SUMMER FLOWERS ON SHANTRON FARM.

The New Year is getting into its stride and there are Summer flowers blooming on Shantron Farm. Here is a sample of the non-native flowers:

Gardenias.

The perfume is delicious! Four gardenia plants are blooming around the chook shed.

Pond Garden Plant.

Glorious in yellow and orange, these plants are starting to bloom around the pond.

Passion Flower.

Passion fruit gone wild. Delicate flowers with a touch of blue.

Chook Shed Shade.

This pant is growing with gay abandon over a corner of the chook shed providing welcome shade.

Sweet Potato.

The sweet potato vine is running wild again so fruit will appear in all sorts of strange places in my house yard. And ants have also appeared in strange places ....

Wester Boundary Protection.

This plant adds a bit of shade on the Western side of the house in the heat of Summer.

Gorgeous Colour.

And this common plant adds gorgeous colour to the house yard.

SPRING AND SUMMER SUNSETS ON SHANTRON FARM.

There's nothing like a sunset. Autumn sunsets are usually the best but this year they have been surpassed by the Spring/Summer sunsets.

Weird black clouds.

Pastel sunset.

Very Pink.

More orange.

Sorta grey with horses.

Even more orange.

Orange with con trails from planes.

Angry blue-black cloud.

More speccy con trails.

Clouds with pink underbellies.

Pink underbellies with a touch of yellow.

Looking a bit angry.

And as the sun sets ......

.... the moon rises.

AROUND THE GARDEN POND.

The plants around the garden pond are growing well. There are some beautiful lilly-type plants.

Day Lillies. They only last for one day. Ephemeral.

Two types of lilly.

And these ones grow like weeds.

Gorgeous delicate orchids.

Native bush tucker.

VERONICA UP A TREE ON SHANTRON FARM.

Veronica, the visiting cat, is up the liquid amber tree on Shantron Farm. Veronica is a Northern Territory cat, born in Katherine and then resident in Batchelor. She is the mother of Navron Fred, also born in Katherine, NT. Veronica is spending 2012 on Shantron Farm while her owner is overseas.

It is the end of Winter On Shantron Farm so the new leaves are starting to appear on the liquid amber trees.  The mulberry trees are also getting new leaves and good crops of mulberries. A bantam chook is sitting on eggs so I should have chickens by the end of September. It is time to get the veggie patch going again with lots of tomatoes, greens and herbs.

Watch Veronica up the tree.

SHELLEY, DANCING QUEEN.

HOW TO BUILD A GARDEN POND FOR FROGS AND BUTTERFLIES.

1. Choose a site for your garden pond.
Pond after 6 months.

• Try to pick a piece of ground that is reasonably level. Buy a plastic pond or black plastic liner and dig your hole. Backfill and level your pond. Fill with water.
• Beware if you have a dog like Kayla that likes swimming. My pond is outside the house yard and I have provided another body of water for her to go swimming.

2. Create your pond habitat.
Red Stemmed Thalia.














Water Chestnuts.















Water Lily.

• Choose some water plants. Water lilies are always nice but try some food plants like water chestnuts or cress and add some decorative plants like red stemmed thalia.
• Add some water snails. They are great scavengers and because they are hermaphrodites (can be male or female) any two will breed.
• Add some little fish to eat the mozzie wrigglers (which they love so you can breed wrigglers and feed them to your fish). DO NOT overfeed your fish. A tiny bit of food once a week is plenty.
• If algae is a problem in the hotter months, add some shade to your pond. You can use chemicals that kill algae or clean out the pond by hand and learn to live with it.
• Put big rocks that stick out of the water near the edge of your pond so that frogs can easily get in and out.

Rocks so that frogs have easy access.














3. Around your pond.
Medium sized plants.














Ground covers for butterflies.














Lots of mulch.














Solar lights for night time interest.

• Plant some palms that will grow tall and provide shade.
• Use lots of lilies around your pond but be aware that some lilies are poisonous to cats if they chew on the leaves.
• Ground covers help to smother weeds and their flowers attract butterflies.
• Add heaps of mulch. Grass clippings are good. Make the area circular so you can easily mow around the edges.
• Solar colour-changing lights will add interest after dark.

ENJOY YOUR POND!

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