Thought I would just put up some Pictures of our first garden that we put in when we bought this house.
We did have an awesome potted Veggie garden at the last rental we had which we put down to using Wetpots and Worm castings. Unfortunately We  lost our supply of cheap worm castings not long after buying here.  As a result the plants never did as well and we gave up gardening for about 4 years.  : (»

       Large Wetpot Enveloped by roots.     Inground, Small & Large Wetpots.

The system was feed water from the above Garbage Bin reservoir.  The Wetpots kept the plants going but due to our lack of knowledge and the before mentioned  loss of our worm casting supply, the plants just never preformed that well.
Knowing what we do now, I think we could give it a good shot and replicate our first results if we gardened in pots with Wetpots again.
  
  Wetpot watering system can be purchased through  http://www.productivegardens.com.au/wet-pot-olla-watering-systems/
Please note, Im not affiliated with Productive Gardens or Wetpots in any way, just think theyre an awesome way to irrigate your potted veggie patch.

Have a great One.

: )»

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   Covered the last section of the Veggie patch yesterday...... With the days Supposed to be getting hotter/sunnier I thought I would get a jump on covering the last section....

Shall be planting the next lot of Lettuce & Zucchini  up the back as it just gets to hot in Beds # 1 & 5 in the afternoon....


Have a great one all....

: )»

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Made a start on the 2 small beds that are replacing the large Herb Bed....
The first bed is up & just needs to be "Wicked" out & its done... Will start the second on Tuesday if the school schedule allows for it... I also need to scrounge some pavers from under the stairs for the gap & design the bench/storage box as well..... Should have enough bits of timber around to knock one up, just need to find some wire mesh to rodent proof the base....
Will have to look into better fencing around the base of the Chooks Mango yard to stop the soil being spread far & wide as you can see from the picture.... I have some bits of tin I can wire to the base of the fence to stop the spread....
Thinking about putting up a Bamboo or Reed screen on the wire fence behind the Chook pen to shield it from the vacant land to the rear of our place.... The owners are trying to sell the block & I dont really want people Peeping in on our Girls & Garden....

Found a little Native Gecko in the bed as I was building it... I must of spooked the poor little fella & it dropped its tail... : (» 
It was relocated into a nearby Crape Myrtle tree where it could blend in well.... Im glad to see them slowly move into the yard & Veggie Patch to devour the bugs....







Have a great one all.....

: )»

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Thought I would do a post on the Shade house after being asked a question about it.... (Thanks Sherrie)

It is a very basic idea I gleaned from a few different places... I went to a open day at the Toowoomba organic growers club to help on the Wetpot stand & saw an Irrigation pipe Dome Arbour like structure... From memory they were going to plant Passion fruit & other productive climbers around it to create a small, shaded seating area... I then came across the idea again when investigating the Wicking beds at the Easy-Grow Vegetables  website...

We used Green striped Rural pipe for the arches & mix of New & old star pickets... The older ones were made here in Australia by BHP & of a larger (in circumference), more sturdier construction... The Blue stripe Irrigation pipe is stronger but nearly double the price at the Produce/Agg store we purchased it from & not really necessary for a basic shade structure... 50% shade cloth was used due to the price involved in ordering in the 25-30% cloth we really wanted...  We might look into getting the other next year if we feel the plants are not going as well as they could...
                    
 I found the new pickets fit inside the 2" pipe without a problem but had to wire the smaller1½" pipe to the outside of the pickets... I kept the Larger pickets for use with the smaller pipe as it was easier to secure the pipe between the "wings" of the picket to help hold it in place...

Holes were drilled in the pipe to match up with the holes in the pickets....  It was then secured to the pickets with wire..... I have also wired the smaller pipe to the larger in places to create another arch... These joins appear to be as strong now as when first constructed about a year ago...

The Top Hat sections are fastened to the Pipe with large screws & at the ends some extra wire for strength... The shade cloth is then secured to both the Top Hat & pipe with Large Zip Ties..... We have only just discovered (Thanks Mark B) that they can be reused if you use a small flat screwdriver or small, preferably blunt, knife to release the small tab that keeps them locked....
We have joined the sections of shade cloth together with bits of baling twine in some places & smaller Zip Ties in others...

 We  had some fairly bad storms last summer & never had a problem with the structure shaking or even looking like being damaged... Due to the loose weave of the cloth the wind just blows right through unlike a shade sail that has a very tight weave which adds to the wind resistance...

 Hope that answers any questions but feel free to ask more...

Have a great one all....

: )»

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I went to feed the Worms the other day & found the Farm to be very sodden & with a slight, for the want of a better word, whiffy odour.... Worms were attempting escape & had congregated around the lip under the lid of the Worm box...
We have had this problem before & thought we had rectified it by leaving the tap open allowing the Worm "Juice" to drain into a small bucket that sat below it....
Unfortunately we hadnt allowed for blockages when bits of the castings fall through the grate & then block the tap.... This slowed the flow of the liquid to only a drip which in turn caused the base the first tray to flood.... There were many a worm casualty but the majority of our "Squirm" (Apparently, this is the collective noun) of Worms were rescued...

