[steveno]

tom, on 17 January 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

I just wish I had a snake to feed them to, but then again supposedly you are not meant to feed pet snakes wild mice, only the bred ones / disease free ones.

It was explained to me that live food, rats in particular, were a problem because they fight and injure the snake, which is not used to dealing with unwilling food. I think snakes hunt by ambushing prey, usually at night, not facing it in a small or bright environment.

[Popeye]

tom, on 17 January 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

http://www.peacocksa...guineafowl.html

After a bit of research they do look like the goods if you have the room.

I like the idea of them also keeping snakes away on top of pests.

They do seem hard to find though. I don't have enough room I suspect, and with the golfcourse behind it would be all too likely they would just roam off down the fairway but they do look like the goods if you have the room.

I have the same problem as yourself, in that I have close neighbours, but a mate of mine has them on several acres, and although they do roam a bit, they always return home to roost.

They are bits of characters and very nosy. If you work in the garden, they will often close in around you to watch what you are doing. I wish I had the room to keep them myself.

[Ruffian]

tom, on 17 January 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

http://www.peacocksa...guineafowl.html

After a bit of research they do look like the goods if you have the room.

I like the idea of them also keeping snakes away on top of pests.

They do seem hard to find though. I don't have enough room I suspect, and with the golfcourse behind it would be all too likely they would just roam off down the fairway but they do look like the goods if you have the room.

Guinea fowl are not especially hard to find, but they are noisy. So the people who mostly keep them are not living in the suburbs.
Popeye's right - You probably wouldn't lose them if you fed them every day - they are reputed to be fiercely territorial, even if their idea of a territory may not exactly match up with your fence lines.

We were going to get some a while ago, ended up with peacocks instead - beautiful but useless, and also noisy but in a different way.
They used to come into the house and sit in a line on the back of the sofa. Looked like they were watching the TV. We never did work out what the attraction was, as we did not encourage them.
Eventually they had to go - lack of road-sense and those screams late at night did for them in the end.

This post has been edited by Ruffian: 18 January 2012 - 08:05 PM

[mattau]

I reckon the best way to help your garden from heatwaves is to try and putshade or shelter above the garden.
It also helps to put an automated watering system to ensure that the plants remain hydrated throughout the day

[Solomon]

mattau, on 08 February 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

I reckon the best way to help your garden from heatwaves is to try and putshade or shelter above the garden.
It also helps to put an automated watering system to ensure that the plants remain hydrated throughout the day

Be careful watering plants during the day.
You can scald or boil them.
Always make sure you run the hose out of hot water, before watering.
Early morning and/or later in the evening is best.
Roses or other hardy shrubs are best in the morning.
It is also better to water the soil around the roots rather than the leafy cover.
This is a more sustainable system in extreme heat or dry.
Leafy vegetables and herbs are very fragile, and very susceptible to heat stress, so you may need to shade them as mattau suggests.

[mattau]

ahh thanks solomon for the tipcs, especially about the timing for watering techniques..

(I'm only a novice gardener, admittedly)

[Ruffian]

Solomon, on 08 February 2012 - 01:03 PM, said:

Early morning and/or later in the evening is best.

If you water later in the evening you don't lose much to evaporation but you do run the risk of encouraging fungal diseases, especially if the weather is warm and/or there is no wind. Also the plants can't actually do much with the water, other than rehydrate, and there is time for the water to migrate out of the root zone.

Better to water in the morning, less disease and greater utility to the plant, which then has the whole day to transpire/photosynthesise.

[mattau]

ok - i'll stick to the mornings for watering then. Makes it much easier