The Mandarin Tree

Every year we look forward to the beautiful sweet, seedless fruit borne on the Mandarin tree just outside our kitchen window. However this year the fruit on the tree has taken a back seat to the avian visitors who’ve frequented it. They’ve made interesting subject matter for my rekindled interest in photography.

The tree attracts several different kinds of birds who seek out the bright orange, sweet fruit that this tree produces this time of year. As mentioned in my previous post about a Tui that’s been visiting the tree, moments later a rosella joined in, so I got a shot of him too...

Actually, Rosella’s usually travel in pairs and if you look carefully you’ll see there’s more than one rosella in the shot. Can you see the second one? All you can see is a flash of red to the left of the frame.  Seeing how well hidden it is might help you appreciate how tricky it was getting a clear shot of one of these birds. They’re pretty shy and they take off the moment they even spot any human.

They make a ‘cackling’ noise as they communicate with each other through the tree. Although they’re an introduced bird from Australia and considered a pest and a threat to other native species, I actually quite like them – they’re so colourful. A friend of mine actually caught one and tamed it and had it flying around inside his house. Probably not such a good idea when you think about all the droppings it left everywhere.

Another frequent visitor to the mandarin tree has been the ‘silver eye’ or the ‘wax eye’ as some like to call them. When you see them it becomes pretty clear why they’re named that. They have a distinctive white ring around their eyes. These birds dart in and out, moving around so quickly making them a challenge to shoot. So I was quite pleased to get this shot...

Having said all of the above, you can imagine what a treat it was one morning for my wife and I to witness all 3 birds in the tree at the same time. It was interesting to witness them interacting with each other. I’ve often wondered what is meant when I hear it said that “the Rosella is a threat to our native species”. Are the native birds physically threatened? Or is it the food supply or something else in their environment that is threatened?

Anyway, this was the first time I’d ever observed these 2 birds up so close to each other and while they kept their distance from each other and appeared weary of each other while they followed each other around the tree, there was no real confrontation between them. Moments after these shots were taken a third bird entered the scene...

This rather inquisitive Silver Eye also seemed weary of the rosella and was keeping his distance but he wasn’t afraid to get close enough for a good look at what he was up to. If he had to get away I bet he could easily out manoeuvre the Rosella.

So although we missed out on quite a bit of fruit off the tree this year, this was more than made up for being able to witness, photograph and share all this bird activity.

A Tui Visits the Garden

We have a mandarin tree right outside our kitchen window which bears beautiful, sweet, seedless fruit this time of the year.

The tree often plays host to various birds coming to get their fill of fruit. I’ve been yearning to catch this scene on a decent camera ever since I started this blog a few years ago and I’m happy to say I finally got around to getting myself a decent digital SLR. Although I’m still figuring out how to use it properly, the first few snaps I’ve taken on it are already a vast improvement over what I’ve managed previously when it comes to bird photography. So I hope to feature more birds in the future.

Within the space of 10 or 15 minutes I managed to get a shot of 2 of my favourite birds in the garden...

Firstly a native Tui...

This guy seems to be pretty fat and well fed, which explains all the holes in the fruit when we go to pick them for ourselves. But that’s a small price to pay in my opinion because I just love these birds. They produce the widest repertoire of sounds which are very distinctive and unique to the NZ Tui. 

Before you start questioning this bird’s fashion sense with his coloured bangles, I did a little research and discovered that these bands he’s wearing are part of a conservation effort to track and record the movements, diet and habitat of these birds throughout NZ. 

NZ residents who have an interest in the welfare of the native Tui are being encouraged to assist by notifying the organisers of this project of any bird sightings, providing their location and other details. The way I understand it, each individual bird can be identified by the unique combination of coloured bands on its legs. For more info visit the website here

Tuis often feed on flowering plants and trees and it wasn’t until I started looking closely at these photos that I noticed they have a rather long tongue, which I’m guessing they use to extract the nectar from flowers.

The Tui is very much treasured in NZ but they have come under threat at various times from other bird species who they seem to compete with for food and territory. One such competitor is the second of these birds that visited the same tree moments later — an introduced Australian Rosella. I’ll do a separate post about this later – stay tuned.

DIY Mantlepiece #2

Once I got the concrete slab moved to the front porch it was now in a handy spot for working on it a bit easier.

After putting a straight edge on it I could see a few humps and hollows where my trowelling was a bit out. Similarly putting a set-square on it showed where I was out a bit with the boxing a regards true 'square'. So using an angle grinder to skim off the humps and a bit of solid plaster mix to fill in the hollows I then had all nice straight, flat, square surfaces on which to glue the tiles.

