Got too much of a good thing? Maybe you'd care to swap!

Vegetables Gemuese, originally uploaded by Sandra Mora.

The monthly Western Urban Orchard Swap Meet at Grasslands in Footscray  has been going for a tiny little while now but I was so excited to see it got some mainstream coverage in The Age today!

It happens on the first Saturday of each month and you just bring whatever excess produce you want to share - people have brought batches of silverbeet, trays of seedlings, eggs, even some sourdough to swap with other growers as well as meet other edible gardeners and trade knowledge as well! Such a brilliant idea. And I love that it's happening in the West.

The organiser Neesh, was one of the participants in the Open Veggie Garden day that happened about a month ago. And Grasslands is this fantastic little organic store on Nicholson Street, that you really wouldn't know was there unless someone told you. We were getting a weekly box of fruit and veg delivered to us from them for a while too.

I must take some photos of our patch this weekend. You would not believe how high our potato stack is now, Alex has had to top it up twice now with pea straw. It will be as tall as us soon, hopefully the sunlight is being blocked and hopefully we can find a way to store them properly!

The zucchini and squash are pummelling along like crazy, Alex pruned back the tomatoes last night to ensure bigger fruit and stronger yield, and it's great to see most of our chilli plants made it through the winter and are nice and green again.

I am most excited that my black passionfruit has finally germinated though - apparently it can take up to 45 days to germinate but mine is showing it's first set of leaves, yay! Plus have some more tomatoes (black russian) and eggplant listada di gandia - have you seen them? They look like this:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Diggers Club Egglant Listada Di Gandia"][/caption]

Another pleasant surprise in our garden has been this incredible flower from a succulent I was given by my Auntie Nancy. I have no idea what it is but I came home one day to this incredible sight!

P1010003-500.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

Rainy days are the best sewing days

P1010018.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

This spring weather is just crazy! 30 degrees one moment, 16 and showers the next. I swear I heard hail. Not that I'll complain though. Not only did the welcome rain give the garden a nice big soak, but it also gave me some quality sewing time. It's been a long time between clothing stitches.

I managed to refashion three vintage finds this weekend. I have a whole crate full of op shop dresses, skirts and shirts that I have been meaning to work on since... forever. My crate of shame. I'm slowly making a dent into it.

VINTAGE SHIRTDRESS REFASHION

P1010021.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

P1010015.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

The dress featured above was originally an oversized long sleeve shirt dress. I did love the sleeves but despite taking it in at the sides and trying to slim the sleeves somewhat, it still looked a bit large and shapeless on me, even cinched in with a big belt. So I decided just to turn it into and out and out summer dress. I only ever wear it in summer anyway

I used an old pattern to get the shape for the front neckline and casing for the neck strap. I made the neck strap out of fabric from the sleeves. The straps tie behind my neck

For the back I decided to just make a casing for some thick elastic. And then I brought the hem up that was rather wonky anyway, and brought it to knee skimming length. I'm all about knee skimming at the moment!

SKIRT ALTERATIONS

P1010005.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

P1010009.JPG, originally uploaded by mooimadeit.

These are two skirts I have been meaning to alter for a while, so I can actually wear! Do you think the top one is too dowdy? It's so nice and warm though. I think it looks a little frumpy because of the pleats in such heavy fabric - and while I was altering it I realised I think it had been altered before. It was originally a size 16 and I'm a size 10/12. If I was to take out some of the pleats though I'd have to unstitch the whole thing pretty much and recut a new pattern and I don't know that I can be bothered. Hopefully I can get away with just funking it up with accessories and a good pair of shoes (flats of course, can't wear heels to save my life).

This skirt at the bottom was originally a REALLY LONG corduroy skirt. I'm talking like ankle length. Who on earth would want an ankle length corduroy skirt? I just love the print on it though. I cut so much off the bottom that I am going to try and make a little top out of it so together it will look like a dress - a 2 piece. I think there should definitely be enough for a bodice with thick shoulder straps and I'd like to make it button up on the front, with nice bold coral coloured buttons, to match the flowers on the front. I'll keep you posted. At least in the meantime I can finally wear the skirt.

I'm really loving my cutting table - it's made such a huge difference. I have it sitting against the wall and I can just flip out one half of it when I need a cutting space but not a huge one like when you're cutting out a dress pattern. And it's really handy to sit at do unpicking at or anything that would usually have my straining my neck looking down. Gosh, what a nanna I am. But seriously, sewing is a seriously unergonomic hobby!

Welcome my new readers, from the Wickerwoman

.Cute and Cuddly., originally uploaded by tassiesim.

Call me juvenile, but I like to imagine this koala greeting my new readers in low, dulcet, Kamahl like tones - "Welcome my new readers".

Thanks to Adam at Permablitz who wrote about my blog entry about the Permablitz I attended in their newsletter! I watched the hits on my blog skyrocket, how exciting. Hope I reported it accurately! Tonight, I'll be heading along to their free talk at the Footscray Town Hall.

Apparently I also have some new readers all the way over in the Philippines so hello to you too! My Mum is there working at her sister's school and she has been showing some of the teachers there by blog... and they in turn have been showing their students! I have to admit I get quite a little kick out of that. Technology huh, I had a look on Statcounter and though I can't quite fathom this, it claims I have readers as far and wide as Canada, The Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Panama and plenty more. If this is indeed true and you really are out there please give me a yell! I'd love to hear from you.

