Zinnias are Awesome

"They bloom in vivid colors from summer until frost, are a snap to grow from seed, 

and attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard"

One of our most successful flowers to grow has been the humble Zinnia. I guess you could call it a heritage flower, in the sense it has been around forever - If your grandparents were gardeners - they probably grew these.

The longevity and easy care nature makes it perfect for anyone looking to have a colourful display three seasons of the year.

The on-set of winter has meant however we no longer have them! They are slowly dying down but now we are blessed with dried seed buds! Yay - love seed collecting!

In a couple of months when the last frost has past, we will start re-planting - they are extremely easy to plant from seed.

Roll the seed head between your hands and scatter for a rambling cottage garden or pick out the spear-head shaped seeds, they range in colour from pale brown to black and are a similar size to a sunflower seeds, but flat. They can grow quite tall, so near a fence or other shrubs is ideal. As a rule of thumb, loosely cover the seed to a depth three times it's size. Allow 6 weeks before your garden is awash of Zinnia colour!

Dead heads don't look that attractive in the garden, but mean many more flowers for the future!

Used here in a foam block for a table centrepiece. 

A Foxy Story

24 hours after the introduction of three new beautiful black hens, I'm faced with bagging up a savaged chicken. Feeling heart-broken and angry this afternoon, I spent some considerable time re-fencing and reinforcing the coop.

Getting three new girls seemed like a good idea at the start of the week… for it was only a week ago one of our old brown hens went missing… now the penny has dropped and my lesson learned the hard way.

It seems from what I hear, foxes can either snatch and whisk away, or kill in the coop, clenching at the hens neck, possibly getting spooked, leaving the mess with intention of returning. It is highly likely the little bugger is living in the paddock next door, a greenbelt area with a creek running through it. And now the fox has taken two, it's likely to return for another!

Our coop has been quite suffice the last few years, but a complete overhaul is now likely, which means digging down at least a foot with fencing and covering over the top. It will also mean restricted grazing in their secondary paddock (aka dam area).

So out with some leftover chicken wire I went about completely enclosing their house this afternoon. I'm not taking any risks, pegged down with tent pegs, no escaping and hopefully no intruders. My four remaining hens (two old ISA's and the two new Australorps) are going to be close quarters the next few days until I can come up with some fox solutions…