and house energy efficiency

I have just installed in my partner's house two strings of LED lights, wrapped around a bamboo pole, suspended from the ceiling, to light a hallway. One of these and one of these from ebay (I have no connection with the seller, but these were my second happy purchase from this seller). The cocoon-like lights to go above a bookcase, the flower shaped lights in a part of the hall which needs less light. All made by a women's cooperative in southern Thailand, the flower shaped lights from leaves of rubber trees.

Each of these two strings has 35 lights, rated by the supplier as 3.3 watts. So in total less than 7 watts. At 27c per kwh power from the grid, 0.2 cents per hour. And the LED lights should last forever. They cost around $70. The hooks in the ceiling $5. The bamboo pole from own bamboo, on property recently sold.

It's worth looking for ways to do things which are both beautiful and sustainable.

mulch to compost

We recently bought a 7hp electric start mulcher.



I had become tired of travelling to the tip with prunings, to pay for leaving them there. Though it is possible at the same rubbish tip to bring trailer and shovel and load as much green chipped material as you want, this is an irksome thing and the product uncertain and pretty rough cut.

The new mulcher has enabled us to reduce prunings up to 75mm (3 inches) in diameter to fine chip via a chute to a blade on the side of the flywheel. There is also a top hopper feeding to a hammer mill, which is producing an astonishingly fine product.

harshest editing!

We have learned the first lesson in managing the mulcher: check constantly to see that you are not overloading the mill. If you feed at a sensible rate, and mix brittle stick with softer material, the mill product is cleared fairly swiftly. The height of the machine allows an easy peak over the rim of the chute. Lid lowered when brittle sticks dropped in.

On rubber tyres, weighing 70kg or so, it is easy to tip and trolley the machine around the garden. And the garden small enough to bring material to it. The mulcher uses a little petrol: but I no longer need a petrol mower and I will not need to take stuff to or from the tip. The electric start is wonderful, having had great problems with a pull start mulcher in the past.

Our garden is hungry for good soil. compost, growing material. This especially the case, of course, with raised beds, which are large to fill and will require replenishment often enough. We can now make a lot.

The mulcher also relieves me of the grief caused by the modern accumulation of packaging and paper. The first thing in this category that it consumed was its own cardboard packaging. We have a weekly garbage collection and a fortnightly collection of recyclable material: paper, plastic and metal. With two dogs, three hens and composters, we have little 'garbage' to send away. I have now been able to radically reduce our contribution to recycling by removing the paper and cardboard from the bin to the mulcher. And we are getting an amazing product.

Glarey winter day makes for difficult photography.
In the middle, the mulcher.
Right foreground, paper and cardboard left out in the rain to soften and open, plus some plant material.
To the left, a mound of mulcher product: paper -> big confetti, cardboard -> fawn fibre.

Also added, some old rotted palm trunk material, see below what wonderful
material like peat moss it makes.

Product:
fine brown, almost like coffee grounds: rotted palm trunk
stick and shred green: plant prunings
tattered squares of white: paper
(at the top/back) fawn, fine, hairy, fluffy—like stuff from a vacuum cleaner bag: cardboard

This shredded mulch material includes an array of minerals and has a very high carbon content. Composting requires carbon and nitrogen in a ratio near 4:1 to work quickly. We will add manures and existing compost (rich in micro-organisms from bacteria and fungi to bugs and worms) to produce a high grade soil from this. And try some short cuts. Winter seedlings have sent petitions asking to be planted out very soon. 

Black and coloured ink have been suspected as possible chemical problems in gardens. My recall is that Max Lindegger established in the 1990s that the amounts of chemical likely to be involved are potentially beneficial rather than harmful in mulch.

Northey Street City Farm, Brisbane

Susan and Stephen took us to this permaculture demonstration farm, slap bang amid the heavy urban infrastructure north west of the Brisbane CBD on 13 May 2013.

A little hard to believe coming from far away and looking at the map that this garden was under water  in floods several months ago.

The photos show how hard it is to photograph gardens. Not least on a glarey overcast day. Not least by me. Black and white photos by Stephen. Some of the colour photos by Helen. The colour photos show a sort of flood-weary look, less evident to the direct eye.

We were there on a Monday, missing all the lively crowds, cafe and instruction of the weekend and some other days.

The garden was established in 1994. So I have a bit of time to catch up at home!

Later, photos of our hosts, over coffee at Mt Cootha, glare of the day behind.

I am carrying two cameras, Olympus EP-L1 with fixed 14mm (equivalent to 28mm on 35mm camera) and Panasonic LX3 with zoom, set to black and white and square images. Helen with EP-L1 with zoom.

My photo of my eldest, Susan

Helen's photo of Stephen

seedlings in autumn

Here are some photos taken in the cooling of sunny autumn day.. southern hemisphere temperate, photo from the north.

This is an overview. 

Not of a funeral but raised bed centre and also to the left, 

with horse manure ageing in bags in the sun to the right.

The curtain over the centre raised bed allows light but not birds.

The main risk of aerial attack is from the satin bower bird, blackbirds, king parrots and crimson rosellas

and here is what is under that funereal cloth

- a mass of rocket (arugola) seedlings,

so easy to plant and get going.

 I had, some months ago, stuffed dried stalks with seed pods

into a plastic yoghurt jar, leaving the lid off for them to dry and not rot. 

Tis stalk crowded situation meant that when I went to get the seed out recently, 

it sprayed all down the tray of the raised bed 

with this result. Some fallen over momentarily with watering.

I am not planning to plant these out – the soil is very rich where they are – 

but will try harvesting with scissors when they are six or eight inches (15-20cm) high, 

leaving good growing bases and leaves.

