Summer crops

After crying last year at how dry the garden was, and losing all my seedlings, in late 2010, I decided to take a more pro-active stance and finally put in some irrigation piping. This was "2nd hand" piping, just pulled out another section of garden where it had lain unused for years. This limited my ability to decide where the drippers/sprayers are located (as in, they were already in the pipe from the other garden), so I just snaked it through the garden as best was possible. I then bought a $20 battery operated timer from Bunnings, and connected it to the town water tap. The plan is to connect it to the tanks eventually, but we need to put a whole new connection on for that.  This has worked pretty well- nearly all the summer seedlings survived (and thrived), and we can now go away for weeks without having to think about how to ensure the garden survives. It's currently set up to just give 'adequate' water, that is, most plants still need a good rain to have a decent growth spurt (corn shot up after a week of night rains) but at least plants aren't dying of thirst in the summer heat.

We are still mulching with leaves, and cardboarding, and I've started to build little palm leaf barriers (poking palm sticks into the soil and threading the longer palms leaves through as type of lattice) along the edges of the mounds. I found that many leaves/cardboard/seaweed was quickly breaking down and leaving exposed sandy edges that lost alot of water along the mound edges. With the palm leaf (and cardboard) barriers, the edges are more protected and the water retention excellent.

We've got butternut and golden nugget pumpkin coming on, corn soon ready for harvesting, capscuim (3 year old) producing crisp tasty fruit, passionfruit doing ok but not fantastic, a self sown tomato producing orange sized tomatoes, silverbeet, parsley, basil, and so much rocket that I am sick of eating it!. There are also in blue lake beans, soy beans, lentils, cowpea, zuchini, cucumber, eggplant & okra - though these are all a month or three away from producing fruit.

End of an era- goodbye Cocos Palms

It's the end of an era...goodbye to the 10 cocos palms that were spotted around the place- the possums and bats will miss you, but we will not! Now that the Cocos palms are down, the real clean up begins as we drag cocos palms pieces into the back yard (couldn't be mulched and would cost an extra few thousands to get tree guys to remove). Looks like several weeks of dragging cocos palms into garden borders etc...

Fig tree was trimmed at the same time and we now have a fantastic huge pile of mulch blocking the driveway

Sweet Potato

back in the garden after a long break and lots of pleasant surprises. Several big sweet potato (this one in the photo I discovered under the black plastic under the passionfruit vine), the perennial rocket is thriving, parsley is pulling through and the silverbeet has survived the extremely dry conditions.  The miniature peach has two little peaches on it, the mango is in flower and amaranth is everywhere. Must say I think the amaranth looks like a weed, but there you go.

Worked for several hours today for before having a break and taking my hat off- found this spider hitching a lift! can't say that I was very impressed and quickly shooed it away. There is a brown snake hanging out between us and the neighbour, so I did alot of clearing and mowing there today.

Seeds

 

Its been dry and again the garden is only just managing to survive- we managed to collect about a dozen passionfruit (which seems a pitiful number given the lushness of the vine), the remaining citrus tree looks yellow (though has a few baby fruit) and all the capscuim , Basil and rocket were wilted. The butternut pumpkin are/were doing well- I had to pull them out of the grass and move back into the garden, and so shifted the orientation of the leaves, which means now they look wilted and unhappy.  The basil and bok choy I seeds I scattered in the planter box look fantastic, and really have the only things that don't look heat stressed. I've decided to fill in the ditches with cardboard, lawn clippings and horse manure...I just don't see that the ditches have captured any water as the black sandy soil just lets it run away too quickly. I think building up the organic matter in the ditches and around the mounds might help with water retention.  Its been so dry that the japanese millet seed pods all dried out, as did the okra and we just crumpled them and got a fantastic amount of seed for next planting. 

Short, half-set corn

Tears, rain and recovery

Its been a month or more since I came up to garden and after a long hot November and no rain, I came home to dead seedlings, withered and dying tomato vines, a herb garden full of black sand (dumped there) and two dead citrus trees. All I could do was cry..... have since spent a week piling up the horse manure as much as possible, spraying the stink bug on the remainig citrus (sorry, but admit I cracked out the  insecticide 'confidor' as I have no idea how to deal with this bug organically), removing the heavy rocks from the base of the citrus and giving it a daily water, and generally planting, pruning, fertilising and watering.

On a positive note, there is plenty of corn and capscuim to harvest and the passionfruit has begun to fruit.  The planter box was doing well, and I dug out the parsley and corinadar and replanted into the mound. The okra seedlings survived, as did two eggplant seedlings and they all got planted into the mound. We've been harvesting corn, though only half the cob set this year. I must say, that I think the organic corn seed produced bigger and more tasty corn cobs that the commercial ones.

Last night it rained lightly for about 8 hours, so I hope that garden survives the next absense better...

NewsFlash: Garden sprouts prawns!

Last week I put out some beer traps (old beer in a deep bowl) to catch the slugs and snails in the Mound- and to my surprise the next morning, along with a few drowned slugs, were at least half a dozen dead prawns-cooked by the beer!

Admitably the prawns were little, finger nail clipping size....