To my friends in the Philippines - I can only imagine how bizarre you must think my blog is. Firstly, my Mum had to explain that 'chooks' are slang for 'chickens'. Secondly, you must think we're absolutely mad about saving water. This must be such a foreign concept in a country that has entire seasons of rain - literally WET seasons. Lucky you. Here we are looking down the barrel of possible Stage 4 water restrictions (which would mean you can only water your gardens with rain & grey water - no mains water) in Melbourne and I just want to cry when I think what that could mean for all the veggie gardens in our city.  And despite the awareness building, petitions and campaigns to government to allow backyard vegetable growers to water our yards, I have to admit I feel it's unlikely they are going to open their eyes to how much water we are actually saving - in comparison to what is used in mass vegetable farming and transport.

Anyway, so instead I have started thinking about alternatives to use in my yard. In doing so I stumbled across some info on the other gardening blogs I read, about Wicking Beds or Wicking Worm Beds. They are raised beds that have a agripipe of water that runs along the bottom of the bed, with an outlet for excess water so that plant roots do not drown. The plants are watered by water wicking up towards the surface, minimising water evaporation, without letting the plants drown and rot in the water reservoir because it is held below the root zone. It is a system developed by engineer Colin Austin based on the flood and drain principle.

I am thinking of giving it a shot in our yard, in some raised garden beds in the water tank style, on the house side of our yard. Not only would it help to minimise watering, but my Dad has also been suggesting that having a garden bed right up against our brick house could damage out building foundations and seeing the bottom of the bed would be sealed, this would solve that potential problem as well. I need to find some broccoli boxes to try it out on a small scale first though.

I'd really love to hear if any Permies out there have some thoughts on this way of growing and how/ if it fits in with Permaculture principles!

Since I first heard about it I have found just a few resources on the internet about it, as it is a relatively newly developed system of growing. So I have collated them all together here if you would like to read more:

CHEAT SHEET REFERENCE GUIDE TO WICKING BEDS/ WICKING WORM BEDS

AUSSIES LIVING SIMPLY - great overview piece here by Scarecrow who has a fantastic blog with lots of entries about her own wicking beds. And seeing she lives in the driest state in the driest continent, I think it's an excellent case to be following.

EASY GROW VEGETABLES - with detailed step by step instructions how to construct your own wicking beds and the background and advantages of them. I really like the Wicking Worm Beds instructions here and LOVE the idea of growing my vegetables in essentially a giant worm bed, that incorporated in the garden bed, has a little tub in which to put the worm food in so they can come and get it and go and spread their nutrients throughout the bed. Furthermore apparently worm castings are a highly effecting wicking material.

WATER RIGHT - this is Colin Austin's site that talks about the technology and principles behind the wicking bed system. I also purchased a home made dvd by Colin to find out further details that I couldn't find on the site about how to set them up.

GARNAUT REPORT? - very excitingly, I just found this document too written by Colin Austin - possibly for the Garnaut Report seeing the url? Looks like an 11 page paper about Wicking Beds and Global Warming

SCARECROW'S BLOG - this is a link to all her wicking bed entries - fascinating!

FOODNSTUFF - last and not least I must credit the wonderful Foodnstuff blog as it is here that I originally heard about the concept and I'm really enjoying reading about their experiments with this system.

Some more links that The Pool Room blog has put together too

Stay tuned for my 2nd Wickerwoman post!

Kudos to you! Pass it on...

Back in September, the wonderful Gerri at Sewable awarded me prize as a blog she likes. The Sewable blog is filled with inspiration to think outside the square in combining fabric patterns and designs, and very handy tutorials like this one on ruffling. I was so flattered, and have so rudely not yet passed it on! About bloody time wouldn't you say?

The Rules

1. Select 6 bloggers to whom you would like to give this award- prize (definitely not easy to choose - only 6)

2. Put the award - prize on your blog and indicate who gave it to you by identifying her/his blog

3. Paste these rules on your blog

4. Write 6 of your most important values and 6 negative points you condemn

5. Inform the 6 recipients by leaving a comment on their blog. Inform the 6 recipients by leaving a comment on their blog.

Gosh, this makes me feel a bit rather guilty of my lack of sewing posts recently, for my sewing readers. I'm about to rectify that I swear, with a flurry of Xmas gift making!

My current 6 favourite blogs are:

• Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once - first of all, what a brilliant motto and blog name. AND the writer is in Melbourne and I get very excited reading about what is in season and seeing the mouth watering photos and reading the scrumptious, simple recipes. Really inspires me in my edible growing adventures too. A daily highlight.


• The Greening Of Gavin - I always find Gavin's posts informative and amusing. I am currently living vicariously through his new addition of chooks to his household. Just gorgeous. I got so excited when he posted about the first double yoker egg he got from one of his 'girls'. If you're new to the blog go back and read Gav's initial post of what sparked his green epiphany.


• Scarecrow's Garden - fantastically insightful gardening blog from South Australia, my former home - the driest state in the driest continent. A series of very useful 'Food Gardening For Beginners' posts and excellent posts about a system of growing which I have only just discovered and are very keen to try out myself called 'wicking beds' or 'wicking worm beds'. Expect a post on this from myself in the near future.


• My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses - my daily art fix


• Weekend Designer - fantastic contemporary patterns and how to draft them yourself to your own measurements. I found this gem from the ever entertaining blog by Oonaballoona


• Very Purple Stuffs - another inspiring sewing and knitting blog, fantastic photos, and incredibly stylish kidwear. I mean have you EVER seen a more dapper little man than THIS?

Can I say though, that since I discovered Google Reader, I love keeping up to date on such a huge number of blogs, it's awesome!

6 Things I Value: wisdom, respect, kindness, the natural world, yoga, good food!

6 Things I Don't: greed, ignorance, prejudice, wankers, not having enough tiiiiiime

Do the Permablitz!

