I sometimes get the feeling that the
animals around here just don't realise that humans are supposed to be the
superior species and that they should be scared of us.
A
golden whistler - really pretty little bird with a voice three times as big as
it is - started bellowing away last week when we were trying to film a segment
for 'Burke's Backyard'. Mitch, the cameraman, went to shoo it away but it
refused to budge, even when he shook the branch - just flew up to ta branch
Mitch couldn't reach and yelled even louder.
The
producer then suggested we all shout 'Bang' at it. O we all 'screamed BANG!' a
hundred times, which just made it
think we were joining in; ten minutes later we were all hoarse and the golden
whistler finally flew away, with Mitch whimpering, 'I thought birds were
supposed to fly away when you yelled at them!'
Not
here they don't. If you yell at
Fishtail the lyrebird he just jumps up into the loquat tree and screams alarm
calls at you or leaves great white droppings all over the garden table then
leaps down to dig up my primulas.
And
the parrots just mutter at me if I disturb them while they are eating the
oranges. It's THEIR tree, thank
you very much, and would I mind going away till they've finished eating? The
bower birds get very crabby too when I pick the cumquats to make cordial, but I
really only take a few, there are plenty left for them... It's a good thing I don't speak bower
bird though, as I'm sure they're calling me all sorts of rude things.
Even
the wombats don't respect us. I tried to drive out of the garage yesterday and
the old wombat grazing in front refused to budge, even when I turned the engine
on. Bryan tried to nudge it away with his foot - no, he didn't kick it - and
the blasted animal just sat on his boot.
Bryan finally had to lift it away so I could get out.
And
Mothball of course has never respected us. In fact as soon as we finished
building the new room, with all the changes needed so Mothball could still get
in and out of her hole, Mothball decided to move house. She's now in one of the
holes up the hill again and the hole is abandoned.
So
now we have steep stairs instead of our nice gradual stairway and a hole
glaring out from under the building, because the other two wombats who have
moved around the house aren't in the least interested in it.
They
are very old wombats, both with bad mange. We've treated both of them, but they
are so old and feeble I don't think they will recover. Very old wombats often come down here
in their last months, because the grass is always greenish around the fruit
trees and there's fresh water in the fountain.
When
last seen tromping up the hill Mothball had a small bulge in her pouch - or
maybe it was just a trick of the light. She MAY have a baby in there, in which
case some time in spring there'll probably be two wombats yelling for carrots
at the back door. Or maybe not - we'll have to see. I'm not sure Bryan is
really enthusiastic about having a
Mothball Junior here, but i think it would be rather nice... it's been two
years since we had a baby wombat here and they are so playful, even with
humans.
At
the moment as I look out the window there's a great cloud of parrots munching
seeds in the white cedar tree, and bower birds in the cumquat and a great flock
of black cockatoos are pretending to vultures in their Araluen gum by the creek
- they were screaming at us all through lunch.
There
are three yellow robins pulling worms up in the grass, plus a wombat bum poking
out under the red sage - he's discovered there's some good grass around the
edges - and a wallaby looking hopefully over the fence at my snow peas but he
can't have them, blast him - he already ate them once, but they grew back, so
this lot are mine. But try telling
that to a black tail wallaby.
What's happening this month
Books: No books coming out this
month. The last ones are still
'The White Ship', which I love, 'Ride the Wild Wind' (the horse book) and
'Phredde and the Temple of Gloom or a Story to eat with a Mandarin'.
'Phredde
and the Leopardskin Librarian' has just gone to the printer - it will be out in
October, with a new really cool look cover, and 'Diary of a Wombat' will be out
in November and looks STUNNING - can't wait to actually have copy of it,
instead of lots of photocopied pages.
I've
just finished writing 'Golden Valley', but it won't be out till next year. I'm
not sure how to describe 'Golden Valley'. If I say it's the history of the gold
in this valley from four and half billion BC it sounds really boring and I
don't think it is, because it's mostly stories and as it's mostly stories it's
not really history. Anyway the people who've read it have loved it... Really need to put a PS on the back of
the book - PS This book is not boring even if it looks like it might be.
Travel... help! Will be in Byron Bay for the Writer's Festival (and in Lismore
too) then in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane, all of which will probably be great fun but I am
going to get so homesick. Somehow I always accept too much for Book Week and
the weeks either side of it, then other things come up that I really want to
accept and…
In the Garden
I
love winter - so much ripening and the weeds are asleep, so all I have to do is
pick and eat and plant more trees.
At
the moment we've got navel oranges, mandarins, grapefruit, tangelos (bright
orange things, like a more fragrant mandarin), tamarilloes, avocados,
chilacaypote melons that look a bit like mutant watermelons and are hanging all
over one of the lemons, which reminds me - lemons too, and limes, pecans,
cumquats and calamondins.
And
for lunch I made soup from the garden - leeks, carrots (yellow ones as well as
orange ones, and one white one too), parsley, celery, garlic, onions, garlic
chives, potatoes. Must go out
before it gets dark and get the broccoli for dinner - the main heads are all
eaten now, but there are masses of side shoots, which are even nicer - you eat
them with a bit of stem and a few green leaves, and they are much more tender
than the great fat heads and lovely with lime juice. Must also get some beetroot...
What to do in the garden in August
(See also 'The Earth Gardener's Companion' for a month by month guide to what
to do, eat, plant, hunt etc)
. Take cuttings of geraniums/pelargoniums, daisies, fuchsias and salvias.
. Inspect your rose stems. If there are any blackish lesions, prune the stems
off: the stem is infected with black spot and may spread the disease in summer.
If there are any suspicious white pest-like bulges, spray with Pestoil.
. Catch snails by leaving flower pots on their sides around the garden. The snails will shelter there during
the day - and you can squash them and add them to the compost (snails are great
free fertiliser).
. Level off any bumps and lumps in the lawn - fill holes with compost or good soil
and sow lawn seed now. An even lawn means that your mower will be able to give
a nice even trim. Bare patches can
also be 'oversown' now for a thick lush lawn throughout summer.
. Watch your azaleas for the first sign of pests (brown blotches or scurrying
beasties); keep the soil moist but don't water the flowers - this may lead to
petal blight.
. Mulch bare soil as soon as it warms up - if you mulch too early you'll slow
down growth; if you mulch too late the weeds will colonise the soil before you
get around to it.
. Prune fuchsias and roses in cold areas and prune winter blooming natives
everywhere after they've finished flowering. 'Tip prune' perennial petunias to
make them bushier; snip off dead flowers from spring bulbs like daffodils and
jonquils as well as pansies, poppies, primulas and sweet peas to keep more
blooms coming.
Feed: Trees and shrubs for healthy fruit, leaves and flowers this summer.
What to plant:
Veg
Cold: potatoes, onions, peas, spinach, turnips, broad beans.
Temperate and sub-tropical: IF (and only if) the soil feels warm to sit on,
plant: beans, beetroot, carrots, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, corn,
lettuce, silver beet, spring onions, parsnips, tomatoes, zucchini, capsicum,
chilli and melons. If it's still a bit chilly, stick to potatoes and onions.
Tropical: Beans, capsicum, sweet
potato in well drained areas,
zucchini and melons where
they'll mature before summer humidity zaps them.
Flowers: Whatever is in the nursery! If I listed all the possibles I'd go on
for pages - the ever favourites are petunias, impatiens, zinnias, marigolds,
alyssum and calendulas, but try a few new ones this year too. Do look at 'flowering times' on the packet or punnet though, to
see if they only bloom for a month or two, like sunflowers, or all through
summer like petunias.
