Busy bees

The end of the year was as it always is - a hectic and joyful scurrying filled with love, tears, gifts, goodbyes and many late nights. The beginning of the year was likewise, with fresh starts, changes, and choices.

It's now the first day of March and I finally feel that I've caught my breath and my words will not just fall to the ground.

During a family trip to Queensland in December, I collected my bees. After waiting months, there was finally a strong hive with my name on it!

I tend to be intimidated by cities, and imagine them to be places devoid of natural life. What a delight to pick up my hive from right in Brisbane, surrounded by multi-lane highways and towering buildings. Of course there was enough plant life to sustain the hive, but I found it strangely encouraging to think of them navigating the streets and finding it as awkward as I do... but succeeding nonetheless.
 
They MUST be happier at my place though, right?! The bees were keen to get exploring the morning after they arrived in their new home, with a few early morning adventurers popping out of the entry before I left for work. They darted about for a while, flying backwards with their faces toward the hive to get their bearings.

By the time I got home at 6pm, they were busily coming and going, with saddlebags full of pollen. I grow a wide variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables and natives, but I am yet to spot one of the bees foraging on flowers in my own yard! The European honeybees seem to dominate the fennel flowers that I left especially for my little Tetragonula, so I have just planted some of the rocket that first brought them to my attention, just to make sure they don't have to travel too far (and also because it's delicious!).

I had a small panic on a hot day when I noticed a smell coming from the hive, and saw a bee wrestle out a small maggot from the entry. There are a few nasty pests to look out for, and a couple are flies whose larvae infiltrate the hive and can cause a lot of damage. Other bee nerds have reassured me that my 'sweet, tangy and slightly composty' smell is normal, and as I've seen no other maggots being ejected from the hive since, that's actually a  sign that the security guard bees are doing their job.

Guard bees surrounding the hive entry

Today it's 37 degrees, so I've soaked a towel in water and draped it over the box to keep it cooler. On hot days, it's so nice to sit by the pool next the hive and hear the faint hum as their wings work to cool the hive. It's almost like a contented purr.

Getting more than I bargained for...

I first saw white Waratahs for sale a few years ago when working at a local nursery, and I thought the flower must be the most elegant thing in the world! After we moved in, I just happened to find one when looking for windflowers in May 2013. Months of waiting ensued, as the plant took a little while to settle in, and then began forming a bud. I had high hopes for a first flower and would have been devastated if it had only produced leaves, but sure enough, the white started to show. I was not disappointed in the least.

 

 

 

Watching the flower unfurl slowly was magical enough, but I have been extra blessed to discover that the flower produced 2 more buds from within itself and gave me three for the price of one! 

 

 

 

 

 

This particular variety is called Shady Lady White, and is growing happily on the cool, shady southern side of the house. I've since invested in a Shady Lady Crimson to keep it company, and will wait equally patiently for those flowers! There is a yellow form as well, but it eludes me...for now.

 

I've always been taught that you should prune Waratahs back after flowering, but this one seems as though it has branched from right inside the flower, so I'm reluctant to cut the new 'branches' off.

 

Would you prune it back or let it grow?

August is for - taking new ground

It's the first day of Spring, and I'm SO excited. We all know that winter is not my thing, which might be part of the reason I haven't been motivated enough to write the August post until September... oops. But that doesn't mean nothing is going on!

We've been up to our eyeballs in snow peas and sugar snap peas, with plenty of kale to go round as well. Cabbages and broccoli haven't matured in the strange winter weather, so I'll give them a bit more time to see if they do anything, and probably throw them in the compost to make room for summer tomatoes.

The veggie beds have benefited from the compost, with a scattering over followed by a good layer of Lucerne mulch to keep in the moisture and hold back the sneaky spring weeds. The last few weeks have brought some great rain and everything has grown beautifully.



Earlier in the year we added the new native garden, and I loved the effect but felt it just didn't sit quite right in the yard. The square edge jutted against the lawn and it seemed like there were so many different areas that didn't connect. Our solution was to extend the garden to meet the pool area, with a large curve that swept around the clothesline. Here are the before and after shots:

Pool corner

 

 
Garden corner

 

 

I can't believe how much it's grown!

 

 

 We sprayed the grass and built up a layer of garden soil from the landscape yard after it started to yellow off. The plants are similar to those in the native garden, with a few new favourites and some from the pool area to tie the two together. Think more Poa, Westringia, Brachycomes and kangaroo paws. Hopefully they come up as fast as the others, and it'll be a complete garden in no time!

 

Photo of the week - friends in the garden

We visited the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens last December, and bought a few plants on the way out. A definite favourite was Guichenotia macrantha, with velvety purple ballgown-shapes flowers, and brown fuzzy seed capsules. This one has grown beautifully in the garden ever since, in a dry sunny part of the new native garden. It's now covered in these stunning flowers, and insects like this friendly spider are hanging about in it. What a winner!

