|
|
Post by spinifex on Dec 26, 2017 13:53:51 GMT 10
|
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Dec 26, 2017 14:08:50 GMT 10
|
|
|
|
Post by SA Hunter on Dec 26, 2017 18:46:40 GMT 10
Wow - my garden pales in comparison. Our soil at home is very sandy, and after 3 years of mulch, fertiliser, compost, manure, etc, it's slowly coming around.
I have thai eggplant in a pot, but nothing on it.
We need to talk!!
|
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Dec 27, 2017 8:29:45 GMT 10
Adding lots of organic matter to sandy ground is only half the solution and will actually contribute to a condition of water-repellence after a few years. (you might notice if the soil surface goes fully dry when you apply water it just beads on top for a while?) Even when it finally soaks in it doesn't wet the ground evenly and lots of plant roots can miss out on moisture and nutrients.
What will really help you there is getting hold of some good clay and mixing that through the soil. You need to apply the clay when its dry and crumbly and work it through the sandy soil down to at least 30cm. Rotary hoe is excellent for large areas or use a few passes with a mattock/hoe on smaller patches - CFS rake hoes work well - lots of small deep chops close together will get a good mixing action.
The type of clay is important. Red cracking clay is the best. Some clays are high in boron or aluminium and actually a bit toxic. Only way to identify that is with professional soil test.
For people with small gardens you can use bentonite kitty litter. Read the packet - if it says 100% bentonite its good to use and waaaay cheaper than buying same stuff from garden shop. Start with about a kilogram per square metre. In old-school commercial greenhouses out at Murray Bridge (on gutless white sand) we used to apply clay inside the houses as a 10cm thick layer and work it down to 50 using a special rotary hoe. The difference in crop growth was spectacular and you use way less fertiliser as the clay holds nutrients rather than letting them leach away with irrigation water.
|
|
Beno
Senior Member
Posts: 1,310 
Likes: 1,433
Location: Northern Rivers
|
Post by Beno on Dec 27, 2017 11:12:42 GMT 10
try growing the pinapples in a well drained raised bed. thats how my parents grow their pineapples but they are also in pineapple country.
|
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Dec 27, 2017 15:09:56 GMT 10
     Few more pics of stuff that might be of interest. 1. Garden I helped set up south of Alice Springs. There is some very good underground water beneath the desert all you need is the means to get it up to the surface. Tricky part is pests - they get rampant at times. 2. One of my 'must haves' for self supply gardening - Daikon. Fast to grow in Autumn and high yielding. Fairly pest resistant. Some pontiac spuds there too. (I've tried and measured about 10 varieties of potato at my location. Their performance varies widely. Lesson for everyone - make sure you have the right variety for the soil and climate you are in or intend to be in. 3. The most under-rated vegetable ever. The parsnip. Grown right they have massive yield and taste excellent. I like mine thinly sliced and deep fried. They are very pest and disease resistant at my location and this one was in the ground for 18 months. (The maximum before they go woody and bolt to seed.) Parsnip was the dominant west european root veg before potatoes arrived from central america. We also like it mashed thru a seive with some nutmeg. 4. Part of the orchard. Irrigated with grey water only. Gotta have the net to keep the lorikeets out. The net is salvage from a vineyard (note the stitching of tears). 5. Limes are the most productive citrus where I am. Note the chicken wire under the tree. I put down a 15cm thick layer of composted horse manure every second year and the wire is essential for preventing the chickens from scratching it out. |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Dec 27, 2017 15:12:08 GMT 10
|
|
|
|
Post by Joey on Dec 27, 2017 16:19:00 GMT 10
Oh I wish to own my house 1 day so that I can build gardens into it. The new house I'm renting now doesn't have any gardens in it that I can build off like my last place, and the real estate has warned me about putting anything on the grass that will kill it off, such as a trampoline or erect-a-pool.