Trav_Earth, originally uploaded by srhall.

Last weekend I participated in my very first Permablitz. If you don't know what a Permablitz is, they describe it as:

Permablitz: An informal gathering involving a day on which a group of at least two people come together to achieve the following:

• create or add to edible gardens where someone lives


• share skills related to permaculture and sustainable living


• build community networks


• have fun

It's all volunteer run and part of a longer process where permaculture designers work with someone who wants to Permablitz their yard, to come up with a design. And then there is a call for volunteers on a particular day and everyone pitches in to make it happen!

I first read about it last year in The Age and always meant to find out more, but forgot about it til I met some people at the Open Veggie Garden Day a couple of weeks back. I thought - if I don't do it now I never will so I hopped on line and put my name down to volunteer for the next one. When I first read the article I had to read it twice - it really did sound too good to be true. Volunteers teaching you about Permaculture and blitzing your yard for free? That's insane! And I'll take that over a dodgy 'Backyard Blitz' with the world's ugliest water feature that they're gonna make me cry on camera for, any day of the week!

The photo below is not the one I went to, but a random photo of a Permablitz I found on Flickr. I love those striking raised beds they have made there. Very smart! I brought my camera but realised I left the batteries at home, and besides I was far too busy to be standing around snapping photos.

overview, originally uploaded by belloinsella.

The one I attended was in Rosanna, and we blitzed a small north facing backyard that is about the size of my living room. About 15+ of us turned up throughout the day - I was there from 10am til about 5pm. There were all sorts of people there. Some with so much knowledge and experience, some of us with a bit of experience, and some total newbies who were interested in starting to garden but didn't know where to start on their own yards so came to learn some skills before attacking their own place. It was a lot of hard work but a lot of fun and I learnt a lot. And sometimes it's really great to do these things to also reinforce and realise you do actually know a bit afterall!

So basically this is what we did. By the way, it wasn't exactly what was originally loosely planned to happen but that made it all the more exciting. There were some rather major changes in plan made on the day which resulted in much better and more productive outcome in my opinion.

ORIGINAL PLAN:

- FRONT YARD - build a few raised beds in a large, south facing, sloping front yard with 3 massive eucalypt trees +

- BACK YARD - rip up come couch grass against the house and extend an existing garden bed, and create another

WHAT WE ACTUALLY DID

In the end we concentrated our efforts on the backyard. The front yard doesn't receive nearly as much sunlight as the back, plus I had no idea that having three massive eucalypts dries out the yard so much - those roots just suck out any moisture. You could see that from the patches of the little grass in the yard. There was an existing raised veggie bed though that had done pretty well considering though.

Instead of creating just a couple of veggie beds in the backyard and removing just some of the couch grass it was decided that it would be far more effective to rip up as much of couch grass as we could (ie all of it) and turn the entire thing into one big patch with paths in it to get to the washing line and around. To do this we:

• removed all couch grass (my god this was a task and a half. I can not believe the runners on some of those things! You have to try and remove the runners as much as possible or they just sprout back up again - and they probably still will in truth but at least this way it will be a lot more manageable. I have since dubbed the stuff 'bastard grass' though I must remember Scott's advice that it can be useful - just turn it into weed tea!)


• marked out the path using a packet of flour (great idea!)


• dug up soil from paths and used to help us build up the garden beds


• levelled the garden beds, but also created a small 'rim' towards the edges to stop the water from just flowing over onto the paths


• sprinkled blood & bone and potash all over


• put layer of soaked newspapers to sheet mulch the yard and paths (about 6 sheets deep at least, overlapping each other, no shiny paper)


• layer of soaked peastraw biscuits over garden beds


• another sprinkled layer of blood & bone and potash on garden beds


• another layer of soaked peastraw on gardenbeds


• another layer of cow manure on garden beds


• another layer of soaked peastraw on gardenbeds


• another layer of mushroom compost on garden beds


• final thin layer of soaked peastraw on garden bed

The paths were mulched with dry peastraw and the owners of the house were going to finish them off properly themselves later. Adam, one of the organisers, said at his place they made paths using an outside edge of brick and filled in the middle with woodmulch - perhaps PROPER eucamulch would be good. The good stuff though.

By the end of the day I was covered in pea straw and poo but we had turned the entire small yard into a giant productive veggie patch! SO MUCH BETTER THAN A SCRAPPY LAWN! And we managed to achieve it such a short amount of time. If that couple had sat down to try and remove the couch themselves they probably would have been there for a few weekends, with 10 of us on the ground we got it out in a few hours. That young family will now be able to grow so much edible produce in a small space, it got a wonderful amount of northern sun when we were there.

If you live in Melbourne and are interested in coming along to a Permablitz check out the website:

http://www.permablitz.net

I just saw one that was only about 30 mins from my place and dropped them a line. Presto! If you can only give an hour or so of your time you can still drop by for what you can. By the way, all the volunteers were well looked after on the day and we were given a delicious lunch and snacks and our hosts were very appreciative and gracious.

The group also run Permaculture talks and workshops. There is a FREE one coming up in Footscray next week:

Home Food Growing for Beginners
November 20, 2008 (6:45 pm)

Paul, Adam and Nathan from Permablitz are inviting all to this free 2-hour seminar on how and why to successfully grow your own veges and fruit.

Where: Town Hall Room - Maribyrnong Council Offices at the corner of Napier and Hyde Streets in Footscray - less than 500m walk from Footscray Train Station.

Arrive at 6:45 for a cuppa before the 7pm start.

