Today is tidy up day.
I don't tidy up the garden too often as I have plenty of other things to do, and I also find if I leave it longer the plants are larger before they are chopped. Why is this a good thing to leave it so unkempt? Well in permaculture you are taught to think differently about things around you. In this instance I could see just an overgrown garden bed (a bit like my kitchen garden yesterday) or I could see value in the biomass. A permaculture principle I've mentioned before is to obtain a yield. Once chopped this vegetation becomes an ingredient for my compost or I can simply drop it on the ground where I need some mulch. On this occasion the piles of cut foliage became a yield for my compost bins.
An unexpected yield today was four new kangaroo paw plants. When tugging branches and cut foliage from the garden during my tidy up, I inadvertently pulled some of this grassy plant out with some roots. I potted them up and will keep them in my nursery area to get established before replanting them somewhere else. In full bloom around Christmas time, they can become an amazing display of cut flowers with yellow, maroon and pink varieties adding to the Christmas cheer. The flowers also attract an amazing variety of birds.
While out in the garden today I was once again reminded of important plants to have in the garden. One of these is a magnificent grevillea that seems to always be in bloom. At the moment it is full of bees as there is not a lot around for them to forage on. I have been trying to grow this plant from cutting with little success to date but will keep trying as I think my bees will appreciate the effort down the track when I have spread more of this valuable plant around the property.
Found this little dude hiding in my tarp that had been lying around. He and a few other friends had to be moved on as I wanted to clean off and dry my tarp for storage. Pretty sure they'll find a much nicer home without any problem.
My chicken egg harvest has reduced lately as the daylight hours shrink. My two female Khaki Campbell ducks however are laying every day. The eggs are some what dirty and need to be cleaned but they make a great breakfast omelette just like the chicken eggs. Can you tell which duck egg is a double yoker??
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