This Sustainable House

Posts Tagged ‘gardening’

Last weekend another gravel grow bed was added to the TSH Aquaponics system. As I built the bed I managed to have the foresight to take a few short video clips outlining the construction, and the principles involved. Enjoy!

One of the food production systems that I have been dying to try for many years is the concept of Aquaponics. Aquaponics is quite an advanced system in which we combine the best of aquaculture, growing fish and/or crustaceans, with hydroponics, growing plants in a soil-less culture. The reason that it works so well is that the plants feed on the wastes of the fish, essentially filtering the water before it returns to the fish tank. In fact, it is a touch more complicated than that (involving bacteria converting ammonia to nitrites then nitrates) however that’s the gist of it. The diagram below demonstrates the general principle.

Basic Aquaponics Cycle

The reason that have always wanted to try this system is because I feel that it can offer a lot of opportunities to the small-holder, or even householder, as one can grow a lot of food in a relatively small area. Read the rest of this entry »

A few months ago I wrote a post explaining the strawberry towers that I have decided to use at TSH (see link below). I thought that this was a good time to provide an update.

As was previously noted, I lost a few crowns when the irrigation system failed, but since re-jigging the system I haven’t had any issues. As you can see from the photo’s, the remaining crowns are doing really well.

The one change that I would like to make to the system would be to add a fertiliser ‘injector’ into the system which would make adding liquid fertiliser much easier. At the moment I periodically stand on a ladder to pour a seaweed fertiliser into the tubes. This isn’t the end of the world but it would be easier!

The other option is to perhaps integrate the system with the proposed aquaponics system, but we’ll see how that pans out as the season progresses.

Update (4/12/10) – After a week of almost solid rain another ‘problem’ has become apparent… slugs! Today when harvesting some fruit I noticed some slug damage. I think they are getting to the plants via the mint beneath which has gone beserk, and grown taller than the bottom of the tower. I think the slugs are then just bridging the gap. However there is nowhere for them to hide, so picking them off and eliminating the bridge should do the job nicely.

Photo Updates

Strawberry Tower on 7 November

Strawberry Tower on 20 November 2010

In another fabulous book by Michael Pollan (can you guess that I am something of a fan?), looks at four distinct families of domesticated plants asking the question… who domesticated who? The plants looked at are the Apple, Tulip, Marijuana and Potato.

In this very entertaining book, Michael shows that much of the success of these plants in our world is predicated on their ability to meet certain human desires and how, through judicious breeding, these plants have improved upon their ability to meet those needs.

For example, whilst considering the apple, Michael delves deeply into the history, and controversy, surrounding John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) who simultaneously preached to the frontier as well as bringing them applejack (a hard liquor made from cider). He demonstrates that by providing the settlers with apple seedlings he was meeting their needs for the familiar (each apple orchard ‘tamed’ the wilderness), stability (apples take many years to fruit), and social lubrication (let’s not forget the applejack!). This combined with their natural genetic variability, assisted them to acclimatise so rapidly to the new world.

When looking at the potato, he looks at the important role this tuber has played in the civilisation of the Inca’s, the growth of the potato as a crop in Ireland (and most of Europe), the tragic impact of the potato blight, and modern methods and refinements to this delicious crop. Central to this discussion is the “New Leaf” potato, a genetically engineered spud created by the Monsanto corporation to produce it’s own BT toxin.

I’d highly recommend this book to any gardener or farmer as it is not only an entertaining read, but also provides us with a different view on 4 very familiar species of plants. I know that I will no longer look at these plants in quite the same manner.

Note: If you are interested in purchasing The Botany of Desire, the please consider purchasing via this link from Amazon. In this way you will be supporting the This Sustainable House project. Mind you… if the local library has it then get it there!

Every weekend I set myself a task to complete around TSH that keeps the vision moving in the right direction. Sometimes this task is large, such as fencing a new paddock, but at other times it can be quite small such as improving an existing system. This weekend, my task was to build a new vege garden using the wicking bed system.

A wicking bed is a marvellously efficient garden design in which you water from below. It is basically a giant self-watering pot in which you water via a filling tube. The water creates a reservoir under the soil of the bed, and the water then ‘wicks’ up to water the plants. The major advantage of the system is that there is no free water on the surface, so evaporation is minimal.

At TSH we have two beds, both located on the back verandah, which have been designated to be wicking beds. And this weekend I created one of the beds. The location of the beds was chosen so as to allow year round growing (it’s under the eaves so shouldn’t be too effected by frost) as well as to be close to the kitchen (virtually in zone 0, if you are permaculturally inclined). It should also help reduce the amount of reflected sunlight into the entertaining area during summer which should help make this area feel much more comfortable.

And let’s not forget… produce a mass of picking greens, herbs and other vegetables for the kitchen.

A video-essay of the building of this bed can be found on Green Phoenix Permaculture.

I’ll post an update in a few weeks around how it is going. Below are some time staged photos… click on them to zoom.

Wicking Bed (Week 1)

Gardening is, naturally, a seasonal activity in which the gardener must fit in with the natural rythyms of life. This isn’t too difficult, for an observant individual, when you have lived in an area for a while but can be a little more difficult when you are new to an area. And this the situation at TSH.

Previously TSH was located on the NSW Central Coast quite near the ocean. As a result the climate was always quite warm, even through the winter months. This warmth was a blessing allowing the growth of many plants that one couldn’t typically grow in winter… For example, tomatoes.

However the Canberra region has a completely different climate with short summers and long bitter winters. Temperatures dropping into the ‘minuses’ are common and most plants seem to enter a state of dormancy during this time. All except the incredibly hardy ones anyhoo…

So when moving into a new area like this, a different gardening strategy is required. And a little ‘inside information’ will go a long way to formulating that strategy. In this case I have turned to the Canberra Organic Gardeners Society (COGS) for information. (See the links page)

On their website they have a handy planting guide broken into the four seasons, as well as other guides around hardy winter herbs, growing notes, etc.

However in your area there is bound to be some like minded organisations/people. Do a google search, or ask around, and kickstart your gardening experience.

Well the weather has been getting cooler and already the greenhouse is begining to show some promise. A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon taking root cuttings of some Bocking 14 Comfrey. Bocking 14 is a special cultivar of comfrey, developed at the Henry Doubleday Institute, which doesn’t produce viable seed. It was chosen for TSH to reduce the weed risk associated with this plant.

Anyhow, the root cuttings were planted into some super tree tubes, and then placed into the greenhouse under the automatic misters. Today, the signs of life are more than evident…

Check out the video below for more information.