I doubt the banana sucker on left will make it through the winter, 

inadequate shoots from the base when I took it out. 

But they do trend to die right back and rise from nothing in the spring (no frost here)

 so this is an experiment.

In the bed behind and to the left, a tray of (purchased seed) brussels sprouts seedlings

 among tamarillo seedlings (self-sown),

strawberries and seeding lettuce

and here in that same bed, more lettuce in seed, over seedlings

(click to enlarge).

In the heat of late summer, these salad plants quickly shot and went to seed. 

We have enjoyed picking meals of leaves right through to late in this growth, 

the sharp flavours mean no need for any dressing. 

Even those crinkly green leaves on the left and on the collapsed red lettuce (actually I pulled it over to get its seed to drop where I want it) are good

—if you enjoy strong flavour, rather than the watery mess of commercial lettuce 

or the fertiliser bag flavour of many hydroponic products.

I could collect this seed and if organised enough I could share it. 

But for now, I'm happy to see what becomes of the most vigorous seed falling to the soil. 

And the soil is good. 

A simple indicator: putting finger into the ground when not watered for a few days

you should feel moist humus, not dryness.

Note that physical intervention and work is minimal. 
Seeds raked in to begin, the seed, if soil holding moisture, 
should be not much deeper in the soil than its own diameter.

A quick look to remove grass seedlings, etc
a check for moisture, especially if going away for days.
Lots of thinking... some of those lettuce seedlings must go somewhere else... where?

Brain pressure thus impels planning for new beds or new arrangements. 
And as space fills up, you have to consider priorities:
— what grows best
—what tastes best
Don't persist with failures, neither you nor the plant will be happy

urine in garden

I have the privilege of belonging to a wonderful city garden email group based in Mumbai: look at this and this link to founders of the group and be impressed!

I take the liberty of copying one of their blog headers to add colour here, link is above or if you click the picture:

Coming back to that discussion after several years of other preoccupations has been a big factor in driving me to be more constructive in my food garden and to begin this blog.

Here are piddling thoughts I wrote to that group just now:

When we were discussing feeding lemons before, someone asked whether urine, rich in nitrogen, would not be mainly good for green leaf growth.
Two days ago I was delivered some tomatoes by a neighbour with advice that they were so successful because piddled around. "I encourage my visitors, but they seem shy."
Then thinking about it this morning (while diluting a small contribution of mine into a watering can) I suddenly thought: OH YES, there are lots of minerals in piddle, depends on the individual on the day.
So after administering this dilute dose to seedlings I came in and did a web search for 'analysis mineral human urine' and got lots of results, among which this most interesting and garden-practical:
http://www.bigblogofgardening.com/human-urine-as-fertilizer-in-your-home-garden/
very interesting blog too!

There is some interesting information on mineral assays of urine here, with a sample analysis here

best wishes
Dennis 

p.s. my one apprehension about this, for people in tropical environments, is regarding schistosomiasis. The biggest risk is to people working in wet rice fields, etc. But it seems a good precaution to know whose piddle is being added to the garden in the wet season in particular.
See this regarding situation in India
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jpr/2011/250868/
and this quote below is from
http://www.astmh.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Tropical_Medicine_QandA&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1309
Schistosomiasis (shis-toh-soh-my'uh-sis)
This disease is caused by several species of flatworms of the genus Schistosoma. About 200 million people are infected, with three times that many at risk. An estimated 200,000 people (0.1% of those infected) die every year, but many more (about 10% of infected individuals) suffer chronic damage to vital organs including the liver and kidney.
Interestingly, while this parasite's life cycle also involves an invertebrate vector, it is not transmitted through the bite of an insect, but rather develops within freshwater snails. After exiting from the snail vector, schistosome larvae swim along until they contact a human host bathing or working in the water.
They penetrate the skin, and subsequently migrate through the blood vessels until finally establishing residence in veins of the intestines or urinary bladder, depending on the parasite species. The adult male and female worms pair, mate and produce large numbers of eggs, some of which are excreted in either feces or urine and wind up in the water supply where they hatch and complete the cycle by infecting new snail hosts.
The adult worms do not cause the most common manifestations of the disease. Those eggs that are not excreted but instead become lodged in the body's tissues cause disease.
In a process known as granuloma formation, masses of cells form around the eggs in an effort to destroy them; in so doing, however, these cells initiate a process of tissue scarring (fibrosis). In those forms of the disease involving the liver and intestines, this impedes blood circulation and can cause death due to rupture of distended blood vessels. In the form involving the bladder, the extensive scarring can result in obstruction of urinary outflow.

water, everywhere, with style

We underprovide for water outside. I have now five slim tall water tanks for roof collection, for which I am gradually improving reticulation systems. I have been absent minded for a long time and too often, over the last several years, I have left a hose from a tank running and emptied the tanks. Fortunately we get good rain here, and I have town water too.

Sticking with the principle that if it's worth doing it has to be done with some aesthetic sense, here is fun created with the assistance of my friend and helper Trevor in front and back in provision of water for washing hands and garden products.

In the front garden, a French made Porcelaine de Paris hand basin with gilt taps, soap and nail brush dishes. I have yet to decide whether to install solar powered pump so the lion can whistle water into the basin. And while washing up, listen to the Black Ants as they play bluegrass (almost the only grass left, certainly the only grass not under threat). No, it's not superman or a bird, it's a plane in a cage, enwreathed in solar powered LED stars at night.

In the back garden, under a tamarillo, a proper back garden washup situation, modelled graciously by Trevor, with two kitchen sinks, two shower heads... which are also very good for sticking your head under on very hot days.