Africanaussie

As I was doing my update on my in ground worm buckets last week I began to mull over how my gardening has changed since I started blogging.... Worms ;  I had never even heard of worm composting when I first started gardening.  In fact I thought they were talking about earthworms.  I didnt have room for a worm bin, so discounted the idea of having compost worms in my small garden.  Then I read about worm tubes, but wanted to be able to harvest the castings, so with a little bit of inspiration from here and there my worm buckets were born. worm buckets Permaculture :  This is something that still does elude me a little.  I have such a small garden that I really only have zone 1/2 or 1.  Permaculture can spill out into other areas though and so I see those principles popping up in different areas of my life.  Nice to know that we dont have to own a huge farm to become permaculturists. Food forest :  I have lately been seeing more and m...

I have a very small garden, but do love  to incorporate permaculture principles whever I can. I really enjoyed this video of a couple in Jacksonville where I used to live. Permaculture Garden It reminded me of how much I like to chop and drop. I tend to do that in the flower gardens, but not so much in the veggie garden.  I really dont want to be buying mulch, I would prefer to be making my own, and that is precisely what chop and drop does.  I grow lemongrass which is an amazing plant for that, and besides which it smells lovely.  I also think it might keep pests away, but that could just be wishful thinking. recently on the down to earth forum I took part in a christmas gift exchange and received some lovely scrapbook type ornaments - unlike any ornaments I have.  That is the nice thing about doing a swap - the surprise factor..  Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy.  My swap partner read my blog, discovered I am a gardener, and also sent me a c...

We tend to live as sustainably as we can, and the newscasts about governments all over the world going into huge debt boggle my mind.  It seems a huge leap, but ideas like this seem to be the answer. The gap between rich and poor is ever widening, and the majority of the world is getting sicker and poorer.  I got this video from  Gavin at the greening of Gavin. The other site that often puts out really interesting information is the Permaculture institute. I reckon any gardener would be fascinated by this. http://permaculturenews.org/2013/10/23/plants-talk/ I know I talk to my plants, but didnt realise that there could be all these other conversations going on.

I believe that the permaculture design makes best use of the space you have and the available raw materials.  Here in the tropics we have different raw materials to use, and a lot of it can come from coconut trees.     I was fascinated to see this video on the Care2 website. The video was recorded at the Lung Mee Permaculture Garden in the Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand. coconut permaculture Read more:  http://www.care2.com/causes/coconut-garden-permaculture-in-action.html#ixzz1QhZdPEoJ It is totally amazing what they have done with beach sand and the available raw materials.  I am going to see if I can incorporate some of these ideas into my garden.  The other day I was collecting coconut husks and used them around the ground orchids to support them.  I see that idea is here in the video. Before the wet season I think I am going to create a swale as there is an area that continuously holds water at the corner of the house. ...

One of the principles of permaculture is to grow plants up , instead of letting plants scramble around the ground taking up precious space.  Just looking around the garden, I have definitely taken that to heart!  In actual fact the plants have done that on their own without my help. Take for instance this passionfruit vine:  When I first planted the passionfruit vine next to my little arch and alongside the fence, I knew it would ramble, but gosh, once it started to climb this happy plant it just continued to reach for the sky.  It suits us very well as we have a rather ugly Telstra building behind there, and I would much rather look at a 30ft wall of green.  When the passionfruit ripen, they just fall to the ground and I can walk around and pick them up.  How convenient is that? I planted pigeon peas as a green manure crop this year, and sometimes I miss the fine print when choosing plants - like how tall they grow!  I rea...

I have been toying with the idea of planting a green manure crop during the wet season. In the end I ordered pigeon peas, recommended for the tropics. You get an inoculant with it that helps to fix nitrogen in the soil when you cut it back. This is also recommended for building up the soil to resist wilt diseases. I want to taste the actual peas though and might keep some growing to use as mulch. One site said that this is the pea most commonly used for making dahl , so maybe I wont have to buy lentils anymore and can just use what I grow in the garden :) It looks like quite a strong large plant and one blogger uses it to grow her tomatoes next to and then uses them to stake the tomatoes. Here is the bed cleared and ready to be planted. I have never done green manure before, so this is all a learning experience. Most sites say to cut down the plant and then it releases nitrogen into the soil, but on the tropical permaculture site I read that every time you prune back the plants the...