Have I FINALLY made it back here, or is the new provider a fizzer too?

If I have made it back; Hi to all the old regulars (and the new ones too
:-))

g'day fran,

welcome back, have you got any new tricks on making it rain huh
chuckle

len

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:19:34 +1100, "Fran"
wrote:

Have I FINALLY made it back here, or is the new provider a fizzer too?

If I have made it back; Hi to all the old regulars (and the new ones too
:-))


--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://home.dnet.aunz.com/gardnlen/

"pete" wrote in message

"Fran" wrote in message
u...
Have I FINALLY made it back here,

Sorry ..No try again :-)

I can see that you are still the same old Pete :-))

I read your post at google about the hardships caused by the drought and how
the goats had gone. Sorry to hear it and that you are now a horse slave
(been there done that!). Hope things are on the improve rain wise.

We went over your way recently (spent 2 hours in the Hills and then turned
round and drove right back here dragging an old Series 1) and the Hay Plains
were looking simply glooooorrrriouuus. Never seen so much feed or lushness,
but I'll bet it's all hayed off by now.

"len gardener" wrote in message
g'day fran,

How do Len?

Any luck with the sale yet (or shouldn't I be asking)?

welcome back, have you got any new tricks on making it rain huh
chuckle

Well I must be holding my mouth right. We have had enough showers to keep
us going till now and to fill up all the dams and the house tanks. My
garden is also looking quite reasonable too, buuuttt, it is now starting to
reach the serious start of the heat. It's cloudy overhead now and they are
forcasting showers today so I'm hoping we might get the odd 10ml (this has
been the norm with the odd 30ml thrown in).

It is now time to finally put in the cucurbits so I need to get the planting
areas looking a bit more friendly for tender seedlings. Have the toms in -
they went in in 32degrees C with ghastly hot dry winds blowing. They didn't
miss a beat 'cos I gave then a good drink with seedweed emulsion before I
planted them and then watered them with it and covered them with shade cloth
for a day.

Had another win too in the veg garden. I've been ignoring the garden
totally over winter and forgot that I had planted a fig in there which I had
intended to cosset and cover formt he frosts. I forgot din I! Anyway the
mustard greens had gone really feral and they were about as big as a house
and so saved the poor little fig.

I was particularly keen on saving the fig as we had found one very old tree,
with a few figs on it, growing in the middle of State Forest at an abandoned
house site (house went sometime in the '60s). I figured if the fig could
survive uncared for and still fruiting in the middle of a drought where it
was then it would be a good one to have in the garden,. I took 5 cuttings
and managed to get 3 to grow so I don't want to lose any of them.

Any sight or sound of Tara on the list?

g'day fran.

i've been working real hard on a personal problem i had this was
impacting heavily on our relationship, so now that things are looking
much much better the property is off the market. we are both doing
MYOB courses i have finished my bit so hope to do BAS work for small
businesses from home and bev when she finishes hopes to get a job in
town, all this so we can live with dignity just can't do that on the
pension.

we've been doing heaps around here, if you check the property pics
page on our site then check our tree plantings we've planted around
160 euc's mainly nad a few casuarinas in the past few months, as money
is tight all these where freebies ie.,. seedlings dug up from places
where they would be in the road later and transplanted to were they
are needed most.

been doing salshing to get mulch so bulk mulching has ben going on
still got more to do but now that sanke season has started got to bwe
careful, saw our first for the season the other day and it had to be a
bady our first sighting in 3 years, and eastern brown.

been doing summer plantings since second week in september so got the
pumpkins, cuces, melons & tom's etc.,. all growing well decided to
just plant all tom' seeds we had in stock in a mass planting and yes
you guessed it they all germinated, try planting and orderly amount
none come up lol. so at presente have planted out 146 tom' plants,
sounds more like a farm hey.

the contour ripping we did they act like temp' swales but are still
working 2 years later, worked very well it has enabled us to get more
wet into the sub layers of soil, so keeps our block looking that much
greener that much longer. the cattle went from here in early feb this
year so the grasses look great a good mixture for when we will be able
to buy a couple of beefers to fatten for ourselves and maybe a couple
of pigs as well.

