Thinking of a BIG MAN SHED!!!!

From an earlier post a friend "c" came with an excavator and among other things dug out a wider car space below the house. Now this has been awesome and is SOOOOOO COOOOL having extra car parking space. But the ultimate goal is to have a large 7m x 7m double garage.

I have had initial talks with the planners at council. Where the shed needs to go is deemed to be a low risk landslip zone, dispite "low risk" council demands a Geotechnical engineers report and signed declaration. This involves two holes drilled to a depth of 3 metres to do a soil profile. This report will also do an over all site plan for erosion and storm water management. This Report will cost $1500 plus gst!!!! I will also need to put up a retaining wall (an Engineered reataining wall). I haven't had a quote yet to draw up the plans for the retaining wall. The Slab for the shed will need to be an engineered floating slab with a possible 3m footing on the down hill side.  Electricity will be connected to shed also.

So a $6657 shed will probably end up costing $20000.

Yep thanks council no wonder so SOOOOO many people in The Shire of Yarra Ranges don't get planning approval for sheds n other works.........

Will keep you posted with progress and outcome.......

ESPALIER FIGS!

I have been an apple and stonefruit orchardist in a past life and know how to train & prune fruit trees. (my parents still have the orchard and I love going up and helping prune each year.

How ever I have never espaliered fruit trees before. A lovely friend "G" gave me a subscription to The Diggers Club with a gift voucher for one of the many short courses they conduct. After looking at what courses were on offer it was a toss up between composting, raising seedlings and how to espalier.  You Guessed it Espaliering won out.

The two Fig trees are what I'm going to Espalier.  The fact they can get very large the varieties I have planted can get 4 metres by 4 metres.  I just dont have that space in my back garden! So I put in two tall posts 2 metres either side of each Fig Tree.  I then attached Concrete reinforcing Rio mesh sheet.

Having chooks a wire tree guard is needed (mainly to stop chooks digging up mulch under each Fig tree).

The aim now is each growing season for the next 4 −5 years to train one level of scafolding branches....

I'm hoping 4-5 levels of branches which will be tied to the Trellis.

Will continue post to show various training processes as they happen.  

OK the Raspberries I planted last year were a disaster!!!!!!

The Raspberries I planted last year were a disaster. only a few survived the chooks had access to them and only one is still alive........ YIKES.......

Lookiing good. Fenced off from chooks
and mulched heavily with Lucern Hay.

About a month ago a client of mine got me to remove a large patch of Raspberries in her garden which had taken over an area of her garden.  I decided to take home the Raspberries and despite the weather forecast, HOT 33-35 for about three days.  I put the removed Raspberries into buckets of seasol to soak for a few hours, picked a spot to plant these 40-50 canes all up.  I decided to plant these all along the front of the chook pen. I dug a hole for each bare rooted Raspberry cane filled it with water planted the cane and then mulched with Lucerne hay.

And this time I have fenced them off properly so chooks don't destroy them.

I read some where 20 canes per person will allow enough for eating, with surplus for jam, cooking, freezing etc. I have 40-50 and as they runner I will divide and plant more along fence near veggie patches as well...... Our family LOVES Raspberries..................

Chook shelter needed for heat n wet weather.

So now the chooks are fenced out from near the house they can't use the area under the house to shelter from the heat and rain.

A solution was needed. Now they do have the chook house but they like being out side during the day.

I recently found a ready made roof with corrigated iron screwed to two wooden roof rafters being tossed out on hard rubbish. SO being me I grabbed it brought it home hit in four metal star pickets and screwed the roof onto these posts.

Roof screwed onto four star pickets

Once the roof was fixed to the posts I needed to fix corrigated iron onto the back and one side to protect from wind and rain and ensure chooks have good shelter.

The finsihed shelter. And they love it when its wet n hot.

Chicken proof fence needed to keep chooks out of veggie patches!!!

With grand plans of a large Kitchen Garden with numerous large garden beds I have to be able to manage when the chooks can go in and clean up!!!!  So I had to fence off the veggie patch area.
About a quarter of the back garden closest to the house is now fenced off.  I still to have access for wheel barrows, wheelie bins, my mulcher, possible diggers and other supplies with a large gate. The path up to the back garden, chooks, orchard and back shed is used all the time so an easy gate to open and close was needed. This has a small pedestrian style gate with a butterfly gate latch which is easy to  use one handed. (important when carrying chook scraps up and eggs back down)!!!!
This fence now means we can walk up to the veggie patches with out opening any gates making it much more accessible.

Large access gate on boundry fence.