No RSVP required. For more information email permablitz@gmail.com

Random Notes For The Garden II

chook got framed, originally uploaded by 99%.

My random notes from Scott's last workshop seemed to be a real hit, so here are a few random notes from the composting one:

• LAWN CLIPPINGS are great for your compost but not when they are fresh and all together because they tend to clump and not allow oxygem in. You're better off drying them out a bit before sticking them in the compost or it will just turn into a mushy sludge


• SHREDDED PAPER is great in your compost. Not just torn up newspapers either, but shredded white office paper is fine too. B&W is better than colour printed ones - the currently used inks seem to be fine and not toxic. But don't use anything glossy. Apparently the bleach in the white office paper helps get rid of heavy metals in your soil and there have been some studies into the make up of the compost once it breaks down and there doesn't seem to be any toxic residue from using shredded white office paper in your compost so it's safe to compost.


• WEED TEA can be used as a basis for garlic and chilli pest sprays so you're not just getting rid of pests but fertilising your plants too. I had never though of 'value adding' to compost tea before. What a brilliant idea. (More about making compost or weed tea here).


• DISEASED PLANTS can be composted but you're best solarising (ie wrap it in black plastic and leave it out in the sun for a few weeks til it kills everything inside!) or breaking it down in a weed tea first. Though if the diseas is a fungal one Scott suggested solarising it first and then putting it in a weed tea.


• RHUBARB LEAVES are not meant for eating. They're not good for you and will probably make you feel crook but they're not going to make you keel over and die. BUT a great thing to do with them is to boil them up in your aluminium pots to make your pots nice and shiny!


• SHEET MULCHING is a term I had never heard of before this weekend and then I heard it all weekend! You can compost your food scraps this way if you want - just put a really thin layer of the scrap on the bit of garden you want to receive some nutrients and cover it over with mulch like dried lawn clippings or dry mulch. It keeps the nutrients near the surface.


• TO DIG OR NOT TO DIG Personally I am all for not digging because I'm a weakling and every time I try to use a shovel I push all my weight on it and I seem to get no where. It's humiliating really and who needs that? So I am all for the theory that it is better NOT to dig - surface microbes are supposed to live near the surface and break things down faster. If you dig over your soil you are mixing up your surface microbes and your ones that live below the top surface. And you could be putting nutrients from the surface down below where the root zone of you plant will go anyway. And furthermore your surface microbes often suck up nutrients from below the top soil to feed on near the surface so the SUBsurface soil is deficient in nutrients anyway. So when you're starting a new veggie bed and if your top soil is hard and crusted over from not being gardened, don't turn over that soil. Crack it instead - stick a fork or hoe in and prise it open but don't turn it, move along and break open another bit and so on.


• WORM FARMS - the commercial bought ones are often made from recycled plastic and because the plastic is all different colours it's just easier for them to dye them black. But really this is the worst colour you could have if you're going to leave your worm farm outside because they don't like to be too hot. So if you can find one a colour other than black, get it! But it's really easy to make a worm farm. I think styrofoam boxes would make excellent worm farms because of the insulation but they're not the prettiest things, but you could always make a some kind of facade for them if you cared that much. Or you can paint the black plastic ones with a light coloured water based paint. Carpet underlay makes an excellent top layer for your worm farm because they hate the light. Mine is kept in a pitch black brick garage anyway, but I keep a sheet of black plastic on top. Originally I had some moist newspaper but it broke down in no time and was rather unpleasant to have to pick up each time.


• WORM CASTINGS use a handful of worm castings when you plant your seedlings and they will get off to a great start! Also add a couple of handfuls to weed tea to make it a super tonic


• COMPOSTING WORMS and garden worms are different beings. The composting worms won't survive out in the garden. And garden worms won't compost as fast as your composting worms (most common composting worms are the red wrigglers). So it's worth forking out at the start to buy the proper composting worms and they multiply in no time.


• CHOOKS - How many? If you live in Maribyrnong Council and you're wondering how many you can keep - I just looked it up and it's 10.


• CHOOKS - save the refugees! Apparently some chook farms sell ex caged birds - refugee chooks! Once they get to a certain age they keep on laying but their eggs get too big for the egg cartons they usually get the knife. But you can buy them for like $5 and save they poor little hens. They will lay for about another year or two and then stop laying and then a few months later die. So, perhaps not a good option if you're looking to form a loving long lasting bond with your bird. Perhaps not best to name them. Apparently they don't perch - and they'll all hop into a nest together. A great nesting box is to find an old grass catcher of an old lawnmower and they will share it.


• CHOOKS - not sure? Try before you buy! If you're not so sure how you'd go with the chook owning you can consider renting a couple for a month and seeing how you go. BOOK A CHOOK rent chooks out to places like kindies but also households who are thinking of giving them a go. They will set you up with everything you'll need for the month and if you decide to purchase them at the end your rental fee comes off the purchase price.


• EGG STORAGE - fresh eggs have some natural um freshness seal! So you don't need to put them in the fridge or wash them, just write the date they were laid in pencil on them and keep them in a basket on your kitchen counter and remember to use the older ones first and if you eat them regularly you'll be fine. Or you can do the ole floater test to see if it's off if you've left it a while.


• CHOOK FEED - heavy layers need protein! So to make sure they get it you can mix some pellets in their food that have up to 14% protein. Or give them a few extra worms from your compost bin which are about 20% protein. Though I think I'd feel a little mean to my worms if I did that to them. Not that I have chooks yet.


• CHOOK POO is uber potent stuff so make sure you compost it before you put it in the garden or you're going to burn your plants!


