Starkrimson Cherries!

Its the second year in the ground for our Starkrimson cherry and its produced about 10 incredibly sweet cherries. About half of them split because of the rain which is a property of cherries that I had to learn through personal experience. Looks like next year not only will I need a net I'll need to build a roof for them as well!
Here's a news article about the effect of rain on Victoria's cherries this year.

Netting them only took 15 minutes but it was 15 minutes well spent. Conveniently all of the fruit trees ripen at different times so you can just move the net around.

Amazingly sweet Starkrimson cherry which was picked, photographed and eaten in the space of thirty seconds.

Here's what they looked like a couple of weeks ago just before I netted them. This is the point where the birds start getting interested.


We're definitely going to pay a visit to these guys in a couple of weeks.
http://www.ellisfieldfarm.com.au/index.php

Spring roses

Its the second year in the ground for these roses and they are showing much more vigour than last year. Black spot is still a big problem for all my roses and Trifourine seems to do bugger all. I've recieved an expert opinion today that a copper based fungicide might be more effective.

Rendering the chimney

Spring is by no means only for gardening, drinking coffee and sleeping all day. Its also a time for domicile beautification in the form of rendering. Spring is that ideal combination of sunny but not too hot and unemployed to make rendering possible. Unlike the rest of the house, the chimney bricks were in good shape with no cleaning or re-pointing required. The issue with the chimney is more of an access issue requiring the hiring of a scaffold to get myself up to its level. It was also a mad dash of seven days to go from an offensive middle finger of cream brick in the sky to a Mediterranean beacon with two coats of render and three of paint. It rained ceaselessly for at least three of those days.

Action shots including an up-short.

Carpobrotus glaucescens

About a year ago we were at the beach in St Kilda and we found this guy. We liberated a few 'samples' and I've been growing them in a seedling tray and convincing Sam it wasn't a litter tray. I was lucky enough to catch it today when it produced its first magnificent flower. Can anyone remind me what this plant is called? I searched on Google for "Pigs Feet Succulent" and all I got was Succulent Pigs Feet!
Edit: Found it! Carpobrotus glaucescens (Pigface)

Limeyness

After a spectacular performance last year, my potted lime did something a bit weird at the start of Spring. It started to look distinctly ill with yellowing leaves dropping off all over the place. You would think that it was a sign that the tree was lacking in nutrients but now its gone ahead sprouting healthy new leaves and flowering profusely. Its almost like it was getting rid of old leaves it didn't like in anticipation of the new growth. On the other hand sometimes they flower like mad when they're really unwell and close to death, citrus trees... sigh.


Dead leaves around the trunk and a significant weed I probably should have removed before taking the photo.

The Broad Bean Green Manure Process.

Years ago I saw an episode of Gardening Australia about green manure. It was before I found out I had green thumbs but still I found the concept interesting. The idea that you could grow something which would give more to the soil than it took and improve the soil structure in the process just seems really smart. So the time finally arrived to process the broad beans the other day and the size of this entry is testament to how much work the whole process was!

Here's the mountain of plants extracted from the bed. Luckily despite their unearthly size, Broad Beans are a pushover when it comes to up-rooting as they have a small shallow root structure.

I stripped the plants back as I pulled them out primarily to reduce the amount of seeds that might end up in the manure and so we could freeze them and spend ages wondering what to do with them.

In the absence of having a suitable petrol powered tree mulcher, I resorted to the tried and tested technique of running over the beans with the lawn mover. Its unsurprisingly effective and probably means i'll never need to buy a mulcher.

The only thing the mover wasn't particularly happy with were the woody nobly bits at the base of the plants.

The end product was this lush green mulch with a distinctly beany odour.

Three wheelbarrows of the stuff!

I had to decide whether or not to turn the mulch into the soil where it would break down quicker or to leave it on the surface. I decided to leave it on the top as it will still break down over time but it will also act as an excellent mulch for the soon to be sewn crop of corn which will go in shortly.



While I was reading up on green manure I came across this guy. http://www.cedarmeadowfarm.com/
He uses crop rotation and green manure on an industrial scale and grows some mean tomatos as well.

Broad Bean update.

Intense wind and hail last night took its toll on the broad beans. We went around the plants today and collected an absolute ton of beans. I think in a few days when the weather improves I will finally get to pull them out and dig them into the soil so they can fulfill their purpose as green manure.

Megabean

Mr Bean