Thursday, September 15, 2011

Neem V's Rust, Powdery mildew & pests...

Bean rust & Powdery mildew...
   Rust & Powdery mildew have both present in the patch for a while now but due to the growing size & variety of plants that can/have been affected in the patch I think it is time to get serious with the control of these diseases...  To be honest I have been slack in my research to find control methods that will work against these diseases in the past...

   Rust (Left) was only dealt with once became obvious... Infected leaves were picked off or if the plant was to infected, the whole plant was pulled... 
   Plants infected with Powder mildew (Below) were sprayed with a 1:10 Full cream milk & water mix once the infection had set in with virtually no change in the infection or is spread... Others swear by it's use & say it works great for them but I think our more humid conditions here create an environment where the mildew thrives once it has infected a host... The other spray I used was a commercial Neem oil spray that contains a wetting agent... I had searched & found that Neem was successful in controlling both the mildew & the rust so have sprayed both with a 1:10 solution of Neem oil to water with slightly better results of the milk but ended up resorting to pulling leaves that were infected the most in the hope of the plants bouncing back...
    I have decided to read more than brief snippets gleaned from Google searches & came across "Neem: A tree for solving global problems"... It appears that I have been using Neem the wrong way.. After reading pages 53 & 56  I found that it should be used as a preventative on the plants... Neem works best when sprayed onto the plants before an outbreak occurs as it has little to no effect on the infections once they have settled in... As a result of this newly discovered information I cleaned out the beans & will be spraying the pruned back Lemongrass along with the rest of the patch to try to reduce the risk of these diseases reoccurring in the patch...
The next lot of  Beans going in are Snake Beans which are said to be very resistant to Rust so they will be planted directly into the beds this weekend...
Pests...
Another benefit to Neem is its insecticidal properties... In the past when we have had a regular spraying regime in the patch we noticed a dramatic drop in White butterfly caterpillars (Left) on the Brassicas, Thrips on the Eggplants & Colorado Potato beetle (Right) on the Cape Gooseberries after spraying the plants directly...We were slack over winter but will be spraying the patch every weekend for the next few weeks then fortnightly after that...
  Neem is a plant that has many useful properties & has been used in India & surrounding countries for thousands of years... A great site with useful information is Discover Neem.... We have made up our own Head lice hair conditioner for the kids & have used Neem based toiletries for a few years now & have found them to be great...

Have a great one all...
: )»

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Worms & Spuds...

Sad Worms...
Had to save some of the worms yesterday (Monday).... I had filled the top tray of the worm farm with horse manure that I had mixed some Blood 'n' Bone that contained added fertiliser without realising that they are not really fond of the B&B/Fertiliser... A few had become emaciated & passed on unfortunately  : (»
  I emptied out the tray onto the soil heap then put in some Mangle that had been put through the food processor as an attempted apology to the others... The worms that were rescued from the tray were put into a barrel full of fresh screened manure with no added extras to see how they will go... Hopefully they will thrive in there & I will be able to use the other barrels in the same way to boost worm & casting production... I would like to have a whole section in the proposed soil/compost bays just for manure composting with worms so as to reduce the feed bill for the Fish in the Aquaponics set up but that is a few jobs down the list at the moment...

Bags of Spuds...
Planted out the remaining Dutch Cream seed Potatoes yesterday into bags... I used a different blend this time as I think the Coir blend didn't hold enough moisture.. This batch was made up of reclaimed spoil from the garden, Mushroom compost & some of the "Safe Fertiliser" CBM Mix to give it all a bit of a boost..

Garden Preparations...
Will be setting up some more "hoops" in the garden for the shade cloth as it will have to be modified a bit to include the Aquaponic system... It will be a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle : D»
I think we will have enough cloth so that will please the wallet me thinks...

Have a great one...
: )»

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Spring time fun & Jobbies.....

Had a great weekend in the yard doing some jobbies, socialising with ADULTS & playing with a family heirloom that has been "lent" to me...

