8th October 2016

The dam is full!

7.8.2016

When we bought the block the dam was completely empty. In almost a year things have changed and we now have plenty of water for the time being. It may not last as this is a very dry part of the world but for now the water in the dam has changed the ambience of the place. 

New Plants

A few weeks ago I bought three plants to add to the Moora garden. I bought a vanilla lily (Sowerbaea juncea), chocolate lily (Arthropodium strictum) and a nodding saltbush (Einadia nutans). They are tiny but hopefully will grow. The salt bush is going well and already has new leaves.  It was really too late to buy a vanilla lily as it is supposed to die back due to it being winter.  The chocolate lily doesn't seem to be thriving and some of its leaves are going yellow. It was flowering when I bought it and I chose, foolishly, to leave them on.  I have cut them off now, so hopefully it will be happier. 

I am worried about the soil that I planted them in.  All I had was a commercial soil bought for vegetables.  Really, it is not appropriate for natives but I am crossing my fingers. To compensate I spread soil from the block on top. I thought they should begin to get used to it.  Wishful thinking probably.

They have been planted in our Melbourne home. I didn't plant them directly at the block because it is winter and very wet. They would have drowned. It is nice having them here.  I visit them daily and it feels like they are a link to the block.

The pot is a wooden box.  It will be easy to be transferred to the garden when the time comes.  There is also a succulent-like native that I had pinched a piece of from work.  I don't know what it is, yet, but I will search.

In the front is the vanilla lily. Far left is the nodding salt bush and next to it the chocolate lily.  The found plant sits just in front of it.

The nodding salt bush is in front, the chocolate lily is behind it and the leaves of the vanilla lily are in view on the right.  

Little Red

                                                Isuzu truck on Gumtree. Located in Werribee.
                  

                               Truck as platform for a shack. Purchased and relocated April 2016
                                                  Temporary permit obtained from VicRoads.

                                   1 tonne of steel angle and purlins purchased 15/7/16.
                                   Should be nearly enough for the framing of the truck shack.

Drooping cassinia

I have found a few drooping cassinia on our block.  It took me a while to identify it.  As I was looking for information of this plant I came across a strange newspaper article calling it a weed!  How can something that belongs, and has longer than farms and Europeans have been here, a weed?  I can understand the fear of fire risk, it would pose a bit of a problem but so would a lot of introduced plants.

From what I have read, and that is not a lot as yet, the drooping cassinia, is the beginning of the replenishing of soil that has been sucked of all nutrients by colonising spent farmland and roadsides.  What is more exciting is that as it grows, the plant falls apart, landing onto the ground, sinking back into the soil.  This area then becomes the nursery for new species.

I will be leaving mine where it is as I understand it to be telling me that the soil on our land needs replenishing.  I would like to cut it back at certain times of the year so that it will not scare the neighbours with its fire prone bushiness and use the cuttings as a mulch for the ground.  I may experiment with fabric dyeing as it is aromatic, and I suspect that it will work, at least on silk.

Cassinia arcuata, drooping cassinia

Berry Saltbush

What I thought could be a Nodding Saltbush (Einadia nutans) is most likely Berry Saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata).  The oxalis was being smothered by the saltbush and looks a bit scrawny.  I think that, because it was so small I think that it had been trampled on so I have decided to protect it with mesh and a few overlapping pieces of wood.

There is a sea of oxalis here.  I intend pulling off the tops until I weaken it enough for the plants to gain strength.  The saltbush is the first to undergo this treatment.

Foundations

While intending to apply for planning permits, our first building projects are those where no council permission is required.
a) sheds no larger than 10square metre floor footprint and no higher than 3 metres to the eave line.
b) shacks on wheels.

FIRST SHED (kitchen)

Working through the list - 26/6/2016

Today at Moora we had a determined set of chores.

The list:

1. Start the truck and move it to rotate the tyres.
2. Chop wood which serves two purposes - make the block safe in fire season; fire wood for to keep us warm in Melbourne.
3. Add hay from our daughter's pet rabbits and food scraps to the compost.
4. Plant rhubarb and spring onions in the orchid.
5. Check on the Nodding Saltbush which I freed from oxalis over two weeks ago.

Nick likes to start the truck, Little Red, every visit so that if needs be we know that it still functions.  The wheels need turning as, if left in the one spot, they will end up with a flat spot.

Clearing the block in preparation for summer is necessary as the wood that is lying on the ground can potentially fuel a wayward fire.  It is hard making the decision to clear as each piece of wood on the ground is a potential home for a creature.  Nick cut pieces of wood today only to find that he had disturbed an ant colony.  We left at the block and hope that we haven't thrown them into crisis.

Planting the rhubarb and spring onions is a tester really.  I have both in my Melbourne garden.  I know that rhubarb leaves are poisonous and I am hoping that rabbits and possums won't eat them.  I also believe that they won't eat the spring onions.  I mixed the soil with home prepared compost.  Then I watered them and added the accumulated rabbit hay, left over food and their litter full of droppings.

 As for the Nodding Saltbush, I thought that it was a Nodding Saltbush (India nutans).  However, I think that it is a Berry Saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata).  I am clearing away more oxalis.  It seems to choke everything. 

We arrived at 12.30, then completed and left by 4.30pm.  It was then a usual stop over at the Irish Pub in Kilmore for wine and Irish beer on the way home.