Guess I'll have to stick to terrace pots and large pots for trees along the fence line.
|
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jan 5, 2018 12:08:55 GMT 10
     1. Heavy duty net properly anchored with ground level, threaded selvedge wire. Need to heave the net as a long thin bundle up over the top frames then pull out the edges to prevent un-natural net stretching. The diamonds in the net must look even dimensions in width and height - that prevents stretching/distortion that makes a neat ground seal very difficult. This side shows the factory edge of the net roll. 2. This net is over-wide for the frame. I Have threaded a piece of brickies string along the same run of mesh holes from one end of the net to the other using a bagging needle. This makes it easier to thread the selvage wire in the correct place to get a nice even stretch across the frame. 3. Close up of string and the selvage wire just above it. They are actually passing through the same net holes so it shows just how much stretch-distortion is possible. The excess net will be cut off as a nice, even dimension strip which can be used over rows in the vegetable patch. 4. Another use for tennis balls. This time to stop net chaffing on sharp edges of the frame. This has to be up for at least 10 years so don't want holes rubbed thru it. 5. The arch-nemesis of chicken owners on Eyre Peninsula. Red Mite or Chicken Mite. These things breed to millions in just a couple of weeks if you let them. They are capable of killing new chicks in just days and suck so much blood from hens that their combs go pale and they stop laying. They live in cracks and crannies and nesting material and move onto the birds at night to feed. They always break out in spring at least once and are moved around by wild birds. This year has been incredibly bad for infestations. Me and a couple of friends have been hitting them with everything with only limited results. Last weekend I finally bested this years outbreak using unconventional means. Chooks much happier now ... much less dust bathing going on! |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jun 28, 2018 18:03:07 GMT 10
    After DoglovinJims thread earlier in the year regarding growing things in containers. I thought I'd resurrect one of my herb boxes. (Also I've got a severely buggered shoulder that is keeping me away from my main garden patch.) The first shot was 30 march. Chook pen soil in a 25cm X 60cm X 25cm deep planter. Thumped and tamped down with a good watering to settle the soil so it is less likely to crack away from the edges of the pot. Note the bulging along the long sides as a result of this. There is an inch of 12mm gravel in the bottom with a strip of geocloth between that and the soil. I would also recommend drift soil from along roadside fence lines in farming areas for this application. It has good texture and drainage for the porpose. Much better than any shop bought bagged stuff. Worth going for a drive to specifically collect it. The second pic is 14 April. The three clumps of seedling in foreground are coriander. The tiny (almost invisible) clump at the end is parsley. Weeds (mostly tomato seedlings, nightshade and ryegrass came up like hair on a cats back. It looks like this only after a solid 20 minutes of weed plucking. After this date there is almost no further weed germination. Third pic is 19th May. The coriander going well and have already picked a few small bunches off it (About $4 worth retail) by this stage. The parsley is still invisible. The 4th pic is 17th June. Going gangbusters. The parsely is now catching up. Have picked about $16 worth of coriander out of the box already. I've had good results with radishes and spring onions in previous years too. A great little money saver for anyone without too much hassle. Eventually as it starts to try and set seed I will pull the entire plants up and use the finely chopped tap roots (they look like tiny white carrots) in a swedish curry - delicious. |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 21, 2018 18:05:30 GMT 10
Been busy getting ready for August greenhouse planting season. first is chicken manure collection from under the night house. The square bucket is home made 20L capacity from an old surfactant drum. Then clearing out the immense growth of last years dead weeds. Making sure to wear gloves because the red-backs love hiding in there. First cultivation (15cm no inversion) and deep leaching to remove last summers salts. Filling the path reservoir 5cm deep is important to make the wetting front in the soil move towards the exterior of the greenhouse, carrying dissolved salts with it as it goes. Manure spreading (3 full buckets - 60L). Then another long watering. 2 weeks later (ie today) the manure is turned in (full inversion) using a spade with the blade cut down to 15cm length. Tomorrow will be deep forking (30cm) to break up deeper level of soil without bringing it to the surface. CLICK to enlarge. And click the back arrow to return. (I always seem to click the X at top right and shut myself down!)      |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 21, 2018 18:20:56 GMT 10
   Also got to growing the seedlings I'll put in there in about 6 weeks time. I use toilet rolls cut in half and placed in a stainless roasting dish bought for $2 from op-shop. The rolls are planted in the beds with the seedling and just rot away in a couple of weeks. The soil is a decent quality seed raising mix, but is prone to becoming water repellent if it dries out. I put some dish detergent in the water can to help it wet up properly. Otherwise water just beads on the surface and will not moisten the soil evenly. I also put about a tablespoon of urea in the water and 1/2 tablespoon of Potassium sulfate. Once they germinate and get going I will give them some dissolved Ammonium Phosphate as phosphate is often lacking in commercial soil mixes. In these tubes I'll be doing 2 types of Thai eggplant, Basil, a few different tomatoes (including testing some out of date seed), chilli and caps. Big seeds like cuc's and climbing beans will be direct sown. Will pump in a few Okra seeds as well in October. Hopefully by November it will resemble a Burmese jungle in there! Last shot is where the coriander and parsley planter box is now at. |
|
|
|
Post by Peter on Jul 21, 2018 18:38:52 GMT 10
I am truly envious of your soil. All we have here is light, dusty, powdery, grey, aquaphobic sand. You can't even dig a hole in the stuff except with 45 degree walls...