So Posts and strainers were put in using hand held post rammer and post hole digger. Gates were then hung

Chooks are now kept out and I now have another project on my list. Yes numerous raised garden beds. I was thinking railway sleepers as the garden bed borders, then cypress pine sleepers, now I'm thinking Blue stone blocks.
Watch this space and see what I end up using.

Really really happy with outcome chooks still have heaps of area to free range. And now the veggie patch area is readily accessable with out having to open make shift gates down near house.

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Another gate down the side of the house this isn't
used much but is handy when needed.

 

Kaz wants DUCKS!!!!!!

Now I love water features, the ocean, rivers, dams, lakes, WATER, it just mesmorises me. I can look at it all day a bit like fire really draws me in!!!!

SO my wife has talked about ducks for years, and I know how tasty they are!!!!!!! She cooks a mean orange marinade duck.....

BUT ducks need water to swim in, luckily it's hard rubbish time and a suitable bath was "found".

So yesterday I dug the hole and installed the bath. Ive put it in one of the chook pens, which will become a duck pen!!!!!

I have positioned the bath above the apple and pear orchard and raspberries.  This means when i clean it out the nutrient rich water will irrigate these plants sooooo the water is not wasted.

The bath in and installed.

Strawberries finally in!!!!!

I've been realy slack, busy you know what I mean. However the 24 strawberry plants I bought 7 months ago have been out on the lawn getting a water here and there and the odd snail pulled off em, and the odd strawberry eaten and enjoyed, however by and large they have been neglected and forgotten.

NO MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For months I've had an idea that i could use 150mm PVC storm water pipe to make my own strawberry planters which I could hang off the top rail of the fence keeoing the chooks out of the veggie patch area.
And with Kaz and Linnae away for a few days my opportunity came knocking!!!!! Woooo Hoooo me time in the garden......

End caps on and drilling holes in top of pipe to plant strawberries.

So my 6 metre length of 150mm storm water pipe was cut into three 2 metre lengths. End caps put on and then 135mm holes cut into the top of the pipe.

Drainage holes drilled in bottom of pipe.

On the left the finished planted out with strawberries
On the right ready to plant out!!!!

Small holes were then drilled in to the bottom of the pipe to allow drainage and ensure excess water can drain out of pipe.  No for the best bit of this project, planting. I bought bulk compost from my local garden supply centre. A thin layer of compost was put in bottom of pipe then strawberries were planted in each hole. Compost was then filled around each plant and watered in with seasol and power feed. (both seasol products).




























Another planted was then hung on the other side of the top rail and planted out. Strawberries hang over the side out of the dirt and out of the way of slugs and snails.

The finished project!!!! With strawberries hanging out of  the dirt
& and out of the way of chooks and snails n slugs!!!

I still need to run a dripper line along the top of the pipe to make watering easy in summer and so water isn't sprayed over fruit and leaves. This will reduce fungal disease.

So happy with result. When strawberries start sending out runners I will divide these and make and plant out more planters.

The last of the trees gone!!!!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO finally the last of the trees have been chopped down. We had a large gumtree which had been forced to grow on an unsafe angle due to all the other trees I've chopped down already. This tree had grown towards the the best light and that meant it was on quite an angle leaning over the house. All the branches were also growing out one side of the tree meaning all the weight was pulling the tree towards the house as well. So no its been chopped down. We also had another large gum tree chopped down, it was within 1 metre of anothert huge gum tree so was competing for space. And lastly we had all the dead wood/branches  chopped off another huge gum tree hanging over the choock pen.

See leaning towards house. Not safe!

On the way down, looks small but it's a big tree!

And it's down! will leave the trunk as it is.

So now the big clean up.  Mulch all the folliage first, then
chainsaw up all the bigger stuff, then split it and finally
stack it up behind shed.

I go the arborist just to get everything down onto the ground. It is my job to now clean up. Stage one of the clean up is to cut off all the folliage. stack it with the thick ends all facing out. (this makes it easy to grab and mulch.  No I can really test out this mulcher. This pile was only half of what needed to be mulched.  In the past I would have burnt all the folliage but this time I created wonderful mulch.  

branches stacked up ready to get mulched!

No i had no idea how long it would take to mulch all the branches but I had resigned myself to it taking a day.  How happy i was to have it all done in two and a half hours. The mulcher has exceeded all my expectations. it's quick, easy and creates a wonderful product, so much better than burning it. Means all that carbon and goodness is returned to the soil/garden. The video below shows the mulcher in action, chewing through and spitting out all that mulch.

And the pile of mulch created!!!

