Seasonal Almanac

This weekend chief task is to clear away the huge mounts of mulch, prunning, and general off-cuts piled up next to the raised vegetable bed at the bottom of the garden. The aim is to make space there to house the chicken tractor.

After watching a clip on the Gardening Australia’s website, I am keen to build a leaf compost. Using the spare bin (that had the previous compost), I layer various waste materials around the garden. The segment tells me that an effective compost heap needs good air circulation. The presenter suggests to add  two ‘air vents’ made out of chicken wire or the like to the centre of the heap. It also advises that 1 part of green should be layered with 3 parts of brown materials. My compost heap is built out of dried leaves I removed from dead branches and straw (when I ran out of the former), layered with fresh leaves pruned from the neighbour’s avocado tree.

Meanwhile, Redmond tackles the dead branches, dissecting them into twigs, sticks, and  logs. He sorts and stacks them according to size. The plan is to dry these for next winter’s wood supply. Just as we finish up, it starts to rain. We pack up and look at our handywork – feeling very pleased with ourselves.