Shade house extention

   Covered the last section of the Veggie patch yesterday...... With the days Supposed to be getting hotter/sunnier I thought I would get a jump on covering the last section....

Shall be planting the next lot of Lettuce & Zucchini  up the back as it just gets to hot in Beds # 1 & 5 in the afternoon....


Have a great one all....

: )»

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Shade House construction

Thought I would do a post on the Shade house after being asked a question about it.... (Thanks Sherrie)

It is a very basic idea I gleaned from a few different places... I went to a open day at the Toowoomba organic growers club to help on the Wetpot stand & saw an Irrigation pipe Dome Arbour like structure... From memory they were going to plant Passion fruit & other productive climbers around it to create a small, shaded seating area... I then came across the idea again when investigating the Wicking beds at the Easy-Grow Vegetables  website...

We used Green striped Rural pipe for the arches & mix of New & old star pickets... The older ones were made here in Australia by BHP & of a larger (in circumference), more sturdier construction... The Blue stripe Irrigation pipe is stronger but nearly double the price at the Produce/Agg store we purchased it from & not really necessary for a basic shade structure... 50% shade cloth was used due to the price involved in ordering in the 25-30% cloth we really wanted...  We might look into getting the other next year if we feel the plants are not going as well as they could...
                    
 I found the new pickets fit inside the 2" pipe without a problem but had to wire the smaller1½" pipe to the outside of the pickets... I kept the Larger pickets for use with the smaller pipe as it was easier to secure the pipe between the "wings" of the picket to help hold it in place...

Holes were drilled in the pipe to match up with the holes in the pickets....  It was then secured to the pickets with wire..... I have also wired the smaller pipe to the larger in places to create another arch... These joins appear to be as strong now as when first constructed about a year ago...

The Top Hat sections are fastened to the Pipe with large screws & at the ends some extra wire for strength... The shade cloth is then secured to both the Top Hat & pipe with Large Zip Ties..... We have only just discovered (Thanks Mark B) that they can be reused if you use a small flat screwdriver or small, preferably blunt, knife to release the small tab that keeps them locked....
We have joined the sections of shade cloth together with bits of baling twine in some places & smaller Zip Ties in others...

 We  had some fairly bad storms last summer & never had a problem with the structure shaking or even looking like being damaged... Due to the loose weave of the cloth the wind just blows right through unlike a shade sail that has a very tight weave which adds to the wind resistance...

 Hope that answers any questions but feel free to ask more...

Have a great one all....

: )»

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Digging in the Shade

  Saturday.....
The weather has started to heat up a bit of late & we were a tad concerned that we  may loose the Snow Peas & Broccoli so decided to put the shade cloth up over most of the beds....

We have noticed a difference in the Snow Peas already... They are standing up all happy & the pods  firmed up within a few hours... This time we did it a bit different... We sewed the sections together using bits of the straw bale twine....  150-200mm gaps were left between the joined sections to allow some natural light in as well..... Other sections will be added when we fell the plants require it.... Some think its a bit of overkill but we are already getting about 8 hours of direct sunlight on the patch with no shading until about 2 hours before sunset... In summer it increases to 12 hours of unshaded sun....


 I think the Broccoli heads will flower before they fully mature so they will be taken off for Tuesdays dinner... The Chooks love the leaves, plus we eat a lot of Broccoli stem in stir-fry & steamed with other veg so we shall keep them in for now....

 Sunday....

   Finally took the old spice bed down & will be using the corner posts & tin in other beds.... The corner post have already been tagged to go into what used to be the Herb bed.... The sand from the reservoir & soil is being stored in the old timber bed waiting to be used else where...  The Herb bed is now being split into 2 separate beds with a bench/storage box in between the 2 beds...  I have saved the perennial Basil, a tub of Shallots, small pot of garlic chives & some Lemongrass... All are in pots at the base of the stairs for now until we decide what is going into the 2 "New" Wicking beds... The plans for the bench/storage box are still swimming around my noggin & will probably surface in the middle of the night knowing me... **Sigh**

 The evil curl Grubs of DOOOOOOM !!

  While digging out the Herb bed we came across our old Nemeses.... 

 We got about 60 large & over a hundred small grubs which answered some questions regarding to the early demise of some plants... We found them in groups of 2 or 3 in  clumps of roots... The Chooks had a ball fighting over the first 20 or so but by the end of the day they had all had enough... Some have been put into a bucket of soil to feed to the Girls during the week as a protein treat & Bunny the dog has got the taste for them now as well so none shall go to waste....


  
Wetpots.....

This is why I Love using Wetpots & wont be parting with any even though we arent using them at the moment...
These are pictures of what an Italian Parsley plant (like the one pictured below) did to this pot....
You can not see any exposed clay as the roots have totally "enveloped" any non glazed surface.....

Found a couple of legless lizards living in the beds while we were dismantling them.... The first lizard we found was about 30-40cm long & the second was only a baby at about 15cm... Both were relocated to safety away from the Chooks & the Bunny Dog....


Weekly harvest....
This week we picked,
2 large Zucchinis, Shallots, Basil, Silverbeet, a few lemons, 2 Passion fruit, & a large Mignonette Lettuce... 
Also got 3 Googs a day from the Chookies...
Thats about it for now Me thinks...
Have a great one all....
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