A promise of things to come

Since owning HoneyDale we have planted out an orchard, by adding to some existing trees.

In our first six months we put in lemon, lime, orange, mandarin, pomegranate, custard apple, fig, mango, avocado, coffee and a plum trees.  As well as adding strawberries and raspberry canes.

Having nurtured these plants, we are now enjoying beautiful sweet strawberries and the odd raspberry or two.

Our citrus fruit trees all have some fruit on them.  The old mango tree and young plum tree have the promise of sweet fruit to come.

Nothing beats home grown!



Jen and Rog

Email:  honeydaleqld@gmail.com

A typical Summers Day

The birds wake early now Summer is here.  At first light the Whipbirds start a rousing chorus which encourages more birds to join in.  By five am the bush is ringing with bird song, signalling its time to get up.

The morning skies are usually a big deep blue and whilst early, the air is still cool. This is a pleasant time for strolling or running around the block, going for a bike ride or a paddle on Lake Wivenhoe.  

As the day heats up the cicadas start to hum, adding to the Summer song of the bush.  By mid morning, we can usually find a sleepy Koala settled into a comfortable tree for the day, or have noisy Rosellas and wattle birds flying around the flowering gum trees.  We also enjoy the company of a pair of King Parrots watching over the garden.

The afternoons bring a pleasant cooling breeze and wallabies come into the shade to nibble on the soft grass surrounding our fruit trees.

As it is QLD storm season, often a thunderstorm rolls over, ending the day with an impressive light show.

Jen and Rog

Email:  honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Splashes of colour on the block

 

 

 

Spring has sprung Early

At HoneyDale we have experienced a very mild winter, with only a couple of days that could be thought of as cold.

So with daytime temperatures higher than the norm, it feels like Autumn simply rolled into an early Spring.  This has meant that we have spent more time outdoors enjoying the best of the Somerset region.

Logan Creek

Spring on Wivenhoe Dam

Crisp morning on BVRT

Jen and Rog

Email:  honeydaleqld@gmail.com

First Fruit from the Orchard

Last Winter we planted out the HoneyDale orchard.  Twelve months on we are now enjoying the results of hard work - the planting, watering, fertilising and weeding of the young trees. 

Now these trees look established and bearing fruit. Since Autumn we have been watching the green fruit slowly change colour.  

First to ripen was the lemons, which proved to be very juicy. It is now a race between the Pink Grapefruit and the Mandarins, to be the next to ripen.

Juicy Lemon

Pink Grapefruit

Manadrins

Jen and Rog

Email:  honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Its hard to believe its Winter

At HoneyDale we are experiencing glorious sunny skies and warm temperatures.  The bush looks so vibrant, with many different varieties of wattle in flower. The grass is lush and green, thanks to late autumn rainfall.

There is also have a few grevilleas in flower, adding to the colour around us.

The local wildlife are also making the most of the pleasant winter conditions.  The Koalas are spending most of the time napping with the sun on their backs.  Whilst the wallabies are enjoying a feed of the soft grass, coming into nibble at the lawn in the afternoons.

Jen and Rog

Email:   honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Almost 12 Months

It has been almost 12 months since we first saw the property that we would buy and name Honeydale.  It was a cool May day when we first inspected the property and walked to the rear fence line then continued on to the Brisbane Valley Rail Trial.  We returned a week later for a second inspection after which we put in an offer that was accepted after a few days.

After taking procession of the property the hard work started.  The immediate work was cleaning up the area around the shed and home pad.  We dragged all sorts of items to a central point then loaded them onto the ute and dumped then at the local council tip.  The chainsaw was used to cut up dead falls and the wood was put into some wash-a-ways to stabilise the ground.

Front of Block, May 2017

The biggest effort has gone into removing lantana.  This pervasive weed overwhelms the native vegetation and eventually killing it.  The most effective method is to pull the lantana out by the roots by hand, or with the tractor.  After the lantana has been removed the bush becomes much more open allowing freer movement for the wild life.

Front Quarter, May 2017

After cleaning up the deadfalls and removing the lantana we have planted natives including Brisbane Valley Wattle and grevilleas, both native to the area.  Most have thrived and have double or trebled in size and are doing well.

View South of Shed, May 2017

The pretty faced wallabies are starting to return with the drier weather but unfortunately the koalas have gone into winter mode.  With the cooler and drier weather koalas become more sedentary and are harder to spot, also they tend to stay much deeper into the bush.

Bernie Koala resting near the shed, April 2017

The remnants of Cyclone Debbie passed over Honeydale about a month ago but the area is starting to dry out, the grass is definitely browner along with the unwatered portion of the garden.

Later this month we will be ripping what is left of the garden and preparing beds for our winter plantings including garlic, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, egg plants, broad beans and lots more.  We had some good successes with our garden, but we also had failures.  However, we have learnt a lot along the way and installing the bore pump and reticulation has made the garden more productive.

Jen and Rog
Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Thanks Deb

After two nights of pouring rain and a little wind, HoneyDale has hopefully seen the last of cyclone Debbie. Our region had record rainfalls and the drought has been well and truly broken.

We had very little damage, apart from one large tree that had fallen across the access road.  This was swiftly cleared when Rog took to it with the chainsaw.  The bush is very soggy and none of our resident wildlife have been spotted as yet.

The sun is now peaking through and the garden should begin to dry up.  It is a bit too soon to tell if the pumpkins, rockmelons and watermelons have been affected.

Thursday morning after one night of rain

Friday morning after two nights of rain

We are very happy to see our dam is near capacity.  So thanks Deb!

Jen and Rog
Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

A Glorious Autumn Morning

A stroll through the bush at the bottom of the block

The last of the Summer Crops

With the hot days drawing to an end, we are picking the last of the Summer crops.  We have eaten the last of the sweet corn, but still getting a steady supply of Chillis, Eggplant and Tomatoes. Also, the odd capsicum.

 

Through the Summer we have enjoyed, sweet juicy rockmelons straight from the garden.  We thought that these were the best thing we had grown all season.  But we were mistaken.

This week end we picked and ate our first watermelon.  What a gem - simple Delicious!   We have about another seven still ripening.  So plenty of melons to eat over the next few weeks.

We will be definitely planting more of these melons, but a little earlier next year.  Apart from that we still have some QLD Blue and Butternut pumpkins growing outdoors.

Lately we have been preparing the shadehouse for winter. At the moment it is planted out with tomates, capsicums  fresh herbs, silverbeet and strawberries.  More will be added soon.

Over the last spring and summer months, we have learnt a lot about gardening, especially the timing of planting.

We still have a lot to learn and looking forward to what the next season brings.


Jen and Rog
Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com