BBQ, Good Friends & Spuds...
   My farther has passed on custodianship of the family BBQ to us...  He built this BBQ for APEX outings before I was born (40 or a few less years ago) & it is still going strong with a few minor alterations like the tin side panels being replaced with Stainless steel & some Aluminium covers to keep the plate clean when stored & not in use... It had been out of service for the past 10 or so years as family gatherings had migrated to other relatives places so it needed a bit of TLC... The plate needed a bit of a touch to remove a bit of rust build up as well as replacing the regulator & lines just to be on the safe side... Not as flash as a newer model but we know it will last another 40 or so years if looked after.. I like that we can remove the burners & use them to boil the presure cooker (when we get one) for canning our produce in the near future...
    We got to use it for the first time on Saturday when we had friends visit for a bit of socialising...
   Was a great day & got a bit of help in the yard... We needed to harvest the 4 potato bags from around the side of the house as the stalks were all dying back so the young kids all got a go at digging through the soil to see what they could find... Wasn't the best yield but we are still learning with spuds... I think the mix we used was to free draining & it was a struggle to keep the water up to them...
    Also got a bit of a hand with the framework to finish off the AP site... Can set the fish tank & other grow beds up now... Thanks Guys & Girl's...
 

Fertilisers...
   We bought a couple of bags of fertiliser last week from Safe Fertilisers as we are starting to run low on the rock dust & have a few beds/barrels that need to be revitalised before they are plated out.. The last batch we got was an all rock dust blend but decided to try a "BFA Certified"  "Enviro Blend" this time..
CBM
Chicken manure, blood & bone, and minerals. This 100% organic blend provides the full
spectrum of macro and micro elements.

N 2%,  P 2%, K 0.4%, S 2000ppm, Ca 8%, Mg 2%,  Fe 1.4ppm, Mn 370ppm,  B250ppm,  
Cu 55ppm, Zn 120ppm, Co 10ppm, Mo 40ppm, Se 3ppm, C 20%, Si 5%
Not the most pleasant smelling blend but should help kick things on a bit... Will still be using the horse manure & worm castings as added organic matter to the beds/barrels, this is just to help add a few nutrients that were used up in the last crop or just not there...
The main crop of Beetroot is not preforming as well as the others planted out at the same time & it was suggested to us that it could be a boron deficiency so they will get a nice top dress of fertiliser too...

Harvesting & Planting out...
Have been picking a fair of  Kohlrabi, Carrots, Spring Onion & Mangle to turn into coleslaw lately & it has become a bit of a favourite... 4 bas of potatoes were also harvested (see picture above) as well as the garlic that is in the clip below... The stems went a bit soft on some & others had already dried out but were missed amongst the Onions so we though it best to harvest the lot..
The Silverbeet/Chard & other leafy greens are still being used to supplement the chooks diet.. They now look forward to their morning/evening treats & come running as soon as they see us in the patch...
    Below is a list of what was planted out last night to take advantage of the full moon...
Carrots, a  mix of Nantes (Johnsons seeds- organic) & Dragon (Eden seeds) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Carrots, Mini Round (Diggers seed) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Carrots, Heirloom mixed (Diggers seed ??) x 2 rows in Bed #1
Tomato, Broad Ripple Yellow currant (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed...
Tomato, Wapsipinicon Peach (Diggers ??) in Lime Tree bed...
All but the Nantes & Dragon Carrots were from the gift we received from from our You Tube gardener friend Watsamadoing last week... Thanks again :D»

Garden walk through Clip...
Bit of what was said above & other natterings...

Weather...
It will start to heat up here a bit by the weekend we are told, hitting about 29°C by Friday, so we are thinking about putting up some of the shade structure to try & stop some of the Broccoli from premature bolting... Will be trying to incorporate the mesh we got to try & keep the White Cabbage Moth/Butterflies from getting to the Brassicas & depositing their eggs...




Have a great one all...
: )»



Monday, September 12, 2011

Aquaponic update...

Aquaponic update...

The sump tank/grow bed have been set up now...  The clay balls were all washed & a failure on the shroud around the bell siphon was fixed...