• DEEP LITTER SYSTEM sounds the way to go if you have a chook pen. Give them a bail of straw and watch them joyfully pull it apart, frolicking in the hay! They'll pull up the seeds from it and shake through it and poop in it and then every few months just sweep it up and put it in your compost. Sounds the easiest way to maintain their house


• CHOOKS LOVE PORRIDGE. Yep, that's what I heard. Bowl of warm porridge in the morning and they will love you.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

to Shiitake, originally uploaded by xamonster.

This week is National Recycling Week. The focus is on not only recycling but recycling RIGHT, so if you'd like more info to make sure you're doing it right you can find more info here.

I went to another fantastic free workshop at Braybrook Community Garden on Saturday morning to talk about my favourite kind of recycling - COMPOSTING! It was called 'Inputs = Outputs = Inputs: Sustainable Veggie Gardening'

I really liked Scott's explanation and reasons to compost - it's about keeping as many of the safe nutrients in your system. It's yours, you paid for it so don't throw it away!

We love composting so much that we have THREE kinds of composting systems in our house, though seeing it's just a couple of us, we're currently only operating two. But we have a bokashi bucket, a worm farm and a Compost Oven.

There's quite a bit of information available on the net about bokashi buckets and worm farms so I won't bother going into the details here. I think we were extremely lucky to get a Compost Oven as I can't seem to find any info on how to purchase them on the net anymore. I heard about it from the guys at NECO when we had a home assessment and happened to see a stall at the 2007 Gardening Australia Expo in Melbourne but they seem to have vanished from the net but it's amazing! See the link above to see what it's about.

I will share a few of my tips on the three systems though:

Bokashi, originally uploaded by podchef.

BOKASHI

• PROS - biggest pros are that you can compost all food scraps including cooked food and even meat


• COSTS - cons are the initial cost of the bucket and the ongoing cost of the bokashi mixture that you sprinkle on the scraps but there are recipes on the net to make your own. And in truth it took us ages to get through a packet of bokashi mixture.


• SMELL? - despite what they say it's not true that it doesn't smell at all. I found the scraps themselves didn't tend to smell too much but the bokashi 'juice' that can be a bit on the nose. We would find that not too much would come out of the tap as we filled the bucket up, but when it was full and we went to empty it there would be loads of juice at the bottom that would be quite um fragrant! after all, you are pickling your waste.


• DIGGING THE TRENCHES - we kind of stopped using the bokashi bucket after we got the worm farm and planted up our yard. While it is true that this system is great if you have small apartment and not much of a yard, you need to bury the bokashi waste somewhere and we did end up finding it a bit problematic to find a new spot to dig a trench to bury it in once we planted up our yard. However, the spot that you bury it into really does take off later! But the truth is, I'm just too lazy to dig trenches

Transition Complete, originally uploaded by *bky.

WORM FARM

• I love our worm farm! It took me a little while to figure out how to best get the worms eating their food and get them going but they have really multiplied and chow everything down now


• A couple of tips I found online are that if you want your worms to eat the food scraps more quickly the best thing to do is whizz your scraps in a food processor or break them down a little - either by keeping them in the freezer and defrosting and giving to the worms later. Or by cooking them in the microwave in some water but you have to let it cook before giving them to the worms. I just find it quicker to fill a 2 litre bucket of scraps, stick them in my food processor and add a bucket full of water and make it one great big sloppy mess and pour the mixture on top and cover with shredded paper. They seem to love it and the extra water helps give me more worm wee. It doesn't drown the worms and it's just like a big rain downpour for them. Ever since I started doing this they have really taken off.


• I keep a bucket under the tap (which I keep open) of the worm farm, the farm slightly tilted at the back so that any liquid can pour straight into the bucket. I can do this because we keep the worm farm in our shed and I don't have to worry about my dog doing anything crazy like drink it... which I wouldn't put past him and would rather not imagine!


• Also - what they say about worms not like citrus, onions and raw potato - it's TRUE. Well I know about the citrus at least. One time I couldn't be bothered taking out some lemon peel that had made its way into the worm compost bucket so I blitzed it in the food processor - thinking, ah they won't notice. The week after I fed it to them I found little yellow specks everywhere because they didn't touch it! Don't know why I thought they wouldn't notice because I blitzed it - they're blind after all der.


• I have to say I prefer our worm farm to the bokashi because it's less work and instant reward. We have a constant supply of worm wee. It really doesn't smell AT ALL. I've found it really easy to manage and I think part of the reason it's been such a breeze is because we keep it in our brick garage and the temperature is good for them, I don't have to worry about the pets getting at it or the rain drowning them etc and it stays nice and clean on the outside. I am still a little funny about the actual worms - I'm not one of those worm farm owners that likes to play with them, they ick me out a little but I appreciate their work very much! I just don't want to touch them that's all. I have a full tray of castings now and have put the second level on but I haven't gotten around to using them yet. I think it's broken down a little too and there's heaps of worms in the bottom level as well so I will have to build it up again an coax them up to the top before I reach in there.


