Garden on Ivan Hawkes

White Fuzz

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

“It was one time…” (Fart in a Jar Martin)

…what exactly do I have in this jar?

Spring 2021 - Time to Try Again

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s some sobering images of the refugees from the Devastation of Smaug. See how they huddle together for protection.

The First Planting of Our New Orchard

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a tough week, but the first planting is completed for the orchard I am starting at the front of our house.

The trees are all still quite small. They have been kept in containers until now and are no doubt keen to spread their roots in the good soil.

The trees are spaced far enough apart for when they are full grown. In between I am placing shrubs and other small plants that I have on hand.

Finishing the Earthworks

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We finished the earthworks today. The back yard has been reshaped a little (no photos) but the main work was filling in the trenches we dug and then mounding the contents of the two bush turkey nests on top of that.

I still need to run over it with a rake and shape it the way I want, but it’s basically all in place now.

You can’t see the fence post holes we had drilled into the ground with a massive auger, but they are done now as well. A couple of days rest and I’ll be filling those holes in with dirt and pounding it down with a sledgehammer.

Ginger, Galangal and Turmeric

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ginger, galangal, and turmeric.

Two of those three are actually pretty hard to get fresh around here. Galangal and turmeric are rarely for sale as roots. In fact, I’ve never seen galangal fresh, and only once found fresh turmeric.

I bought that turmeric, cut it up a bit and planted it into some soil. I did the same to some fresh ginger at the same time into much the same pots - then forgot which was which.

Earthworks

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Day 1 of excavations. A local bobcat and excavator operator, Neil, has come to move all the heavy things for us.

We wrecked the stairs outside my door and removed the concrete and bricks there. The piles of pavers, wood and assorted bricks from other projects were pushed over the bank and will begin their new life helping to retain the embankment. A decent section of the path was ripped out and two channels were dug for drainage.

Start A Kitchen Garden

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

It’s coming into Summer soon, and that means it’s time to get planting again. Since the two small gardens by the house have done well I’ve decided to spend a bit of cash and get a little fenced off area started as a garden. The chicken wire will keep out the chickens, and hopefully the turkey. I’m not sure if it will stop the possums, and there’s no way it will stop a determined kangaroo.

Garage Garden Update

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Remember those pictures I posted of a dirty hole, subsequently filled with logs, sticks, and covered in hay?

This is that hole a few months later, as the plants are starting to come into Spring.

I planted:

peppers
chilli
coriander
sage
aubergine
vietnamese mint
basil
silverbeet

There’s also a mystery plant whose species I have forgotten. Need to wait till it fruits or is bigger to remember what it was.

Closing the Loop

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a couple of months into my attempt to make fertile soil from unwanted waste material now, so here’s the update no-one asked for or wanted.

Still being dirt poor (ironic, since I have no actual useful soil / dirt) I scoured the internet for ways to turn unwanted materials into a soil I can grow my plants in. My chief concerns are it should be really cheap, but also as organic and natural as possible.

Enthusiastic About Compost

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Finally, I’ve become that guy…the one who always wants to enthuse about compost :grin:

I’m lucky to live in a place that is semi-rural i.e. the city is 15 mins that way, but my neighbours keep horses, camels, ponies, goats and other animals. It’s not rural, there’s no real farming here, just some home gardening and a few hydroponic operations.

The benefit to this is that horses are dirty bastards, constantly pissing and shitting in their stables, and some people rake out the stables and bag the shit and sell it at their front gate for a couple of bucks. I get 15-20kg (roughly) bags of horse manure and sawdust from a nearby horse lover.

Too Much Rock, Too Little Roll

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The area immediately outside of my place isn’t that great. Actually, it’s pretty shit. No-one ever sat down and thought about how it should work. I can tell you for a fact no-one ever thought about how water should flow around the doors. It doesn’t. It just pours right into my flat every time it rains hard. There’s only one way to fix a problem like that and it involves either hiring some expensive equipment or back breaking labour. Thanks to poverty; I opted for option two.

Getting Through the "to-do" List

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The “to-do” list I’ve been using is getting a little shorter every couple of days.

I’ve taken a bland looking sheet(s) of particle board and made a lovely new nesting box for two of my girls. I even made a privacy partition to keep them apart. NOTE: I had to remove it later, they didn’t share the space well with it in place. They still squawk over laying rights most days.

First Crack at Garlic

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I decided to solve two of my problems at once. First, what to do with all the empty Coke bottles I have. Second, how to make sure I have garlic at all times without having to constantly buy it.

I took 32 garlic cloves and stuffed them into a seed sprouting tray with some horse manure. About 20 of them sprouted, and I’ve re-potted those into re-purposed Coke bottles filled with more horse manure.

Chicken Update

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Every day, I go outside around dusk and call out “chookie chookie chookie” and my three lovely chickens come running towards me, clucking all around my feet. They get another cup full of grain for their bowl, I fill their water bowl, toss in some treats into their coop and lock them up for the night.

In return, they are giving us three beautiful eggs a day. That’s enough for us to give away a carton of eggs each week or so which is far better than I expected to receive.

First Results

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Write a short account of getting started. Post pictures.

Get Grubby

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll be digging garden beds in a few days. Well, to be accurate, I will be placing a few raised garden beds of the corrugated iron sort. Nothing fancy, just 40cm x 100cm x 200cm, and I’ll spend most the day just trying to wheel barrow the awful thin dirt we have here to just one of those beds, layered down with lucern. This will repeat itself for as long as it takes to fill all three beds.

Mr Gobbles the Bush Turkey

ivan.hawkes@gmail.com (Ivan Hawkes) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Mr Gobbles is getting laid! A bush turkey has been coming around here for a few weeks. He initially came about 8 months back, but after my brother’s imbecile dog chased him off we didn’t see him again for several months.

I’ve been slowly gaining his trust and have been able to hand feed him at times.

He’s been super-busy the last 3 week making an insanely large nest from all the loose leaf matter on the ground. Bush turkeys do this for one reason, a reason most males are able to relate to…getting laid.