|
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 21, 2018 19:49:57 GMT 10
Indeed. I have a nice patch here. 30cm below the surface is a red clay that can and has been used to manufacture bricks.
Pete, you can make a big improvement to soil in your garden by purchasing large bags of bentonite kitty litter (must be bentonite so read the label), spreading a layer of it about 3cm thick and rotary hoeing it into your existing gutless sand as deep as you can. It'll end your water repelency problem and provide a huge fertility lift as nutrients will remain attached to the bentonite clay in the soil instead of just being leached away every time you apply water. Depending on result, add a bit more bentonite in subsequent years (1cm layers) until the soil gets good structure. This soil improvement is permenent.
We've even used that method to improve productivity on acres of commercial glass houses on gutless sand east of Adelaide. Here on Eyre Peninsula broad-acre farmers use delvers (a kind of deep ripper) to drag clay up from 40-50cm and bring it up into bleached topsoil that looks like beach sand. The yield increases are quite impressive once the sand gets some clay mixed thru it.
|
|
|
|
Post by graynomad on Jul 22, 2018 8:20:14 GMT 10
Wow, what a setup, makes mine look pathetic  |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 22, 2018 10:10:06 GMT 10
Wow, what a setup, makes mine look pathetic Heh, Heh ... I feel the same about your excellent metal fabrication skills. A lesson in the importance of community skill sharing for long term survival. |
|
frostbite
VIP Member
Posts: 5,719
Likes: 7,119
Member is Online
|
Post by frostbite on Jul 22, 2018 13:10:26 GMT 10
This is one of my favourite threads.
|
|
|
|
Post by graynomad on Jul 23, 2018 7:54:37 GMT 10
Wow, what a setup, makes mine look pathetic Heh, Heh ... I feel the same about your excellent metal fabrication skills. A lesson in the importance of community skill sharing for long term survival. Very true, another person has medical training, another is a whiz at feeding 20 people with a handful of rice and a tomato, another is a security expert, another a good mechanic, another is great raising livestock etc etc. None of us are skilled in it all, or even if we were we won't have the time and we have to sleep as well. So a group is important, pity we here are spread out all over the country. |
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 23, 2018 18:30:06 GMT 10
Pleased to report I have someone from this site just down the road! But yeah ... the gaps between many here seem large. Three cheers for the World Wide Web!
|
|
|
|
Post by SA Hunter on Jul 23, 2018 21:03:04 GMT 10
Heh, Heh ... I feel the same about your excellent metal fabrication skills. A lesson in the importance of community skill sharing for long term survival. Very true, another person has medical training, another is a whiz at feeding 20 people with a handful of rice and a tomato, another is a security expert, another a good mechanic, another is great raising livestock etc etc. None of us are skilled in it all, or even if we were we won't have the time and we have to sleep as well. So a group is important, pity we here are spread out all over the country. Yeah, the tyranny of distance makes it harder to get together - lucky me I have a member close by - having a community of like minded people, no matter how small, makes it just that little bit easier. |
|
apology for huge pic below - cant seem to shrink it. Pic 1 shows why fruit trees generally trump vegetable patches for outright calories per unit area. Pic 2 is one corner of my greenhouse (3.5mX2m) - Thai eggplant, french tarragon (left of pot), ginger (in pot), basil (right of pot). Pic 3 is a general shot of my core vegetable plot - of note is the 10% shadecloth canopy over the green beans - without that the beans suffer badly from sunburn in my location. Pic 4 is to show the irrigation layout in the greenhouse at the start of the cropping cycle in Autumn. The access path in the middle is dished out so that it can be filled with water in the summer. The flooded path pushes salts out of centre of GH and prevents them from building up and causing problems. Pic 5 (below) is to show the cylindrical trellis system I use in the GH.
