Kikuyu and water

Hey!

Pot holders I saw in Berry

I finally did some garden related work this week.   I had to supervise installation of 250 sq meters of turf over the new EcoMAX sewerage system.  I had arranged for the purchase, delivery and installation of the kikuyu grass 2 weeks ago.  (Too wet to cut until now - barely. Two days of no rain!)  I kept calling it "sod" which is what we call it in Cali. Although no one corrected me (with my obvious American accent), several  of the salespeople asked if I wanted to buy "turf".  I had forgotten; sod and sodding are cuss words for the Brit and I know now, the Aussies.   We also had problems with "kikuyu" which I pronounced "key koo yoo" and several people pronounced  differently, "kay kaw yo" or "kaw ke yoo" something like that.  At times, I thought maybe we were talking about 2 different grasses but how many warm season lawn grasses can there be that start with a K and end with a vowel?  LOL!

hose
mender/
connector

Then I had to make sure the turf was watered.  I had to connect 3 garden hoses together with a sprinkler head.   I could not even identify the connector from the bowlful of spare parts.  They are nothing like ours.  So easy to use!!  No screws or tools needed.  Don't have to worry about male/female.  Each side of the connector has a collar nut that you slide onto the hose.  Then you push the raw hose end (about 3/4") into the connector over the pronged/ridged gasket that holds the hose in place. Tighten the collar nut.  You're done!!  Makes hose repair so easy!!!  They also have click in hose connectors and nozzle/sprinkler heads. The click in is like the type for socket wrenches except instead of a square head, it's round or a ball.   Click in is so much easier to use.

click in
connector

click in/screw
adapter

 We have some available in America.  We should convert to that design.  (And maybe to metric like the rest of the world so parts would truly be universal.)  Hoses come in 12mm (standard for garden use) or 18mm.  We went to the irrigation store - field trip!  There is no connector that will connect different size hoses.  You can buy hose with hardware/nozzle on it or hose with the ends still crimped.  I didn't recognized any brands except Hunter.   Wide variety of water storage tanks are available in various sizes, colors, and shapes.

Rainwater catchment system at house

Each house in the village has a water storage tank. They also get water from Shoalhaven Water District pipes.  There is a regular sewerage system.  The "farm" takes water from the creek ($60/year to the Water District) and has several storage tanks, some underground.  That's it for water.  There are pumps and filters attached to the water tanks.  One summer, during the height of the drought, they had to buy jugs of water for the farm.  They also had to buy hay for the cattle, pre-ordered and at inflated prices.

Okay, back to gardening.  They tried to save the peaches from the birds.  But you have to totally enclosed the tree or branch or it doesn't work.   I know the theory, but I've never done this before.  Do you know how hard it is to take fine netting off a tree?  By yourself?  Well, I managed with a ladder and just a little cussing.   More LOL!   Then I wrapped another tree.  Much easier.  It should work.  The birds can't get in or under.  They can peck at the ones through the net but their toes might get tangled.

Gigantor ant!  Crikey!!!

I've been bitten.  I don't think by mosquitoes.  I think by flies.  I think they have thicker wings here.  They seem to make more noise.  Take a look at this ant.  Can you believe the jaws!  I don't want to get bit by that.  And there are cicadas.  They sound like very loud crickets.  Apparently, they have cicadas every year, some years with more than others.  Kids collect the empty cicada shells.  To do what with, I don't know.  I think they're gross.

A girl's dorm at Eva's Backpackers' Hostel

G'day!
Cyn