• I honestly can't think of any cons of my worm farm. But you need more than just a worm farm if you have a garden because what are you going to do with all your green garden waste? The worms have no teeth so they can't chow down pruned plant stems, you need a compost bin as well...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Compost Oven"][/caption]

COMPOST OVEN

• I don't want to go on about the Compost Oven too much because I don't know if they are still available. But it originally featured on The New Inventors (see video here). Note that the www.compostoven.com website doesn't seem to be the product that I am talking about, I'm not sure what's going on there. It just seems to be some kind of aggregate site for compost advertising at the moment, which breaks my heart but I secretly hope it means that they are commercially producing the Compost Oven now and gone into hibernation until it's finished. It's invented by Mike Morrison who I believe developed the technology behind the rather pricey Aerobin, but takes things one step further. There is a core that allows airflow to help speed up the composting process but the Compost Oven also heats it up using a copper coil that goes around the coil. You initially fill it with hot water but after that it self circulates and keeps itself hot, heating the compost, which in turn keeps the coil hot etc etc.. And it was all sealed in a thermal insulated unit - some kind of foil covered bubble wrap to keep it really warm. And it really works! Our compost breaks down in no time at all! It's not as pretty as the Aerobin but my god it gets the job done. They were selling the Compost Oven Lungs as well if you just wanted to put on within an existing compost bin or even if you just did big compost piles that you wanted to heat up more. And they also had another system called the Hot Compost which heated it up to a higher temperature that allowed you compost pet waste too. Oh, I hope they make a return! If I hear anything I will be sure to do a post about it

Eat In - Create a Yummy Yard! (Building Garden Beds From Scratch)

A chicken walks on the path, originally uploaded by hardworkinghippy.

I love this random photo I found on Flickr. No, it's not my yard - I wish!

I've mentioned the fabulous resource website - Sustainable Gardening Australia (or SGA) before. They have teamed up with some nurseries to create a campaign called Yummy Yards whereby they sell starter kits from participating nurseries around Australia for beginner veggie gardeners.

They also have just put up some fantastic factsheets on different kinds of raised veggie beds you can make, what you need to make them and how to put it together. Oh I wish this had been around when we were researching how to make our beds this time last year. We really have like ZERO DIY knowledge. You couldn't get two more UN-handy people.

We ended up buying some bluestone and just lining them up next to each other to make the beds. A good thing seeing we're probably going to end up moving it after the summer so we can get more sunlight on the patch.

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But these worksheets give very basic instructions on four different ways of setting up your Yummy Yard for different tastes, situations and budgets:

- Edge Barrier Garden

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- Galvanised Tank Garden

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- Sleeper Garden

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- Pot or Container Garden

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Each worksheet also has a list of the pros and cons of each system so well worth a read even if you have your own beds set up already!

Hope

Barack Obama Hope Sticker, originally uploaded by PEEL.

This will forever stay with me as the iconic image of the 2008 Barack Obama election campaign. I sat at my desk glued to three networks yesterday, all of us in the office did in fact. And despite what all the polls had said in the lead up, I couldn't help but hold my breath until it was officially announced. It really does feel like a new dawn, and it's good to feel like we're living in a time where people are reconnecting with their communities and reengaging with politics, becoming more involved, driving their own destinies and instigating change. Bring on 2009 I say!

Lady Garage Sale - Sun 16 Nov - North Melbourne

A friend of mine is organising a fabulous Lady Garage Sale in North Melbourne in a couple of weekends time. The perfect opportunity to give your wardrobes a good spring clean out.

I'm kicking myself that I'll be in Sydney that weekend, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the fun. Here are the details:

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Looking to get rid of your random things and stuff?

Then the Lady Garage Sale is for you.

The Lady Garage Sale is about a bunch of ladies getting together to sell their no longer loved, worn or wanted items.  Like the flyer below says it's a fun day and hopefully we'll make some money as well.

It's on Sunday November 16 from 10am - the good folk at Fandango Cafe in North Melbourne are letting the ladies take over their court yard and adjoining laneway and they will be turning the coffee machine on, firing up the BBQ.  We'll provide tables and chairs, byo clothes rack if you need one.

We will be promoting the Lady Garage Sale all round North Melbourne with posters and handbills and their is good passing trade so we will hopefully get a good crowd. Feel free to tell your friends about it

We've already got a bunch of girls confirmed selling clothes, records, shoes and cakes so if you or any of your lady friends would like to have a stall just email Nat Muscat at natalene.muscat@gmail.com or call on 0416 000 124 and I will provide more details.

There's no charge for a stall but a contribution to a women's charity (to be determined) at the end of the day would be appreciated.

Diggin' Spring

As well as getting out in our garden, we used the 4 day weekend to draw some inspiration from the fabulous Diggers Club gardens - St Erth in Blackwood and Heronswood in Dromana.

St Erth is a lot closer to our end of town so we manage to get there a bit more frequently than Heronswood. They have a fabulous display and selection in their retail shop, of dry shade plants such as Hellebores and Clivias (like this one):

Clivias are just gorgeous but can someone please tell me - why are they SO expensive? They were almost $20 for a little tube at Diggers.

I took a note down of many names of the plants they had in their dry shade section, to research and keep in mind for our front garden that only really gets morning sun. These pretty little woodland flowers are just so charming.

They also has a wonderful little cafe that uses the fresh produce from their own garden. Here are some photos I took of the garden HERE.

Blackwood, where St Erth is located, is very close to Daylesford so we popped up there and had some tea and scones at The Convent gallery and cafe - the gardens there are just divine. No pun intended :)

Some more photos from The Convent in Daylesford HERE.

Heronswood were holding their annual Spring Festival this weekend and the gardens were just gorgeous. There were lots of visitors to take advantage of the free garden tours and workshops.

I particularly loved their beautiful vegetable parterre garden.

(that's a hedge of curry plants and lemon thyme in the back there
- I think I'm a bit in love with the lemon thyme)

Biggest and most beautiful cabbages I've seen in my life

Lots of pretty flowers

More photos from the Spring Festival HERE.

I will most definitely doing my darndest to get back to Heronswood in early-mid December when the more unusual and stunning climbers will be in bloom!

