A tip I saw somewhere seems good: to keep fungal spores from infecting leaves and fruit spray the tree with sodium bicarbonate. This keeps the pH on the surface of the leaves too high for the fungal spores to split and grow.

Worth a try—I bought a kilo box of the stuff and when the perry pears are growing leaves and blossoms I will make up a bicarb spray. Less dangerous than copper which can also kill symbiotic fungi in the soil.

Also plant leek and onion around those trees—anti fungal.

Be cleaning the kitchen, fridge etc tomorrow and make another batch of Seville Orange marmalade. Then spend half a day in the front garden, weed and fertilise the tulip beds, clear around the Japanese maple, Golden Ash and Lilac trees and spread some compost around them, plant three correa plants I bought (encourage honey eaters) and two bushes, windbreak for the eastern drive aka my nursery patch. Then prune and strike cuttings from my lavender plants.

Soon be time to start tomato, chili, eggplant etc seeds going.

LOL I WON’T mention the toll this is all taking on my poor joints!

But be all good when it is done tho!

Some spuds I can sell through the local s/mart and later apples too!

Poor Socks! I wanted to go to Bunnnings and stock up the car so left her at home this morning. Poor dear has high separation anxiety tho I have managed to reduce that.

Anyway, off to Bunnings.

Bought two bags of seed Kennebec potatoes—there is a LOT of space in the “columns” between the trees: 4 x 22 = 88sqm. Enough for three trenches 1m apart = 66 linear metres of trench. Plenty of places to plant surplus seed potatoes to start improving and loosening the soil. Toss some manure and/or compost in there as well, anything to get organic material into the soil clay.

Bought five bags of sheep manure. Not just a nitrogen bomb like chicken manure, sheep manure has more phosphorous and potassium than other manures. Been positioning one bag of manure and one of compost by each row in my orchard, todays purchase will mean I have one bag of compost and one of sheep manure by each row in the orchard with some leftover to be used for the tomatoes, eggplant, chilis, capsicum. The sweet corn and rhubarb will get chicken manure—they need the nitrogen.

Each tree will get two shovels of compost and one of sheep manure plus a handful of blood and bone and a teaspoon of potassium sulphate, having cleared the weeds and grass from around the trees first then the organic matter lightly dug in then watered with a seasol solution. Should see them off to a good start!

As far as I can tell I have not lost a single tree over the winter, even the one damaged by those bloody cows that got loose from somewhere. I have had sheep and wallabies (wallabyshit everywhere!) in my backyard—after the chicken coop and run is built fencing is next—high fencing with shade cloth to provide a nice windbreak for vege patch and orchard.

A picture of the sloe—the thorn in the picture is exactly like the thorns on the branch sprouted from the stump left when all the trees were cut down (there is a gum tree near one fence I would love to have cut down.)

Be nice if the two cuttings I took strike roots!

When all the big things are in place—trees, currants, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb and asparagus will start a vege patch—greens, beans, peas, brassicas, fancy lettuce etc etc. Then I will buy tumbler composters—not a compost heap which attracts mice which attract snakes—black tiger snakes included!

The tumblers create compost quicker than any other composting method.

Phew! Dug two holes and planted my Cape Gooseberry and one of my white currants, can dig a smaller hole and plant the white currant I bought this year then the red currants.

Hard work with clay soil—and about 20cm down there is a hard clay layer. In the end I got through it by hammering a star dropper in there then moving it to break up the hard clay.

At the “top of the hill” or the bit of my land between back and side fence that is the highest bit of my land there is a layer of yellow clay. This clay when dry looks exactly like rock. I think the layer I hit where I was working today is the same layer as the one higher up but not yellow because it is covered? Still very hard tho.

Of course I forgot to put some gypsum in the holes—got plenty liquid gypsum so will add some of that to the water in the watering can so be OK.

As I lengthen the row of Ribes sp there is an element of danger: somewhere the buried power line to the garage crosses the line along which I am planting the currants ZZZttt!

Broad beans—plants small but  have flowers: