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Who else likes gardening?

ecomama
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor

Hi everyone

I hope you're staying well today.

Who else likes gardening? I would love to connect with people here who are happy to share their gardening adventures.

For me I know that gardening helped heal my soul during tough times. I hope it will again.
Then with other things going on, it became a jungle.
I'm part way into rediscovering it again and doing A LOT of hard yakka atm, when I am motivated.

I have new dreams and ideas to put into the many bare places, as I remove thickets of lantana etc. This will all be on a tight budget and I'm ok with that.

I want to create a peaceful place where I can be.
I would like to grow food again (tell 'er she's dreamin' atm lol).
I would like to re-establish my worm farms and compost heaps.
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year in the garden.

I'm 'alone' in my gardening journey and would love to share and hear about other's gardening antics. Hopefully we can troubleshoot any issues in our gardens and talk about any healing we're feeling too. There's a lot of knowledge we can share. I hope this thread can brighten your day!

Love Ecomama

Please

977 Replies 977

Matchy69
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member
Hi Jstar I will be harvesting watermelons soon.Still plenty of egg plants.I have to plant my beans and get them in soon.I have been feeling flat to I think it's this time of year and not having much motivation.
Happy gardening,
Mark.

Jstar49
Community Member

Hi Mark,

Yummy! You'll have to bring some to the cafe when you harvest 😉

Yes, best to just accept the flat times I guess. Not so sure the roller coaster is better anyway!

Cheers,

J*

ecomama
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor

Hey BB gardeners

I have the FUNNIEST thing to report.

I only just realised that the male Brush Turkey who's been busy EMPTYING my leaf mould compost in the front garden, is using IT as a HUGE mound nest!

When I came home today to see he'd emptied it again, I decided to OBSERVE him instead of shooing him away and putting it all back in.

He worked for hours more, scratching piles around the chicken wired leaf mould.

So NOW i realise what the heck he's trying to achieve (omg sorry poor Turkey), I've decided to work with him not against him.

So I'll collect what he can't scratch back up there and put it AROUND the laf mould as I can see what he's trying to achieve.

He's ONLY trying to create a safe nest for his future baby's eggs. That's all.

We all want a safe place for our babies. Little darlings lol.

I guess he decided it was a pretty cool place to have his eggs hatch. Fresh water laid on, chicken's food all the time. HIGH up and wired off, so less chance of predators.

Smart thinking!

If he'd only been able to TELL Me his plans then I would have worked WITH him alot sooner!

Luckily he was so persistent, that I gave in lol.

Off to help Papa Turkey.

EMxxxx

Matchy69
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member
Hi Em I use to have a brush turkey nest in my yard at my old house.He would scratch up all the leaves and anything he could find in it .The best part was when you would see the babies.They were so cute.

Jstar49
Community Member

My friend has a brush turkey visiting- and raping!- her chooks. She gets so upset about it as she says its very hard to watch and def looks like it's hurting the smaller chickens. They're attracted by the easy food.

Nice to read some positive things about them. I always used to think they were a bit special.

Cheers,

J*

ecomama
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor

Hey Mark & J* and a wave to others reading,

The little baby Brush Turkeys are adorable, like tiny fluff balls lol.

These birds are one of the least researched in Australia, surprisingly.
But I do know that once the female lays the eggs, she's outta there!
The male is then the custodian of the huge mound nest.

But once the babies are born, they're completely on their own. No parents to care for them.

In our densely populated area, it's miraculous they've learnt to adapt but I'm sure they're numbers are hugely reduced because of us.

SO even though I've photographed up to 14 in my back yard at once, and they often fight on my roof top AND they do try to mate with my chickens and don't let them eat their food, sadly, they're only birds following their instincts for survival.

I can hardly blame them or call them evil lol, like I can some humans!

They do NOT understand boundaries!

I do encourage the babies, so then they grow up and I throw food out for them at any age over in another area etc.

I have a mixed relationship with them. I use a rake or broom to shoo them away in the morning for my chickens to eat huddled around my feet. But I sympathise with their plight for survival.

It can't be easy for them having humans encroach upon their land.

Dotted around our community are other people I've seen feeding them. We have a school at the end of our street and I volunteered there for many years in lots of ways, including helping them set up their huge food gardens. I've done this at about 10 school actually!
When the end of recess and lunch bells ring, the turkeys come out to the playgrounds to find whatever food scraps the children left around.

Then the bell rings and they scurry back to the bush nearby. Same routine every day that school's in.

So there's another use for my leaf mould that the Turkeys decided upon and not me.

I know what it feels like to struggle for survival to protect my babies, so I'd rather work with them than against them. That's me, others can do as they please.

I do see them as magnificent, proud and strong birds attempting to adapt to "us" living on their patch. Not the other way round lol.

EMxxxx

Jstar49
Community Member

Hi everyone,

It's raining today.

My gardening efforts consist of dumping a bag of manure in the garden.In a couple months I will reap the rewards!

Yes Em the brush turkeys must be more visible as the bush becomes encroached upon. There's a few species surviving and thriving even in suburbia- the one I have the most mixed feelings about are the noisy minors. I know they're native, but I've seen them bully the tiny scarlet honeyeaters out of our bottlebrush, and it just feels unfair! At least the brush turkeys are native and it's our poor chooks who are the introduced species being competed with.

Similarly the 'bin chicken' or white ibis. well adapted to foraging for food from scraps/ composts and school playgrounds. Terrifies my chooks so they set up a raucous sqwarking until I come down to chase them away.

Someone said once that they were less worried about the loss of bird species ( and the inherent cruelty due to habitat loss) than they were about the cruelty to animals bred for human use, such as farmed pigs, chickens etc.

It made me stop and think about my priorities of what I care about.

I still try to provide as much habitat for struggling species tho. There's something about the loss of diversity which troubles me.

J*

Matchy69
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member
Hi Jstar it's the reason I keep my 20 aceras of natural bushland so the wildlife and bird life have some natural habitat to live.We are building out more and more of our natural bushland and our native animals are trying to live in suburan and our natives are coming endangered.We need to share our gardens with our natives.

Gambit87
Community Member

Hey everyone!

my roses are actually going pretty well so fair. The icebergs are definitely more hardy then the other 2.

Its been pretty hot here the last few days. been keeping up with the watering.

been thinking about my next gardening project - girlfriend reminds me were in a rental haha.

Jstar49
Community Member

Hi all,

Absolutely Mark, and our verges and school yards and council plantings. Not just natives but an effort to provide habitat by using plants that combine well, eg to provide cover for small birds, to give perches for big birds (not all together of course, different focus in different areas)There's too much going and not enough effort made to replace, except where it's become a low maintenance option, as is the case with certain grasses.

I reckon every development needs to have a native park area set aside. It can also be recreational for humans, why not! we all need some wild space. Council complains about the cost of maintenance of course.

Gambit I love it that you're not being stopped by being in a rental....go for it! Gardening Australia has heaps of eps re renting and gardening. Have you seen that guy who has like a jungle inside his home?

He's fully serious about it! Not that he's renting, but there's no reason why not. It's all in pots.

Cheers,

J*

Sorry for my rant!