It's the last month of winter and it's been the wettest, cloudiest winter that i can remember,
but today the sun is shining and I'm making the most of a beautiful sunny day.
I'm preparing some seed trays for the spring seeds. So much of the yard is in deep mud,
I still can't get straw bales for the deep litter, poultry floor system.
I keep them out of this area, this is more of just a walkway. I'm using very expensive
lucerne bales for the poultry bedding so they have a clean dry sleep area. My birds are
free range and it's not so muddy up the other end of the garden where they spend their days
sadly my English lavender has been a casualty of all the water they've gone black which is from a
root fungus and they need to be removed. I've already moved 10 of the plants and I've got a
few more to go. Sadly i won't be able to plant new lavenders back in the same positions again.
If you're growing English lavender on the east coast of Australia and you've had a lot of rain,
then check your plants too, you may need to remove them. I have last year's lavender cuttings in
pots, they're under the eaves of the house, so they didn't get rained on much and they're okay
so i'll have to find a new space to plant them out or
just continue to grow them in pots, covering them if it keeps raining.
It is disappointing because lavender is probably my most used herb. I use it in heat sacks,
for salves, soaps, pest control in the wardrobe and in the poultry coop, it's a valuable herb
to me. Thankfully I don't have a mono crop though as it would be so devastating if it was the only
thing i grew, that's why growing a variety of things in the garden is definitely beneficial
i'll leave my seed trays to drain in the glass house until they're ready for me to sow
choosing the vegetable and herb seeds that i want to be growing in the upcoming season
is always an uplifting task in the late winter
choosing what i'd like to eat fresh and what i need on my shelves, as well as what i can actually
fit in my garden space are all things that i take into consideration when choosing the seeds
the latest winter project is drying in the sunshine,
it's not that warm but the sun is drying the paint.
This is a hot water service screen, so i don't have to look at the ugly hot water service anymore
it's so much cheaper building your own as opposed to buying a prefabricated screen
and i managed to attach it to the house securely before the rain started again
Jonquils lift my spirits in the winter, they are the first sunshine of the flower world,
in my garden. Once they're flowering i know that it's nearly time for spring and that i've made
it through another winter, just hang in there a little bit longer and they smell so wonderful too.
I bring them inside and have them all over my house. I know not everybody
likes them but for me they are hope and i look forward to seeing them every year
I'm still harvesting all sorts of citrus and winter veggies from the garden, I collect a couple
of eggs a day too from the ducks and chickens, that have started laying. It's also this time
of year when we are eating from the larder. I probably do most of my baking in the winter time
and even though we have a lot of fresh produce still coming in in the winter, this is the time
of year I use a lot of my canned goods, that I put up over the past year, especially my meats
The biscuits I'm making use marmalade and jam
from the garden that I've made from the kumquat tree and the youngberry bushes
I'm still trying to find a really good jam drop biscuit recipe so if you have one I would love
it if you would share it with me. I keep trying new recipes every time I make them and I haven't
found a really good recipe that i love yet, which is a shame because these ones are so fun to make
A few months ago, I made a wart remover remedy that i'd never tried before and
i was testing out on one of my family members. Unfortunately they didn't continue using it and
with pure essential oils and for this particular recipe you do have to use it every single day
and because they moved out of home for work and didn't take it with them,
i can't tell you if it works or not and i know you've been asking. So that's my answer for this
one, however i did get some other good ideas of things to do, that you guys have given me,
so i will give that information to my son and see if he will try any of those
remedies which might be a little bit easier and are still natural, which is what we want
so thank you very much for that.
It's time to sew my first round of tomato seeds. I'm using a heat mat this year but i don't have
grow lights so i'll be using the window. I'm also going to start a variety of chili seeds
and eggplants, it is a bit early for those ones but i'm eager to get going. I can always start
more again in a few weeks, if these ones are too leggy. It would be good to have practice
with the heat mat anyway. The cool thing about tomato plants are that they can be replanted,
whether it's in the next pot or into the ground, deeper than they're planted when they're first
starting out. If they're big enough you can remove the bottom leaves and then plant them in deeper
than that and little roots will come out the side as well as the ones that are in the bottom,
so it actually makes the plant more stable in the ground, it's really cool!
and tomato plants are the ones you have to start off a lot earlier than any other seedlings
so it's very exciting to be getting the first ones in
while citrus trees don't really require much pruning at all,
it's time to prune any deciduous fruit trees that you've been wanting to stimulate new growth of.
Winter pruning for (deciduous) fruit trees produces new growth, whereas the summer
pruning of fruit trees reduces the growth and is good for keeping larger trees in shape,
once they're the size you want. I've just pruned my young kiwi fruits right back, trying to get
them into the shape i want, to stimulate the new growth, whereas this mulberry tree, it's the first
year i won't be pruning it at this time of year, it will get a bit of a pruning in the summertime.
The vegetable garden has some spaces appearing in it now, which is good,
we will need some space soon and it will need some love when we finally get some nice weather
home pressure canned meat is perfect for pie fillings, added to casseroles or as part of
a rice or pasta dish, you can even add the meat to a salad because it's already cooked.
I'm a huge fan of canned meat as it's always tender and ready,
you don't have to defrost it and it doesn't get freezer burn in the freezer, it lasts a
long time in these jars and it's shelf stable and it's so quick to make a meal when you want one.
I'm making a chicken pie and i've got some mulled wine brewing in the slow cooker. I wish
everyone could try pressure canned meat to see how good it is, it's really worth learning to can
so that you can pressure can meet too. If you have any inclination to try, then learn how to do it.
Whatever season you're in, happy homesteading.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next video.