The gardens of Bundanoon; bike tracks; our first egg

I have a theory that Bundanoon is populated by a secret society of gardeners on steroids. A walk around the tiny village in the NSW southern highlands is full of horticultural highlights and whimsy such as a bronze cupid holding an urn of kangaroo paw. A clipped cypress hedge contains a white gate and archway framing a glimpse into a gracious garden and more layers of clipped hedge echoing formal Chinese framed vistas such as those in the humble administrator's garden. A massive dry stone wall terraces several blocks on Railway Parade and an amazing mauve pelargonium has a life of its own oblivious to the freezing temperatures (I have a cutting). I visited Bundanoon during the school holidays with a group of friends and their children. Bushwalking and bicycling are great activities in the middle of winter. The garden at Bundanoon Youth Hostel is beautiful and carefully tended by the dedicated staff at the YHA.

An exciting development in terms of natural play spaces is the new mountain bike track built in a day by volunteers based on the international mountain bike association guidelines. I'm told it created international interest and a similar track was built on the other side of Bundanoon. Our children spent hours focused on riding their bikes around the track and over the small obstacles created from fallen trees, logs and small gradients. One of the YHA people told me there is a clip on Youtube of a bike track that is also a permaculture garden with vines growing off the obstacle course. Couldn't find the clip but sounds fantastic.

Here are some photos of the bike track.

I have learned so much from Tessa Michaels' brilliant website  Tessa Rose Landscapes (see my gardening links). I have passed on the links to others and there is a presentation recommended for staff training that shows how simple it can be to link plants and natural play elements into the curriculum or program of a child care centre. I'd like to find out how plants can be established without being damaged by child's play - that seems to be an obstacle in some people's minds to loads of lovely plantings. Children are encouraged to observe the cycle of life and adopt a plant to nurture. Instead of choosing boring reliable plants, Tess recommends we embrace the diverse beauty of flora and unique foliage in a natural play space setting where discovery, imagination and sensing abound. The bike track at Bundanoon is a logical extension of this thinking and part of an international movement aiming to getting our children connecting with nature.

Our first egg
I haven't blogged much about my Light Sussex Chickens but they are proving an integral element to our garden and their production of manure and bedding straw is the cornerstone of my revived interest in creating a thermophilic reaction. My composting efforts have been misguided possibly through lack of access to raw materials to enable the right ratio of carbon and nitrogen etc.

We adore our five girls who roam a section of our yard and keep the bugs down and mow the grass for us. The compost is in this section and I have learned to store up layers of food scraps so that I create a heap with the green waste and nutrients and pile it all up at once with all the carbon ingredients plus the chicken manure. I will know I've truly made it when my heap gets hot in the middle. I've been reading a terrific book on composting which goes into great detail about all the different methods including bokashi and worm farms. Is that a bit weird to read books on composting avidly and eschew my book club novels? Did you know that worms thrive on milled grains in a worm farm and that Bokashi is a type of fermentation but not real composting. I had it all wrong which is why I never got the heat needed to kill the weed seeds and nurture all that biological life. I've rescued an old compost bin which I use for layering and storing kitchen waste that the chooks don't eat while I store up the leaves, newspaper, straw and so on. A work in progress and the straw is about to be used for our temporary potato garden which will restore the soil in a hot spot over the next year.

I love hanging out the washing and having a chat with my chickens although my husband would equally lay claim to 'his girls' and rushes out every morning to tempt them with food scraps. They now have bright red combs which contrast beautifully with their black lacework feathers and white bodies. Their chook house was designed and built by a local woman for Canberra conditions and is ergonomic and fox-proof. Foxes have been on the rampage in Ainslie so I'm thankful for this feature. We have already had a casualty from our dog early on when the chicks were young and we accidentally left a gate open. That little lady is buried under a birch tree and died quickly thank goodness - we didn't think the dear old dog had it in him but he dragged himself off the couch, snuck out and grabbed her by the neck in a rush of predator instinct.

We added two extra to our flock and watched them grow over winter. Today I opened the chook house, saw the ladies perching and looked down to see our first EGG!!!! The other day I put some good soil around my dormant grapevines and came out later to witness all five chickens having a glorious dirt bath. They gyrated and luxuriated in that dirt in a way that was so pleasurable it made me sad to think of those poor little chickens locked up on the floor of a battery farm. Our girls are so curious, sociable and intelligent. Let the egg hunt begin! I'm brushing up on my quiche recipes and looking forward to sharing fresh eggs with friends.

Lolo again

Lolo inspired me to get out into the garden in the middle of winter. I spent the weekend mass planting violets and using wet newspaper as mulch. It's brilliant and I intend to re mulch sections of the garden in this way. She has also got me collecting garden hardware and I intend to grow purple carrots in my front yard vegetable garden by piling up sandy soil in a box placed on top of the garden bed rise which has the onions in it. What a great idea - just plant in a waxed box and grow stuff if you don't have containers or space.

She has a tip for possums and says she knows of farmers and friends who use adapted solar powered flashing lights at night to deter the possums. It's a jungle out there and Lolo uses every form of barrier or protection possible such as mesh and cloches to keep pests off produce organically. She's a realist and says the picture perfect garden is either inorganic or not a reality - we need our hardware to protect our plants.

I'm also going to plant an artichoke hedge with some seeds I bought from an Italian deli. What a great idea and if they germinate directly then the artichoke hedge will be beautiful and practical. I was so inspired by Lolo's book One Magic Square I have potted up six indoor herb pots to sit in a sunny place and grow different types of basil and some coriander. I didn't realise but you aren't meant to leave some herbs out in the frost - they need protection and some people even use horticultural fleece to lay over their herbs at night. I have relocated my lemon balm and sage and noticed they are faring much better. I've added asparagus crowns and raspberry canes to our little patch and one of the children tied up the snow peas and broad beans to a frame. The cauliflower and cabbages continue to grow but the leeks are not looking at all like something Hugh Fearnley Whittingshall would produce. They are still thin and spindly.  I have planted lots of garlic and loved reading that after the winter solstice is the time to put in your garlic bulbs. Lolo is a big fan of growing your own garlic and storing the plaits. You can even pickle them in olive oil and use it as a flavouring throughout the year. Go Lolo and thanks for getting me back out in the garden again.