A change of direction

So it's been some time since I've had time to write any kind of post. I've changed quite a bit in life since then. I've started a new position which has me working up to 14 hours a day. I commenced studying, but not the Certificate of Horticulture as listed in my previous post, but an actual Bachelor of Horticulture. The technical college offering the Certificate stuffed up my enrollment so I took my business elsewhere.

I've now completed the first semester of the first year, by distance education and part time, so only two subjects - Professional skills in Agriculture and Horticulture (i.e. how to be a Uni student, write assignments, work in groups and basically suck eggs - nothing to do with actual Horticulture) and Botany - now THAT was fascinating.

I know so much more about the plant world now. And I've been applying it in some interesting ways. Just to understand down to the cellular level WHY plants do what they do when they do it; it was like a door opening in my mind, or a slow wave of epiphany. In any case, I will now attempt to start cataloging the knowledge that I picked up and write posts which include it. I've got so many projects going on, that until I nails some of them down I expect posts to be irregular. In any case, I'm pretty excited!

Horticulture, the beginning

I'm finally starting the process of taking this passion of mine from a hobby that I'm fascinated with to something that I can be an expert in. I have enrolled myself in a Certificate II of Horticulture. While it's not the full amount of what I want to learn, it's all I can do right now while working. It's a year long course and will contain many of the units that I will be able to get recognition of prior learning for more advanced qualifications. If I start this course and decide I have capacity for more, I will look to enroll in another qualification.

The grand plan is to complete qualifications in many of the fields I am interested in. Fields such as Production Horticulture, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Aquaculture, Irrigation, Land Conservation and Sustainability and many more. I figure if you love something and have a natural fascination about it, learning about it isn't a chore. At the moment I'm limited to distance education online, but will keep an eye out for new opportunities.

I will hopefully start my course in a week or so, and will put the lessons I learn up in the blog here for your edification or reference.

I can't wait, it's going to be amazing!

Balcony Garden (Day 5): Seed Stocktaking and Composting

So you may be wondering about the Day 1, Day 2 thing. It's not that I'm posting this daily or even that it's a daily record. It's more an order so you know what post occurred when, more like Milestone 1, Milestone 2 etc. But less letters to type. But back to the garden

After all orders were received, and the realisation met that I possibly got too excited and went overboard for a garden the size of my balcony, I've taken stock of my seeds in general and now have devised a better way of storing them to maintain their integrity.

He's the final list (for now):

Basil, Sweet Genovese (Johnsons), Store Bought. I've always had brilliant results from this seed.
Bean, Dwarf Tendergreen (Mr Fothergill's), Store Bought. I have only once planted these and they were attacked by pests.
Bean, Stringless Pioneer (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Beetroot, Cylindra (Diggers)
Broccoli, Green Sprouting (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Capsicum, seeds harvested and stored from a store bought capsicum. I have tried planting these and so far nothing has germinated, I'm beginning to think that the capsicums may have been modified to have infertile seeds.
Carrot, All Year Round (Mr Fothergill's), Store Bought. I only planted them once and was too impatient to wait until fully grown.
Carrot, Atomic Red (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Cauliflower, Mini (Diggers)
Chickpea (Diggers)
Chilli, Hellfire Mix (Diggers)
Coriander, seeds harvested and stored from a store bought plant. The store bought plant didn't do too well, I'm hoping with better conditions, it's descendants will do better.
Corn, Painted Mountain (Diggers). You HAVE to check this one out! It's wild!
Cucumber, Armenian (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Cucumber, Parisian Picking (Diggers)
Eggplant, Heirloom Mix (Diggers)
Lettuce, Italian Lollo Mix X 2 (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Mint, Moroccan (Diggers)
Onion, Barletta (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection. I wouldn't normally buy onion seeds, noting how cheap they are at the markets, but it came with the collection. I will have a look at spring onion seeds though, they're horrendously expensive right now and I have had success with them in the past.
Onion, Creamgold (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Oregano, Greek (Diggers)
Parsley, Moss Curled (Mr Fothergill's), Store Bought. Fairly hardy, I had quite a lot of success companion planting this at the base of my tomatoes, kept the green grubs from eating the tomato leaves, unfortunately was ridiculous work to pick the green grubs from the parsley. I always missed one.
Parsnip, Hollow Crown (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Pea, Greenfeast (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection. My mother has informed me that this is an extremely old variety, if it's the one we used to grow when I was a child, I'm excited to taste it's produce!
Pea, Snow Dwarf (Diggers)
Pea, Sugar Snap (Country Value), Store Bought. Planted once by me and was attacked first by white fly, then by powdery mildew and it was all over rover.
Pea, Telephone (Mr Fothergill's), Store Bought
Pumpkin, Waltham Butternut (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Rosemary, (Diggers)
Silverbeet, Fordhook (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Spinach, English Medania (Country Value), Store Bought. Once planted but attacked by brown birds. Every time a seedling grew, they came and snapped it off, little b*****ds.
Stevia, Sugar Plant (Diggers). This is going to be an interesting experiment. I don't use sugar usually unless in baking, but if I do have sugar at all, it's the Low GI Cane Sugar.
Thyme, (Diggers)
Tomato, Amish Paste (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection
Tomato, Grosse Lisse (Yates), Store Bought. A brilliant performer, in Sydney's mild conditions, I managed to keep one of these alive for over two and a half years, and that included several month long trips!
Tomato, Sweet 100 F1 (Mr Fothergill's), Store Bought. These seedlings always seemed hardy, but I would have to go away for a couple of months and would return to find tiny shrivelled cherry tomatoes on a dead small plant.
Tomato, Tommy Toe (Diggers), 'Budget Breaker' Collection