In order to prove I'm not crazy, the next night I put out a bowl of sea water, and sure enough, the next morning I had collected three live prawns (now swimming in the fish tank)

I think that the seaweed I've been using has prawn eggs or hatchlings, and during the night they've jumped into the bowl...

I am certainly the first person in the world to sprout prawns in a permaculturemound

Dying Citrus

The lime tree has died suddenly. The orange tree is on its way out by sudden death- new shoots, new buds and then all the leaves turned yellow and dropped off and dead tree.

Would like to save the orange tree.....

It has a stink bug problem (will be sprayed today) and some type of fungus growing on the bark- it has been raining, so it shouldn't be dying from thirst...

I wonder if the pruning last year let some disease into the plant?
Suggestions for salvation?

Article:PermacultureMound

Feel free to forward to your friends- perhaps they too will start a mound...

http://permaculture.org.au/2009/10/04/build-it-up-permaculture-mound/

End of Pond and new herb garden

As the gallery and shop now needs to have a disabled toilet, the herb had to go....
A day or two of transplanting the herbs (oregano, coriander, chives, chilli, one or two lettuce, some mint) and about 7 wheelbarrows of soil, plus two days of smashing the brick and cement wall and removing rubble. The site has the original cement slab laid in 1982. We tried to leave the twin palm, and hopefully the disabled toilet will be able to built around it.

The herb bed that was down near the mound was emptied and the soil re-invigorated - 1 part soil, 1 part horse manure, some lime, blood'n'bone, dynamic lifter and watering saving crystals- soaked in the wheelbarrow and then put into the herb planter box. Herbs from the broken pond plus some seeds of coriander - the idea for summer salads. I hope this will be good for Nana- she has trouble picking herbs in the mound as she easily loses her balance, so this herb planter closer to the house should be perfect for her.

As we traveling, I had to devise a simple watering system at the last minute (though I hear that it has been raining alot, so perhaps was unneccesary) - a few old water bottles (the pop top type) hung upside down. The drips were coming out very slow (about 1 drip for 20 minutes I think)- so I was hope this pulled the seedlings through the first week.

The corn was doing well when I left, and I made a "mini mound" for the squash and rockmelon. The lettuce/english spinach/baby bok choy continues to produce 1-2 shopping bags worth of greens each fortnight. lots of salad for all us.

Dust Cloud

As with much of the east coast- we woke this morning to a huge dust cloud making the sky red and glowing- the wind continues to blow and it feels like bushfire weather (only not quite hot enough)

Spring planting

Spring has arrived and the mound has been undergoing some major renovations.

The ditches around the top mound have all been re-dug - the first layer of compost (that was originally cardboard and leaves and whatever else slid down the sides of the mound into the ditches) was heaped back on top of the mound- the black sand just thrown to the side. Each ditch was relined with heavy cardboard, newspaper and seaweed.

Each mound was re-fertilized (blood'n'bone and dynamic lifter dissolved in a watering can), and the back mound that didn't have much growing in it was "re-mounded" with broken-down horse manure, seaweed, newspaper and re-planted.

A bed of lettuce that been randomly planted from seed was actually growing too prolifically and thick, so a bit of lettuce thinning went on- planted into the back mound and under the mandarin tree. All the broccoli, boy choy, pak choy, lettuce, rocket and cauliflower had started to go to seed, and everything was very water stressed. We trimmed, harvested, plucked, soaked, fertilised and ate our way through a week of mound renovations.

The only pest problem seeds to be aphids (I think) on the broccoli.

The passionfruit vine is large, green and seeking new areas to climb, but unfortunately not flowering yet.... my hopes for passionfruit at christmas are diminishing.

The new 'end' mound has been planted with corn - we didn't have time to do the full job of layering soil, manure, seaweed, fertiliser, cardboard, lucerne and straw - so it was simply seeds pushed into the composted horse manure pile (had been under cardboard and plastic for 6 months).

As my home-grown seedlings aren't ready yet, we opted for some early shop bought ones - two varieties of tomato, celery and capscuim - these were the vegies that seemed to need the most time last year, and that were not quite ready by christmas.

In the seedlings we've gone organic, heritage varieties again- though from a few difference suppliers (GreenPatch, Eden Seeds and Select Organic) - okra, eggplant, zuccihini, rockmelon, coriander, capscuim, tomato (red cherry currant and grosse lisse), apple lemon cucumbers, pumpkin (seeds saved from last year)- we have lettuce seeds still and the italian spinach is still growing strong. The beetroots are starting to be ready for harvesting now, and the green leaves with the red centre stalk are colourful in a salad.

I've remembered to rotate the beds - but given that everything was so mixed in it is a bit tricky. What I will definately do this year is plant in 'groups' - I've found it much easier for harvesting when there are 3 or more of the same plant in a row or clump - still mixed in around other plants but when they are too randomly spread out it is hard to find what I want to collect- and even harder to send someone else to the mound to grab a few handfuls of this or that!

Photos to follow

Rice-cooker Yoghurt

Tools of the trade for Rice Cooker Yoghurt - the Rice Cooker, woolen sock and plastic container.

