Thursday 6 March 2008

Warning: REDBACK IMAGE FOLLOWS!

Ok this is war!

I have just found and killed another THREE Redbacks (edited because I just found another one by my back door!).

Yesterday I was picking some strawberries and a long thin black leg popped out and stroked my finger! Talk about having a bloody heart attack!

So armed with my thick gloves and nice long stick I went a redback hunting yet again.

Now for those of you who aren't in Australia, what follows is a picture of a redback;



Image taken from www.nikkish.net/jeff/blogpics I hope that's ok to do!

I am getting very good at 'removing' these spiders now but would love to hear some of your ideas on deterring them. I have three tots here who are into everything in the garden!

Growing Challenge.

Well I have just gone and posted at the Growing Challenge site about which growing zone Wit's End is in. We are in the Australian Temperate Zone (the perfect place for raising redbacks it seems!) and this link shows what I can plant out right now

http://www.gardenate.com/zones/Australia%20-%20temperate

So far I have planted peanuts, some soybeans, ginger and garlic. Chickpeas will be planted in the next few days.

Building and filling raised beds will be my next goal in the garden. At Wit's End the soil is sand. No matter how much compost, mulch etc into this soil, it turns back to sand in a couple of months. So the answer for me is to have raised beds and to just keep adding to the sand and hope for the best.

The raised beds will have all the usuals vegetables and I hope to add some kohl rabi for the growing challenge. I have never eaten this vegetable but have been inspired by farmgirl Susan to give it a go.

6 comments:

Minni Mum said...

Eeeeuuuuuuwwwww! I *hate* spiders. No advice on how to get them out of your strawberry patch though, I always thought they liked bits of old wood and stuff, not plants! Bit worried now!

The Crone at Wits End said...

Julie, so far I have found them in the strawberry patch, the lemon trees, the geraniums, cabbages, silverbeet and under my aloe vera.

It's driving me batty!

goingferal(ish) said...

We sprayed all around the house today, they are everywhere and L is just to curious - I was freaking out thinking one of the girls would get bitten. Haven't got them up near the vege beds at this stage though. Though we do have hornets in the (unused) irrigation system!

Domestic Adventuress said...

Um, you don't know how lucky you are that they're OUTSIDE! We had one drop down from the aircon vent *while* we watched, and last night found one in the dishwasher. Ewwwww. If you find a good natural spider control, I'd like to hear... :)

Anonymous said...

I'm curious - have you had much success with chickpeas? We're in a temperate zone too but were told it was really tricky to grow them because they needed some kind of bacteria added to them in the sowing? Is this true? If you haven't done this, are there different types of chick pea? And what is the sort you have planted? I know it's too late for us to plant them now but I'm interested anyhow!

The Crone at Wits End said...

I've had about 75% success with the small amount I have been growing. Admittedly I sowed the seed way too early and I will be planting more in a few weeks. I didn't use an innoculant but I like to experiment just to see "what if".

If something works, brilliant. If not, I just chalk it up :)