Black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) as aquaponic feed..

Have converted the old barrel worm farm into a black soldier fly farm over the past month or so & found our first batch of harvested larvae yesterday morning.. Was a bit concerned when the fish didn't gobble them up straight away but really didn't need to worry.. Think they just needed to acquire a taste for them..
The farm isn't going quite as planned at the moment & will post a clip once some adjustments have been made....



Have a great one all..
:D»

Molasses based fertiliser using seaweed emulsion or worm "juice"/castings tea..

We have seen some great growth lately after applying molasses based liquid fertilisers so thought I would share how we have been mixing it up.. Will be moving onto a worn "juice"/wee & worm casting tea once the seaweed emulsion runs out..



Have a great one all..
: )»

Aquaponic nutrient & pH testing..

Time to test the nutrient & pH levels in the aquaponic system so thought I would show you how I do it..

Also gives a quick VERY basic explanation on the nitrification cycle..

For more regular updates about the patch come visit us at https://www.facebook.com/Bitsouttheback
Have a great one All...
:D»

End of October Update, Seedlings & spice..

Well we have just finished a 2 week holiday of sorts with Bianca having a few weeks off.. I feel like we got a load done around the house as well as the patch..

Aquaponics..
Well, WE GOT POWER!!!
**does a little happy dance**
The day after the last blog we got power connected to a post in the aquaponic area..This has made the whole yard a lot tidier with less cords & hoses laid out everywhere..

No longer do I have to connect 2 together to water the beds behind the chook house & blueberry in the back corner.. The hose can also reach the mulberry tree up at the side of the house..

Another jobbie that has been sorted is the backup air pump for the aquaponics for when/if the power fails..

This has given us some peice of mind but would still like to refine it further if I can scrounge some parts.. To start with, a solar charger for the battery would be great.. Would also like to try to run the 12v pump via a inverter & UPS set up but that is still being researched..

Had a bit of a scare with nutriment readings from the system this week.. The pH has dropped to 5.6, ammonia is steady at 0.5ppm with nitrites trace... The big shock was the nitrates that have spiked to above 80ppm (hard to tell for sure as I have lost the card that goes with the kit).. A few of the plants had started to yellow off a bit so I dosed the system up with some iron & upped the feed for a few days but I think it may be the acid conditions causing the yellowing off.. I posted an enquiry on my Backyard aquaponic forum thread & have been told it's not as bad as I thought but should be addressed ASAP... Slacked lime (also known as hydrated lime, brickies lime, Calcium hydroxide) was also suggested as a quick way to bring it up & an option I was considering, Thanks RupertofOZ.. I  decided to add some shell grit to buffer/raise the pH as we already had a bag under the house that we use to supplement the chooks diet.. My mistake there was to tie a insect exclusion bag to the water inflow tap on a grow bed so the water could flow directly over the grit..

After some fish solids had collected it made the bag less water permeable & the bag swelled up over the side of the bed under the pressure..

The water had to go somewhere so it  started to  overflow down into a tray of pepino cuttings underneath.. At least all was not waisted &I think they all loved a good drink of fishy water..

I decided that having the water flow through the bags wasn't necessary so just tied them off & placed them in the clay directly under the taps..

I think we lost ½ the sump, about 300L, over night so that shall be replaced on Friday.. I will hold off adjusting with slacked lime until the system is topped up just to see if the the fresh water (which I know is alkaline here) will help raise the pH..



Community gardens...
Have been visiting the local community garden as much as we can on the weekends.. I am really loving the social aspect as well as learning about different plants, skills sets & ideas others have to share.. Just to give you some idea of what the garden looks like I have done a small walk around clip...

 Hopefully a full clip behind the ideas of the garden & the future plans will be made in the near future..
Last week we were lucky enough to have a tall raised garden bed donated & installed by the local Bunnings store..

It was great that not only did they supply the bed, help to assemble it but also provided the gravel, soil, mulch & plants needed to get it all up & growing..

I think these raised beds are a great idea especially in a community garden.. Members of the community that have back & other mobility issues will now have somewhere where they can comfortably garden & help out.. If we could get a few more of these beds set up we may be able to encourage a few more people to participate in the garden & maybe decide to have a go at growing their own food at home..

Turmeric..
Thought we may have lost the turmeric that we left in the ground over winter so we planted out a few more corms..

We didn't need to worry it appears as the plants in the IBC beds have all survived & sent up new shoots..

