Dragonfruit poles 2020 - 2022

 I cant believe I never posted about my dragon fruit poles. The first 8 poles went in on 27 Jun 2020. 

This is the construction of the top support made by Len the Worm Farmer. 18 months later Jan 2022 these are the results. I've negelcted them over time and not pruned them or fed them as much as I should. This year I shall do a better job I promise.

Below mulching in between the beds on top of the cardboard so the weeds dont grow again and if I want to use the space I'll put the raised beds inbetween on top of the mulch

In the photo below you can see cuttings I've left in the wheel barrow and they have grown lol, this proves you dont have to baby them too much

These three fruit below are from my  7 year old cutting I got from my Uncle Devlin. You can see the original plant HERE that I treated poorly lol 

January 26, 2022 photos taken

This one is ready to open. I have been checking them everyday

Dragonfruit and new garden bed

This is my newest raised garden bed built by the wonderful Worm Farm man Len, he is very talented. I gave him the tin and the wood and away he went. He may start a business building these on the island. I had it tailored made for me with the edges so I could sit on it when gardening.

So my awesome dragon fruit (wish I had treated it better when we brought it over from the mainland in a pot and just dumped it by this tree with plans to plant it properly but it grew so fast while we were settling in. 4 years later it has grown out of hand and give us a few fruit each year that is just the juiciest and sweetest. The tree is 7 years old. You can see the pot plant I dumped HERE

This is the tree I want to plant the dragon fruit on and will do so this season after it fruits.

Found these three flowers about to fruit when we weeded, they were growing in the ground.

 

Gardening Jan 2021

On the weekend I installed a new worm farm from Bunnings  cost about $84 which we expected but has been manufactured properly. I am excited to see this but it will take about 3 months for the worms to eat through the coconut coir I put in as their bedding which they eat.

My worms are spoilt, on the weekend i crushed up beetroot, carrot for them, as they don't have teeth it takes them time to eat so if its crushed up its easier for them to eat

 

crushed egg shells they love as well, I also put this in my garden to prevent pests

My new worm farm that I am excited about as its manufactured properly

I separated worms from worm casting as well, ready to add to my garden beds and pot plants

 

The left one is my first worm farm, its huge. 2nd one on a stand is smaller and was the most successful until I did something and it doesnt produce worm wee lately. 

The newest one is on the right.

I have since learnt that you flush 5 litres of water every week to flush out the worms and make wee, who knew that hahaha. so I have instant 5 litres of worm wee just like that. I read that the worms don't drown when you do that because the water drains away quickly - thank goodness for that

Sunday Gardening

We were at it again in the garden Sunday. Why hubby decided around 11am to go out into the garden beats me, its the hottest time of day. Anyway we only worked for 1.5 hours

I bought this basket of goodies on the island, every Sunday Greg and Karen come over from Russell Island with their van and sell vegetables to us. I love using my basket for vege shopping, its keeps the vegetables from squishing in bags. These baskets are hard to find, very sturdy.

Visited my compost bin as well (built by the very handy man and garden guru Len) and saw the chilli and pawpaw tree are surviving. Corn to the right are growing, lettuce not doing so well

 So thats the garden so far, decided to extend the garden area by putting pots on the edges. Tomato plants in the white foam boxes you saw in previous posts, red grapefruit, meyer lemon, Nagami cumquat (the sweet oval ones you can eat fresh), I think there are two trees.

My worm farm is looking good with lots of worms.

So what does your garden look like?

Composting and Worm Farm

Another exciting day after my Silhouette Cameo 4  delivery on Friday. 

This Worm farm/ Composting bin got delivered on Saturday, 

built right here on Macleay Island by our garden guru Len

 Its made of all recycled material. On the right is the worm farm with a lid on it, I see a platform underneath to put a liquid catching receptacle.

 This is the worm farm area opened up, I have no idea what the plastic bowl with handle is for, 

will ask Len when I next see him. 

The blue roll on the left is to channel the compost into the bin on the other side, like a funnel. Clever man this Len is to think of everything and build it.

 This is the section where the compost is ready to be used in the garden, it will be dropped out of the drum above in the middle after being 'cooked' in there. 

The pipe is to let water in to make the nice mulch.

Air vent for the composting bin, the bin is put on wheels so I can turn it around easily.

 This is my first worm farm that Len made for me and I've had for a year now. Its not doing good, or not fast enough and I know now I have to put cow poo in it to get worm poo hahaha.

  My fancy collection point

 The lid opens up so I can feed it and I put shredded paper and dry leaves to keep it cool.

 Can you see that healthy black worm casting under the leaves and lettuce?

I add the dried leaves on top and spray them with water to keep it cool

I use this pump action water bottle to water my worms