The site where the fish tank is going has been set up ready for the tank & the grow bed frames to be installed... Had a friend give me a hand on the weekend with the box... Thanks Mark.. The pump is in but is a bit to powerful to just run 1 bed so will have to wait until the rest of the grow beds & fish tank are on line I think... Power to the site is delivered through an extension cord to the pump & a water proof connection box is used keep it all safe... A bucket is also placed over the top to make certain no water gets in...






The barrel system is still lacking nutrients so we hope to get the Goldfish from the house into there as soon as I can get the IBC system plumbed up so the Yabbies can be added to it...  It's just a matter of finding the $$ now for the plumbing fittings... I have also been told that we should have permanent power to the site within a month...
                        **Crosses fingers & toes**


Have a great one & take it easy all...
: )»

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Gift of Seeds !!!!

THANK YOU !!!!!
Yesterday I got a little package From a fellow Aussie You Tube gardener & was blown away by by what it contained...
All the seeds are from Diggers...
Tomatoes...
Tommytoe Red
Powers Heirloom 30th Anniversary
Brandywine Pink
Wapsipinicon Peach
Yellow Pear
Broad Ripple Yellow Currant
Black Russian
The other seeds we received were,
Hunter Valley White Onion
Heirloom Carrot mix...
Also in the package was a "Baby Vegetable Collection" which includes,
Beetroot, Mini Gourmet
Carrots, Mini Round
Cauliflower, Mini
Cucumber, Mini White
Rockmelon,  Minnesota Midget
Corn, Baby Pop    (This was a big surprise as we were just talking about buying some Pop Corn seeds on Monday...)
She has put a lot of effort into this & has even used some little envelopes that she has made up herself when splitting the seeds up... The packets include all the info needed to plant out & must of taken quite a while to do... I am so greatful...Have got a few already picked out to go in this weekend but will need to get a few more wicking barrels ready for others...
***Does a big HAPPY DANCE**
 Thanks so much Watsamadoing.... Your small measly package is on the way & hope they grow well for you...
Her Spring Preparation 2011 Video for your enjoyment...
She lives in South Australia & has a great Channel featuring Gardening,  Hoop/Hot house & Chooks...

Sowing the seeds...
Got busy in the patch owing some seeds in trays & a couple of rows of Carrots to fill some gaps left by the last lot of seed tap that didn't germinate...

 Seeds planted into punnets were,
Zucchini, Lebanese (Mr Fothergill's) x 4
Rockmelon, Hales Best (Mr Fothergill's) x4
Water Melon, Sugar Baby (Mr Fothergill's) x4
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca (Select Organic) x 6
Eggplant, Udumalapet (Eden Seeds) x 6
Eggplant, Large White (Saved seed from Market purchased fruit) x 6
Cumin,  (Eden Seeds) x 6
Capsicum (Bell pepper), Perennial (Eden Seeds) x 6

 Sown/planted into the ground,
Carrot, Nantes 2 (Johnsons Seeds) x HEAPS
Cucumber Marketmore (Eden Seeds) x 2
Cucumber Muncher Burpless (Eden Seeds) x 2
Pumpkin, Kent (green Harvest & Saved seeds) x 2
Turmeric (saved rhizomes) x 2
Galangal (saved rhizomes) x 2
Ginger (saved rhizomes) x 2
Sunflower, Sunbird (Green Harvest) x 12


 Aquaponics...
Have made a bit of headway on the Aquaponic system...The sump has been dug in & the plastic has been painted... The Tin that was riveted to the cage has had the sharp edges covered with pipe to keep the resident OHS inspector happy..
; )»
Looks like I may get to plumb up the grow bed by the end of the weekend... Might even get some gravel & water into the system... Hoping  the Yabbies will be moving in sometime next week...
I hope...
Maybe...
Will be running the system with just the sump & grow bed for a week or so until the fish tank is made up in a few weeks time...
 The Barrel system has stalled on the nutriment side as I just don't think the Yabbies Poop enough  to keep the nutriment load up for the bacteria to process... Have been supplementing the system with water that had been removed due to the high Ammonia & Nitrites in the hope of keeping the bacteria going until the Yabbies get moved & some other Fish can be put in there...

 

Have a great one all...
: )»