Update on tree plantings

To date a total of 31 trees and shrubs have been planted along the Tenterfield's creek edge, including 3 in the creek itself, on a self made island formed by the last flood. However, a heatwave has struck Tenterfield, making it impossible to plant anything during the day. So, I spent my day yesterday creating a new garden bed for my neighbour, Carol, out the front of her house. The existing garden bed that was there had very poor soil, and the moisture-retaining ability of the soil had disappeared. The garden bed is partially finished due to the heat and trying to figure out what to keep in the way of existing plants and what to get rid of. The main plants I am getting rid of are the flowers/plants that create a dead underlayer, with new growth on top of the dead layer.

The redesigned garden bed with Bottlebrush planted.

So far I have planted a crimson bottlebrush in the newly designed garden bed and will be planting 2 prostrate grevilleas in it too. As leaf litter I am using Eucalyptus leaves plus the dirt underneath the gum leaves. The leaf litter is brought in from a nearby area at close proximity to a gum tree.

This garden bed is adjacent to the paddock in which the Bangor Rainforest will be grown in so it's important to extend the flora to Carol's front garden to help create additional food sources for the native birdlife, as well as creating extra shade. Not only will birds be attracted to the front garden bed once the plants are established but it will also help to create even more shade for the skinks that hang around Carol's front verandah. An entire family of skinks lives on, under and around Carol's house. Creating a habitat for the skinks is just as important as it is for the birds. What is more important is creating a leaf littered area where insects dwell which the skinks can eat in peace.

Foraging through Carol's garden I found some more plants which will be added to the rainforest. The plant's seeds were dropped there by birds (droppings) and self-seeded and fortunately for me most of them are tree seedlings that have germinated from 2 trees out the front of Carol's place. There are about 6 self-sown seedlings of these trees around various areas of carol's garden.

The 2 mature trees in Carol's front garden.

One of the seedlings of the same tree.

It's top has been chopped off but still growing.

An unusual plant like no other in Carol's garden self-germinated, probably also deposited there by a passing bird. It has dark green leaves and looks like nothing I have seen in Carol's garden as yet. When the temperature cools down a bit I will pot it up. I found it at the base of the far left mature tree (see above left photo).

I am very curious to see what this particular plant will grow into. At this young seedling stage it looks like it could grow into an actual tree of some sort. Perhaps a rainforest tree even?

The flower from one of Carol's vines.

Two of my favourite plants in Carol's garden are a bit of a challenge to get seedlings of, as they both reproduce by lateral suckers, and probably by seed. I have managed to cut off a lateral sucket from the lovely white flowering vine. It has a gorgeous 5 petalled windmill shaped flower. The honeyeaters and other smaller birds eat the nectar from the flowers. The other plant grows lateral suckers straight from the base of the trunk and is proving unsuccessful at getting a sucker from it. The vine, however, will eventually be planted somewhere near the creek or transplanted next to one of Carol's existing semi-mature trees at the edge of the rainforest area. I love finding free plants especially tree seedlings.

10 more trees/shrubs planted today

Having been sick for nearly 2 weeks after my lasting posting I finally was well enough to plant some more trees and bushes today. I decided to plant more trees down the other end of the creek close to where the Eastern Water Dragons are usually located. There was way too much talking going on and not enough planting happening but at least I got some work done today. I was really surprised by how much the tree roots had grown that were still in the containers and to see new growth on the plants I had already planted in the ground. I really have to pick up my speed at planting these 50 trees/shrubs up because the 40 I bought from the ERA Nursery have started growing roots outside their little containers and are a bit hard to get them out. With a bit of patience I'm getting them out, one by one. On Friday, 7th December, I'm expecting 40 more trees/shrubs from the ERA Nursey.

The hardest part to planting all these plants is the initial hard work of digging the holes and then hand watering them. I'm now using a pick to speed things up. I'm carrying a bucketful of water at a time from the creek, less than 50 metres away, but it is an all uphill climb which is slightly steep. I added handmade tree guards to the plants as well but finding the right sort of sticks was difficult. I really have to search hard for the right sort of stick. Can't have them snapping in half too easily otherwise it would be pointless using them as sticks to hold the tree guards around the tree in the first place.

The really good thing I've found doing all this tree planting is I sleep better at night, especially getting to sleep. I don't toss and turn for hours on end before I fall asleep now. I fall asleep pretty much straight away - within a few minutes actually, as my body is too exhausted to toss and turn. However, tree planting and carrying bucketfuls of water kills my back. It's a small sacrifice to pay for actually falling asleep pretty much straight away. Besides, my back feels much better after a good nights' sleep.

I'll post some photos of my progress in a few days as it was too dark to take photos by the time I finished tonight. I started around 4PM and finshed when the last rays of sunlight (from the sun) were visible just before it started getting dark. I wanted to plant just one more tree but I was too exhausted. I'm going to start tree planting much earlier than 4PM tomorrow, to see if I can get most of the remaining trees and shrubs planted. I really want to plant out the remaining 5 Flooded Gums and the other Eucalypts before Friday comes.

One thing I do know for certain is I will need a lot more than 100 trees and shrubs to plant along the creek bank. I will also need a huge concentration of plants just at the junction of where the two parts of the creek merge at the corner. The creek bends to the left but coming from the right and which merges into the creek is another runoff area that comes from the Tenterfield Dam. That area and down toward the Douglas Street bridge receives the higest water flow speed in the immediate area. That stretch of the Tenterfield Creek needs a lot more vegetation than other parts of the creek adjacent to Carol's property.

FOOTNOTE: Before I got sick about 3 weeks ago I planted 8 of the original 40 trees and shrubs. Why I didn't mention it here I do not know. A total of 18 out of 40 plants have now been planted along the creek.