I know there's always something to do in the garden but seeing as it feels like we're starting from scratch (even though we're not starting from scratch we're restarting from stopped) it currently feels like an insurmountable task list that will never end added to the other insurmountable task lists that will never end for the rest of my life. Adulting amirite. Like the day I started putting down pavers for the aquaponics. It involved scraping an area larger than a single paver as flat as I could with this random piece of plank I found lying around (we have a ridiculous amount of junk in the garden, some of it is ours and some of it seems to have been buried by previous occupants, this one was ours, and I did eventually find a more reasonably sized piece of plank to use), stomping all over it as though my weight would be enough to compact it properly (near enough is good enough!), placing the paver, adjusting the paver, checking with a spirit level to make sure it was flat, adding or removing dirt under whichever side needed it, checking again, rinse repeat, stomping on paver to make sure it was stable and that the dirt underneath was properly compacted (with the added weight of the paver I should definitely be able to compress the ground!), checking again to make sure it was still level, rinse repeat until level. Then go get the next one (the first two I took from the neighbouring raised bed, the next one I had to go one raised bed over as the other neighbouring raised bed had a tyre on top and I wasn't quite strong enough to pull it out from under the tyre), make sure it's level with the first paver, and then do all the stuff I just did with the first paver with the second one, and then check to make sure it's both level with the first paver and also level. Iterare ad nauseam. _{the pavers were in the raised beds to protect them from the chickens when they had the run of the entire yard} It took me most of the day just to get six down.

![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/six-concrete-slabs-laid_hu_1b5aca132ede0225.avif) Mum said that I was very slow and that she wouldn't hire me XD J went around to all the other raised beds and brought the pavers to the aquaponics area to make things slightly easier for me. And then told me that they needed to move down a little bit -\_- ERGH. He helped with the rest of them and with him doing the heavy lifting of the pavers and me attempting to pick up as much rocks as possible before he dropped slabs where I was working (because unlike me he gave exactly no tosses), we got it done a lot quicker (and by that I mean the equivalent of days rather than months). I also found many worms which were transferred to the sleeper bed. While he said that he thought it was "looking the business" he also said that he didn't think it was necessary. I think he's secretly proud of our efforts too though. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/aquaponics-grow-beds-set-up_hu_f32a87828a2f9581.avif) He'd initially pulled up the wrong part of the path in the cottage garden too. I specifically said while standing pretty much in the exact spot where I took the photo from and very specifically gesticulating to pull up this part of the path as it's the least used section. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/cottage-garden-path-dismantle-01_hu_adf8a11c326daf80.avif) He decided to do this instead. And this was done BEFORE the half removed in the previous pic. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/cottage-garden-path-dismantle-02_hu_b67a8831b347cfea.avif) I guess he'd decided on leaving half of the path for use so hard he completely didn't hear/immediately forgot what I'd told him or something. Told him he better hurry up and get the replacement pavers then seeing as he removed sections of path that are being actively used. _{he temporarily bridged the area to the step with another slab} Apparently the random shoots I was finding everywhere were beans, J transplanted the bigger ones that he could see to the chicken fence. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/transplanted-beans_hu_9c5afad167bddc2d.avif) And there were some mutant tendrils that had been trying to come up under the remaining pond when J drained out the rain water when we needed to move it (pre-paving). ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/mutant-bean-tendrils_hu_ea387f6886cbd3e6.avif) They went to the chookies. _{speaking of those freaking birds they've been getting out again and scratching around the cottage garden beds which they know not to go into when I'm out there supervising and may have destroyed the porch bed, I've since temp patched a hole in the fence that they were getting out of but will need to actually fix it} The insect garden is going much, much better than the chicken forage patch (of which it looks like a couple of things came up, I don't know if a chicken is somehow getting in there to eat things or if something else is getting them or if I really need to clean up that bed as I noticed there were more rocks in it than I thought). ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/insect-flower-patch_hu_1ceae51fcfa35c9d.avif) I'll likely keep trying the chicken forage mix before I decide whether it's the actual seeds or that batch (two different seed packets, same batch, I accidentally opened the second one forgetting I hadn't finished the first one and there's a lot left over in both) over time (the next recommended planting time is spring), meanwhile I'm planning on adding nasturtium and sweet potato to the chicken area to see if they can outgrow the chickens' insatiable appetites. The droopy Correa reflexa picked back up and the other Correa reflexa put out all the flowers despite its diminutive stature.