Because the mantlepiece would end up in a very visible space directly beneath the TV, I realised the tile work would have to be spot on. I didn’t want the edge of the tiles to show, which meant I would need to do a lot of cutting of 45° bevels so the corners could be mitred. So using a tile cutting machine and an angle grinder I mitred all the tiles for the top surface first.

Then once the tiles were cut I spread the glue on the slab for the first row of tiles on the front edge. The position of these tiles was critical to how it would all finish up. So positioning the 2 front corner tiles first, I simply placed all the remaining tiles for the first row in between. 

I hasten to add, I did a lot of measuring, double measuring and then measuring again to make sure the mantlepiece would end up at just the right length to match the existing hearth, allowing for the thickness of the tiles and the glue, etc. I wanted all the new tiles to line up with the existing tiles, otherwise I figured it would just look wrong.

Using a straight edge I made sure all the tiles were flat, straight and evenly spaced, then I allowed the glue to set before doing the next row. Once the first row was set in position I knew I could use them as a solid reference point for making sure the whole top surface was perfectly flat. This would be important as the mantlepiece would act as a shelf for the DVD player and other items and I didn’t want anything wobbling around if the surface was uneven.

Once all the tiles on the top surface had set in place I carefully turned the whole thing upside down to work on the surface underneath. Following the same method as before I made sure the 2 end tiles were positioned correctly first using a set square to ensure everything was properly square. Then I just filled in between them with the remaining tiles. I used a straight edge to make sure they were all straight and flat and the set-square to make sure they were lining up correctly with the tiles on the top surface (which was now face down). Then I let the glue set same as before.

At this point I needed to do some quite tricky cutting. All the remaining tiles needed to be cut very carefully to fit in the gaps. So I turned the slab on its edge and took some careful measurements before cutting the tiles on the tile cutter, then bevelling the edges so each piece would fit nicely together with no tile edges showing. I used a portable vice to hold the tiles and the angle grinder came in real handy for this part of the job.

Eventually, once all the tiles were cut, glued in placed and the glue had set, I grouted between all the tiles to finish it off.

By now it must have been weighing about 100kg so I definitely needed help to install it. I used a whole tube of liquid nails to glue it to the existing hearth. And to make sure it wouldn’t tip over or move I installed a rimu upstand which I solidly fixed to the studs behind the wall.

There’s just one more thing I need to do now and that is to cut a channel in the back of the upstand with a router so that I can hide away the cables which are still showing.

Thankfully I got it finished before the really cold weather arrived. This fireplace really pumps out the heat. But at least we can now use the fire without worrying about melting the TV. 

But the best part is, although it took a lot of time and effort I saved over $1000 by doing it myself.

I’m pretty pleased with it. 

DIY Mantlepiece #1

This post has very little (if anything) to do with the garden. Except for the fact that I often use my garden as my workshop — mainly because my wife doesn’t appreciate me mixing concrete inside the house — but that’s another story...

Let me start by explaining my problem. We finally decided to upgrade our TV from an old fashioned montrosity that was taking up a whole corner of our living room to a wall mounted 42 inch flat screen. The only suitable wall space available was directly above our fireplace.

I realised when we bought it at the end of last winter that this was going to be a problem next winter when we’d be wanting to use the fire again. I was worried that heat rising from the fire would damage the TV, so I started investigating ways of adding a mantlepiece to our existing hearth — something that would deflect the heat away from the TV.

To begin with, I looked into getting one made out of marble or something similar but the cost of doing so was going to be more than the TV itself (over $1000), which to me didn’t really make much sense. So I decided to build one myself out of concrete and then use tiles to match in with the existing hearth.

Our house was built in the 1950’s so the chance of matching the tiles perfectly was out of the question — I knew that. But it wasn’t just the colour and pattern at issue here but the size of the tiles which are an imperial size of 6 inches. Despite the challenge, I was amazed that I was actually able to find something pretty close at 150mm square which is about 3.5 mm smaller. The colour and pattern matched pretty closely too. To top it off I was able to get the 40 or so tiles I needed from a Tile Clearance Warehouse who stock all sorts of end-of-lines so they only cost me $10.

So I first set about finding some suitable timber planks which I had stored away under the house and which I used for building the boxing for the mantlepiece. I was careful to ensure the timber was straight with no bows or buckles in it and would be strong enough to remain straight under the weight of concrete which I estimated would be over 80 kilos.

I cut a piece of MDF to the shape and size of the end profile that I wanted and used that as the pattern around which I built the boxing.