And of course, with all these seeds, I needed some logical method of storing them (because that's what I do), so that they would be safe from the elements and not unsightly. I briefly considered buying a nice wooden box, but I've bought enough new stuff lately and I wanted to use something that I hadn't really found a use for yet. So I used a plastic set of office drawers. Probably used to store different colours of paper or envelopes or whatever. I found that with five drawers, I could then do the super logical thing and mark each drawer with a quarter of the year (the final drawer being marked "All Year") which would indicate the first months that each seed could be planted. I have now successfully made it so that I will check the next drawer every three months or so and plant whatever I find in there. Takes all the guess-work and packet checking out of the equation. So 01 Jan 15, there I was in the top drawer, pulling out all my different strains of peas and planting away happily. I now just need a bigger garden...

Saving time selecting seeds = more time for planting

Something else that I went ahead and did was repurpose a large (I think it was 80L??) water tank which I had previously purchased for a gravity fed slow drip watering system which I dreamt up to water my garden while I was away for months. Not one of my more successful ideas. If I had more time to tinker with it in between dreaming it up and leaving on my trip maybe I would've gotten it to work, but I didn't, and it didn't. So what the heck was I supposed to do with this big tank (which was fairly expensive)? Well I've tried my hand at making a homemade compost bin. I figured that if people could do the same with wheelie bins, why not a water tank? My garden is going to need a lot of nutrient rich compost to give it every chance of being successful, and I already operated a small worm farm for my food scraps. I started that because I hated smelly, sticky, soggy bins and in apartment living, you have to then dump it down the rubbish chute, which if it's dripping and stinky is just gross. So why not have worms which eat most of the food scraps, produce worm tea for the garden and stop me from having stinky, sticky, soggy bins, which I now don't have to throw out as often either?? Another reason for the home composting is to improve my chances of growing success. My balcony did not come equipped with soil, so I'm relegated to buying it, and although store bought soil is pretty good these days, there are still many things that can be done to improve it (adding compost for example) and I intend to give my plants the maximum chance of success.

Repurposed water tank now used as an experimental compost bin

So I went to work and sawed slits in the corners for air vents (the microbes and worms need oxygen to help break down the compost matter), and drilled holes around the bottom and sides for more oxygen inlets. It already had a tap built into it (water tanks usually do), so I could deal with the worm tea if it was made. But how to get the compost out when I needed it? I had worked out that if I'm throwing the food in the top, all the good decayed and digested compost would be at the bottom, which meant I would have to access it from there.

Oxygen entry points

I popped into Bunnings (my favourite shop) and bought a small pet door, sawed a square opening in the tank, drilled some starter holes for the self screwing screws and installed the pet door upside down on the tank. I did it upside down for two reasons: either way, the weight of the compost would push on the hooks holding the door closed, but right side up I was more likely to have random spillage, and second, when I was taking the compost out to use it, I didn't want to have to hold the door open with one hand while trying to scoop with the other. It's all rather experimental anyway, so we'll see how it goes. 

Does it count as a pet door if the pets coming out of it are worms and microbes?

