update on the food gardening with pics.

Righto. Well... updating from the 'What's in the garden/yet to come list' post, the garden received two more fruit trees today, namely an apricot and a plum (to pollinate the other plum). I'll put the full names down shortly in case anyone is curious. In order to put those in (a very abandoned garden bed lol) the soil needed turning over, okay the sand and it also needed all the cooch removed (grumble mumble cooch) and the assorted non-gardening items that seem to find their way outside - lids, spoons, a Lego block or two etc. Also the soil level in that bed needed to drop considerably so that we could fit the fruit trees + the compost/poo and then mulch without it being higher than the actual 'wall' of the bed so the water and sand wouldn't do a runner.
Here's a pic, hard to tell exactly what you're looking at so I'll try a better one later. The large fence you can see in the background behind the old boundary one is the reason why our old vege bed just wan't gonna keep working - you can see the cubby is there now and we're working on that garden as well.
I did help de-cooch or is it 'couch' and do a little bit of dirt moving but nothing major. We found the old (still busy) ants nests as well ;) which I don't mind coz they keep any termites in check round this area - another bonus of not being quick on the 'kill it if it crawls' nasty sprays. (NB for how this bed is doing 2 years later click here)

Now, for some weeks I'd been thinking about a straw-bale garden bed, initially from Len's Garden site, then from The Crone's garden that I had the pleasure of visiting last week, and then school has done an edible garden as well (Steiner school) and one of those beds is a straw bale bed. So it was gonna happen. I had it in my mind how and the opportunity presented to get hold of the bales. It also meant somewhere for the excess sand from the beds for the fruit trees, to go.
here are the before and after photos and once it's planted out I'll add those too. This is against the new (secondhand) shed does it look bald to you? and really the last of the spots in the garden with much sun (apart from up the back where the cubby and fruit trees/veges are).

Before we could (Michael & Brooke) line up the bales, pavers had to be lifted as well as some heavy garden rocks moved. They both did a great job. Here's my input - securing the bales together with some wire. Will see how they go and whether any more 'securing' is required. Here's another view. That was originally a garden bed with passionfruit vine and stuff in it - when the 'new' shed went in, it was wider so the old support for the passionfruit had to go (it had already lived it's life and was beyond saving) hence the half a nothing garden bed with a few rocks and odd pavers left. Tomorrow will be adding compost and poo and then perhaps planting out. We have an extra bale so we can use that to mulch the newly-planted fruit trees. They're all young trees but still, I can just imagine how awesome it will be up that part of the yard when they're all flowering and fruiting... *happy sigh* ... Across the opposite side of the yard is the native plants, the big cherry blossom in the corner and the wisteria on the fence... very pretty that corner this time of year. And no it's not a massive block, just a standard old residential house block - admittedly not the teeny ones on the market these days with new houses on them but still, it's not several acres or anything (I wish!).

The kids all weighed themselves at City Farmers this afternoon on the dog scales - Brooke is nearly 30kg at nine years old, Jake is 20.6kg (had to be specific) he's seven in November and Zeke is 17kg, he's four in March. They were impressed they could weigh themselves then we spent time checking out the hermit crabs, fish and the cocky (who poor thing looked like he just wanted to go fly with his mates)...

I also did some shopping this afternoon, picked up the supplies from the HFS, Belly rub, shamp & cond, dish liq and the kid's toothpaste plus some groceries from Woolworths - by the time I pushed the trolley round, got that home and unloaded that was the end of me!

So that was pretty much what today was about. Brooke did quite a bit helping Michael (I was doing supervisor and 'light duties') and the boys did a little as well. Then Brooke spent the arvo collecting seeds from the hay bales, and once the sand was in the straw bale bed, the boys had a roll/jump/play around in that - and don't their little toes look liked fresh-from-the-ground spuds! So showers all round, dinner (which Zeke didn't even make it to, fell asleep on the mat in the lounge, having nearly fallen asleep under the outdoor table earlier had Michael not spotted him!) and now there are 4 people in bed, and it's just me up and it's only 7.45pm! (I obviously didn't work hard enough huh!? *wink*)
Must be time for sewing tonight - which will be good coz that's a sit-down activity. Not that I really did excessive amounts today but it doesn't take much these days to wear the old me out, and to start the waddle going haha.
And just because she doesn't get a blog-pic in much, here's the nutty but loveable Jemma-dog, who thinks she's a puppy still but is really a teenager. She still eats all the gross things dogs do (loved the sheep poo and ate most of the pellets out of the pots) and unfortunately you can really tell she's going deaf now - she mostly responds to sign language which we've had going for yonks in conjunction with verbal, and a sharp clap of hands is sometimes needed to get her attention. She's getting sneakier in her old age though! She has loved this gardening burst we've been on - so many new smells and always someone extra to throw the ball, new sand dug up (read that as places to hide her toy/ball/biscuits) and the hole in the fence has been temporarily accessible so she can play sniffy games with the dog next door (which can't get in, but they can see each other and put half a head through the gap). More fun to come tomorrow Jemma! Cheerio all. Kristy.