January is for... out with the old, in with the new!

Now is a great time to celebrate the achievements of the last year, finish off old jobs, start some new jobs and make some new plans!

Back in September's post, I mentioned that the old ugly carport was being removed ( http://hunterharvest.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/september-is-for-celebrating-in-style.html ). We managed this month to finally finish up the new 'carport garden', with the last poles coming out, and the last plants going in. Before planting, we built up the centre beds with good quality soil from the landscape yard to help with drainage and to improve the compacted soil that was the floor of the carport.

The removal of the carport left quite a big opening at the back fence, which is now a large space facing into our neighbours' yard. Thankfully, we know a thing or two about living screens, and planted some fast-growing large shrubs that will give us some privacy (eventually) and provide a nice green background. This area is also designed to be bird attracting, and so the plants were carefully chosen for their habitat and food value. Think nectar-rich flowers, dense or prickly foliage, tasty seeds or flowers to attract insects. To maximise this, there is a lot of variety and little repetition, except for the clumps of groundcovers. To avoid looking too 'hodge-podge' there is a colour scheme of purples and whites, with a couple of pinks, blues and yellows here and there and some interesting foliage for year-round interest. The mix is all native plants, and consists mostly of Grevilleas, Melaleucas, Banksias, Acacias and Callistemon, with plenty of little surprises thrown in. We are hoping to build a pergola and BBQ area on the concrete slab, so I've planted some edible natives like midyim berries, ruby saltbush, muntries and mint bush along that edge for easy access.

Prostanthera cryptandroides (mintbush)

In the back corner we have marked a spot for a garden seat (there's a special one at a local nursery that we're putting money in a jar for) and the middle section of the beds are all low-growing shrubs and groundcovers, 1-1.5 m high so that we can sit in the chair and look over the garden towards the house and pool.

There is also a stepping stone path to the seat made from sandstone offcuts and some home-made mosaic pavers. I love mosaic and have mostly made pots in the past, but the pavers are great fun and not so time-consuming!

A nice thick layer of forest mulch will keep the weeds down and the soil moist, so eventually I won't need to water it much, if at all.

They are already looking better every day and the butterflies have started to visit the little native daisies, I'm so excited to see it all grow and watch the birds playing around instead of the neighbours and their dogs... they will probably appreciate it too!

I have a few favourites among the plants that I'd like to introduce:

Homoranthus decumbens

 

This gorgeous blue-green shrub grows horizontally and forms little cream flowers along the branches like icing on a cake. The colour is fantastic, and insects love the flowers when they come out in spring.

 

Acacia cultriformis

 

 This quirky wattle forms a dense shrub with these interesting wing-shaped phyllodes. The prickly foliage will help to shelter wrens and finches that may want to nest there when the garden is more established.

 

Melaleuca nesophila

A large shrub with fluffy flowers that start out bright purple and fade to almost white, so that there are a number of different shades at one time. I wrote an article about these as part of my internship, you can see it here:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2012/melaleuca-nesophila.html
Obviously I still have a soft spot for them!


This week Matt also managed to pull up the mashy-pea-green carpet in the lounge room, the surprise layer of lino underneath, and the funky layer of 1955 newspaper underneath that. Some of the ads and stories are so funny, I might have to make a collage to hang on the wall for a bit of vintage style and a nod to the house's history.

Eventually we will sand and polish the boards, but for now I'm just happy for the old carpet to be gone. There is only one small patch remaining, we are slowly making progress!

If anyone is interested in a comprehensive list of what's in the garden, knock yourself out:
Acacia amblygona
Acacia cultriformis
Actinotus helianthi
Austromyrtis dulcis
Banksia integrifolia
Banksia spinulosa 'Honeypots'
Brachycome multifida Blue, White and Break 'o' day
Bursaria spinosa
Callistemon 'Wilderness White'
Calothamnus granitica
Enchylaena tomemtosa
Eucalyptus caesia
Eucalypus macrocarpa
Grevillea 'Fruit Box'
Grevillea rosmarinifolia 'Lutea'
Grevillea 'Pink Surprise'
Guichenotia macrantha
Hakea sericea
Hardenbergia violacea
Homoranthus decumbens
Kennedia nigricans
Kunzea pomifera
Leptospermum 'Lipstick'
Leptospermum sp.
Melaleuca decussata
Melaleuca nesophila
Melaleuca thymifolia
Myoporum parvifolium
Poa labillardieri
Prostanthera cryptandroides
Thryptomene saxicola
Verticordia plumosa
Wahlenbergia gloriosa
Westringia 'Smokie'