ted & sheena are doing well up at howard haven't seen them for a few
weeks now but they have all but finished renovating the house and are
still moving in, ted has yet to empty the 40 foot container he has on
site and still ahs another in brissy to come up and be unloaded big
job there.

haven't seen tara around for a while but then a lot of the oldies seem
to be away or very quiet for the past period, a very quiet group is
this one at present.

anyway i'm waffling on now chat again real soon, anytime i'm always
here and looking. good to see our mate pete back again.

water is going to be a problem until we get some rain happening we
have done well with rain this year and so far this seasons rain has
surpassed last years, currently the annual total is running at just
over 800mm against an all up last year of 670mm so a few good falls
could easily take us to the 1mtr mark. just that there is so much wind
in between showers reckon we would do ok if we only had sun and heat
to contend with, but the wind is the real killer.

take care

len n bev

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://home.dnet.aunz.com/gardnlen/

g'day fran.

i've been working real hard on a personal problem i had this was
impacting heavily on our relationship, so now that things are looking
much much better the property is off the market. we are both doing
MYOB courses i have finished my bit so hope to do BAS work for small
businesses from home and bev when she finishes hopes to get a job in
town, all this so we can live with dignity just can't do that on the
pension.

we've been doing heaps around here, if you check the property pics
page on our site then check our tree plantings we've planted around
160 euc's mainly nad a few casuarinas in the past few months, as money
is tight all these where freebies ie.,. seedlings dug up from places
where they would be in the road later and transplanted to were they
are needed most.

been doing salshing to get mulch so bulk mulching has ben going on
still got more to do but now that sanke season has started got to bwe
careful, saw our first for the season the other day and it had to be a
bady our first sighting in 3 years, and eastern brown.

been doing summer plantings since second week in september so got the
pumpkins, cuces, melons & tom's etc.,. all growing well decided to
just plant all tom' seeds we had in stock in a mass planting and yes
you guessed it they all germinated, try planting and orderly amount
none come up lol. so at presente have planted out 146 tom' plants,
sounds more like a farm hey.

the contour ripping we did they act like temp' swales but are still
working 2 years later, worked very well it has enabled us to get more
wet into the sub layers of soil, so keeps our block looking that much
greener that much longer. the cattle went from here in early feb this
year so the grasses look great a good mixture for when we will be able
to buy a couple of beefers to fatten for ourselves and maybe a couple
of pigs as well.

ted & sheena are doing well up at howard haven't seen them for a few
weeks now but they have all but finished renovating the house and are
still moving in, ted has yet to empty the 40 foot container he has on
site and still ahs another in brissy to come up and be unloaded big
job there.

haven't seen tara around for a while but then a lot of the oldies seem
to be away or very quiet for the past period, a very quiet group is
this one at present.

anyway i'm waffling on now chat again real soon, anytime i'm always
here and looking. good to see our mate pete back again.

water is going to be a problem until we get some rain happening we
have done well with rain this year and so far this seasons rain has
surpassed last years, currently the annual total is running at just
over 800mm against an all up last year of 670mm so a few good falls
could easily take us to the 1mtr mark. just that there is so much wind
in between showers reckon we would do ok if we only had sun and heat
to contend with, but the wind is the real killer.

take care

len n bev

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://home.dnet.aunz.com/gardnlen/

"Fran" wrote in message
u...

I read your post at google about the hardships caused by the drought and
how
the goats had gone. Sorry to hear it and that you are now a horse slave
(been there done that!). Hope things are on the improve rain wise.

It's been a bugger of a year really Fran but thats what makes this land of
drought and flooding rains so interesting.

We went over your way recently (spent 2 hours in the Hills and then turned
round and drove right back here dragging an old Series 1) and the Hay
Plains
were looking simply glooooorrrriouuus. Never seen so much feed or
lushness,
but I'll bet it's all hayed off by now.