Ikea hack!

FINALLY A SEWING POST! Apologies it's been so long between stitches. It's hard to make myself sit by my sewing machine when it's warm outside and there's gardening to do.

But I took advantage of the beautifully drizzly day to finish off this new couch cover I made for our 2 seater Lycksele ikea sofa bed.

The old cover looked like this. Bleh!:

I wanted something a bit warmer and homely to set the tone for the sewing/ guest room. And seeing we have 3 furry pets who love nothing more than snoozing on a sofa, it was imperative that I choose a fabric that's a bit forgiving and won't show every piece of Timmy's white fur (ie solid colours that white fur will show up on OUT!) or Villenelle's fluffy black hair or Elliott's tan hair. Oh dear. So patterns seemed a good idea. It was really hard to find any upholstery fabric that a) I could afford and b) liked. In the end I got some quilting fabric that was on sale at $4 per metre.

I had a bit of a look around for a pattern on the net but couldn't find any and in the end just simply dismantled the existing cover. It had batting, which I haven't sewn before, but I just used the existing batting as the pattern and replaced the fabric. I couldn't find a fabric that I liked that was quite long enough so I had to buy some extra length and match it up - oh boy was that a task and a half. How come I am always attracted to one way patterned fabric that I end up having to match? Yowzers. I managed to do it somehow

Here's the finished product.

It's a little busy looking I think, but I'm going to try and tone it down with some simpler looking cushions. I'm worried it's going to all look a little too country patchwork for my liking but I was thinking perhaps if I made some contrast cushions or something highlighting the light grey in the fabric, it'd be nice.

This Lara Cameron fabric caught my eye on her Kirin Notebook blog today.

What do you think? Think it might be too busy for the cushions?

Pitter Potter

Ah, four day weekends! I have taken Monday off, and with Tuesday being Melbourne Cup Day here, it's just like a mini vacation and I'm loving it.

On Saturday I had a full day - doing 2 free workshops at Braybrook Community Garden. I had no idea there was such a fantastic community garden just up the road from us, it's so much bigger than the Maidstone one that's even closer to us too. They have several of these U shaped raised beds, I guess they are kind of like keyhole beds where you can walk in the middle. Plus a wood fire oven and BBQ.

I'm such a nerd, I love a free workshop. First up was Learn Container Gardening - all about growing edibles on your balcony or small courtyard. I've been dabbling in this for a while but there's always something new you can learn. So I'm going to share some of the random new bits of information I learnt that I didn't know before. Hopefully some of it might be new to you too. Emphasis on the RANDOM here:

• LIMES - If you're looking to grow a lime tree in a pot, Tahitian Lime could be just the thing. Sounds very prolific in fruit. Scott our teacher said he gets about 60-80 limes per year. Imagine how many gin and tonics that would be over the summer! The Kaffir Limes are really best for their leaves but I don't think I would use them enough to justify growing. The fruit are very perfumed, perhaps to perfumed for some people's taste. On another note, when you buy a lime tree don't go buying the one with fruits on it already. The nurseries force them to fruit so people buy them and you need to cut them off as soon as you get home. I am guessing they get them to fruit in the same way Peter Cundall talks about treating his tomatoes mean to make them prolific - he basically makes them think they are dying by giving them only the tiniest bit of water, and a little pinch of potash, and def no fertiliser until they start producing flowers (think they are doing to die and therefore much make some fruit so they can reproduce!) and then you won't have a plant that puts all its energy into growing leaves. Once if starts flowering though, you can start fertilising them and watering as usual,


• POT DRIPPAGE - We know not to let your pots sit in water - your plants won't like it. But do collect the drippage in trays or getting it to run to a certain point because all that liquid contains nutrients!


• POTTING MIX - remember it's the RED ticks you're looking for. The ones with the BLACK ticks will need extra nutrients added. (I always get them mixed up!)


• SEAWEED EMULSION - is the same as Seasol. I knew it is great for transplanting seedlings and plants and helps prevent root transplant shock but I didn't realise it's not a fertiliser - it's a soil conditioner. There is something in the property of seaweed as well that assists with water retention too, which leads me to my next point


• WATER CRYSTALS - aren't great for your soil. BUT a much cheaper and more natural alternative is Agar jelly. You know - the stuff you can get at Asian supermarkets. It holds water, is natural, cheap and apparently a seaweed extract.


• DYNAMIC LIFTER - I've long heard the name but didn't really know what's in it - it's seaweed, fish and pelletised chook poo - all organic. You can use this to make a liquid feed. Actually it sounds like you can use anything that's organic to make a liquid feed. If you don't know how:


• COMPOST TEA/ LIQUID FEED - get a hessian bag (though can someone tell me, where does one get a hessian bag these days? I never see them. It's not like people go around buying great big hessian bags of potatoes anymore), or Scott suggested an orange bag (though I kind of think maybe the holes will be too big) or shade cloth to make a giant tea bag - you can put compost, worm castings, even fresh green weeds in it. Tie it up and soak it in a great big bucket of water. It's gonna stink for a couple of weeks but it will go away eventually. And then in a few weeks time you can use it as a liquid feed - just dilute it down to the colour of weak tea and your plants will love it! Sounds like a great way of dealing with weeds because it will break down those weed seeds and after you've made your tea you can just put the mush into the compost.


• BUCKETS - if you're looking for a big bucket with a lid you can get FOOD GRADE buckets with close fitting lids at Bunnings or apparently bakeries have them too so might be asking there! They might not have the lids though.