young Correa reflexa plant newly recovered from being droopy

![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/correa-02_hu_2df6fbba5b8eb451.avif) Their flowers are so cute! Meanwhile more of those Acanthuses have been popping up, I moved a crop of them and then found even more later. I think some of them have gone under the fence or are coming from under the fence as I could not locate the rhizome as I was digging. I found out the hard way (not sure how else you find these things out) that a section of the porch and wall beds flood when it rains (we had to pull off gutters some years ago as they rusted through probably because we never got around to cleaning them and J has been steadfastly refusing to replace them because "there's no point" because of the shade trees so I guess the intent is to continue never cleaning them if we got new ones) which would explain why the lobelias in those sections died and the Hypoestes next to one of them had rotted away. A mini one had grown out of the corpse so that (and the corpse because they were kind of in the same spot and separating them felt like too much hard work and too delicate an operation) also got moved to the tree bed where it's been thriving. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/happier-hypoestes_hu_52267788d73813f6.avif) The rains have been in so we've been doing a lot less out there, the ground can take a few days to dry out and I'm the biggest wuss when it comes to wet and cold. I really should be using the time to work through the cupboardful of mending that's been building up over the years. Apparently after my newly rejigged schedule had settled in AND I had finally caught up with a big backlog of paid-work-related work (the kind of thing where you do more work now to reduce it later) I decided that it was a great time for a new hobby. ![](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/quilted-heart_hu_ff3af2d22d7abc5d.avif) So I've been doing that instead and there is a non-zero chance that it may get its own set of long posts one day (I currently do the occasional snap about it). ## plans - ▶️ plant bee garden (lavender bush, first round of ~~chicken foraging mix and~~ beneficial insect mix, leave a spot for birdbath) - ⬜ move beehive and birdbath (which is primarily easy water source for the bees) into bee garden - ⬜ replant birdbath pockets - ▶️ relocate and set up aquaponics properly - ✔️ ~~pavers underneath~~ - ▶️ two ponds need replacing and we might be getting another one - ⬜ pvc pipes - ⬜ butterfly koi (3-5) - ⬜ shubunkin (5-20 apparently) - ✔️ ~~which may require moving the one we've already positioned under one of the other beds as the pending ones are bigger~~ - wash all the grow bed media and replace as apparently we're doing that instead of buying more - ⬜ transplant not-sunflowers to chicken area - ⬜ transplant nasturtiums to chicken area - ⬜ trans/plant sweet potato to chicken area - ⬜ transplant aloe to pots or fence bed - ⬜ dig out tree stumps - ⬜ attempt to transplant the apparently immortal Crapemyrtle to where the bigger tree stump was - ⬜ make seed mix out of creeping thyme, kidney weed and white star creeper and go ham - ⬜ separate Easter lilies, replant big bulbs and whatever smaller bulbs will fit, cure some small bulbs for friend that requested some - ⬜ dig up whatever the hell is coming up in the tree bed and transplant to Easter lily patch - ⬜ replace all ice cream containers and buckets with bird bath dishes - ⬜ season shuffle the seed packets ### side quests - ⬜ desktop aquaponics - ⬜ Youngest's old fish tank setup - ⬜ really small dwc raft or materials to make one OR modified planter for constant flow system as suggested by J - ⬜ betta - ⬜ see where neighbour got shrimp and snails from or if they have a population excess to rehome https://images.hive.blog/DQmRMSEoEL4KXz3NQpvhrprX7WRwMtPizFSWVN41Nx933ys/hiveaustralia-banner-ryivhnn.png This post also appears on [my blog](https://technonaturalist.net/blog/2026/06/heavy-lifting/). - [I want it now!](https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@ryivhnn/i-want-it-now) - [floral experiment #2 and more hare-brained schemes](https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@ryivhnn/floral-experiment-2-and-more-hare-brained-schemes) - [hare-brained schemes](https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@ryivhnn/hare-brained-schemes) - [chicken herding](https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@ryivhnn/hare-brained-schemes) - [floral experiments #01](https://peakd.com/hive-140635/@ryivhnn/floral-experiments-01) Want a [cameo character](https://peakd.com/ccc/ryivhnn/aer-cameos)? If you interact frequently with me here (either on my posts or your posts or better yet both!) or on one of the linked Discord channels, all you have to do is let me know and tell me what you'd like :) [Everything you need to know is (probably) here](https://technonaturalist.net/how-get-aer-cameo-character) and if it isn't just ask (link goes offsite to my blog). Thanks for looking! ^_^ Fun Discord servers: [Hive Australia](https://discord.gg/HdrMEwBSm8) | [Be Awesome](https://discord.gg/8uNEEEH) | [artbees](https://discord.gg/CvUP9X3) | [OnChainArt](https://discord.gg/USRSfVPeJ9) https://technonaturalist.net/sites/default/files/styles/sensible_display/public/art/2017/11/goatsig-t.png?itok=Ml3FDq7c -={ [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/ryivhnn) }=-

Heavy workout