It's
official. Mothball has a baby. Or maybe she hasn't.....
Her
pouch LOOKS as though there might be a baby there. But by now it should be a
largish baby, and maybe poking its head out too.
I'd
love another baby wombat about the place, but it isn't a good time for one. We
haven't had rain for nearly six months now. The creek is going to dry up as
soon as we have hot weather, and the only grass is around the house. It's going
to be a hard summer for wombats, and while we can put out wombat nuts (a special
mix for marsupials) and rolled oats and carrots, it still won't won't be as
good as plenty of grass and interesting shoots.
When
wombats are hungry they come out during the day, too, and too much heat can kill them, and too much sunlight is
bad for their skin so they are more likely to get mange...... if anyone knows a
rain dance, could you please perform it for Mothball?
Books
Phredde
and the Leopardskin Librarian has gone to the printer (it looks fantastic!) ,
but it won't be out till next month, and Diary of a Wombat is being printed
AGAIN, because so many bookshops want it, even though it hasn't come out yet,
but I won't get copies of that till November and I can't wait..they are such
gorgeous pictures.
Bruce
Whatley's animals are always wonderful but Mothball drawn by Bruce is most
wonderful of all.
(See some of the illustrations at
the Harper Collins website)
I've
just finished writing a book called Valley of Gold- it's a book of stories
about a valley and it's gold (not this valley- it's an imaginary valley which
just happens to be like this one...well, okay, I admit it's not really
coincidence).
Valley
of Gold will be out next March, and now I'm working on My Mum the Pirate and My
Dog the Dinosaur which will come out after that. They're the first books in
what will be a new series. I'm having enormous fun with My Mum the Pirate- just
sit at my desk giggling.
....and
after that a short autiobiography for an American publisher and then I'm going
to try to finish a book I've been working on for years, about how to learn to
read when you have learning difficulties.
As
a dyslexic (my spelling is terrible and my handwriting even worse, and I really
get into a mess if I try to add things up, even with a calculator) so it's
something I feel really strongly about- especially as lots of things done to
help kids read can make things worse.
Travels
Have
just been up to Parramatta (and hi to everyone at North Rocks and yes, I
promise I'll try to mention you on Burke's Backyard! And yes, I've just thought
of a way to put you in a story.....) and Melbourne and Brisbane..and am very
very glad to be home, even though I had a great time. There's only one trip
away from home this month, to Yeppoon, which should be fun- it's the
Enviro-fair, so I'll be talking about gardening and potions as well as books.
In the garden
What we're munching now...
The
first aspargus! (I love this time of year). We guzzle so much asparagus that
just about everything else in the garden is ignored for a month..and by the
time we finally get sick of asparagus for the year the brocolli, caulies and
winter lettuces have all gone to seed.
It's
a great time for fruit too..avocadoes, navel oranges, limes lemons cumquats
manadrins grapefruit calamondins sapotes, the early 'wild' strawberries- tiny
red or yellow ones that ripen very early in the hanging baskets by our house;
chilcayote melons rhubarb strawberry guavas, tangelos, and there are still
pecans on the tree and two Lady Williams apples in the fruit bowl, but I'll
probably eat those this afternoon.
What to do in September
MULCH. It's goping to be a long hot horrible summer, and a layer of mulch now
will help things survive- or if there's any rain at all, thrive.
PRUNE: off old flowers, cut back straggly pansies, calendulas and other
darlinsg that might keep flwering for months if you look after them
FEED EVERYTHING! Give native
plants low phosphorous fertilisers, encourage young flowers and veg with liquid
seaweed based tucker every two
weeks; tuck slow release pellets into pots; mulch fruit trees and give them a
good dose of old manure or Dynamic Lifter
DESTROY oxalis, onion weed and soursob by planting a daisy or French lavender
bush over them, to choke them out. In twelve months you can either remove the
bush or decide to keep it!
POISON: snails and slugs with baits in old magerine containers, with the lids
taped down so pests and kids can't get them, and small 'doors' cut in the sides
to attract snails looking for day time shelter.
IGNORE: winter and spring bulb leaves- leave them alone till they die down
naturally. Don't mow them!
WATER: everything well- things grow FAST in spring, and they need moist soil to
get best results
Planting
Trees and shrubs
evergreen fruit trees (every house needs a lemon tree, even if it's just in a
pot on the patio) like citrus, avocadoes, tamarilloes, macadamias,
lillypillies, paw paws, bananas
and shrubs like hibiscus, gardenias, fuschias, poinsetia, oleander, non
invasive bamboos, ornamental bananas etc..also rhubarb!
Veg
Cold: chinese cabbage, wok
bok, silver beet, parsnips,
potatoes, peas, spinach, turnips, broad beans.
Temperate to hot: beans, beetroot, carrots, capsicum, chilli, Chinese cabbage,
choko, cucumber, corn, eggplant, corn, pumpkin, lettuce, silver beet, spring
onions, okra, parsnips, rosella, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, capsicum,
chilli and melons.
Flowers: Alyssumn, ageratum, amaranthus, aster, balsam, calendulas, Californian
poppy, cornflowers, carnations, daisies and everlasting, dahlia seeds (well
drained soils only) impatiens,
daisies, dianthus, geraniums, gerberas, marigolds, nasturtiums,
petunias, portulaca, rudbeckia, salvia, snapdragons, sunflowers, zinnias
Cool areas only: sweet peas
Hot areas only: celosia, coleus
