One small change makes a huge difference

Now that you have eased into 2011, time to think about making a small change that can result in a really huge - and positive - difference to you, your family and community.
Here's a few ideas:

• Subscribe to the email newsletter from the Ethical Consumer Group, it's fascinating reading and is chock-full of good information
• Sow some bean seeds, step back before they shoot up and enjoy the harvest
• Get your bicycle serviced, check your stack-hat and get peddling! I read somewhere that most car use is for travel of less than 5km, so unless you are taking a mob of kids to their evening judo class or picking up a 20kg bag of spuds, get peddling! You'll get fitter, reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy the ride
• Declutter your house - have a garage sale or take it down to the local opshop
• Join your local library and check out all the wonderful books on permaculture
• Keep a couple of chooks - you'll become enchanted with the gals, their eggs are so delicious and their poo makes great compost
• Join your local community garden and meet like-minded souls, swap growing tips and yummy produce
• Smile! It's easy, free and will boost your spirits.

And in between all the work and family stuff, take time out to smell the roses, leeks and garlic!

Floods mean get growing!

The recent floods across Victoria, Queensland and parts of New South Wales manes that fresh fruit and vegetable prices will be soaring over the next couple of years if not longer as key producers count the cost of the deluge.

Now is the time to think about increasing your food growing space. Dig up that water guzzling lawn and put in potatoes! No more mowing, think of the yummy spuds you and your family and friends can enjoy.

Members of the Warracknabeal Fire Brigade take a quick break from preapring sandbags to help prtect their town. Their gardens will not need to be watered for a while now.

Beat the heat

NYE 2010 was hot and windy end to 2010, taking its toll on some of the pumpkin and zucchini plants.

Not to mention the gardener!

Despite a long sleeved shirt, hat, sunblock and loads of water, the compost chick correspondent felt the heat as much as any vegetable.

Despite a deep watering that morning and loads of straw, we all took a bit of battering with the hot, whippy northerlies.

The chooks were keen to get out and about but I kept them in their run as it was windy enough to give them all the left they needed. I had visions of them flying off over the fence and chasing after agitated poultry was not on my agenda. The girls have a surprisingly quick turn of speed. Not to mention that some of our neighbours have dogs (well behaved I am sure but why put temptation of a plump little chicken in their path?)

Today looks like another shocker ahead. So deep watering, extra straw and mulch is in my arsenal to beat the heat. I’m sure I’ll lose one or two plants but they may have already been suffering heat-stress, so I can live with this.

One positive it that this weather also kills off some snails!

My garden shows the result of NYE hot winds.

Free Range Debate

In the Weekly Times today there is an interesting debate article discussing how egg producers have let fly with their criticism of Coles' decision to phase out house-brand cage eggs by 2013. They spoke out at this year's Australian Egg Corporation Limited annual general meeting, held in Adelaide last week. Read more

Alison's chooks enjoying the good life.

Also check out the Free Range Farmers website.

Another reason for those of you with a garden (no matter how small) is to consider getting a couple of chooks. Not only are they easy and cheap to maintain and buy - if you get a couple from a cage-egg farm where they sell off the girls after their first year of intense production they sometimes cost a mere $2. You’ll be giving them a whole new life and they will still repay you with beautiful, fresh eggs.

Broad Bean Bonanza

Yesterday I harvested the last of my broad beans. I say ‘harvested’ rather than picked, because I reckon there was a good 10 kilos in the box by the time I’d finished. Not a bad result from around 45 plants. We have been eating and giving away the delish little green things for a couple of months now and I really cannot eat enough of them. After picking the broadbeans I then stripped all the leaves from the stalks and added them to the compost bin underthe fig tree. Now I just have to chop up the stalks and add them to the other six bins. Their garden bed will be gently turned over to ensure the barow-load of chock-full-of-worms compost I added to it is mixed well in the soil – it’s a bit like folding in flour when you bake a sponge cake. Then I will look at planting more basil, lettuce, silverbeet and Asian greens.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying eating broadbean pesto – simply substitute the beans where it says basil in your recipe. Last night my husband made a yummy risotto and used the broad beans instead of celery (I had given the last of it to the chooks, ooops) and it was fantastic! Braodbeans are also wonderful mashed with a little garlic, black pepper and olive oil and spread on hot toasted sourdough.

Summer Love

Well it’s summer now and the sultry days are already drying out the sodden soil. Time to start giving the garden more love - tough love, that is.

This means mulch, mulch, mulch. And donning rubber gloves to remove the zillion and one slugs and snails that are relentlessly skulking through the veggie beds. Every couple of days I collect a bucket or two of the varmints and feed them to the girls who react as through they are being fed nirvana (perhaps they are) and gobble them down. It’s also important to water the veggies in between the rainy times to ensure that the tomatoes avoid blossom-end rot.

I’m also forking the soil in between fruit trees and veggies to ensure that the rain penetrates the often dried up mulch and dirt and gets to the roots.

Remember to add liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks to keep plants lush and growing. Weeding is also a critical task, but when you love your garden it becomes rather fun to dig out the weeds. (A good weeding soundtrack is anything by AC/DC as it keeps you going!)

With summer days here it’s also good to relax and take the time to wander about and smell the roses, admire the passionflowers, nibble some basil, pick some salad greens and enjoy the different varieties of apples.  Enjoy!

Gardening in gumboots

The heavy rains my surfcoast garden has enjoyed over the last couple of weeks has been wonderful for deep soaking the soil, filling the 9000 Lt water tank and flushing out the gutters, but bring on the sun! I’m more than ready now to ditch the gumboots and raincoat needed while weeding and harvesting for a week or two of warming, steady sunshine and toes on the grass. The chooks too are tired of mud rather than the dirt baths they prefer. On the positive side, everything has shot up like a triffid. Those yummy broadbean plants are now taller than I am (OK not difficult) as is the celery which is being used as living stake for the snowpeas. The sugarsnap peas and climbing beans are also towering. The other bugbear is the wind which has blown down loads of passionfruit vines, beans, celeery and climbing roses. But it's summer in a couple days so fingers crossed balmy weather is on the way...