Inspired by Bariah's Mums home made yoghurt recipe- I thought I would try it myself. Bariah's Mum boils a litre of full cream milk, then stirs in a large tablespoon of natural yohgurt, leaves on the stove top to cool to temperature that she can stand to dip her pinky finger into, wraps in a tea towel, then wraps in a blanket and takes to leave in a warm part of the house for 12 hours...

My version of this (1 litre UHT milk $1.10), a plastic container and a large woolen sock was not quite so successfull, after 12 hours my yoghurt mix was still pretty liquid- and I don't think the sock kept things warm enough, as at the half way point (6 hours) the container was pretty cold -

so to the rescue - the trusty Rice Cooker! Good friend of the student, the busy and the granny flat dweller- I've found yet another use

Placing the sock wrapped yoghurt containers in the top steamer tray, I filled the bottom with about 1/3 water and placed onto the "keep warm" (as opposed to "rice cooking") setting- this meant a very low heat. I couldn't fit the lid on as my containers were too tall - so I covered with a thick tea towel and balanced an upside down saucepan over this...the plan was to leave for a few hours but a little miscommunication about what "please turn off the rice cooker" meant before we went to bed resulted in the yoghurt 'keeping warm' in the rice cooker overnight

I can't complain as it is perfect set yoghurt - a slight hint of the original shop bought yoghurt flavour I used as the base (vanilla), though a little more bitter natural taste but I am so pleased.

1 litre of milk made a large container of yoghurt, next time I would use a flatter container that would actually fit safely inside the steamer tray - I saved myself about $5/week making the yoghurt at home, plus reduced the amount of waste from all the yoghurt containers.

Next I will experiment with flavours to reduce the bitterness.

Photos Avocado Leaf Tea

take a big ripe leaf...



boil it till the water turns deep pink or red





Enjoy Avocado leaf tea!

Thanks to Grupo Hakfen, Manufahi. This is a women's weaving group - traditional woven cloth and baskets- all handmade. The group is supported by Fundasaun Alola - www.alolafoundation.org

Avocado Leaf Tea

I've decided to start the 'international' section of PermacultureMound... as both Chief gardeners are in Timor-Leste (formally East Timor) at the moment we've had the chance to see some great urban gardening and try some different recipes.

Here is my favourite new recipe of the month

Avocado Leaf Tea: This is from a Women's Group in Manufahi (Hakfen).

• Take some big ripe leaves from an avocado tree
• Two leaves per 1 litre of water
• wash the leaf and then boil
• The water shall turn a deep pink/ red
• pour into your favourite tea pot
• drink

This doesn't really need sweetening - it is naturally sweet. The women said that it is good for the body, especially the heart. They also said that it is possible to make a similiar 'medicinal' tea from the seed of the avocado.

Pictures to folllow when I have better bandwidth.

Choko Chocolate Cake

This is a slight variation from the original recipe

1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
100g butter, melted
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup grated choko
1 cup grated apple
4 tbsp cocoa


1. Combine dry ingredients in bowl
2. Add butter and eggs
3. Mix well
4. Stir in nuts and choko

Moderate Oven bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes

Subscribe or Follow

Dear Friends,

Many of you will be receiving this blog post directly to your email inbox, as you've been added to our email list. This list has a limit of 10 people, so I'd like to ask those of you who are 'net-savvy' enough to subscribe or follow the blog yourselves, to free up some space on this list.

You can do this by going to the blogsite and there are two easy buttons. If you have any problems, let me know!

Sarina

Sacred Asparagus Patch

decided to move the asparagus into the mound- the surviving three (3!) plants were transplanted twice in a month but were holding on ok- one was going a little yellow but it was time to cut the apron strings...

Its definitely been possible to grow from seed, though the long whispy stalks are very fragile, and I think growing inside the old fish tank was what allowed them to survive...

Survival rate pretty low as I went through two packets of seeds (about 8-12 seeds per packet) and only have 3 plants.

DIY Greenhouse

there are certainly alot of seedlings that have sprouted, only we've noticed in the mound that plants do much better if they are transplanted and already significantly robust. Seeds don't do so well and (I may have mentioned this before) its possibly a combination of the seeds being taken by insects/ants and that some of the leaves, especially pine needles, may be releasing a chemical that prevents seeds from germinating.

these seedlings were looking a little drowned and suffering a bit of exposure- lots of rain and wind the last few weeks. I decided we do a DIY greenhouse.

This is an old bird cage with the bottom long lost, I found a roll of industrial cling-wrap (the type used in restaurants) in the pantry (not sure WHY we've got industrial cling-wrap in the first place) and then I wrapped up the cage!

I've seen similar 'solar dryers' in East Timor- a simple frame (bamboo or wood) and clear plastic sheetings to cover all sides. There are few more design considerations, for example, a floor of pebbles, some mesh to stop insects, but more or less its this simple.

Ocean and Garden fresh

just to make a few people jealous...here is the delicious bream and fresh garden vegetables we ate on the long weekend....roasted in lemon and herbs. sweet potato and onions not from the mound, but will be soon!

By the way, sweet potato and spicy capsicum is delicious! There is a sweet potato/chilli sauce that I've heard of- any recipes appreciated!