"Chookie" wrote in message
...
It's started. I built my chook tractor out of PVC pipe in similar style
to
this one:
http://photos.permaculture.org.au/ga...album=12&pos=8
except that mine has a 2m diameter and is for two chooks.

I moved the dome yesterday, to the delight of the girls. The area they
had
been on the previous two weeks is lovely and fluffy with mulch -- I have
been
throwing in the guinea pigs' bedding (mainly lawn clippings and piggie
poos).
Alas, it is also completely dry, as we haven't had decent rain for a
couple of
months. Showers are forecast for the next week, so that's something (we
can
only water on Wednesdays and Sundays, between certain hours). Planted bok
choy, shallots, cabbage and kale, and spinach. Hope that the snail
numbers
are down enough that the plants survive the night! (I believe they are;
the
girls free-ranged most of summer.)

snip
Hope the grils like their new abode.

How are the rest of you going?

Just plotting and planning. I've resolved myself to not buying *anything*
until we get some decent rain.
BUT....
ON my *want it* list a
Eucalyptus "Summer Glory"
Some more kangaroo paws
another Banksia (not sure which one I want yet ... I have "birthday candles"
in on the top of one of the retaining walls so might get a few more of those
to dot through the front garden. ... but I also want an upright form as
well).
A Waratah ... when I get some feedback on the best one for my area (none of
the new ones around here yet).
More herbs to replace those dying in the herb garden. Even the mint is
doing it tough under the current water restrictions.

Instead I've been removing the revolting mock orange and bauhinia trees from
the side garden.

Actually, we were looking at photos from when we moved in and consoling
ourselves that while the garden isn't quite how we want it, it is just *so*
much better than when we moved in 5 years ago ... no more snake weed or
dutchman's pipe, several bauhinias, mock oranges and frangipannis down,
'Neville' the concrete cherub / bird bath was destroyed with glee and a
newer, more subtle bird bath installed, many lovely native plants added to
make a *garden* (as opposed to the ADD planting style / weed farm of the
previous owner, and two of the three retaining walls transformed from grey
besser brick to terracotta render. The "to do list" still seems long, but
the garden is no longer an eyesore.

Amanda