Janet Reid

Is fenugreek an option? I do not know if it is annual or perennial or if it will self seed. I just have a first sprout of them for this purpose: looking for something to keep cover on soil.

Thanks re maqui berry good to know.
This is the kiwi berry and you're right I should have googled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinidia_arguta
both need a partner.

Hi
I have a cement cattle drinking trough with two sides.
I have lined it with shade cloth to keep the worms and soil in and the water to flow through
We feed them vegetable food scraps not too many citrus peels.
We use the coffee grinder to grind up egg shells we have baked in the oven under 180C.
(higher than that is not ideal apparently)
The eggshells could well have some of the minerals that you want to get happening?
We do have a sort of rough wood lid over the top to keep mice and such out.
They are a nice quiet trouble free gang of helpers =)

I thought it was interesting that some people use paper.
Do you use a shredder?

Hi folks

I have both a kiwi berry vine and a maqui berry tree.
Both had clusters of flowers.
The Maqui dropped them all, the kiwi berry dropped all but one which looks to be fruiting.
Is this likely just a lack of pollination and I need to plant flowers underneath to get the bees into that spot or do I need more than one of either of them?
How are they performing for other people?

Best wishes

Janet

Hans Quistorff wrote:If they are like the ones I have, silver/gray canes, they are extremely thorny.  There are cultivars that are much better producers.

Brilliant thanks

Michelle Bisson wrote:

Here is my woodchip pathway that crosses my two swales and divides them into four sections (swales are small and overgrown with "weeds")

Thanks Michelle
Good ideas.
The garden is not so impressive at the moment because the swales are not real yet.
The trees are real which makes me happy. =)

Land slopes from high on the right to street level on the left.
The top of the image is roughly north, north east a tad.
Southern hemisphere.
Really hot from the west and north in summer.
No light from the south.
Rings running down the front(left) are logs where I am trying to swale a bit.
Putting coffee grounds and potatoes behind.
Sandy soil at the top (left), boggy soil at the bottom. (right) roadside.
Quite nice soil in the middle.

Hi
This is our house in a beginner plan.
The plants are all real
The swales are my thinking
The creamy ones are high
The blue green areas are the low areas.
The red line is the preferred runoff for excess water.
My main challenge is where to put my feet or where to plan for it
In the winter it is cold and wet and makes sense to garden the high spots
In summer it is 40C and it makes sense to garden the valleys.
The swales are following the slope but not where we would likely walk eg to the back of the big shed or up to the lemon tree, front to back of the yard generally.
What do other people do if they want to be adaprive about where to plant but also want to walk across the swales.
Just go with the flow and walk over the bumps?
I am chipping away at the kikuyu but it is a bit hot for planting at the moment so it is harder to fill it with things before the prickles move in.
Thoughts welcome.

Fred Tyler wrote:Black raspberries

Are these worth the prickles? How do they compare to normal raspberries, thornless blackberries?
Are they spikier, bear more fruit?
I have a small plant and am not sure whether to let it out of the pot.