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Recent Posts
- Natural Pest Control
- Pips are sprouting everywhere
- Pip goes to the Sustainable Living Festival!
- The future of food
- MULCH MULCH MULCH
- Video on the Millenium Seed Bank
- Produce Exchanges: Sharing the Love…
- SPUD-ARAMA
- Raising Seeds Tip #2: Warmth
- Fight those Winter Blues with Garlic
- Raising Seeds Tip #1: moisture
- Waning Moon
- Hi there, my name is Pip!
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MULCH MULCH MULCH
Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Summer is almost here. Some days it feels like it is here. The soil is going to dry out very quickly with a few hot dry days, so to protect our plants and all the lovely soil life we’ve built up over autumn, winter and spring, it is absolutely essential to MULCH!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t stress this enough.
Mulch not only breaks down over time, slowly feeding the soil and your plants but it also creates a barrier between the hot drying suns rays and the lovely moisture and life in the soil. Bare ground very quickly dries out, which means that you need to water the plants more often. In this day and age of water restrictions this isn’t always possible or ethical. So, it all comes back to MULCH!!!!!
For some more in depth info on mulch visit Pip’s Tips on mulching
Happy mulching….
Comments
Post has no comments.Video on the Millenium Seed Bank
Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
In this brief talk from TED U 2009, Jonathan Drori encourages us to save biodiversity — one seed at a time. Reminding us that plants support human life, he shares the vision of the Millennium Seed Bank, which has stored over 3 billion seeds to date from dwindling yet essential plant species.
Watch this video here
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Post has no comments.Produce Exchanges: Sharing the Love…
Posted on Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Produce exchanges are a great way to share the surplus from your own garden in exchange for the surplus from someone elses, to swap gardening tips and pick up a few yummy treasures along the way. The good news is they’re starting to pop up all over the place.
There is a monthly produce exchange held at my local farmers market which is growing in popularity each month, particularly as the spring rains and sunshine urge our gardens into a state of edible overlfow! Last Sunday I loaded up a box of scrummy harvest from my garden, strapped it to my bike trailor and headed on down to the exchange to see what tender delights I could swap it for.
The way it works is that Bree and Graham from The Food Garden (www.foodgarden.com.au one of our local freindly organic produce suppliers) set up a tent where we all bring our bundles of goodies to swap. We arrange the bounty in baskets on benches and at 11am we take from other peoples bundles what we think our bundles is worth. Honesty is the best policy and everyone always goes away ladden with much more than they bargained for.
This week I swapped my harvest for some parsley, mizuna and waragul greens seedlings, shallots, ruby red chard and local olives.
Yuuuumeeey!
Its a great way to meet fellow gardeners and swap tips and ideas. Its also a great way to ensure that you are eating fresh local produce and reducing the ‘food miles’ and carbon footprint of the food we eat. And the best part? Its totally free!
To find a Produce Exchange near you, contact your local farmers market or permaculture group and they will be able to point you in the right direction. If there isn’t one in your local area, produce exchanges are very easy to start. All you need is a table and some enthusiastic gardeners to bring their surplus along on a particular day.
Go forth and share the love…
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Post has no comments.SPUD-ARAMA
Posted on Sunday, August 09, 2009
The Spud. That humble root crop that we all know and love. Whether you like to make big fat wedges out of them or a hot and steamy pot of potato and leek soup not much beats them for an easy to grow addition to the garden.
From now onwards is a great time to plant them in your garden. The shoots are frost tender , but hopefully if we get them in the ground soon by the time they are sending up their shoots the threat of frost will have passed.
Spuds grow from the roots underground. Simply buy some organic spuds from your grocer and leave in a cupboard until they start to grow shoots. You can then cut them up to ensure there is about 3 shoots per piece and plant them about 15 cm deep in loose well drained soil.
They can also be grown inside old car tyres, buckets, Hessian sacks and garden beds built up on top of the spuds. To do this first lay down a bed of compost or well rotted sheep manure, put the chopped up spuds down about 20cm apart and cover with a layer of mulch. As the green shoots start to grow above the surface keep adding layers of mulch (and tyres). Spuds will be ready to harvest at 16-20 weeks but you can start to dig up small ones after about 6 weeks. To harvest simply dig around where the shoots are with your hands or a fork.
Tip: If you dig the up when the soil is dry they will come out clean if the soil is dry.
go forth and Spud-ulate!!!
