Jill Dyer

pollinator
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since Aug 07, 2024
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Oz; Centre South
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Recent posts by Jill Dyer

Australia has Hibiscus sabdariffa which looks a lot like the one in your pictures, Judith.  Here fruits (?calyses) are picked and used to make jam if there is ever a time when there is enough - I'd mix with apple if only a few fruits available.
3 days ago
I had my veggies mostly fenced in, except for a small plot of cherry tomatoes.  Khaki Campbells totally ignored them, having lots of ground to free-forage.  That was, until the tomatoes started to ripen, when most of the fruit vanished while we were at work.   Didn't click at first as to the culprits, then I found tomato "puree" outside the door to the patio where the ducks had been camped out in the shade.   Tomatoes must not have touched the sides!  
Also don't let anyone tell you the K.C.s can't fly - I'll say no more.
4 days ago

 That got me wondering: how do you dye wool black?

 [Tuffy Monteverdi]
In the absence of a black sheep,  wool from a brown sheep over-dyed with blue will get extremely close to black  which leads to wool dyed with walnut skins then over-dyed with blue would produce a similar result.   (Your choice for blue, depending where you live)
1 week ago
Hopefully none of you has frostbite whilst you were waiting for info.
There is an image of somewhat sketchy info here:-
https://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/trailblazer-1300-06-manual.25370/
Not sure if it what you are all looking for, but maybe it will open up ideas for fixing the wood stoves.
1 week ago
Here's what I wrote down when researching turmeric:
Plant into warm soil. . .5-7 cm deep. . .rows 30-40cm apart and 15-30cm between plants. . .use setts with 1 or 2 buds. . .needs frost free conditions (may need to be in a glasshouse depending on local conditions). . .well drained, loamy alluvial fertile soils with  1000-2000mm rainfall, NO WATERLOGGING. . .partial shade.
So, I can't see where you might have gone wrong.  I had mine in a pot and it failed, but we did have a very dry year.
1 week ago
I've become quite suspicious that some of the seeds, both commercially produced or saved from fruit and veg from the shop/supermarket have had hardiness bred out of them, and some even like canola, been genetically modified so that saved seed won't ever grow.  
I did manage to grow capsicum from a very ripe red fruit, and it over-wintered in the garden - second year fruits really small.  Broccolini  produced seed from purchased seedlings, but then no action when they were sown the following year, although the plant did grow again from the  stalk I'd left in the ground.  Same with the silver beet (Swiss chard) - practically a forest of that.  It doesn't do well once the weather warms up.
2 weeks ago
I think these diagrams are excellent.  I agree with the other comments that the last one loses definition in trying to show the plants.  Maybe rather then introducing the plants themselves a series of numbers would do the job, together with a key to ID them - a bit like a map, and include the relative heights of each.  A "drone's eyeview"  = plan - with the numbers could help simplify.
2 weeks ago
art
No problem with snow, just coatings of dust reducing efficiency.  We bought a brush for washing a truck (Semi?) not oversized car type.  Handle extends, brush has a soft-ish bristle and a hose can be attached - good for us, but perhaps not for icy conditions.
2 weeks ago
Good reminder of the possibilities.  I've grown green onions from the bases of store-bought bunches so I know this works.  Now I'm planning these, plus baby spinach and rocket grown in self wicking containers using ice-cream boxes (what a sacrifice, having to eat the ice cream first).  
Rhubarb goes well with strawberries. . .  I also highly recommend heating the filled bottles in a water bath as above.  I've made lots of passionfruit cordial and not had a problem.  Friend I worked with left off the water bath and her p'fruit cordial fermented and the bottles started to explode - just the day before her rented house was due for an inspection.
Raspberry or blackberry (any berry really) is good - also raspberry vinegar.  
2 weeks ago