Notices by Yvonne Perkins (perkinsy@aus.social)

We have done our annual pruning of our lime tree and picked a lot of lemons and limes from our trees. Hubble has squeezed so many lemons over the last couple of days. There are still more lemons and limes (some pictured below) to be squeezed.

We have a litre of lemon juice in the fridge and are gradually freezing it in ice cube trays to tide us over winter.

We did a heavy prune of our lime tree. It was tilting over with the weight of branches and fruit. Now we have a lot more light in our small backyard which will be great over winter. The tree is upright now! Last year we gave our lemon tree a heavy prune for the same reason - it was in danger of falling because it was weighed down on one side with branches and fruit. The previous owners had only pruned the trees along the fence which caused the trees to become unbalanced over the years.

#GardeningAU #Melbourne

Emus can swim! A flock of emus escaped from an island and now thrive in a small town on the NSW south coast called Potato Point.
#Emu #environment

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-17/potato-point-emu-population-east-coast-beach/105185358

This morning I did my first before work walk to the free tram zone through the Fitzroy Gardens. I am pleased to have maintained my fitness through the holidays despite sitting for days on the couch watching the cricket.

I am very fortunate to live in a place where I get the opportunity to do this walk. It is an uplifting way to start the day.

Have a good day everyone!
#Melbourne

Yesterday we did a bit of work in a section of my mother's garden that I don't photograph but needs quite a bit of work. I called on @alan_perkins to help with removing a submerged rock, then we transplanted plants from pots into that area and the common area along a path in her block of flats. Mum will water the plants in and I will apply a layer of paper and mulch on top next week.

I am sitting in our small back garden eating breakfast and surrounded by the gorgeous fragrance of gardenias.

These gardenias are about 7 years old. It is the best flowering they have had since we moved them from Sydney to Melbourne. I put that down to the fact that we moved them into bigger pots over the last 6 months or so. Previously they were drying out very quickly whereas now I can give them a good water and leave them for a few days.
#GardeningAU #Melbourne #Gardenia

This morning I brought the worm farm inside for the summer. I also gave them pieces of paper that I had soaked overnight in water to bring up the moisture content in the worm farm. Yesterday we fed them small pieces of water melon peel which should also help re-hydrate them.

It is going to be 42 degrees tomorrow. This looks like it is going to be a very hot summer.
#Melbourne #WormFarm #GardeningAU

Someone at work showed us a phot of his enormous jasmine and said that it had grown rapidly after he started tipping his coffee grounds underneath.

About 6 months ago I planted some jasmine cuttings that were barely 10 cms after 3 years of tending them in a pot. I planted them in front of our garage in a small patch of dirt that I am sure is very poor quality. About three months ago I started putting coffee grounds at the base of them. They both responded, but one more so than the other. Just this week I tipped a lot more on the one that was not growing so vigorously and it has grown amazingly in the days since.
#GardeningAU #Melbourne #jasmine

Here is what it is like as a blind person to shop online. It is a good example of the importance of complying with accessibility guidelines for online products and services.
#accessibility #websitedesign

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-15/online-shopping-accessibility/104664748

This morning I started pruning the bamboo. It is flowering at the moment. I cut off leaves branching from the bottom of the large tall stalks so that you can more easily see the stalk. I also remove new stalks growing where I don't want them. It is much easier to do this when they are young as you can rip them out of the ground, roots and all.

You can see in this photo the brown stem of a dipladenia which I have encouraged to grow up the bamboo.

I am leaving some leaves and lower branches to make it look OK. I may prune them in a couple of months.
#GardeningAU #Melbourne

At this time of the year I pile all my bamboo cuttings on this piece of concrete to dry over summer. I then use the dried leaves for mulch and stack any canes that are thick enough for further drying, then for use as garden stakes.

Piling the leaves on the concrete reduces heat in the summer. The cat loves sitting in this area when the bamboo is here.
#GardeningAU #Melbourne

The Aussie Bird Count is on this week starting from today:
#AussieBirdCount

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/aussie-bird-count-2024-geraldine-hickey-australian-birdlife

"NSW couple helps rare wild Beadle's grevillea spring to life after drought"
#GardeningAU

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/endangered-beadles-grevillea-bloom-again-nsw-northern-tablelands/104421382

Magpie behaviour expert says that you can avoid being swooped by talking to them. I enjoy talking to curious magpies when I encounter them.
#Australia #magpies

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/15/magpie-swooping-season-is-here-but-you-can-avoid-attack-if-you-play-by-their-rules

Genetically distinct Wollemi Pine saplings to be auctioned off. This tree dates back to the time of the dinosaurs and was thought to be extinct until a tiny grove of them was discovered in an isolated area in 1984. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-11/wollemi-pine-rare-saplings-auction-30-year-aniversary/104332320
#environment #GardeningAU

@liztai that sounds like a wonderful dream! I would live to stay there and visit Penang.

Cash and reality are hard.

@liztai @ellane I am not Christian but agree with you that this type of mocking of beliefs is appalling. It wasn't included in the opening ceremony highlights we saw and I have no desire to see it.

@liztai I agree with you about the Paris opening ceremony. I watched the highlights package because 3+ hours is too long. Celine Dion was magnificent and I like the flame in the balloon but the rest of it was forgettable.

@liztai It looks like a more global outage affecting organisations who have the Crowdstrike cover security tool installed: https://www.reddit.com/r/crowdstrike/s/Sz4kyUstl8

Bunnings and other plant nurseries sell known invasive plants that spread into Australia's native landscape.
#GardeningAu #GardeningAustralia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2024-07-15/bunnings-criticised-for-stocking-invasive-weed-species-vic/104084222

One family's passion is to build dry stone walls and sculptures using the stone on their land in South Australia
#DryStoneWalls #GardeningAU

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2024-07-14/dry-stone-walls-family-legacy-in-maaoupe/104062746