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Polanimal

@polanimal.bsky.social
350 followers 807 following 543 posts

Old single guy and his dog living and gardening in Tasmania. In 2025 hope to be making some cider and cyser and raspberry melomel from produce of my garden and orchard.

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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Haven’t been able to garden: wallabies, pademelons and rabbits and lately deer are ravaging my garden every night. Have saved up and a 1.5m (≈5') post, stardropper and mesh fence will go up starting next month. Going to prepare the garden for plantings starting in August.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Wallabies, pademelons, bandicoots, rabbits and lately even deer destroying my garden but asparagus and rhubarb are OK. Arranged to have a fence built that should keep wildlife out. Rabbits a bloody nuisance, holes everywhere. Will post again when I can actually garden!
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Some of my tulips stuck their heads above ground level and flowered. I picked the flowers else the bloody wallabies would have bitten them off. They actually smell really nice!
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
🌱 Planted about 300 San Marzano tomato seeds yesterday. Put 5 quandong stones in water, planted them in seed raising mix this afternoon. Will plant some weird-sounding “Blue Cream Cherry” tomatoes when I find my home brew heater pad. Keeping bloody wallabies off my tomatoes will be a problem.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
🌱 Looked at asparagus bed today. All crowns bar the very first one had mulitple spears above the soil! Hope the first one is just slow, Rhubarb bed—lost a crown or two. Going to transplant some to improve spacing.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
🌱 Getting ready to plant tomato seeds, mostly San Marzano plus some interesting cherry toms. Will try and fence off as well as spray with neem oil—protect against insects and wallabies! Will shift 3 cherry trees (Stella + 2 Kentish) out a small greenhouse in their place. Move 2 peach trees.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
🌱 Some potatoes that were in my soil 3 hours ago transformed into delicious wedges that made my supper just now with a sokiish of sweet chili sauce.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
🌱 Echidna young, known as puggles, hatch from eggs then crawl into a pouch that protects them against infections. The puggles are like small pink jellybeans 😀 See: polanimal.au/index.php?th...
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🌱🌿 Dinner: porterhouse steak with a “sauce” of garlic-onion-tomato-chili-mushroom. Nice. Next to it a plate of (bought) coleslaw (dog finished the other half of the slaw 😄 ) None of the veges were from my garden: hope next year nearly all will be, even the mushrooms.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
🌿 Birth and early weeks of a puggle, a baby echidna and how the pouch protects it in the first few weeks of life: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Latest news, sport and opinion from the Guardian
Latest US news, world news, sports, business, opinion, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
🌱 Again, not sure where to post. Birth and early weeks of a puggle, a baby echidna and how the pouch protects it in the first few weeks of life: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Echidna mothers change their pouch microbiome to protect tiny ‘pink jelly bean’ puggles, new research finds
Egg-laying monotremes have no nipples, so young rub their beaks against ‘milk patch’ to get milk from mother’s skin
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
🌱 Dunno where to put this. . . First lure coursing fun run for 2025 yesterday. Usual drama until the start line then all concentration. Lure moves, “Tallyho!” and I release the bitch—ZOOM! Cuts the corner—not the wrong way, clever bitch. Runs fast, then faster, lure kept moving fast all the way.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
🌱 Time to get some broadbean (favabean) seeds into the ground and also purple podded peas. Had a damn good frost this morning! Time to get some kale in the ground too.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
🌱 My indoor plants. The plastic figurine with the stylised paw print is indicating Socks was runner up Coursing Ability Test hound. I have a Chinese bamboo that I will bring indoors. Plants: Socks:
Indoor plants including indoor succulentsSocks, my staghound bitch flat out coursing (chasing an artificial lureMy staghound cross bitch Socks in full pursuit of the artificial lure. In Australia they were known as kangaroo dogs and that is what they were used to hunt. Some still used to hunt pigs—big fast sturdy dogs.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
🌱 Grrr joint pain has prevented much gardening since I got my asparagus planted. If medical help can really reduce pain then can get started soon. Onions, leek, cabbage, kale, broad beans, dutch purple podded peas. See how it goes.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
🌱 Well, had a look at those potatoe plants. Hadn’t disappeared because mature, something ate them, likely same @#%* that ate the tomato plants. But from 3 plants got enough new potatoes to make new potato pie tomorrow or Wednesday. Will report back. Enough numbers but size sadly lacking.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
🌱 March now, next month will start planting broadbeans again. Will start preparing by weeding and spreading gypsum and dolomite on my acid clay soil. This place has some nice heritage varieties: tassieseeds.com.au/product-cate...