Seeds & seedlings...
16th October (missed from last post)
1 row Bulls Blood Beetroot (BOGI) into bed #1
1 row of Dragon Carrots (Eden Seeds) into bed #5..
18th October
7 Passion fruit Giant Granadilla (BOGI) into 2 pots
(These are the largest of the passion fruit family with fruit up to 40cm in length)
 2 lots of Mini Lee watermelon seeds (BOGI) into IBC Wicking beds near the AP & house..
22nd October
3 x red tomatillo seedlings into bed #1
3 x purple tomatillo seedlings into bed #2
24th October
Planted a few of the trees we got from the BOGI fair into larger post & installed Wetpots into them I did a little clip explaining what Wetpots are & how they are installed..

I think the plants will be very happy here over summer until we finish the design for the front yard where they will be planted out..

28th October
3 x turmeric corms into pots
9 x asparagus seedlings (THANKS Tammy) into 2 pots, added to Wetpot system
3 x Opal/Sweet basil mix into bed #2
1 x Thai Basil into spice bed behind aquaponics
1 x Yakon into wicking barrel at the end of bed #3
Potted up the following seedlings that had been sitting in the trays..
1 x Yellow 7 chilli
5 x Bih Jolokia chilli
5 x Jalapeno chilli
8 x Udumalapet eggplant

30th October
1 x Blueberry bush (BOGI Fair) into Wicking barrel..



That's about it for now... Will do a harvest update for the past month when I can scrounge some time..
Have a great one all..

: )»

Better late than never.. A quick catch up for October..

Decided that my scratchings in the note book really aren't a great way of keeping tabs on what is happening in the patch so have once again made a vow to myself to keep this blog up to date so I can keep track of any mistakes & successes we have in the patch while sharing it with the world, umm, a few others as well.. I might even learn a thing or two which would be nice..

Catching up on the patch...
I think the easiest way to bring you up to date is via a quick walk through of the veggie patch & aquaponic system.. I tend to do a garden walk through one week & an aquaponic one the next... I have posted the latest of each here for anyone interested..
The aquaponic one is up to date as it was filmed late last week..

We are expecting to have the sparky turn up first thing in the morning so by lunch time the aquaponics should be right to plug into its very own power source..

This garden clip was shot on the 5th of October... A new garden walk through will be shot later this week..

I always find it interesting to see the growth in the plants from fortnight to fortnight.. Some plants like the zucchini & pumpkins just grow so fast.. 

Seeds & seedlings...
A fair bit has been planted out over the past few weeks...

The list of seeds that we have been sown out were being listed in the "Planting Diary" but now I shall be listing them on the weekly blog posts instead..
Seedlings...
On the 13th of October we planted out...........
3x bush beans (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Bed#4
1x bush bean (Ipswich Twilight markets) into aquaponic bed
3x Bulls Horn Capsicum (saved seed) into Bed#1
3x capsicum (Diggers 7 colour mix) into Bed#1
2x capsicum (Diggers 7 colour mix) into Bed#2
3x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into IBC wicking beds (Aquaponics area)
1x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Aquaponic constant flow bed
2x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Bed #4
1 nasturtium (Ipswich Twilight markets) was planted into each of the following beds,spice wicking bed (aquaponics area), spice IBC (behind chook house), pumpkin IBC & under the Kaffir Lime tree..

Seeds...
Today (16th October) saw us planting out a few seeds..
4 lots of seed were planted into coco peat pellets (thanks again Watsamadoing),
7x Purple Vienna Kohlrabi (Eden Seeds)
7x Osaka Purple Mustard Greens (BOGI)**
7x Tall Utah Celery (BOGI)
7x bok choi (BOGI)

**(BOGI = Brisbane Organic Growers Inc)


Garden Pond...
About a month & a half ago we decided to plant some water chestnuts into a bucket & keep it in a bathtub pond under the lemon tree at the back of the patch.. Probably wasn't the best idea in hindsight.. The pond had 8 White Cloud Minnows in it when the bucket went in but we quickly noticed a fair amount of leachate coming from it as well as finding a few deceased fish :(» The bucket was quickly removed as were the fish into a fish tank & the whole pond got a good cleaning from top to bottom.. The fish were quickly returned without the chestnut bucket & appeared to be doing rather well.. Well, they were that is until a White Faced heron decided to snack on 2 more.. We don't know for sure that it did but it was seen taking off, rather awkwardly, from the vicinity.. That left us with 3 minnows & little hope of their survival, until the other day that is......

We are rather pleased with this result & were surprised by finding even more over the past few days...

I suppose that's about it for now... Shall be back early next week with another planting update as well as any other interesting Bits from Out the Back...
Have a great one..
Rob...
: )»