New to purmaculture

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by Chris Willis, Mar 1, 2012.

  1. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hello everyone....I'm so pleased to have found this site. I have read about Permaculture over the years and had the very pleasant experience of watching a video of Bill Mollison's some years ago. What a man.
    We have an ordinary suburban block, with a fairly large home sitting on it....so don't have all that much garden. Recently, we bought four raised garden beds to grow some vegies in. We are a retired couple, both with back problems so the raised beds are really good for us.
    Out trouble is, we live in Western Australia and our summers are scorchers with very little rainfall. We have managed to get a few tomatoes and potatoes growing, and at the moment I have some pumpkins flourishing....but the sun has scorched the leaves pretty badly. We find very little joy in producing good crops during summer.
    We also have an orange tree and a lemon tree. I found this site while looking for home remedies to kill off fruit fly, and this is something that I still need some answers to. If any of you have some good ideas I can have, I'd be most grateful:y:
    I would love to put permaculture into action in our limited garden, and I hope that through reading your forum I shall be able to learn a lot. Sadly, my husband enjoys having lawn....can't do much about that unfortunately:sweat: I'm hoping to pick up ideas that may help with this dilemma :)
    Cheers.....Chris
     
  2. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2006
    Messages:
    4,771
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Welcome Chris :)
     
  3. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2009
    Messages:
    5,925
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Compost him and get a new one?

    Seriously though - welcome. Look into grey water recycling as a way to water your plants during the summer. And maybe consider growing under shade cloth to reduce evaporation. And of course mulch like there's no tomorrow.
     
  4. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thank you....happy to be here. Am learning already :)
     
  5. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,161
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    I was going to say Trade him in on a younger model but it will take to long to train another one.. Hmmm 36 years I have been married, no better not think about it.

    I have a high set house so was easy to get to the plumbing and set up 2 x 200 litre drums to catch the bath and laundry water. I connected them to a pump and pumped to the backyard (uphill) and switched the tap to gravity feed the front yard. Been too wet here to need it this Summer and I just got hold of a float switch so I wouldn't have to turn the pump on and off. Come Winter when it is dry I might set it up again.

    Get plenty of organic material into your beds and put of composting worms in. They will breed up rapidly and the worm castings they produce can hold an amazing amount of moisture.

    Brian
     
  6. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hi Brian....can I assume from what you have said that you live in Queensland? thank you for the warm welcome and info. I've been surfing the net for most of the afternoon, watching all kinds of YouTube videos...so very interesting. We have a bore, so don't have too much of a problem as far as water goes really, but we try not to use it too often. WA has been on water restrictions for many years now....you lot over in the East are getting way more than your fair share of rain. I so wish we could relieve you of the weather problems you are having. Being on a sand plain we don't have the kind of flooding you experience....it just drains away. Not that we want or need flooding, but a little bit of rain now and again would be good :) We also have a few rain bins around the garden. They fill up pretty quickly, and they empty just as quickly, but it has amazed me how much water we waist by not harvesting it. Our gutters are very difficult to keep clean...way too narrow to get a hand in or even a cleaning tool, so our Mr. Fixit (my husband is an egg head and doesn't have many skills as far carpentry etc goes) has put in some spouts, so the rain runs out into the bins. Would of course love to have some rainwater tanks. I'm working on that one.
    I have a worm farm, but it's taking a while to get them going. I saw a composting video this afternoon and although I do have a compost bin, I realise that I must get more on the move.
    I do have quite a problem with Couch grass too....have managed to collect heaps of info on that and also many other very interesting blurbs :) I dream of having a food forest....and will hold onto that dream. The large area of brick paving we have is another 'something' I must work on with my husband, bless him. He's a good'n.
    As you can tell, I run off at the mouth a bit....sorry about that :) Cheers....Chris
     