• HARVEST FROM A BOX - my biggest eye opener for the day was how many plants you can fit into a styrofoam box. Incredible! We put a thin layer of newspaper on the bottom to stop the dry soil from falling out straight away. Then a mixture of compost and potting mix. And planted straight in. According to Jackie French, you can fit all of this into one box! Scott showed us how. My mind was blown:
  - 6 x lettuce, 1 cucumber (in a corner to sprawl out over), 3 x silverbeet OR
  - 2 silverbeet, 1 x tomato, 1 x zucchini (in a corner to sprawl over edge) OR
  - 6 x parsley, 1 x capsicum, 1 x cut and come again lettuce, 1 x cucumber (trailing out of box)
  The box pictured at the top of this post has a tomato in one back corner, a cucumber in the other with basil in inbetween, a row of lettuce in the front, and a row of bush beans and a row of beetroot in the middle. Basically, Scott said ignore what the plant tags tell you should be the distance between them and just go ahead and cram them in. The key is to keep the box well watered and fed - and this means a liquid feed at least once a week and it will practically be like growing them hydroponically!
  Isn't that just amazing! Even if you have a tiny balcony, as long as you have sunlight you could grow so much!


• SUNLIGHT - yes, we know edibles need sunlight but much little can you get away with? Ideally you want 6 or more but 4 hours you can maybe scrape by with. If the sun is too strong in summer, and you need to provide some shade with a shade cloth - go for 50% shade cloth if you can find it so your plants will get enough UV. Otherwise, I reckon a second hand lace curtain would do the same trick!


• BLUEBERRIES - like acidic soil so you can use Azalia potting mix. Or just add SULPHUR POWDER that you get from the gardening section. Blueberries are good in a big permanent pot. They also need to cross pollinate so if you grow them try to get a few different varieties, for a better crop. Same goes for anything that needs to cross pollinate.


• PINEBARK - cheap pinebark is quite acidic too but if you will need to add nutrients, but good for blueberries and strawberries too.


• PH LEVEL KITS - the powder kits are better than the thermometre type ones


• SEEDLINGS - a good way to pull them apart, minimising root damage is to gently swish them around in some water as they come apart easier that way. I think if you swished them around in water with some seaweed emulsion would be even better!


• TOMATOES - plant those seedlings DEEP. At the bottom they have all these little hairs and they become roots so put them below the soil line. Also, tomatoes use WARMTH to ripen, not direct sun.


• CUCUMBERS - there are bush varieties as well as climbing ones. Pick them young and you will not only get more fruit but your cucumbers will have less seeds in them.


• LETTUCE - can also be used in stir fries as well as salads - a lot of Asian countries prepare them this way


• BASIL - don't put in the ground til November otherwise it's not warm enough for them yet. There's such a thing as LEMON BASIL. Boy would I love to find that. Pick out the centres when picking them, leaving two side leaves and this will make it get bushier and bushier as you pick it instead of more sparse. Pick out the flower heads constantly.


• ALYSSUM - is a great, beautiful smelling flower you can put in your beds to help attract pollinators. I knew about marigolds and nastursiums but not Alyssum!


• SEMPOSAI seeds - if you can find them, are a very fast growing hybrid Asian green. It's a cut and come again variety you can use in stir fries.


• EUREKA LEMON - sounds like the lemon to get if you want at least around 10 lemons at any time all year round. Some varieties of lemon are very prolific but only once or twice a year.


• PARSLEY - is great for hayfever! I had no idea. As apparently is garlic and horse radish.


• CUCUMBER - always grow in a corner so it can sprawl out of the pot or garden bed


• CHILLIES - the more your feed and water them the milder in flavour they are. So if you want them hot, treat them mean! Jalapenos can last 10 years.


• LOVAGE - is a great alternative to celery. They have a bulb flower like dahlias and are a perennial. Their leaves have a celery like flavour - with a warm spice to them. It dries well and is great in soups. I'm going to try and get some from CERES. There is also Chinese Celery.


• SILVERBEET - recommended 'Perpetual Seed' - easily propogated from seed. Soak overnight in water before planting. Treat it like 2 different plants when it comes to cooking - the leaves and the stem. The French cook the stem by steaming it and serving with a white sauce over it. You can use silverbeet leaves as a substitute to make like a cheat's Spanicopita.


• RADISH - sprinkle seed in your boxes/ beds early as its VERY fast growing - especially 'French Breakfast'. As well as eating the root which is the radish, the greens are great in a stir fry when young. But if you leave a couple in the ground and let them go to seed they have these little pods - there were heaps in the garden on Saturday and you can eat them - they have a peppery taste like radish and are great to nibble on with a beer!


• BEETROOT - also soak in warm water or seaweed solution over night to soften the outer seed shell before planting out. The leaves are edible too and are the same plant as Silverbeet. A great way to eat beetroot is to slow roast them in the oven, wrapped in foil. When they are tender open the foil packets over the sink and the skin can be slid off like when you cook tomatoes whole and this way it keeps all the nutrients inside.


• CARROTS - in pots go for baby carrots or the round ones. Grow direct from seed - the ones in punnets will bolt


• EARWHIGS - if you need to get rid of them in your garden put a pot with some scrunched or shredded paper in it and leave overnight. In the morning shake out the paper in water.


• NETTING - if you need to stop the birds coming try using black netting to protect your patch - you can barely see it from far away too


• CATS - if you needs to stop your cats getting in your patch stick some skewers in it - that'll keep them out. Seems a bit mean though - yowch


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  RECYCLED TYRES - here's an innovative reuse of a tyre I saw at the gardens. It's been turned inside out and cut into a shaped pot.