The Hills properties looked great (thats where most of the hoss rides are)
they always seem to get the best rain and the best sunshine ... maybe a case
of the grass is always greener eh .... but it is I tells ya..

Everything is crunchy dry here now though, we've had a bit of everything
cold, heat, humidity, high winds .. you name it, the ground has dried so
quickly, I just get through telling folks it's raining and it gets hot and
dry ... or that it's hot... and the temp dives again so I should have kept
my gob shut about the place coping with the lack of water cos it isn't just
at this very nanosecond .... ok it's changed already .....

Good to see ya back Fran ........ now where did ya put Janet?

Pete


---

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Version: 6.0.538 / Virus Database: 333 - Release Date: 10/11/2003

"Fran" wrote in message
u...

I read your post at google about the hardships caused by the drought and
how
the goats had gone. Sorry to hear it and that you are now a horse slave
(been there done that!). Hope things are on the improve rain wise.

It's been a bugger of a year really Fran but thats what makes this land of
drought and flooding rains so interesting.

We went over your way recently (spent 2 hours in the Hills and then turned
round and drove right back here dragging an old Series 1) and the Hay
Plains
were looking simply glooooorrrriouuus. Never seen so much feed or
lushness,
but I'll bet it's all hayed off by now.

The Hills properties looked great (thats where most of the hoss rides are)
they always seem to get the best rain and the best sunshine ... maybe a case
of the grass is always greener eh .... but it is I tells ya..

Everything is crunchy dry here now though, we've had a bit of everything
cold, heat, humidity, high winds .. you name it, the ground has dried so
quickly, I just get through telling folks it's raining and it gets hot and
dry ... or that it's hot... and the temp dives again so I should have kept
my gob shut about the place coping with the lack of water cos it isn't just
at this very nanosecond .... ok it's changed already .....

Good to see ya back Fran ........ now where did ya put Janet?

Pete


---

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Version: 6.0.538 / Virus Database: 333 - Release Date: 10/11/2003

"Fran" wrote in message
u...
Have I FINALLY made it back here,

Sorry ..No try again :-)

or is the new provider a fizzer too?

If I have made it back; Hi to all the old regulars (and the new ones too
:-))



Well Hi to you too and welcome back




---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.538 / Virus Database: 333 - Release Date: 10/11/2003

The message
from "pete" contains these words:

Good to see ya back Fran ........ now where did ya put Janet?

I'm here, I was just standing sideways.

Janet

"len gardener" wrote in message

i've been working real hard on a personal problem i had this was
impacting heavily on our relationship, so now that things are looking
much much better the property is off the market.

Glad to hear that things are on the improve Len. I do recall you mentioning
this in the past. My regards to Bev.

we are both doing
MYOB courses ...bev when she finishes hopes to get a job in
town,

Good luck with the paid work and improving the financial situation. It isn't
ever going to be easy trying to get things done on the land if money is
tight but I gather from what you've said in the past, you are a pretty handy
sort of bloke who is not only good at recycling but can work quietly on
towards a goal.

It all takes time Len and it is best to just quietly enjoy the journey and
try not to worry too much or let things get to you. So long as you are both
good to, and for, each other then I think that is the most important thing -
all the rest will come in time. Remember just how much you have managed to
do in the short time you've been there. I've always been impressed with
your progress, so don't beat up on yourself if things aren't proceeding as
quick as you would like.

we've been doing heaps around here, if you check the property pics
page on our site then check our tree plantings we've planted around
160 euc's mainly nad a few casuarinas in the past few months, as money
is tight all these where freebies ie.,. seedlings dug up from places
where they would be in the road later and transplanted to were they
are needed most.

Have you done any seed harvesting at all from any of the local trees? I
have a friend who is constantly doing this and he manages to propogate a lot
of natives from harvesting pods.