I started it off with the compost layering principle (brown layer, manure layer, green layer, manure layer, repeat), but now that it's half full I'm just putting the food in the top and will occasionally top it up with manure. I'm using Chicken manure because it's a hot manure, which means it will speed up the decomposition process in the compost bin. I also lay the bin on it's side every two weeks or so and roll it around to increase the oxygenation inside the compost material. For more information on composting, methods to use and also what comprises a brown (carbon) element or a green (nitrogen) element, I found these websites to be extremely helpful:

How to Make Organic Compost: Do It Right (Urban Farm Online). A very basic introduction to organic composting

Composting (eartheasy). Has an excellent list of compostable materials and their properties, also a fantastic load of information about different methods of composting and the theory and practical components of carrying it out
What to/not to feed red worms (Vermicomposters.com). Some nice info if you're interested in having a worm farm at home
Do compostable bags really work? (Mother Nature Network). Information on the improvements of compostable bags to help them break down in the compost pile

As a final couple of points of interest, technically, because I've added the worm farm into the bin (I'm all for reducing waste and reducing unnecessary duplication), what I'm doing here is actually called vermicomposting. They help to quickly break down the larger food stuffs and I have also picked up a microbial spray bottle (Bunnings again) which I now spray on the composting bags to specifically speed up their decomposition. The spray is just a simple liquid infused with the microbes which aid in compost decomposition. The other day I had a bit of a dig around in the bin and pulled up one of the bags for a bit of an inspection. It was no longer soft and malleable, it had become drier, more like paper and was easier to tear, even though It had been buried in moist compost for a week or so. I hope that's a good sign that it's breaking down, otherwise i'm going to be picking bits of bag out of my compost when I use it.

I'll keep updating with info about the compost bags' progress! Drop a comment below if you have any interesting information about composting/vermicomposting, I'd love to hear it.

M xo

Balcony Garden (Day 4): Purchase Order & Planting

It's possible that I got carried away with my orders. I have been surfing the Diggers pages late at night like some people do porn. I can't help it, it's a compulsive addiction. I see all their beautiful pictures of food, plants and other items and I want them. I want them all.

So these are a few of the items that I have purchased that have arrived. My membership to the Diggers club was for several years and they nicely send you out a lovely welcome letter with membership card, plus a few bonuses such as the seeds shown below (Purple Dragon Carrots, Heirloom Tomato Mix and Flander's Poppies). Plus you get a catalogue with all the seeds in it and the latest soft cover magazine (Festive Gardens). I also received as part of the membership, the hardcover Fruit and Vegetable Garden book, which quite frankly was rather similar to the Seed Annual magazine, but with a hardcover and a few more bits of information. 

So I went and did what I always do when I get something new, I played with it, or planted it in this case. I put Flander's Poppies in the big white pot, several carrot seeds in the long black pot, and one single heirloom tomato seed in the green pot. Excited to see what comes of them.

.... Some days later....

Another delivery of items and I got the second half of my original order, which contains a hardcover book The Australian Vegetable Garden by Clive Blazey, my Hellfire Chilli Mix seeds and the Diggers Budget Breaker seed collection. I'm particularly excited about this order arriving. 

The Hellfire chilli seed mix contains a mix of the following:

- Yellow Fataali chillies, ranging from 100,000 - 350,000 on the Scoville scale,

- Habanero chillies, ranging from 100,000 - 350,000 on the Scoville scale,

- Chinese Red Cap Mushroom chillies, ranging from 30,000 - 50,000 on the Scoville scale, and 

- Jalapeno chillies, ranging from 2,500 - 10,000 on the Scoville scale

To give some Scoville scope, the scale ranges from your common capsicums (bell peppers) which rate a zero, to the Carolina Reaper which rates approximately 2,200,000 (correct at the time of this post). But it seems like people keep finding new and hotter chilli varieties semi-regularly, so expect that this may change.

As you can see below, there are quite a few different seed packets within this brown bag of goodness. The Budget Breaker seed collection cost AUD $19.95 and the vendor claims that it can produce over 2 metric tonnes of... well... produce. I plan to put this to the test. I will also do a comparison with heirloom seed varieties and the hybrid varieties that people buy generically in store. I have my suspicions that the heirloom varieties will out perform the hybrids, at least in flavour that is (and that's what it's all about isn't it?), but I will still test it.

