The shadow is creeping back from the raised garden bed. It is time to dig. The soil is dark and crumbly, breaking into lumps. It is time to clear out the violets (Viola hederacea) (Viola sororia), the scurvy weed (Commelina cyanea). A silverbeet has survived the winter and is standing tall. The garden mint (Mentha sp.) is growing back. And the parsley (Petroselinum crispum).
When Peter visits from Melbourne we go to the local plant nursery and buy silverbeet, lettuce and cucumbers. We dig and clear a patch of soil more thoroughly, mix in compost. Peter scoops in furrows leaving raised rows between and into these rows we plant. Rather than breaking all the plants fresh out of the punnets into individuals he groups them, to separate later. Really? Yes.
A week later.
A second planting, this time it’s potatoes which have sprouted in the tub in the kitchen. And seeds, I confess, old seeds, in rows with the water furrows between. Onions, kale, leek, alfalfa. I have no idea if the seed will come up. It’s a matter of watering and waiting.
A day later.
Maybe. Maybe not! I come out the front door and disturb the intruder—a brush turkey who is busy digging up the garden bed. I chase him off and push the dirt back into the hole. I have to go out. As I get into the car I try to recall the last time a turkey came by. I haven’t seen one in the garden for years, now suddenly seemingly out of nowhere there he is. I return a few hours later to an even deeper hole. He’s been back.
Cohabitation. Win win. That’s my aim. Not me versus turkey.
I am leaving for the Hunter Valley (Summerfield) in the afternoon. I need to discourage the turkey from learning that my garden bed is a good digging spot. As well as using an old coir mat, I heap palm fronds. They have been stored on the front garden bed. In clearing them I’m creating a potential alternative digging spot? Maybe. How smart are these birds?
I need a garden bed protection plan. A couple of days later I bring trellis mesh and somebody’s dumped timber back from North Rothbury with me. I have enough trellis to dome over the section where the seeds are supposedly still planted. This is where the dug dirt landed.
In the early evening I go to the door and peer out. By chance the turkey has returned, he is pecking and scraping at the ground. I see him eye the mesh, a slight tilt of his head, and go on. Success.
More mesh and a new batch of plants, silverbeet, cucumbers, sorrel and zucchinis. New planting. Water and wait.