I think I will try it this year with some acacias we planted int he wind
break round the veg garden last year. Some have grown like stink and are
now 10 ft tall despite the lousy droughty conditions. We bucketed water to
them for ages till I had a really good find at the tip one day - metres and
metres of half inch PVC tubing complete with drippers already attached.
Himself, who absolutely HATES my tip scavenging habits, quickly got over his
prejudices and snaffled it all for HIS windbreak (not "our" of course
despite the fact that I was the slave of all work in the planting of the
windbreak). Of course my objections that I had dragged the sodding stuff
home for MY purposes and the watering of the fruit trees to stop hose
dragging was dismissed as totally unimportant.

Anyway the upshot is that I notice that the accacias all have lots of seed
pods ont ehm so I think I'll try a bit of germinating this year when the
pods mature. I also have callistamon which gives heaps of seeds so if you
want some pods from it let me know and I can send you some.

BTW, how did all the other stuff I sent go over the long term?

been doing salshing to get mulch so bulk mulching has ben going on

Don't you find this is a problem for spreading weeds about? or do dyou
slash before the seed heads get a chance to form?

still got more to do but now that sanke season has started got to bwe
careful, saw our first for the season the other day and it had to be a
bady our first sighting in 3 years, and eastern brown.

Yuck! I loath all snakes but Eastern Browns have got to be right up there
with the nastiest. Too edgy for my liking. I always feel very nervous for a
few days after I see a Joe Blake but then I also know that it is the ones I
don't see that will be a real problem.

Speaking of snakes: I had to put my poor little JRs into the dog run the
other day (rotten little toads have taken to gettting onto the road and one
has nearly been dognapped but rescued by Himelf from the nappers front
passenger seat just in the nick of time) and I had already put them in the
run and was just dumping some feed into their bowl. I looked up into the
half water tank that serves as a shelter and there, in the back of it, was a
tiger snake. I don't know what made me look as I never bother to check out
the pen, but thankfully I did.

I promptly grabbed the boys and headed backwards and as I did so the snake
slid towards me and under the raised bed that the boys use! I still haven't
been back to check if it is living under the bed but I will be off to buy
some rat shot for the gun. I may be a lousy shot but I figure I can get him
with rat shot at that sort of distance.

been doing summer plantings since second week in september so got the
pumpkins, cuces, melons & tom's etc.,. all growing well decided to
just plant all tom' seeds we had in stock in a mass planting and yes
you guessed it they all germinated, try planting and orderly amount
none come up lol. so at presente have planted out 146 tom' plants,
sounds more like a farm hey.

:-)) Now ain't that the truth! What sort of rockies do you plant? I'd like
to have a go at them this year but I will have to search hard round here to
find some seedlings - not a very usual thing here.

the contour ripping we did they act like temp' swales but are still
working 2 years later, worked very well it has enabled us to get more
wet into the sub layers of soil, so keeps our block looking that much
greener that much longer.

Sounds like it works well then.

ted & sheena are doing well up

Please give my regards to them when you next see them and tell Ted that I
bought myself 2 compost tumblers. They sure take the back break out of
turning compost.

haven't seen tara around for a while but then a lot of the oldies seem
to be away or very quiet for the past period, a very quiet group is
this one at present.

'Cos google was so frustrating to use I must admit that I didn't check the
group as often as I should have. I did notice that a lot of the oldies were
mising but then there have been a fair number of new names too. And lets
face it Len, this was never a big volume list anyway. It was a good list
for getting to know people and what they were up to (and who was sane and
who wasn't :-))

anyway i'm waffling on now chat again real soon, anytime i'm always
here and looking. good to see our mate pete back again.

Yeah it is. I wonder if he is using one of his old hand crank computer or if
he has moved into the steam age by now.

water is going to be a problem until we get some rain happening we
have done well with rain this year and so far this seasons rain has
surpassed last years, currently the annual total is running at just
over 800mm against an all up last year of 670mm so a few good falls
could easily take us to the 1mtr mark.

Well today I have wonderful news. Not only is it STILL raining, but up
until 9 am this morning we had had 59 mm of rain in this current cloud
burst. Of course, half of our driveway is now on its way down the inland
waterways heading for the mythical Inland Sea, but at least everything has
had the most deliciious watering. Things will go like stink now for a
while.

just that there is so much wind
in between showers reckon we would do ok if we only had sun and heat
to contend with, but the wind is the real killer.

