Getting pumped for Spring

I want to get into seed raising, with a view to be the local seedling supplier for maybe 4 other people...and then the world!! I have hooked up  system that collects washing water in a 24 gallon drum (filtered), and from there i am pumping (see pun in title) collected water into a greenhouse (which is really more of a cupboard). I put some holes in a garden hose that sprays randomly around the greenhouse, hopefully giving the seed trays a good sprinkling.

Today I planted some all season things like pak choy, spring onion, beans and lettuce, just to see if it works. In 2 weeks, if all goes well, I will begin spring planting in earnest.

I had an epiphany while pottering about that this blog might actually be more of a "Mistakes That Ignorant People Make In A Garden" type thing, but as long as I'm improving my green thumbs I am happy. So mistakes I discovered today are:

• There is a lot of water run off in the greehouse that seems wasted. I am going to try and catch it in a channel type thing, and put a potted fruit tree next to it.
• My worm bathtub doesn't drain enough. I should have put some wire mesh in the bottom that is raised slightly. I will get all the soggy matter out of there, chuck it in with the chooks to break down al naturale, and then start again with some sheep poo and grass clipppings from the park.
• I don't have any compost to pot on to if the seedlings do come up ok, and not enough time to brew some up...no solutions yet...

In other news we have some baby peaches that are budding. In a few months time i am sure i will be competing for them with the possums.

Update: Half way up the green house cupboard i put an extra bit of plastic stuff, that slopes down to the side, and comes out on to a potted orange dwarf. So i have saved a little excess water, but still the bottom half of cupboard water to be saved...
Also, I filled in the rest of the tyres that surround the pond (i think i need a solar air filter thing for the pond...), so the bath tub is empty and ready for remodelling...next week...

Permaculture 101

The impetus for wanting to start a garden revolution in the backyard was when I started thinking about consumerism, and how it is such a sad, unfulfilling way to live. The need to constantly have more stuff, on demand, for the soul equivalent of a sugar fix is no way to go about life on the planet. When you look at a plastic toy that came out of a cereal box that was made by some Korean toddler, and you think about how much work went into its production, and how much I paid for it, and how much I value it (very little), it is clear that there is an imbalance. I don't need toys in my cereal. So anyway, I mused for a while (a year or something. On and off. Not a year of constant musing.), and I decided that I was unhappy to be part of a system that is constantly sapping energy out of the cycle.

So a garden is my small way of seeing a stable system operate, in order to restore my faith in humanity and so forth. I know it doesn't make a difference to carbon emissions, but I hope I have some small ripple effect so that at least humanity's decline into energy deficit is somewhat stunted.

So permaculture is a way of operating in life so that you have a neutral impact on your surroundings. It is being aware that we should be part of a stable ecosystem, rather than the plunderers of said ecosystem. I also think our package-dependent society has a disconnect with our fundamental needs, and reconnecting to the things that we most desire is a more fulfilling way to spend your years. So food is the first step, then I plan to build a house, make some clothes, get off the internet and socialise for real, and become a spiritual guru/cult leader. If I only get as far as food, I'll be satisfied.

First Post

This is a blog about my garden adventures, and is also a record of what happened in the garden because my diary skills are bad. Enjoy.

So the system is that I have two gardens, a summer one and a winter one. I have made an enclosure that will either be the chook run, or the garden, depending on the season. At the moment, I am setting up what will be the summer garden. The chooks are running around there at the moment, and will be moved on midway through August.

At the top of the garden is a pond made out of tyres (thanks cousin Dale), and Vinyl (thanks Led Zepplin...). The pond is to bring some extra kinds of creatures into the garden, such as frogs, birds, sharks etc. Inside the tyres will be the more perennial herbs and goodies. Might try and grow some water cress in the pond too.

The back of the yard under the Mango tree is our old bath tub perched precariously onto concrete blocks (thanks Dave), in which I am making compost, and hopefully growing a worm population. I collect sheep poo from my bro-in-laws house, and collect grass clipping from the park on the other side of the fence. Any other organic matter the chooks don't like go in here.

I also have a small greehouse on the side of the deck for rasing up some seedlings. This is watered by a pump from the washing water that is collected in a 20 gallon drum. I don't have a way of making seed rasing mix yet, so i'll have to buy some.

So that is the system. I'll post when I plant things, what is going well, what sucks, and muse on why things are the way they are.