Success from seeds

 Some seedlings have just this week started to pop up.

Rocket apparently requires a heavy feeding in the early stages to get a strong crop, so I've been loading it up with all the worm juice available. These will likely need to be thinned out, but for now I'm watching and waiting.

Our lettuce survived through the winter and since I've taken to watering the garden again (slack I know) it's thriving. Once we start eating this it will really come along. I think there are three varieties in there but they were purchased as a single mixed punnet from Bunnings. The seedlings were planted just before the frosts set in and thanks to the sheltering plum, they've survived.

Silverbeet is always a winner but I didn't have much luck with it. After the planting those pesky chooks got into the patch and ripped almost everything up. There are some tiny seedlings adjacent which are just starting to come on though so hopefully with some heavy watering, we'll have a decent crop shortly.

Beetroot up the back. I think these are baby beets. I'm so impressed they actually worked. Wasn't expecting too much from the seeds but so far so good.

Our blueberry bush is heaving with flowers. Buster transplanted this a couple of weeks ago and it's getting ready for fruiting. We're hoping this will succeed in the pot as I think it will work well on our yet to be built deck. Love fresh blueberries! These are the Nelly Kelly variety and our climate is perfect for them apparently.

I've not seen an olive tree in bloom before and it's quite a pretty flower. We're still undecided about the olive trees final home so for now it's staying in the nursery pot. I'm fairly certain we purchased this olive tree when we went to Cowra for Buster's birthday. If we get fruit from this very small tree I'll be so impressed.

Those funny girls

Doris checking out the camera. She's the most endearing of the girls with a real personality. She'll follow you around and is by far the bravest. She's also the boss of the pack.

In the foreground is the grey Australorpe that Buster chose. She's the prettiest hen and was a special cross breed with a blue hint to her feathers. The white girl in the back is a Leghorne Bantam cross. 

This one is the flightiest of the girls. I chose her as she wasn't as pretty as the other girls available. So I guess she was the pity purchase and she's turned out to be the most amount of work. She was the first to escape down the rear lane, got herself stuck between the henhouse and the rear fence and then hid under a bush for a good while. I chased her down the lane with a broom stick which I'm sure spooked her even more, but she just wouldn't go inside when asked.

This one is quite funny to watch. She's a Spotted Australorpe with an oversized comb. Whenever she moves her head that henscomb wobbles everywhere.

From the top

The most fabulous feature of our roofline are the two chimneys visible from the street.

One will be removed and the remaining fixed above the roof line. Unsurprisingly the best one is confirmed as being pulled down as soon as we can get to it. The builder has advised that he won't be volunteering for the job as it's messy and difficult work.

They're in a fairly sad state of disrepair, and clearly need repointing. I'm not sure what that gawdy concrete stuff is about. Perhaps a failed attempt at rendering?

That's a picture of the chimney interior. Two of the current chimneys are doubles with entirely separate chimneys on each side of a divider.

I've got a brand new pair of Dunlop Volleys so I can climb up there with less fear. I'll be repointing that chimney at first opportunity.

So 2005!

New plantings

Yesterday I planted rows of rocket, basil and spinach as well as snow peas. Today I've added sweet corn, radish and some baby beet seeds I've had soaking. I just hope the beet seeds haven't been over soaked as they were only supposed to sit for two hours and I left them overnight. I'm not sure how cold it dropped to but it was a very heavy dew last night.

I haven't planted according to the lunar cycle so they may take longer to establish if they bother at all. Now to wait for the results.

Building the fireplace Mk2

The fireplace insert arrived on Wednesday. It had to be unpacked to move it off the truck and so sat on the footpath for most of the day.

 Buster placed the packing box over it as he was nervous about rain. 

Here are the chimney plates and flue in their packaging.

I appointed myself Charlie's labourer and was no doubt the slowest worker he's ever had. Buster managed to carry more bricks by hand than I could manage with the wagon. Must get fit soon.