 The Sloppy casting soup from the base & bottom tray were scooped into an old pair of stockings which was then suspended over a bucket to allow all the excess liquid to drain out leaving only nutrient rich castings & a few Worms that are probably very happy they didnt drown...

The castings will be used in the garden to line holes/trenches that plants/seeds will be planted/sown into... We have had great success with this method of planting with the only draw back being that we now class the hundreds of Tomato seedlings that pop up as weeds.... Bit sad but you can only give away so many...

  As for the Worm Farm, I removed its rickety legs & have placed it on an old Cockatoo cage we "inherited" from curb side clean up...  A dry clean tray was lined with some moist Sugar cane mulch... The remaining Worms along with the castings, newspaper & food from the top tray, were emptied on top of the mulch & covered with some damp newspaper.... Between the tray & the base I have placed some 90% shade cloth in the hope that any castings or worms that all through the grating will get caught.... Hopefully this will fix the blockage problems for good...

I checked this morning to find the smell has gone, the trays have returned to being just moist & the worms are happily devouring the food, newspaper scraps & cane Mulch...
The worms get feed mainly scraps from the kitchen that we Blitz in the food processor with some water... The dont put in Onions, Citrus, & meat...  I know worms will eat meat but we choose dont add it so as not to encourage any large hairy rodents to our property... We have found that by Chopping their food up that it gets eaten faster & we get castings faster... Well worth the few minutes  to chop it in the possessor I think... One thing we did see on a clip from a Worm breeder was that they love bread & tend to go into a feeding/breeding frenzy under a slice of bread left on top of the food... We have tried this & have found a huge "ball" of worms writhing under the slice.... I cant verify the breeding claim as my eyesight just isnt that good....

Did you know worms,

are Hermaphrodites
have no eyes or ears
are very sensitive to light but are vibrations
worms have 5 hearts
can eat half its body weight every day
live for up to 10 years


Have a Great one All...

: )»

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  Saturday.....
The weather has started to heat up a bit of late & we were a tad concerned that we  may loose the Snow Peas & Broccoli so decided to put the shade cloth up over most of the beds....

We have noticed a difference in the Snow Peas already... They are standing up all happy & the pods  firmed up within a few hours... This time we did it a bit different... We sewed the sections together using bits of the straw bale twine....  150-200mm gaps were left between the joined sections to allow some natural light in as well..... Other sections will be added when we fell the plants require it.... Some think its a bit of overkill but we are already getting about 8 hours of direct sunlight on the patch with no shading until about 2 hours before sunset... In summer it increases to 12 hours of unshaded sun....


 I think the Broccoli heads will flower before they fully mature so they will be taken off for Tuesdays dinner... The Chooks love the leaves, plus we eat a lot of Broccoli stem in stir-fry & steamed with other veg so we shall keep them in for now....

 Sunday....

   Finally took the old spice bed down & will be using the corner posts & tin in other beds.... The corner post have already been tagged to go into what used to be the Herb bed.... The sand from the reservoir & soil is being stored in the old timber bed waiting to be used else where...  The Herb bed is now being split into 2 separate beds with a bench/storage box in between the 2 beds...  I have saved the perennial Basil, a tub of Shallots, small pot of garlic chives & some Lemongrass... All are in pots at the base of the stairs for now until we decide what is going into the 2 "New" Wicking beds... The plans for the bench/storage box are still swimming around my noggin & will probably surface in the middle of the night knowing me... **Sigh**

 The evil curl Grubs of DOOOOOOM !!

  While digging out the Herb bed we came across our old Nemeses.... 

 We got about 60 large & over a hundred small grubs which answered some questions regarding to the early demise of some plants... We found them in groups of 2 or 3 in  clumps of roots... The Chooks had a ball fighting over the first 20 or so but by the end of the day they had all had enough... Some have been put into a bucket of soil to feed to the Girls during the week as a protein treat & Bunny the dog has got the taste for them now as well so none shall go to waste....


  
Wetpots.....

This is why I Love using Wetpots & wont be parting with any even though we arent using them at the moment...
These are pictures of what an Italian Parsley plant (like the one pictured below) did to this pot....
You can not see any exposed clay as the roots have totally "enveloped" any non glazed surface.....

Found a couple of legless lizards living in the beds while we were dismantling them.... The first lizard we found was about 30-40cm long & the second was only a baby at about 15cm... Both were relocated to safety away from the Chooks & the Bunny Dog....


Weekly harvest....
This week we picked,
2 large Zucchinis, Shallots, Basil, Silverbeet, a few lemons, 2 Passion fruit, & a large Mignonette Lettuce... 
Also got 3 Googs a day from the Chookies...
Thats about it for now Me thinks...
Have a great one all....
: )»

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