grief in the orchard and veggie gardens.
I first heard and saw insect homes in England in community veggie garden. They looked good and I liked the idea of them, so thought I would try them here in OZ and see if they work.

Tin roof added. Even insects need
protection from the rain!!!

The home is in two parts an open frame up top jam packed with short lengths of bamboo canes. These are hollow creating lots of holes for insects & spiders to make homes in. The gaps around the bamboo also make ideal homes. then below is basically a box fully enclosed except at the front where strips of wood create openings. Inside this box is filled with loose straw, apparently this makes ideal homes for lady bugs and lace wings.

I have now screwed the insect home to a trellis post in the middle of my garden orchard. Hopefully it attracts the insects I'm hoping it to!!!  To aid this I will plant some lavender at the end of each row, bees and insects LOVE lavender! It will help pollinate fruit and veggies too!

Installed in the orchard.Screwed to trellis post
in between apple trees.