Yes, I agree. I've never known such winds as we've had in the last few
years.

take care

Ditto to you mate, look after your good lady.

"pete" wrote in message
"Fran" wrote in message

Hope things are on the improve rain wise.

It's been a bugger of a year really Fran but thats what makes this land of
drought and flooding rains so interesting.

Sorry to hear that Pete. I hope that at least the fishing has made up for
it.............

We went over your way recently (spent 2 hours in the Hills

The Hills properties looked great (thats where most of the hoss rides are)
they always seem to get the best rain and the best sunshine ... maybe a
case
of the grass is always greener eh .... but it is I tells ya..

I believe you Pete, but also given the horrific fires we had over this way
last year, I can say that I would be ratehr worried if I lived there in the
height of the fire season. I must be very worrying.

Everything is crunchy dry here now though, we've had a bit of everything
cold, heat, humidity, high winds .. you name it, the ground has dried so
quickly, I just get through telling folks it's raining and it gets hot and
dry ... or that it's hot... and the temp dives again so I should have kept
my gob shut about the place coping with the lack of water cos it isn't
just
at this very nanosecond .... ok it's changed already .....

I know what you mean about the variety of weather. I've had the different
weight duvets on and off the bed like the proverbial whore's..... wash my
mouth out! I forgot this is a 'naice' group but I'm sure you understand
what I mean.

Yep, the only thing we haven't had is the cruchy underfoot stuff yet. Bit
too early here yet for that but I'd bet London to a brick on that we'll get
it before the new year.

Good to see ya back Fran ........

Thanks Pete.

now where did ya put Janet?

Phew! That's an impossible one to know. I don't think anyone would have an
easy time of putting Janet anywhere that Janet didn't want to be.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message

The message
from "pete" contains these words:

Good to see ya back Fran ........ now where did ya put Janet?

I'm here, I was just standing sideways.

Thought you were looking rather svelte - must be all the garden work.

Just what delights have you got planned for your new Island Paradise Patch?

The message
from "Fran" contains these words:

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message

The message
from "pete" contains these words:

Good to see ya back Fran ........ now where did ya put Janet?

I'm here, I was just standing sideways.

Thought you were looking rather svelte - must be all the garden work.

Just what delights have you got planned for your new Island Paradise Patch?

Less grass and more beds, just about sums it up; but am currently
employed in the Great Leap Forward towards indoor civilisation. I have
blisters on my knees :-( from crawling about staining and varnishing the
newly sanded floorboards.

Janet.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 20:50:07 +1100, "Fran"
wrote:

"snipped

yep and lookin better all the time, me and me behavioral problems hey?

snipped
towards a goal.

yep but handy runs out when resources such as usable or needed
material aren't around, nothing of worth gets dumped at our landfill
tip, and no second hand places around that are close at hand. and when
it looked like that selling was the only out a lot of baby went out
with the bath water.

snipped
quick as you would like.

yep there are certainly some noticable changes around here all for the
better, even some of our early tree plantings are looking noticable,
of course the citrus and stone fruit orchid looks a dream those trees
are growing up a storm and giving us fruit in season.

snipped
of natives from harvesting pods.

the only harvesting is of the seedlings that appear around the place,
will need to gain knowledge on seed collection and germination, would
also like to do tip cuttings as well, but don't have anywhere outside
the house where i can set up and get going.

snipped
dragging was dismissed as totally unimportant.

be good to get some useful stuff from the tip then bev doesn't like me
scavenging. got some casuarina seedlings off of ted a few weeks back
potted them and have now just planted them out as they all survived
the shock of transplanting. must try and get up and see them this week
if possible after the rain we had last night getting seedlings will be
easier.

ted also wants some more of his citronella grass the first lot i
tookkhim all died, plus he wants more pigeon peas seeds as well.

snipped
want some pods from it let me know and I can send you some.

i would need to find out how to germinate them but yes all donations
gratefully accepted, we are wanting to create an area of cas's and
white cedar + whatever else for the black cockatoos, we see quiet a
few yellow tailed one's but very few red tailed one's. had the luxury
of having 4 reds spend some time around our place and next door last
week they where eating the black acacia seeds.

