It’s ths first proper hot afternoon/evening of summer, bit of humidity. Yeah, they love that sort of thing and they’re going nuts. The birds and bats will have feasted this evening, though now the wind’s gotten up the party is probably over for a while.
From Hurstbridge to Greensborough they were just thick in the air, our friends a few doors up have had a big infestation they had tenants in whilst they were grey nomading and they’ve come back to all the wood in there recent (10yr) Reno’s just hammered. So we are on high alert but yeah just crazy how far and wide they were active.
I’m down the coast. Otherwise I’d have got out on a trout stream with the fly rod. When the termites emerge, every trout seems to come out to feed on the surface.
I wouldn’t call ten ants an infestation.
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Correct. The term for that is a decant.
I didn’t realise they produced so late. We planted ages ago and I thought they were duds, next minute….
Cherry harvest.
First year we have decently netted. Thought more would split with all the rain. Maybe 2.5-3 kg or so from a tree that’s about 8 ft high. Hard to tell exact weight as we were eating while picking. They are as good at least as typical market cherries, although a bit smaller on average. Not up there with the ultra premium ones you get that are huge, dark, sweet and so firm as to almost be crunchy. But pretty damn good.
Have now netted maybe 30 or so kg of Mariposa and Santa Rosa plums. Just have to hope the lorikeets don’t break in…
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Wow, that’s amazing
We have a decent size tree in the front yard that I thought I did a good job of netting, the lorikeets thought otherwise 
would be lucky to be a bowl left
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Yeah for some reason the lorikeets are so far elsewhere. We had gaps at the bottom and a raven got in. So the missus went nuts tying it up and honestly don’t think a lorikeet would get in. Tried to do the same with the plums.
First time we’ve had that many cherries to start with.
If lorikeets get into the plums they are a shocker. They just peck most fruit and eat into almost none of the ones they wreck. But even when we lose half we get a lot.
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The first year I netted mine I went far too early, with the result that the branches kept growing, all the fruit was on the outside of the net and the birds gorged themselves.
I then had to cut all the netting off bit by bit before being able to prune. Lesson learned!
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Spent a tonne of money on landscaping plants etc…looks like I’ll now need to be a green thumb.
Can anyone tell me a good place to buy:
- bulbs for flowers that I can plant in summer
- Garlic to grow at home. Is there some decent ones to buy rather than just planting from the supermarket?
Find good, genuine, organic garlic. Supermarkets/mass producers use growth suppressant to stop it sprouting on the shelf. Or source seed garlic from a reputable supplier.
Plant after first autumn frost and harvest on summer solstice or when stems yellow and fall over.
That’s how I do it anyway, good luck.
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This place is pretty good.
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And in addition to that, save bulbs from your best plants to plant again next season.
Do this every year and you will select the best variety for your local conditions. This advice is suitable for most things but particularly so for plants propagating from bulbs.
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