Veggie garden walk through worm barrels saving a few Okra seeds 12th

Has been a tad warm here over the past week but nowhere near as bad as some of the southern states.. The garden worms chooks & fish have pulled through just fine with only one casualty (daughters pennyroyal) so happy about that..



Now the weather has cooled off a bit I will be planting out some seedlings & tackling some odd jobs to get the patch ready for Autumn.. Will be pruning the rest of the Chinese elm & some of the mango them running it through the mulcher... This will be mixed with some horse manure & left to compost a bit.. It will eventually become Autumns top up mulch for the beds...
For more regular updates about the patch come visit us at https://www.facebook.com/Bitsouttheback

Have a great one All...

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Veggie garden walk through saving a few snake bean seeds 25th December

A bit slack with the updates so shall post the clips as I do them here now..



Hope everyone had a great Christmas with their loved ones..

:)»

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Grow Bucket Update with a quick walk through the patch

Just a update walk through Clip....

& an update on the Bucket experiment... (lazy I know....)

Shall do a proper post soon on whats been going on in the patch later this week...

Have a great one all!!!

: )»

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Update Walk through the patch 5th of April

Update Video... 
Another walk through the yard...

Compost Tea...
Oops....Forgot include the Tea into the Video... I did up a smaller, more concentrate batch using the air stone & molasses... I didnt really notice a difference between the control plants & the watered ones this week but will give it 3 more weeks/batches of the tea & then report back...

Other bits...
 There are a few jobbies I need to finish off that were not done on the weekend like potting out the Pineapple & removing some shade cloth but should have them knocked off by the weekend...

Harvested to first of this batch of Zucchini yesterday along with a Cucumber & 2 smallish Eggplants... The Zucchini & Eggplant are going into a sauce in about 10 min... : )»
We had some soil & sand delivered to make up some more Wicking barrels & accidentally got too much sand so it looks like we might just have to build another bed in the next few weeks... Such a shame... Hope B? doesnt mind...                 **very cheeky GRIN**
We put the batch of manure we had into the barrels last weekend so got 8 more bags on Friday... B? hasnt seen them as of yet..  Have also thought up another stage in the compost screening process, shall be built later this week, that should make the job of breaking it down faster...
We are also putting the finishing touches on our first pond in the garden which should be stocked with some Pacific Blue Eye fish & some plants later today....
**Does BIG HAPPY DANCE**

Thats about it for now...
Have a great one all....

: )»

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Veggie garden walk through Pineapple turmeric okra nematodes chooks

Have been meaning to do a clip for the past week but just havent gotten around to it... Today was a sick day for the girls (dreaded cold/flu has set in here) so I went for a wander with an umbrella..

Root Knot Nematodes..

Here is a bit of a look at what root knot nematodes did to the beetroot that were grown in the barrel before the okra was planted out in there.. These nematodes set up home in the roots of your plants reducing plant vigour & in some extreme cases, suck that much nutriment out of the plant that they can die.. We have had a bit of a problem  in a few beds but think that we have them on the run with the molasses mix..
Molasses mix for root knot nematode..
1L/1quart of molasses
4L/4quart of water
Mix well together & water into 2m²/2yrd² of infected garden bed.. Once this mix was applied to the barrel the warrigal greens bounced back surprisingly quickly.. I was extremely impressed to say the least..
Hope that helps anyone else trying to battle these tiny pests..

Hopefully there will be more in the next walk through clip in the way of winter plant starts
For more regular updates about the patch come visit on the Bits out the Back Face Book page..
Have a great one All...

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Wednesday walk through future plans

Walkthrough...
Just a quick one as not a lot has happened this week due to the holidays which meant Visitors & Visiting...

On a sad note...
I think we may be pulling out Bed #5...
On a happier note, Wit is going to be replaced with an Aquaponics set up...

**Does happy dance**

Have been reading up on a lot of information on fish farming & Aquaponics as well as watching the multitude of videos available on the net... It will be good to grow some of our own protein... Due to local regulations meat Chickens are out of the questions... We are hoping to include the worms in the system as food as well as active participants within the grow beds... We purchased 3 IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) tanks to turn into Fish tanks & Grow beds... I wont be rushing the project due to upcoming nuptials but will be spending most of the honeymoon building the system... Maybe... If Im allowed... 
I could Rabbit on about it for ages but shant due to the fear of loosing my hairy noggin...

Have a great one all...
: )»

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Walk about the back

Just a quick walk around clip to show where we are up to...

 Will be spending the week planing the start of the spring patch lay out & setting up some new beds...
What Spring plans do you have ??
Have a great one...
: )»

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Wednesday Walk through the Veggi patch Buckets

Wicking Vs Global Buckets...
Have been watching a few clips on You Tube on the Earth Boxes & the DIY versions including the Global Buckets... I have decided to give the Global Buckets a shot as I can see the merits of the system... I wanted to do a comparison between the Global & Wicking buckets just to see which method will produce the best crops for us due to the limited garden space I am allowed...

Will be following the Buckets progress in the weekly Walk through the patch just to show the growth between the 3 lots of plants...

Walk through the Veggie Patch...

It has been 7 days since the seeds were planted into punnets & placed into the mini makeshift hot box but still no sign of any shoots so a bit disappointed there...
In the Box I put,
6 Purple Cauliflower
6 Sugarloaf Cabbage
3 Dwarf Kale
3 Red Russian Kale
3 Yellow Capsicum
4 Perennial Capsicum
4 Udumalapet Eggplant
We have had cooler nights so a Styrofoam Hot Box may be built to give them a kick start...
 
New Seeds...
We received some more seeds from Eden Seeds this week...
Snake Bean, Black seeded
Bean, Blue Lake climbing (organic)
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca (organic)
Eggplant Udumalapet
Cauliflower, All Year Round
Cucumber, Muncher Burpless
Cabbage Walking stick...

The a few seeds of the Walking Stick Cabbage, 2 beans, Cauliflower & the Rosa Bianca Eggplant will be planted out into punnets today... Will be a tight squeeze in the patch but not too worried as there are 4 Wicking barrels that can be made up if need be + the old Sweet Potato bed can be cleaned out...


I have been told no more gardening until some chairs get fixed & a chair rail goes up in the dining room... Must get to it me thinks...

Have a great one all...

: )»

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