The Retrofit - part 2

It's been a long time since the last post, but here is a mid year update on what's happened over the last 4-5 months. I wrote this post about two months ago and never got around to finishing it but I've decided its still worth sharing, despite being a little out of date. Read this, pretending its the end of autumn not the middle of winter!! I will post an update in a few weeks too because having some time off uni has meant that it feels like we're now gardening on steroids!

So what has happened since my previous introduction post?

Firstly, a week after my initial post we welcomed home five chickens; Hen, Amelia (Egghart), (Come On) Eileen, Cluck and Jenny (from the block), and three ducks; Duck, Alfred and Augusta (or as we call her, just Gus). I've written a whole draft post about bringing them home and poultry life so far. I will post that separately because I already have too much to write about!

...Then, about 5 weeks into settling our new family in, a post came up in a chicken rescue group that I follow on Facebook advertising that a lone duck called Petunia was in need of a home. She was coming from a community centre that no longer wanted to continue the project of keeping ducks and chickens. I commented that we would love to take her and then told Alex what I had done. He laughed and happily said "great!" (how lucky am I to be with someone who is so persistently supportive!!)
Petunia has turned out to be the most amazing addition to the flock. She has taught our suspicious ducks that we are actually friendly, treat baring, loving people, not the murderous ones they seemed to think we were! Everyone, chickens and ducks included, are now much happier with our presence and Petunia lays, without fail, a big beautiful egg every single day! (Which is more than I can say about any of the other girls!)

Petunia (the brown duck) day one - happy as a duck in mud - literally!

Left to right: Cluck, Hen, Petunia and Eileen.

Ready at the fence line as soon as they hear the backdoor opening - always hoping for treats!  

Last post I mentioned that we were collecting horse manure for our freshly rotary hoed veggie beds...well, we've been doing A LOT more of that - pretty much to cover the whole backyard and then some! We are lucky to have my mum's car for toeing and the trailer from Al's mum to borrow. 

We will probably need to add lime to the soil and trace minerals to make sure that everything is balanced for our future planting. I'll get a pH testing kit from Bulleen Art and Garden and explain how this is done later on and why it is worth doing. My plan was also to get a green manure crop in before winter to improve the body and nutrient content of the soil during the colder, less active months but that never happened and so we've just got the weeds that have sprouted from the horse manure. This isn't ideal but the time to plant a green manure crop has passed. I might be able to get one in over the start of spring while we're raising seedlings in the hot house though? We'll see.
Green manure crops are great because they contain, for example, legumes which fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil which will then act as a fertiliser for the crop that follows - how cool is that! They also add body; the roots opening and fluffing up the soil and allowing water and other important things such as minerals and oxygen to flow through, where previously compacted soil couldn't. All of this is what greatly improves the growth of the next crop. 

The chickens levelled the two piles of manure that we gave them within a day. They are very excited to have more "jobs" to do in their already very busy days. 

A shot of our hard work spreading manure. Almost ready for spring planting - yay! In the background you can see the incredible second chicken/duck coop that Glenys built for us because we decided that the front coop was too small - only tiny me can really fit inside it to give it a proper clean. The chickens like the original coop better but the ducks like the new one, so everyone is happy. There is also the last of the cardboard to the right of the photo killing off the grass and weeds in the back two veggie beds. 

My plan is to put berry plants along this fence line. I bought a pack of 7 different berry plants for $65 from the Diggers Club which is super exciting. I worked out that once fully grown we will have berry bushes that, in total, are 10m wide by 2m tall!! Incredible value for $65! I've calculated the amount of sun that this side of the garden gets and I think its just enough to support summer berries. This strip is a bit narrow and my guess is that it will get a bit out of control with berry canes growing and spilling over the path but I'm hoping I'll be able to keep cutting them back to control this...maybe I'm crazy? Time will tell on this one! 

Whilst the garden is still in very early stages of production, without doing anything but sticking a pumpkin plant in the ground and watering it, we've been given these big beauties! So little effort and such a little cost. Much more economical and fun than getting these from the supermarket! They're in the halfway room currently curing until we use them.

It may not look like much, but the garlic is in. Don't worry, I decided to do a second order after this planting and there is double this at my place as well - you can never have too much garlic!! I was a bit late with the planting this year but all the plants seem to be doing well and with three different patches of garlic we should definitely get a good crop. 

Everyone assessing their work so far - looking very pleased! 

So what's next? Winter may be seen as downtime when it comes to the garden but really, if you do the season properly it can be just as busy as the warmer months. By the time spring comes around you can be ready for a bumper spring and summer season! I'll post the "gardening on steroids" that we've been up to in the last few weeks since I've been off uni soon. 

From now onwards the fun planning and seed ordering gets to happen! I am a member of the Digger's Club and I strongly believe in their mission to save heirloom seeds for future generations to ensure biodiversity and that amazing and beautiful plant species are not lost forever. Ordering through Diggers means the seeds are organic and that you can pick from HEAPS of different varieties of different plants, rather than just the few types that you see in nurseries. Yellow zucchini? White zucchini? Zucchinis that are 1m long? fat zucchinis? tiny skinny zucchinis? They've got seeds for all of them! 30 different types of tomato? Yep! All different colours, shapes, sizes, etc. It makes veggie gardening so much more exciting. I really encourage you to check the Diggers Club out if you're going to be doing some spring and summer planting. Seeds are far more economical than seedlings too.  You can get hundreds of seeds in a $3 packet or just 8 plants in a punnet for $5 from a nursery. 

In the next post I'll talk about our yard tidy, pruning the fig tree (...and everything else in my path!), mulch for the chicken run, paving our summer BBQ area, plans for the front lawn and so much more! I've got a good few more weeks before going back to uni so you'll have another update sooner rather than later. 

Also, if you would like any help with your own garden, I would love to be the person to do it with you - just let me know :)  

Until next time, 

Love Liza