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.