This Sustainable House

Archive for the ‘Gardens’ Category

One of the major differences between standard gardening and permaculture is that the latter put’s great emphasis on design and planning. It can seem that ‘permies’ only ever talk about design however it is often easier to correct a deficiency in garden design prior to it’s implementation. This is especially true if you site something in the wrong location… in that case moving it is a drag!

The video below outlines the new Mandala Gardens being set-up at TSH, and the reason they are laid out the way they are. The system being adopted was originally designed by Linda Woodrow (The Permaculture Home Garden) so credit where credit is due.

The reality for a lot of people living in cities is that they don’t have the space, or time, to grow their own food. Of course there are a number of initiatives that help to address this, such as the allotment movement. But how do you grow your own food at home, or how do you make the most of allotment resources if you are frail, infirm or have other ‘issues’. The solution is easy… Sprouted Seeds

The Benefits of Sprouting

Sprouting seed is one of the easiest, and most productive form of gardening available. It is something that anyone can do and, in fact, it is a wonderful activity for children.

Sprouts are an alkalizing, living food which continue to grow until such time as they are eaten. They contain a greater concentration of vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes than almost any other food, and have been used for centuries to invigorate the body’s immune system, work against toxins and even counter cell mutation. Think of them as a super food you can grow right on your bench top and you wouldn’t go far wrong… Read the rest of this entry »

Or perhaps, mote accurately, collect water while the rain falls…

Water is the number one limiting factor at TSH, as it is for most Australian farmers. We are, after all, the driest inhabited continent on Earth.

Like most rural properties, TSH has no reticulated water access but relies on the water that can be collected off the roof or catchment run-off. In the case of roof run-off the water is stored in a series of thanks with approx 140,000L capacity. However catchment run-off is a different tale with main storage being one medium sized delapidated dam. Damn!

The fact that our dam doesn’t hold water, if you’ll excuse the obvious pun, is actually a blessing as it encourages me to be more creative with how water is stored on the property. Which brings me to the point of this post… Swales!

Swales are an earthwork designed to capture water in-situ and transmit that into the sub-soil. Whilst in a dam one attempts to capture water with an impervious layer, in the case of a swale we capture it with a permeable layer. The basic principle, as demonstrated below, is to trap rainwater using trenches/embankments placed along a contour and then allow this water to permeate into the soil where it flows under the surface. This has the advantage of lowering evaporative losses as well as placing the water right where our plants need it, at their roots. It also reduces erosion and, best of all, requires NO energy to run a pump… Grand.

In the case of TSH there are a couple of areas that would benefit from swaling. The first area is in the quarantine yards where the swales will capture road run off and direct it to a better use. The second area is the rear paddocks where the run-off can be chanelled along the countours to collect both from the ‘interswale’ areas and the neighbours paddock.

As we develop these earthworks I will post additional comments but in the meantime just imagine the possibilities.

One of this weekends task’s was to begin setting up the greenhouse. One of the first things I needed to do was to setup a couple of propagation tables with irrigation system. The irrigation system is attached to a automatic timer ensuring that the system turns on, and off, regularly throughout the day without supervision.

The video below details the system…

So far so good…

It has now been about a week since the trial was started and already the plants a visibly growing. Wonderful!

The issue to do with gurgling was addressed by reducing to flood cycle to one cycle per night. This means that though it still gurgles it’s not causing too many problems with my sleep patterns. The more long-term solution is the insulated base but that will have to wait till the ‘alpha’ is completed.

However a new issue has arisen, something that is more of an aesthetic problem than anything else… The direction of light.

As was originally hoped, it seems that the light entering through the window is more than adequate for sustaining the plant growth so far. The plants are growing well with no signs of spindliness (is that a word?). However the plants are ‘leaning’ into the light which kind of makes sense when one considers that the light is only coming from one direction. As noted, this gives the plants a slightly odd look in the garden but doesn’t seem to be affecting their growth.

A potential solution is to place a reflective source, at least 30cm tall and the width of the bed, on the southern side. This should bounce back the light that pushes through and provide some stimulation to the cells on the southern side of the plant.

To test this concept I have attached a piece of corflute, a type of rigid plastic with a reflective side, to the side of the bed. At the moment, as can be seen below, this is only temporarily in place but should the trial proceed into ‘production’ then a more robust frame will be built.

Perhaps making the ‘mirror’ movable, ie up and down as well as angled, would add value?

One of the things I really love about gardening is the way it constantly surprises me. For example, on Friday I set-up the indoor gardening trial using hydroponics to grow salad vegetables inside (see the post here). As noted in that post, I also planted some seeds in growool cubes to ‘flesh’ out the bed… and WOW!! Talk about growth…

Here we are, only 72hrs from planting, and already we have seedlings presenting their heads. Admittadley, they are slightly spindly as their current location is a little devoid of light but that can easily be fixed. Check it out…

Well it has been less than 24hrs and the first ‘issue’ has arisen. Location! To explain…

The best location for these gardens is on the second floor of the house as this location has the most available light resources, affords excellent opportunities for maintainence/supervision, and is naturally the warmest part of the home. However, the second floor is also the master bedroom and our flood & drain table gurgles as it drains. Dag Nammit!

At this stage it’s not too problematic, there are only 2 cycles throughout the night and the gurgling only lasts a minute or so. However should the trial prove a success then an insulated base would assist with muffling the propgation of the sound. If worst comes to worst, the master bedroom can always be moved.