Once the boxing was built I lined it with a bit of plastic, then tied together some reinforcing steel and set it in place ready for the concrete. You might also notice I added a couple of bits of timber moulding to create a channel where I planned to run the cabling for the TV.

 

Next, after making sure the boxing was level, I mixed up three 25kg bags of concrete and filled up the trough then smoothed the concrete over by eye getting it as flat and as even as I could, and working the slurry to the surface.

After the concrete had set, I removed the boxing and gave it a blast with the hose to remove any loose agregate. Then I got my mate Damian to give me a hand to carry it round to the front of the house where I would work on it further and get it ready for tiling.

See what I did next and the end result here.

Red Capsicums

I’ve grown Capsicums before but this year is the first time I got so many to turn red.

They’re not as big as I’ve grown in the past, probably because they haven’t had as much water. This is due to the drought we had this year. These were mostly hand watered and didn’t get watered every day consistently — sometimes I missed a day or 2, which probably explains why some of them got a big black spot on the bottom of them, a bit like under-watered tomatoes.

But I think having the drought helps to also explain why so many have turned red this year. I’m sure it’s part of the ripening process. These have received more daylight hours of sunshine than previous years (see my other post about Capsicums here). Plus the spot where I grew them (the one I call my Winter Garden) is still getting quite a lot of sunshine even into late April (which is mid Autumn in NZ).

Capsicums are fine to eat whether they’re green or red and are great in stir-fries or even raw in salads. I haven’t had any of mine turn yellow yet. Perhaps that’s a different variety.

Upgrading the Myoga Plot

Recently I noticed how the roots of my Myoga plants were beginning to take over in the bottom garden. I knew the roots were invasive and that this could happen over time. The fence palings I originally used to control their spread had finally rotted through.

I wasn’t terribly worried about this in the short term, because I had been planning to increase the size of the plot anyway and to get serious about cultivating them properly. So after the season had finished and the plant had entered it’s dormant phase I took the opportunity to extend the plot and to put a more robust frame around it.

So, using an old tanalised plank (300mm wide) which I pinned together with a few nails, I dug a trench and set it at the height I wanted it then backfilled it to hold it in place. When digging the trench I discovered quite a bit of the myoga roots which had spread beyond the original plot.

You can see why it could be a bit of a problem having this plant take over in the garden. Anyway, I pulled all the roots apart and simply spread it around inside the new enclosure and covered it up with soil. I’ll eventually get around to putting more pavers down to finish off the path, but knowing me, it could be a while before that happens.

Anyway, when it starts taking off again later in the year I’m going to try feeding it with some sulphate of potash to encourage more flowers to grow — and bigger ones too if possible – more like the ones they’re selling in Japan. That should be interesting as I’ve never done anything to encourage this plant except to water it in dry periods. 

Another Attempt at Spuds

I’ve had mixed results with growing potatoes so far. Last years result was very disappointing. So this year I was determined to succeed. By that I mean I wanted to grow bigger tubers and at least enough to feed us for a few weeks if possible.

So I put a lot of effort into preparing the soil well, using compost from my own bin that was ready to use plus a bit of the bagged stuff from Bunnings. I made sure to add a few handfuls of potato fertiliser to each row which I mixed into the soil. This time I decided not to bother buying certified seed potatoes as I normally do. I just used the remains of a bag of spuds we had which had started sprouting shoots.(This was the way my father showed me when I was a youngster and it always worked well for him.)

So as usual I planted around labour weekend (25 October). I put in 3 rows of about 6 or 7 plants. The above picture shows them just before Christmas. By then they looked to be doing pretty well.

I planted the sprouting tubers deep in the soil, with a light layer of soil barely covering them. Then as the plants emerged from the soil I mounded up the soil around them. I kept piling up the soil around each plant until the soil level rose well above the original level of the garden. I made sure I watered them regularly to get them established properly.

As anyone in NZ will tell you, the whole country this year has experienced drought conditions. Even now in March, it has barely rained since December so I had to do a lot of hand watering. This I especially concentrated on after flowering as this is when the tubers would begin to form having been pollenated by bees. Each time I watered them I made sure they got a good soaking, plus every three weeks or so I gave them a side dressing of potato fertiliser.

I think understanding this aspect of the potato's growth cycle helped me to appreciate what I was actually doing.

So after all that effort you can imagine my satisfaction when finally I saw the results...

I am very pleased with the results. Izumi made a nice curry using all the small ones first – she kept them whole with their skins on and added them to the stew.