Reticulation and Veggies

It has been a big weekend in the orchard.  We ripped over 75 m of  trenches with the tractor  then opened them up, by hand, with a trenching shovel and installed irrigation pipe.   Then the trenches were hand backfilled.  In the 37 deg C heat it was hard work but at least the pipes were easy to manage.  The piping network runs past every tree in our 25 tree orchard.  We fitted irrigation drippers, and we will install solenoid valves and a controller so the orchard will be watered automatically.

All the pipes are buried, so once the grass grows back it will look very neat.  Until then, we have to put up with the scars in the grass.

Having plenty of water has allowed our vegetable garden flourish.  We have had a modest number of raspberries ripen but soon we will be having strawberries as the plants have lots of flowers and fruit buds.

Lost night picked a couple of zucchinis for inclusion in our salad.  They were full of flavour and more are on the way.

The first tomatoes are starting to fruit, and we have two other varieties in the garden both of which are going well but have yet  to flower.

Being Queensland we have to plant pumpkins and the butternuts, our favourite variety, have flowered and fruit has set.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com