tassieseeds.com.au
Broad Beans Archives · Tassie Seeds
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
🌱 Hmmm was going to collect pine needles to start acidifying soil for my blueberry plants. BEEEP! Myth! Pine needles when fresh are >slightly< acidic, soon turn neutral as they decay. Guess sulphur it will have to be.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
🌱 Pulled up a potato plant. Half a dozen or so perfect tiny potatoes were attached to the roots. Despite pain at the base of my spine and my titanium hip I filled in 1/3 of the one of the four trenches I planted with seed potatoes. Now it is raining, how good is that?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
🌱 Got my Dutch Purple Podded Peas, local supplier, today—with a surprise seed packet of. . .beetroot seeds. YUCK! Will give it to my neighbor. Could plant and eat the leaves as silverbeet but, nah. Confused! Plant Apr–May–Jun– Sep-Oct. Doubt they are frost resistant, others say in spring??
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
🌱 Got my first seeds for late summer/early fall plantings: Borecole, swedes, pak choyblack tuscan kale and carrots. They will go into the orchard: I have 11 rows of 6 trees plus other plantings. Trees are 4m/12' apart and rows are 2m/6' apart so have 3.5 x 20 = 70sqm roughly 700sqft times 5. /2
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
🌱 some of my very young tomato plants have lost all their leaves! Not dropped, more like they were eaten by a bug. Any likely culprits?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
🌱 Planting my tomato seedlings now, mid-late January. 9 weeks before April and frosts arrive. Seedlings 5-10cm tall. Dig hole, fill with compost, water, plant seedling, water with liquid gypsum and Maxicrop (kelp) then put brick collar around seedling for extra warmth at night. Question next post.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
🌱 Last 12 hours about 1.5" of rain has fallen. The trenches where my potato plants are have become rivers I bet 😀 But everything out there seems to love the rain so that is fine. Dog is either scared of the bits of thunder and lightning or just wants a walk to poop and is generally miserable awww.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
🌱 Been crook so WAY behind my gardening work. Hope to start planting seedlings tomorrow. I was WAY too cautious, next year will be planting stuff from early nov. Just Tassie is such a different climate and being over 200m further above sea level then when back in Adelaide accentuates that.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
#UkrainianView Apparently ruzzian propaganda/disinformation spreaders are moving to bluesky as the exodus from Twitter continues.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Looks crowded to me! Make it a bit longer.
Raised garden bed with line of pots holding asparagus crowns, another pot soaking in nutrient solution and my dog just managed to sneak into the photo bottom left.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
🌱 Nearly have the asparagus bed done. Sprayed the weeds on the ground with organic herbicide then put down empty compost, manure etc bags then piled on the bought garden soil. Added dolomite, Glebe Gold compost and sheep manure. Few more bags of soil etc and plant the crowns tomorrow.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Luigi Mangione: America’s New John Dillinger? open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...
open.substack.com
Luigi Mangione: America’s New John Dillinger?