Green Manure Crop between Orchard Rows.

I have now fenced off the whole orchard meaning the chooks can no longer walk between the rows of trees. I tilled up the soil between the rows so it was nice and friable. I sowed a mix of Pea, Oats and Vetch, lightly raked in the seed then watered very well. I put a thin layer of straw over this to help keep the seeds moist to help germinate. I will water each day as it's in the mid 20's and sunny for the next few days.
Once germination has occured I will use a mix of Seasol (a seaweed plant conditioner containing naturally occuring growth regulators, trace elements, carbohydrates and vitamins. Growth regulators have a profound affect on root growth and development. It also increases the plants ablility to deal with heat, drought and frost) to help stimulate root growth and Powerfeed (an organically based fish fertiliser, fortified with essential nutrients as well as humic acids. It's rich in NPK, amino acids and trace elements, it's also fortified with extra nitrogen, potassium, & phosphorus). The mix of Seasol and Powerfeed both stimulates root growth and development and feeds & fertilise the plants giving the newly planted crop the best chance early on.

My aim is to grow the green crop then allow the crop to go to seed, then let the chooks back in to enjoy!

Note new tap on post.

chooks now fenced off from going in between the
rows of trees. Green Manure Crop now planted,
watered in & covered in thin layer of Straw.

 

Water is precious!!!!

Well i have just seen the best idea at a property i did some work at today. It's brilliant.
Under the taps in this garden they had gud and pit, lined it with bricks and then concreted over this to make it hold water. This means when ever the tap is turned on water is caught and this pit fills up.
It means if you need to clean your hands quite often you don't even need to turn on the tap.
It also gives, birds and other wildlife access to cool water.

The inspiration! water held in pit below tap.

So yesterday afternoon I found a large terracotta pot and burried it under the tap near the orchard in my back garden. It had been chucked out by my neighbour on hard rubbish because it had a crack in it. I used sellastic to seal this crack and also to stick a large rock over the bottom drain hole in the put. This has meant the pot now holds water, and everytime I wash my hands after gardening the water is now recycled instead of just seeping away!!!

My take on the one I saw. The chooks love it.

Now that the days are getting warmer i wanted to get the irrigation set up once and for all in the back garden orchard. I decided to move the tap which i had placed inside the chook pen so I dug it up and moved it to the end of the middle row post in the orchard.

I have ordered a 25m Hoselink retractable hose reel and this will be mounted on the post above the tap. This will allow the hose to reach anywhere in the back garden.

I got given an end of a roll of good quallity 13mm soaker hose. I cut three lengths and lay them down at the base of the fruit trees. I then used 13mm polly pipe at the ends to join these togeather. So at the end using T joiners and corner joiners I ended up with the three rows of soaker hose joined at both ends, Think a continuous closed circuit. When this was done I cut the 13mm polly pipe near the tap and used a T joiner to join garden hose to connect the irrigation system to the tap.  By making it a full circuit it means even pressure is obtained the full length of each row.

Irrigation set up, Tap now on post on left.
Polly pipe between post at end of rows are now burried.

The soaker hose was left above the ground laying at the base of the rows of trees. The polly pipe joining the soaker hose at each end of the rows was burried under ground so it dosen't pose a tripping hazard.

So now I can turn on the tap and all trees are watered at once. The soaker hose is now covered with straw to reduce evapouration.    

Preparing the Orchard for Summer

Well Chooks are digging, scratching destructive machines!!!!
I had given up mulching the orchard as the chooks simply scratched and destroyed my good work every time. Also when I fertilised with blood and bone or dynamic lifter the chooks would eat it and scratch holes risking exposing the trees roots. Something I can't risk during summer. SOOOOOOOOO I needed to fence off the 3 rows of trees so I can mulch the trees to help reduce water usage during summer.  Now instead of fencing off the whole orchard area i decided to fence off each row to contain the mulch and keep the chooks out once and for all. This means I can still walk up and down each row easily, fertilise, water, and mulch the trees easily with out the chooks undoing my good work.

The three rows now fenced off, mulched & fertilised.

Look the orchard is growing, look at those
nice green shoots.

See the photo's it's pretty self explanatory.  The chicken wire is 62cm high (this is keeping the chooks out well). Wooden posts hit into the ground support the wire, I used tie wire to fix the wire to the posts. Its a great result and has fixed all my chicken/orchard frustrations.

The reason for all this work is to ensure I get as much growth this growing season. Mulch, good fertiliser, and good irrigation will ensure the best growth possible. And this will mean I get fruit from the trees as soon as possible.

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.