What's going on in your garden (2018-2022)?

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Try putting some kids silver metallic pinwheels in your garden. Birds hate them.

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CD

I'll mention to the wife, although she is going to the garden centre to buy stakes and nylon/ poly netting. She asked me what's 1.8 metres? I told her the size of our fencing, 6 foot. Who knows what she will buy without me there?

Russ
 
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These are raspberry canes she wants to protect.
 
I cant see why not mate. This may interest you. " More precisely, the unshiu variety of mandarin seedlings arrived there in 1933 from faraway Japan as a gift from the Japanese consul who traded with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and over time they have, due to their yield, completely replaced the vineyards which were growing there at that time." Mandarin harvest
 
I cant see why not mate. This may interest you. " More precisely, the unshiu variety of mandarin seedlings arrived there in 1933 from faraway Japan as a gift from the Japanese consul who traded with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and over time they have, due to their yield, completely replaced the vineyards which were growing there at that time." Mandarin harvest

Thanks, I'll get the wife to check at our garden centre.

Russ
 
Don't think they grow here in the south?

Russ
Mandarins or citrus?

I know that lemons and lines grow down here. They also grow quite a bit further south that Canberra. I've seen them growing quite close to the NSW/Victoria border (on the other side) in the snowy mountains. But you do need a sheltered spot for them that gets the sun.

Grapefruit doesn't do well this far south, but head to south Sydney and it does grow there, that's about 200km north of here, but it is much warmer there. They don't get the cold winters we get here in the Canberra area. They'll claim it gets cold, but it rarely drops into single figures ever at its coldest nights! (We have family friends there so i can honestly say this! )

I have seen oranges of some form growing inn the Canberra area but I can't for the life of me remember what they were.
 
I cant see why not mate. This may interest you. " More precisely, the unshiu variety of mandarin seedlings arrived there in 1933 from faraway Japan as a gift from the Japanese consul who traded with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and over time they have, due to their yield, completely replaced the vineyards which were growing there at that time." Mandarin harvest

Great site Burt Blank atrium ok is it?

Russ
 
Good to hear from you SatNavSaysStraightOn , things tickety boo?
Yeah I have lemons and a lime, also a kaffir.
If we can get mandarins or similar. I will be getting some. I've never seen them though in Christchurch.

Russ
Things are ok. 5 medical appointments this week, 3 next week and that's just for me. Hubby has had 2 this week and had another next week as well. I'm still not at the can cook stage. Just starting rehab on my back or at least will be at the end of November! Bought a treadmill to stay exercise at home. Would love to walk the dirt road here but apart from being totally bored walking the same 500m section, it isn't that safe. Lots of large concrete quarry lorries towing trailers at the moment and we live on the long straight section. There's no advisory speed limit I our road. Many locals have been run off the road more than once by these lorries, including myself. So walking them, well it's ok if you are on a certain section and pay plenty of attention and just climb off the road if you hear anything coming (don't wait to establish what) but... so I've bailed to a treadmill. Plus I have started falling again. My balance is crap again... getting my iron levels tested tomorrow because today I've been virtually unable to do anything except stay sitting down.

Mandarins... If a Meyer lemon is a cross between a 'standard' lemon and a mandarin(?) Then we should be able to grow them. I know they grow in Japan and they have pretty much the same climate including the frosts. tYpically oranges need a frost to go sweet, so I can't see why not, if they are protected from the wind (cold winds are a problem with citrus in general) and planted in a protected sheltered spot why a mandarin would not grow this far south.

My issue is my altitude which adds that 'interesting' factor to things. At over 2,700 feet (860m) I find I get almost 2 months less growing period that the sheltered plain that Canberra is situated in (despite it being only 150m lower than me). The altitude here is enough to affect yeast and proving times in bread making, frequently causing overproving by quite a substantial amount. I've flings that recipes that say 4-5g of yeast typically only require 1.6-1.5g which is a huge difference.
 
Things are ok. 5 medical appointments this week, 3 next week and that's just for me. Hubby has had 2 this week and had another next week as well. I'm still not at the can cook stage. Just starting rehab on my back or at least will be at the end of November! Bought a treadmill to stay exercise at home. Would love to walk the dirt road here but apart from being totally bored walking the same 500m section, it isn't that safe. Lots of large concrete quarry lorries towing trailers at the moment and we live on the long straight section. There's no advisory speed limit I our road. Many locals have been run off the road more than once by these lorries, including myself. So walking them, well it's ok if you are on a certain section and pay plenty of attention and just climb off the road if you hear anything coming (don't wait to establish what) but... so I've bailed to a treadmill. Plus I have started falling again. My balance is crap again... getting my iron levels tested tomorrow because today I've been virtually unable to do anything except stay sitting down.

Mandarins... If a Meyer lemon is a cross between a 'standard' lemon and a mandarin(?) Then we should be able to grow them. I know they grow in Japan and they have pretty much the same climate including the frosts. tYpically oranges need a frost to go sweet, so I can't see why not, if they are protected from the wind (cold winds are a problem with citrus in general) and planted in a protected sheltered spot why a mandarin would not grow this far south.

My issue is my altitude which adds that 'interesting' factor to things. At over 2,700 feet (860m) I find I get almost 2 months less growing period that the sheltered plain that Canberra is situated in (despite it being only 150m lower than me). The altitude here is enough to affect yeast and proving times in bread making, frequently causing overproving by quite a substantial amount. I've flings that recipes that say 4-5g of yeast typically only require 1.6-1.5g which is a huge difference.

Wife wraps them all in winter. They are reasonably protected.

Russ
 
Wife wraps them all in winter. They are reasonably protected.

Russ
:eek:
Mine are just left to their own devices. No special attention. The lemon tree though, despite its age (it is huge despite lack of water) had never grown higher than the fence that protects it from the bitterly cold wind (though southern ocean storms that sweep across the lower parts of Australia can be bloody cold). It is over 2m wide and 2m deep or more (from the fence to the front of the garden shed, one of those Aussie style metal sheds that are huge) but it is only fence high which is 1.25m at the most.
 
Don't think I'll need to water anything this week...

Look at the quantities of rain forecast... we'll be lucky not to have the road washed away again.

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(Click on the photo to see the large, readable version)
And yes, guess what i was doing this afternoon... watering the pots. So far today's rain (runs from 9am to 9am for some odd reason) has yet to occur. It was that hot that the pansies were wilting and the soil on the olive trees tubs started to draw back from sides. Time to water.

In fact, it was that warm that I had my first lizard visitor to the garden for the season.

A Shingleback. We regularly get them through the garden and with chooks free ranging it doesn't take liking to get to know that they are around (though only ever one at a time).

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For scale, they are roughly 12-15 inches (30-37½cm or so...) I haven't actually measured one... :whistling:
 
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