Friday, October 21, 2011

Catch up time...

Have been doing a few small bits & pieces around the patch since I last posted...

Wicking Bathtub...
An old bathtub came up for offer on Freecycle  a few weeks back so we grabbed it to try turning it into a Wicking Bed...


 I wanted to set the bed up as a Thai curry bed but as we have enough Chillies already for what we need a Capsicum was planted in there instead...

 Seeding & planting update...
The morning the Bathtub bed was made we went to the local markets & purchased,
2 x Thai Mint, 1x Giant Capsicum & a Calendula seedlings... They were fairly advanced & very healthy looking so a bargain for $4 all up (if memory serves me right)... 1 of the Basils along with the Capsicum went into the Bath along with the volunteer Lemongrass we had growing in a pot...

Last Sunday (16th Oct) Bianca & I potted up all the seedlings that were advanced enough into 10cm (4inch) pots to allow their roots to develop a bit more & for us to make space around the place or find new homes for the leftovers... We now have the below thriving quite happily in their new pots,
Eggplant, Long Thai Purple  x 6
Eggplant, Udumalapet x1
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca x 2
Tomato, Black Russian x 6
Tomato, Brandywine Pink x 6
Cucumber, Mini White x 3
Rockmelon, Minnesota Midget x3
 The remaining Mini white Cucumbers & Minnesota Midget Rockmelons (3 each) went into 2 different barrels with cadges on them.. The Cucumbers should vine up alright & it will be interesting to see how the Melons will go...
B☼ also planted another 4 Amish Paste Tomato Seeds as we are really enjoying the ones we have already eaten fresh & turned into sauces.. The plants in the lime beds just are not doing as well as they could so we are going to try them in a Wicking bed where they will have constant water & see how they go.. Just need to find the room now... 

Aquaponics...

Not a lot has been happening with the IBC system other than the occasional Yabbie shedding its exoskeleton &n an influx of Mozzie wrigglers.. Some of them were taken care of quickly today after we introduced about 30 Firetail Gudgeon feeder fish into the Sump Tank... The Yabbies were put in there a few weeks ago & the Goldies from the house were put into the Barrel system along with the Pacific Blue Eyes we had in the Barrel pond in the patch... The Barrel system has still only got a trace reading of Ammonia & no readings that I can see for Nitrite or Nitrates... The tank is being supplemented with Seasol as well as Chelated Iron while the pH is above 8 as high pH locks out Iron which can appear as a yellowing of the leaves like a nitrogen deficiency...
I have been collecting bits for the plumbing work & think most of what is need has been found as well as buying a 2500LPH back up pump that is running during the day at the moment... 
Did a bit of rearranging of the AP site today & will be trying to knock off the rest of the set up in the next few weeks...


Potato update...


We have had a few problems with a Spotted Potato Ladybug infestation in the Kipfler drum... They are on all of the plants but really hooked into the barrel plants.. We started to spray all the plants with Neem & these are the only specimens I could find today but from the 

shot on the Left you can see the difference between the 2 plants...
I think we may just harvest the Barrel this weekend if the plant dies back to much... The Kipflers on the right in the shot have been left alone for now so we will be keeping the Neem up to them until harvest time...




A little Carrot experiment....


Mmmmmm.... Well, I did try to save to poor little feller...
The results can be seen at the start of the clip below.. : (»

Garden Walk through...


Tried to cram in as much as I could but still miss a fair bit out... The Patch just keeps growing which I can't really complain about..

New project....
Here is a sneak peek of a new project we will be starting today or on the weekend...

Going to be fun, messy but Fun....

Have a great one all....
: )»

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Seed tray, Seedlings & Strawberry wall update...

Even though it has been a while since the last post a bit has been going on out the back...
But first, a quick update on the Rust & pest problem from the last Blog post... The beans were removed & disposed of in the garbage in an attempt to get rid of as much infected matter as possible... The garden was then sprayed on the 17th of September with Neem... The White Cabbage Butterfly caterpillar & Colorado Potato beetle populations have nearly disappeared completely so I am very chuffed with that.. I was contemplating purchasing some Dipel powder for the caterpillars as it will be needed for the Aquaponic system as it is Fish friendly but that can wait until the beds are all set up..


Spring sowing's...
Seeds...
Since the last post a few seeds & a couple of seedlings have gone in...
Bean, Black seeded Snake, Madagascar/tropical Lima
Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
Mangelwurzel 
Beetroot Early Wonder
Cucumber, Muncher Burpless, Lebanese, Mini White
Corn, Baby Pop
Rainbow Chard
Eggplant, Thai, Udumalapet, Large White 
Cumin
Tomato, Black Russian, Brandywine Pink
Rockmelon, Minnesota Midget
Cos lettuce & Unidentified Lettuce seedlings from mum
Seedlings
Mixed Capsicum
Transplanted unidentified volunteer Brassicas  x 2 Bed #2
Transplanted Red salad & Brown onions into Bed's # 1 & 2 form various beds in the patch...
Transplanted the Broad Ripple Yellow currant & Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato seedlings from the Lime Bed into newly prepared Wicking Barrels with cages...

Still waiting for most to sprout & most from the previous batch are yet to sprout but here is a quick look anyway...

Strawberry wall...
As the remaining Strawberry barrel was cleared out to make way for some Tomatoes so what was left was put into the Strawberry wall... Was a bit of a squeeze to get them in but they're all in there now... What surprised us the most was finding 2 small plants that look like they have sprouted from seed...
 Left is a shot before the other plants from the barrel went in... There is a quick look at what they look like now in the clip above..



 
Happy Harvests... 
We are still harvesting the last of the Carrots from the Bath tub bed along with Kohlrabi & Spring onions for coleslaw a few times a week... The last of the Beetroot& Purple Cauli's were harvested for a nice Roast Lamb lunch with guests on Sunday... They all went down a treat...
Still getting heaps of tomatoes from the volunteer plants around the yard & the Mangles that had all their sick looking leaves trimmed off are now providing us with some lovely fresh greens...
Most of the tomatoes on the Right are now a very tasty tomato paste in  the Freezer...


Have a great one all....
: )»


Wicking Barrel Modifications....

Wicking Barrel MK II
Have come up with what I think is a better way to set up the reservoir section of the barrels so they will hold more water using the ag pipe...

I am going to trial the new barrel set up by growing 5 different types of heirloom Tomatoes as I have found them to be a very thirst plant once they reach about 4 foot in height...
Have a great one...


 Have a good one...
: )»