BTW, how did all the other stuff I sent go over the long term?

most is doing very well now after a shaky start, the rhubarb only 2
clumps but growing real strong and good eating is doing great, now
that i moved it to a better spot divided it a bit and lost most but
the 2 are quiet large clumps now. i did give a clump away to a
desperate rhubarb lover and then nearly paid the price by losing what
we had left you sent 5 i think we then had 3 then after the donation
2, which i split into 9 and the rest is history.

lost a lot of comfry due to heat, no water and no rain when we only
had temp' conditions, but have some nice stuff out of that still going
now only not sure if it was your comfry or ours that survived or even
a bit of both chuckle. ted was baby sitting some comfry for us before
he moved so we got that back and that is going like a steam train have
already given ted a lot of it back again.

the tansy is coming on nice again this year winter was a bit rugged
for it this year but it is spreading but not rampant our sandy soil
and drier conditions keep it in temper.

last but not least the horse radish sadly succumbed to drought
conditions, and we thought it was invincibale, so we never got to
using it's cullenary delights.

but now with mass mulching the soil is holding better moisture so all
things are doing great, just picked another mess of r/barb and still
got enough to pick for another couple of deserts or so. we don't eat
lots of it.

snipped
slash before the seed heads get a chance to form?

any weeds we've got have been spasmodic nothing of note even had bails
with lots of scotch thistle seed in but very few germinated anyway for
us if it grows and its gree then the ='s nitrogen and trace elements
and plant food. we've even collected huge amounts of that milk weed
cotton weed and put it through the mulcher direct to the ground but no
regrowth from it. there's bound to be some extra grasses here and
there from all the different sources, but it all gets recycled into
our system somehow somewhere.

ted got some kahki weed from fodder bails he bought now that's a nasty
little thing to get rid of, i did get one little patch that i was able
do dig up and burn, but by and large with continual mulching no more
weeds than waht we had first off. reckon we've put at least hundreds
of bails through here by now.

snipped
don't see that will be a real problem.

not being fleet of foot we are vey wary of snakes so the dogs keep us
close company they usually see them first, don't mind seeing the
red-bellied blacks they are quiet docile and easy to well you know,
haven't seen a tiger on the dam for a couple years now did have 3 at
one time but that's another story. haven't seen any monty pythons at
all seen a few olive tree snakes.

but the eastern brown our first sighting ever they put the wind up us
at least for a couple of days our awareness is hightened, they are
rapid fire movers and very dangerous. but this one has probably kept
right on going and we may never see it again well that's what the
experts say.

snipped
with rat shot at that sort of distance.

you have dog nappers wow low types hey, that snake probably long gone
by now maybe. some neighbours here lost a jr but i reckoned it may
have gotten a lead aspirin for it's habit of killing other peoples
chooks off even after repeated complaints by those to the it's owners.

snipped
find some seedlings - not a very usual thing here.

got a canteloup and an un-named heirloom

snipped
Sounds like it works well then.

yup for immidiate action ripping is the go especially in sandy soils,
should do well for heavy clays as well and far less work than making a
proper trench type swale also less impact on the immidiate terrian.
most of the mulch is layed in long rows along the tree lines these
also act as swales.

snipped

will do

snipped
who wasn't :-))

yes it was excellent for meeting cyber pals we used to have lots of
chat going on, that became part of my daily routine so do miss it a
bit but hey this is great maybe we will inspire huh?

snipped

last i heard he was peddling a push bike generator or somethin' huh
chuckle, sorry pete only jokin' huh lol

snipped
while.

we got some long awaited rain last night 6.25mm in all and no follow
up on the horizon so hoping for a storm tonight to consolidate waht we
ahve.

snipped

good to be chatting see ya

len n bev




--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://home.dnet.aunz.com/gardnlen/