And finally, all the seed packets contained within, some of which hold 400 individual seeds. You just can't beat that value, $19.95 for 2 tonnes of produce? I will never understand or accept when people tell me that fresh food is too expensive which is why they feed their children (and themselves) junk food. It's pure laziness and disinterest in their own (and their children's) wellbeing and health. I've proven that you can grown vegetables and fruit on a tiny balcony in Sydney, and although my balcony here in Canberra is four times the size, I still don't accept that people don't have room. My balcony is facing the complete wrong direction for a truly successful garden (I only get afternoon sunlight) as well. 

So come on people, try out a little gardening with me and let me know how you go!

M xo

Balcony Garden (Day 3): The Groundwork ... again

New home, new balcony, new climate, new garden.

I'm so very happy that this new balcony is roughly four times the size of the old one. It's different also because it's approximately west south west facing, so it gets midday and afternoon sun. My last garden got morning and midday sun. I've moved in the last part of spring so am still able to get my spring planting done. Although most people already have green tomatoes on their bushes, my seeds have only just gone in.

After all my grandiose and well thought out plans for my garden, after all that my practical side has won out and I've readjusted my plans. Ideally I wanted my themed garden with exotic edibles and herbs, reality has decided though that this is not going to happen at this point in time. A lot of what i wanted to plant is not yet seasonally available, nor is some of it appropriate for this climate. I figured that I would initially establish my garden with the leftover shop bought seeds (thus not offending my sense of frugality and abhorrence of waste), supplement this with new seeds bought from the Diggers Club, compare the quality while at the same time experimenting with previously unfamiliar crops.

I also decided I would stick to expert advice this time about what plants to sow appropriate to my climate and time of year. I will try recommended methods of planting and propogating, and measure these results against my initial experimental style. I do think that you need to be fearless in gardening, prepared to take a chance and see what happens. But why not establish a baseline first?

With that in mind I have already planted my initial starters for my garden from my store bought seeds. I'm going to order my organic, non-GM (genetically modified) or  GE (genetically engineered), heirloom style seeds from Diggers and plant them when I get them. I will do my best to produce the best crop from each plant and compare the resultant produce. That way I can offer information based on actual first-hand evidence .

My basic garden is set up and the store bought plants I have planted are:
Basil
Beans (Dwarf)
Capsicum
Carrots
Coriander
Parsley
Silverbeet
Spinach
Tomatoes (Cherry)
Tomatoes (Grosse Lisse)

After five days, my basil was sprouting, six days saw the carrots and Silverbeet follow suit and now each day I see more and more seedlings popping up, so I must be doing something right!

Balcony Garden (Day 2): Moving

Always changing, always learning...

I had intended on restarting my balcony garden in my Sydney apartment, in a lovely temperate zone which was quite easy and conducive to growing a garden. In fact, in the half decade that I had lived here, I hadn't had any real issues with frost, which would kill off a lot of my plants. This is how I managed to keep a tomato plant going for over two and a half years! (Even with my random absences)

In any case, life decided that things should be more challenging for me now. Due to a change of work location, I'm moving. To a place which does have frost every year. In fact, to a place that quite often has light snow every year. I'm moving to our nation's capital: Canberra.

What to plant in Australia according to the climate of where you live

I have to say that I'm pretty excited with the challenge. I've had it pretty easy for a long time. Now I have to learn how to grow an annual garden, to time my planting to suit the season, to maybe try my hand at growing a winter garden. It means different crops to what I'm used to, different timings to what I know. But it also means more emphasis on things like crop rotation, soil pH and companion planting. Things I've been pretty lazy about if I'm to be honest.

I also likely have to rethink the plants I'll grow, noting it's not exactly a tropical region, it probably won't support tropical style plants. We'll see what happens though.

I'm going off to plan my garden!

Balcony Garden (Day 1): The Groundwork

Before

This ain't my first rodeo...

That is to say, this isn't my first balcony garden. I had a thriving garden, producing quite a good crop for my kitchen, I was experimenting with growing techniques, watering systems, companion planting, pest control both natural and otherwise. But when you have a job which makes you travel all over the world for prolonged periods of time (I'm not talking weeks, I'm talking about months), your garden will suffer even if you have someone visit occasionally and do something to help it out. No one looks after your garden quite like you. No one will love it in just the way you do. They don't have a personal stake in it, they most likely didn't get their hands dirty putting it together and they weren't there to watch it's first baby steps (so to speak).

Found this little critter buried in the soil of a pot. It's a Cockschafer Grub, can be harmful to your plants by eating their roots

So this time has probably been the longest away from home plate for me. It's been 8 months so far, with a quick two weeks home in the middle of that, and this time I'm only here for a week. But only another two months and I'll be back for at least six months! Bliss. This is why I decided to start prepping my balcony now so it's ready for when I return. How often do you get to have a complete do-over with your garden?

