{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}date{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} {cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}page{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} {cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}sep{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} {cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}sitename{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444}

Self sufficiency

It’s a lot different growing outside in the backyard than in green houses or glasshouses. In a controlled environment you can regulate the temperature a little, ensure optimum watering efficiency and being enclosed stops the entry of a lot of insects.

Old Style Glass Houses

It is a lot easier to monitor pest pressure and respond to it. Perhaps the hardest to guard against is spider mites and western flower thrip.

When I was growing organic tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums and egg fruit, there was no need to worry about creating a micro-climate or wind protection. In a glass house that came with the territory.

I also didn’t worry about growing from seed. It was far better to have a nursery grow my seedlings than worrying about raising 2500 tomato seedlings and then looking after them for six months.

Get Some Satisfaction

But now there is no better satisfaction than growing some vegetables from seed, then saving some of the seeds from that crop and growing that vegetable the following season.

I have planted broad beans for the last two years and last year I saved some seeds by shelling the beans and drying them. I then left them wrapped in paper towel in an ice cream container.

100{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} Germination

I planted 40 broad bean seeds two weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how long they would take to sprout, so this time I wrote it down in a gardening log. I planted on the 12 April and the first sprouts appeared on 21 April. By the 24 April there was 100{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} germination with 40 small broad bean plants underway.

100{cd07be7979728a86b172d4c3c193ee8254293b2598ced4c874c66a7b3dbba444} germination from saved seeds

One Small Step To Self Sufficiency

Being able to save my seed and regrow them the following season means I am independent and self sufficient. The other benefit is that I am growing a broad bean that is becoming adapted to my locality. Hopefully with some experimentation like best time to plant, watering frequency, whether to mulch or not I should be able to improve the yield. But then again, you can only eat so many broad beans and with forty plants, I will have more than enough for us and the rellies, work mates and Uncle Tom Cobbly.

Wicking Beds Part 2

Wicking Beds

Last week I got Gino, who has a small business as an earth moving contractor, to do some work around the yard in preparation for the wicking beds.

Preparing the site for the wicking beds

There were some old foundations and an old Hills Hoist that I wanted removed. The site for the bed also needed levelling and a skidsteer was going to make life a little easier moving the compost to fill the bed.

Yard area before levelling for wicking bed construction

Fortunately Gino has an excavator and a skidsteer and he brings them both when he comes to a job. The old footings were more robust than I thought they would be. They were set a metre into the ground and the skidsteer had no chance of getting them out.

Remove footings before building wicking bed

The excavator was needed to dig out the old footings

After the old footings were removed, Gino used the skidsteer to transfer a lot of compost closer to where I was building the beds. He then levelled out the building area with some crushed concrete fines I had purchased a while ago getting ready for this part of the project.

The skidsteer levels the site with crushed concrete fines

Best laid plans of mice and men

As you can see from the photos, it was a perfect Autumn day in Brisbane when this work was done. Little did I know that 4 days later we would undergo one of the biggest rain events in 10 years. We had 250 mm (10 inches of rain) from Friday am through to Saturday am. The back yard was 100 mm underwater at one stage. At times I saw my thongs floating away and compost disappearing to the front yard.

The next post about wicking beds will be the construction of the frame using the cypress sleepers and fitting the plastic liner.

I took a couple of videos of the work Gino did and Gino even says hullo. When I work out how to edit them I will have a link. If you are in the north of Brisbane area and need a good skidsteer and excavator contractor you can ring Gino on 0414 867 754. He is based in Chermside.