Charlie is very precise with his work and has an eye for detail that I picked up on when I visited his house that he's been renovating around the corner. It just happens to be amongst one of the better looking houses in town and is a gorgeous weatherboard with wrap around verandah.

I didn't realise we'd need a new lintel. This is the second angled lintel I've picked up in as many days and it's a 25km trip to the hardware store, so for us it pays to be more organised. I had thought that the lintel that came from the old fireplace was enough but it was far too small.

Charlie keeps mentioning tips and tricks to assist what we're planning and we've quickly realised that he's worth having around. So I've asked him to help me project manage the build. He's come up with a much better suggestion for the roof line, so I hope he sticks around long enough to see it finished.

I can't believe how excited I am about this unfinished fireplace. It's a work of art.

From every angle....

I really love it, despite it being so bland and unfinished. Oh and I just found a before pic of the fireplace.

It doesn't look so bad here, but it really was awful in the 40s style of the reno. And besides the hearth needed repairing and I really need to justify all the work involved.

So next up we have to install the firebox. Here are the details....

HEAT CHARM I600 INBUILT

CAPACITY (squares)........ 30 

FIREBOX HEIGHT mm......... 600 

FIREBOX WIDTH mm ........730 

FIREBOX DEPTH mm ........470 

FASCIA HEIGHT mm........ 730 

FASCIA WIDTH mm........ 1110 

FASCIA DEPTH mm......... 60 

WEIGHT kg - 180kg

FAN SPEED........ 3 speed 

EMISSION RATING g/k .......2.0 

FASCIA REAR TO SPIGOT CENTRE mm........285

MINIMUM CLEARANCES TO MANTLE mm - 

MINIMUM CLEARANCES TO UPRIGHTS mm - 

FIREBOX THICKNESS mm........ 5 

FIREBOX TYPE....... Steel 

BAFFLE TYPE .........Cast 

BAFFLE THICKNESS mm ........10 

LINERS TYPE........ Cast Opt. 

FIREBOX WARRANTY ..........10 Years

Building the fireplace

The fireplace insert is at the local freight depot and will be here early tomorrow. I can't recommend Dixonline highly enough. They're near Wollongong and have arranged to freight our heater to us. It's a genuine family owned company run by Sean and his father. Sean is a builder so can answer almost any question we can throw his way.

Today Charlie the builder dropped in to measure up the fireplace in preparation for bricking the surround. The line drawn on the floor is where the brickwork will be finishing. 

He had a concern that we may have to brick onto the flooring, which with movement would cause damage down the track. Apparently the existing hearth is a foundation structure and separate to the floor. I'm so glad that Charlie thought of this as it's not something that even crossed my mind, but we already have a problem with the floor being uneven.

In the south east corner of the lounge the floor has dropped about 10cm. Apologies for the shocking pic but just to give you an idea of the extent of our problem. This needs to be repaired to stop draughts but no one wants to crawl under the house to do it.

To get around the problem of the new fireplace being damaged, Charlie will cut cement sheeting to sit on top of the existing fireplace. This will create a stable bed for the brickwork and prevent damage once the floors are lifted.

So the fireplace is ready to go. Thank god I've asked Charlie to do this as I would never have thought about movement in the floorboards and my DIY would have cracked and fallen down.

I ordered half a pallet of bricks from the supplier and ordered the wrong cement mix. I started off by asking for pre mix which is a concreting mix. So the phone call started off all wrong. What I wanted was sand and cement. When it arrived I realised that we already had this stuff and it wasn't what Charlie wanted. He had asked me to buy a quarter scoop of sand and two bags of cement. Next time I will listen.

Walter keeping a keen eye on the bricks.

It's warming up

The pink house came with three mature plum trees and an apple.

And right now the plums are in full bloom and heaving with bees. It's a gorgeous day today so I thought I'd grab some pics and give you a squiz at what's happening in our garden.

Can you see the little worker?

It has completely transformed our garden 

Now the wait for plums begins....