  7. Terra

    Terra Moderator

    Joined:
    May 16, 2007
    Messages:
    757
    Likes Received:
    23
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Husbands lawn is not all bad it will provide green matter for your compost , you will likely need some shadecloth structures to protect your beds these will help a lot , plants dont need a full day of full sun during summer . Make use of your vertical space a simple framework and you can grow tomatoes up strings , peas and climbing beans as well , trellis your melons to save space .
    regards Rob
     
  8. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Ha, ha, ha.....very funny. I've thought about it, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives :) He's a bit set in his ways at 71 but I shall certainly work on things. I know that putting shade cloth over the garden area is a great idea. I'm thinking about getting some sails? Must get our Mr Fixit man round to help. I'm not sure what permaculturists think about the use of bore water, but that's what we use (in a limited fashion). Also have some rainwater buckets....they're like very large, but round garden bins. Not sure how many litres they hold, but it's quite a lot and we use that water when we get some. Must try and get a rainwater tank fitted.
    Over in the west we have Josh Byrnes who you may have heard about on Gardening Australia? Must try to find other permaculture people here that I could meet up with.
    Thank you very much for making me feel welcome, even though I'm a green horn :) Cheers, Chris
     
  9. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thank you. I'm looking forward to learning much from this forum :) Your youtube link was most interesting.
     
  10. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hello Terra and thank you for your advice. We have a mix of buffalo & couch grass in our front garden and only couch in the back garden. Can you mulch couch without spreading it? It's awful stuff and gets everywhere....but it's what is there, so I'm stuck with it. It would be good to mulch it, but I've been to nervous about doing it. Maybe you know something about couch?
     
  11. jeremy

    jeremy Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2012
    Messages:
    25
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
  12. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,161
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    Hello Chris. to get your worm farm going can you put it through a garden seive? The material you sieve out use in your gardens and the bigger bit of material and the worms which will be tocether put them back into your farm. If possible get some horse or cow manure and put it into the farm at about 3" deep. Let it sit for a week and do it again. Your worms will breedup like crazy and in a couple of months you will triple your population.

    After about 2 months sieve the farm again and do the same thing. This time you will put about 10 times the worm eggs in your garden which will all hatch in your garden beds. You will also have heaps of castings as well. With all your veggie scraps put them in the freezer over night then feed out to the worms. This is most important with potatoe peels. Have a look at my website listed below.
     
  13. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hi Brian and thank you so much for the invaluable help with the worm farm. I shall make sure that I follow your instructions and look forward to seeing the results :)
     
  14. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thanks Jeremy...I appreciate that link :)
     
  15. Chris Willis

    Chris Willis Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2012
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hi Brian....I forgot to ask you. What is the significance of freezing the food over night before feeding it to the worms :)
     
  16. briansworms

    briansworms Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,161
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    Chris with potatoe peels especially they will remain nice and crisp in a worm farm and given the chance will grow spuds. The worms wont touch them unless they are breaking down. The freezing breaks down the cells and then the worms will start to eat it. I froze some cabbage once and then fed it to the worms. It didn't break down at all and remained quite healthy in the worm bin.
    The alternative is what is called Bokashi. You put all your scraps in an air tight bag for a few weeks then feed it to the worms. The same result can be achieve by putting your scraps in a bag and leave out in the sun for a week. It all sounds terrible but what it does is grow bacteria which is what the worms actually eat. Bacteria causes the smell but in a healthy worm farm there is no smell because the worms are eating it.
    If your worm farm smells it is probably too wet and needs to dry out or there is insufficient worms in it which can be a result of being too wet or not enough bedding for the worms to breed in. A smelly farm will attract unwanted pests and bugs. So remember plenty of bedding , not too wet but just damp and don't overfeed for the numbers of worms in your farm. Screen the whole thing every couple of months and use the castings in your garden and put the worms and bigger bit of material back in the farm and re stock the bedding.
    With a stackable farm always make sure the bedding is continuous between the layers or your worms can die of starvation if the food is on top and there is a gap below.
     

Share This Page

-->