Good use of new bankies

Today can be summarized in one sentence, plumbing, weeding, planting and talking.

We hadn’t seen the staff for a while so Ellie needed some catching up with the happenings at the reserve. We were impressed that the new garden at the parking area was nicely weeded, the grass in and around the nursery was impeccably mown and they were busy doing the edges of the path from the office to the Fovs room!

My first order of duty was the fixing of the broken sprinklers and also to add stopcocks to the sprinklers on the platform so we only use them when working for water store their trees there. These days I’m making sure that the risers are protected by a decent creosoted pole so hopefully the mower will keep a respetful distance.

After that it was the usual effort to move sufficient plants out of the shade house to the general nursery to make space for Ellie’s endless supply of new plantings and pottings. We found a good place for most of the Cussonia and Podocarpus. Weeding remains a problem as no sooner has one finished the one end of the shade house or one has to start over at the beginning. One can notice though that autumn is here and the Proteas are getting a growth spurt.

Before going home I had a quick look at the inlet for the Tilapia dam and had a nice surprise when I found this little feller.

The African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa)

Amazing little creature as unlike a tortoise it does not retract its head but swivels it sideways and tucks it under.