garden in february

a quick garden update of how things are looking this february.

the lime tree is happy and making more limes. they should be ready soon! 

i have some great flowers blooming.

 

i never really planted much flowers in the past

 

but i really love these ones

 

they keep getting fuller and fuller.

the corn is almost ready, might try some soon

 

can you wait too long to harvest it?

 

and i finally have three full boxes of tree seedlings in FULL sun. it has not been easy to get to this point and I am very happy, still 3 more to get to this point but we are making progress.

and then there is this beauty in the front succulent garden, with a little yellow flower in the center. i always think if a plant flowers it must be happy. and this little plant looks happy to me.

in the garden

i have been emailing and texting a friend in canada recently and we were talking about things that can kill you in australia.

the very next day there was this red back spider right near the tap in my backyard (middle of photo)

 

from a distance you can barely see it but it is right near where i have to put my hand to turn on the tap. danger in my own back yard. luckily they are not aggressive so i am ok. 

also in my backyard, my trees for life are beginning to sprout. one little tree there

 

and a few more of the other variety coming up

 

its exciting and stressful watching them grow, but i think its going to be ok.

trees for life seed planting

now that the tubes are filled with soil, i had to wait until the advised date to sew some of the seeds. i had three boxes to do on the same day.

first you wash the gravel and leave it to dry

 

i had to pre treat 2 sets of seed, by putting them in a cup with boiling water and letting them sit over night.

 

these are the other seeds that were ready to go without any pre treatment

 

i planted 2 boxes of silver mulga

 

and one box of drooping sheaoak

 

i put the seeds on a plate and then using a chopstick i made a hole in the soil and placed the seeds in the hole.

 

there are 60 tubes per box, but there are enough seeds to put a few in each tube.

 

they tell you to plant all the seed they give you, so i went back over the box with the excess seed to use it all up.

 

then you cover lightly with the soil and then put the small gravel mulch that was washed earlier on as a mulch. this helps keep the seed and soil from blowing away int he wind or washing away in the water when watering.

 

this box is done

 

a close up of one of the seeds in the hole in the tube

 

with three boxes planted i then needed to cover them with 50% shade cloth.

 

a few sticks and voila a shaded seed raising place. the shade cloth stays on until the second set of true leaves are in place. I plant out another box in a couple weeks and then the last 2 just after christmas. now I just wait and hope they all sprout!

volunteering

i have been thinking about volunteering for some time now. the problem is that i am often very busy and short on spare time. so having responsibility to be somewhere at a certain time would be difficult. my friend has bee doing trees for life for many years now and i thought it might work for me as i can do it at home in my own time. so i signed up.

how it works is you get a growers pack, with instructions, seeds, soil, plastic tubes, fertilizer everything you need to grow the native trees. you are responsible for filling the tubes with dirt, and planting the seeds. then you need to water the seedlings and care for them from December to May. once the seedlings are about 30 cm tall they are ready to go to the landowners who will plant them out.

 

 i am growing 6 boxes, each with 60 trees - so 360 little trees to care for! 2 boxes silver mulga, 1 box each of golden wattle, drooping sheoak, pink gum, and inland southern blue gum.

 

these are the 6 boxes of soil, as i picked them up from the depot. they need to be in 8 hours of full sun each day, and set up off the ground so bugs and such cant get into them.

 

because i had 6 boxes with 60 tubes in each to fill, i called in some help. borris' folks came and we all worked together for a few hours after lunch to fill the 360 tubes.

here they are, all ready for the next step. planting the seeds. and i will plant 3 boxes this week.