My last garden was an experimental one. Seeds and plants were bought and cultivated at an ad hoc basis, through my desire to have those ingredients, or even a random wander in the gardening section of stores. The problem with that is that you don't know the provenance of the seeds/plants. You don't know what problems that plant will have, what other plants it's been grafted to, or how genetically different it is through commercial manipulation from its original form. This can make for extremely varying results. Some plants may produce brilliant crops, and some may not even produce a single acceptable fruit or vegetable.

After months away,  it's incredibly exciting to reestablish my balcony garden! Although I can't plant or even prep the old soil for use again (trying to be organic-ish and reduce my footprint), I can at least clean, organise and set up a rain water collection system! Love the garden! It's not often you get to have do-overs with your garden, and my balcony garden shows that you can have a vibrant and producing crop in the smallest of places. 

Rain water collection system, situated high enough that I can fit the watering can under the tap - an expexperiment in progress

I've decided to put more thought into the design of this garden. I'll try my hand at growing both Indian and Asian food items noting how much I enjoy cooking and eating the food. Plus I will put some staples in which will complement most foods, with a few luxury items thrown in for kicks. The plan is to get as much as possible from diggers.com.au using heirloom varieties for maximum quality, flavour and the least impurities. Plus I'll be trying to use up all the old seeds from previous purchases or seeds I've harvested or dried myself. 

The initial list (if I can fit them) as it stands is:

Basil Fino Verde, 

Cardamom, 

Tobago Chilli, 

Confetti Coriander, 

Cumin, 

Galangal, 

Garlic, 

Kaffir Lime, 

Lemongrass, 

Lemons, 

Mint, 

Red Spring Onions, 

Tomato, 

Tumeric, 

Coffee, 

Merlot or Cabernet Grapes (haven't decided on a supplier yet) and 

Aloe Vera. 

Also probably Marigolds for their pest repellant properties.

My worm farm / composting system. Result = ultra rich soil to mix with my used soil to rejuvenate it when I return

It took a whole day and into the evening but my balcony is prepped for when I return in a couple of months. You may wonder what took me all day, I mean it's just a small balcony right? 

So here's the prep work that I did:

Cut down all dead plant material (including the tomato plant which had crept across more than half of the balcony railing - hard to see in the before photo)

Pulled all root balls and preserved the soil from them

Loosened all soil in planters, breaking down clumps

Pulled and cleaned all stakes and propping structures

Cleaned the water tank inside and out

Swept, scrubbed and sanitised the tiles in quarters so I didn't have to move planters inside

Cleaned the railing

Cleaned and sanitised all empty pots

Cleaned the outside of my composting system

Cleaned all tools and bags/pots/bottles of product

Built a set of shelves

Built a rain water catchment system

Disposed of all rubbish and cuttings

Unfortunately I can't do much more than that unitl I return in two months.  But it's a start.

After

An Introduction to how my garden grows...

So truth time... I didn't really get into gardening until I moved to Sydney about half a decade ago. Everything before that had been half hearted at best and didn't last long. I moved into my inner West apartment and happily bought my food from the supermarket like every other mindless automaton until a couple of things happened in close succession. I bought several packets of herbs which all went off before I could use any of them (about $45 straight into the bin, such terrible wastage, which was completely contrary to my upbringing), and I had a dream about the tomatoes that my father grows in his garden that I used to eat when I was younger. Not those hard and rubbery, tasteless watery pouches that are coloured an unnatural red, that supermarkets attempt to pass off as tomatoes. No.  Not those.

I was eating one from a bucket just after it had been picked, it was still warm from the sun and had the finest layer of dust from the top soil that had blown around in the wind a few days before. I didn't clean it, I didn't wait for it to cool, because I knew what waited for me. I knew the riotous explosion of flavour, the brightness of colour, the sweet tang of juice. I knew the pure and unadulterated happiness and memory that would poor into my mouth as soon as I bit into that curious not-vegetable-but-in-fact-a-fruit. I woke up in the middle of the first bite with a metallic tang in my mouth that precedes the rapid production of saliva when your mouth waters. I wanted that tomato more than coffee when I woke up. If you know anything about me, you will realise that only an act of God could make something like that happen. So I took it as divine direction that I should do something about it.

So, on the first day, my balcony garden was born. And I looked upon it and saw that it was good.