Different eras, different villains, same perceived fight for justice?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
🌱 Asparagus bed slowly getting there. Further down the drive, and instead of a pear tree I will plant two roses each side of a rose bow. I have rocks to create a rockery planted with succulents and gerberas in soil sprinkled with some of Mum & Dad’s ashes. Can see from lounge, kitchen windows.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
🌱 Finally over an attack of acid reflux I cleaned out and lenghtened the last of 4 trenches in the middle “column” in my orchard and planted Nicola and Kennebeck potatoes. Looked in the other three trenches—potato leaves showing above the soil in the bottoms of the trenches! /2
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
🌱 Phew, was worried my tomato seedlings weren’t growing and they had to go into the ground sooner or later. But today—very few still showed seed leaves and some growth is evident. Bit of a culture shock, coming from warm temperate to cool temperate.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
🌱 OK, I have nine pots with an asparagus crown in each. 30cm spacing recommended so #1 at 15 cm #2 at 45cm #3 at 75cm #4 at 105cm #5 at 135 cm #6 at 165 cm #7 at 195cm #8 at 225cm #9 at 255cm Other end of bed 270 cm. So about a tad under 3m/9' long bed—doable. Say 70cm wide, 30cm high.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
🌱 Seen a few pics of birds visiting people’s bird bath. There is another critter likes a both—the butterfly. Some butterflies will have a drink and muddy water gives them some nutrients. Needs to be VERY shallow—a long gently sloping rock be good. With AGW this gets more urgent.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
🌱 Going to make a raised bed on the East side of the house—protected from frost by high brick footings. It will be 3m long and be positioned between two pear trees 4m apart. The pear tree roots are going to to absorb a lot of the moisture and fertiliser I will put on the asparagus bed. Comments?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
🌱 We had 20mm rain yesterday so this morning I thought “Better check the potatoes I planted”. Sure enough, the rain had washed the soil cover from quite a few spuds. Will spread sugar cane mulch, get some organic matter into that clay.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Anybody raise ducks for eggs to eat? I can’t find duck eggs in Tassie! Need a pond for ducks I know. Any source for young ducks?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
🌱 Had hoped I would have a large cold frame by now. First set of tomato seedlings I put out in a styrofoam bbox in the sheltered eastern side of the house. Not much growth. So I just converted it into a cold frame by wrapping it in clear plastic held down with bricks etc. Plant in 3 weeks, I hope!
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
🌱 Chooks! After Chrissy/New Year I can likely leave the garden be except for watering. I want chooks! Chickens don’t just produce eggs, they produce the most wonderfully domestic sound: the cluck of a happy hen. A securely netted run to give three–four chooks plenty of room and me 3-4 eggs a day.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
🌱 OK, back to gardening. . . Hope to plant 5 doz seed potatoes tomorrow. Then clean (mow, etc) the front lawn, tidy up the tulip beds and plant sunflowers around them so I know where they are, clear weeds/grass from around apple trees, correa, site and plant 3 more correa. Then. . .
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
NOT strictly 🌱 My rescue staghound cross bitch Socks— RUNNER UP CAT (Coursing Ability Test) for Tasmania 2024! LOOK at her go (earlier this year:)
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
#UkrainianView How is recruitment going? Soldiers on the eastern front must be worn out?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
🌱 Cleaned out the second little trench, added gypsum and blood and bone, planted 24 Nicola potatoes. Decided that next week I will do the final pick of the broadbeans and clear them—and the weed—and prepare to plant sweet corn. A month later—plant 2 runner bean seeds by each corn stalk.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
My right foot hurts like it is broken BUT I cleared out one little trench dug for me, spread gypsum & blood and bone, soil, then a couple dozen Kennebec seed potatoes and covered with more soil. Still need to water it—sometime. 🌱
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
I want 100 Venus Fly Traps. LOTS of flies for them to feast on! Cows, sheep, wallabies, horses, chickens & dogs — fly paradise. Planning bulk Lavenders in three parallel wavy beds with masses of lavender around front and back door.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Have a problem. Got 13 blueberries to plant. Can’t plant in my clay, need a depth of acid soil. Thought of buying some 800mm deep corrugated iron raised beds—$240 each? I guess large, high pots will do, potting mix then acid “Azalea potting mix” for the top 200mm. Lot of potting mix.
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
🌱 Picked some more broadbeans. After podding I had 412g/14.5oz of lovely small, tender beans. Half into a risotto today, other half is headed for the freezer. Pollination rate seems much lower than in Adelaide. Maybe the crap clay ‘soil’ is low in potassium?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
🌱 Oh dear oh dear. Decided to plant my Goliath black currant today. Had already started the hole. I have said my soil is clay (lot of gravel in it by the front fence) but have I said there is a layer of yellow clay that looks like rock when dry and does not let water drain away?
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
🌱 First—and main—broadbean harvest. Lovely small pods and tender young beans. Next year—will plant rows a bit further apart and the soil will be better so a bigger and better harvest. I would have been happy with no real harvest at all, just working that clay that pretends to be soil
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Polanimal @polanimal.bsky.social · 07/11/2024
🌱 Rhubarb’s Lazarus act! Photo 1—first bed completed—one row of rhubarb. After the Lazarus act by many crowns— Photo 2, new enlarged (Queen size? Not in this republican forum!)
Single raised bed, wheelbarrow in front having tipped in the last lot of soil.Bed widened after many crowns pulled a Lazarus act and came back to life plus some extras I had bought for another row—ended up with TWO extra rows!
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