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.
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...
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.
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 |
 |
| 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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment