updates

When you're on five acres and fairly ambitious, you keep starting new areas of productivity and then realise you have to maintain them to keep them working for you.  So when I'm not watering (which is a lot as its still very dry here), I'm walking around all the newer areas I've given a make-over to and doing a it of maintenance on the weeds etc.  Eventually I hope the weeds will be overtaken by the ground covers I've planted.  Now I know some weeds are edible, but I'd still rather feast on sweet potato or pumpkin - call me crazy.  So of my projects in the six months, lets look at some before and afters

This is the driveway orchard and really just between Sept and now, but you really see how everything has jumped along.  I've put lots of manure and mulch down and kept the water up.  I've also put some flowers in to attract the bees and to make me smile as I trudge back to the house after working in the garden.  Its really starting to shape up.  The bandicoots think so too as they are foraging around most night for worms.  Whilst this is annoying, its a good sign for the health of the soil.  And it really used to be just shale and weeds a year ago.

Here is the area where we took out all the lantana during the winter. Its really "lushed up", so outside of the trees (plum, peach, mulberry and guava) I've also planted wooly pod vetch, salvias, pumpkin, sweet potato, tamarillo, pepino, sunflowers and pidgeon pea.  And it all seems to be taking off and happy.

This one is looking from two different directions.  The first one is when its really only the peach tree and the rest is grass. Then from the other angle its looking to the peach tree at the back and all the grass is cleared with new trees and plantings.  I've put a lot of pumpkin in here in the last few weeks, so it should start to fill out soon.  The sweet potato is thickening out just to the left and should begin to reach up onto the slope as well. I've had to do a lot of weeding here and have been taking the hoe to it.  But hopefully if you can keep that first flush or two of returning weeds at bay, it will lesson off.

So while I've been busy with these areas, the more established areas have been doing their thing.

Could that be our first little dragon fruit?

Plenty of figs on the way

And the cherries are already here