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Bio - Char

It's been a while since I last did a blog, now I have been playing with something new so I thought I'd share it here.Whilst I am still a novice on the subject, I can offer some advice and that may inspire you to look further into this concept. It isn't new, it isn't hard and there are many benefits. Bio-char. What is it?It isn't exactly charcoal - in essence it is "cooked wood". Charcoal is burned wood.What do I do with it?You can cook with it and you can bury it in your garden or mix it in...

Tomato's

Hi again, it's been a while, I haven't really caught up on this "Blog" thing as it has been really hectic, however, it's time:I made a call back in September that we were done with frosts here in Seymour Victoria. Usually the rule of thumb is Melbourne Cup Day (A horse race) to plant out Tomato's. I went early! I usually do take a punt (not on the race, nag drags don't interest me one iota) and put a few early Tomato's in so that if the weather Gods smile on the land I end up with ripe Tomato's ...

Aquaponics Rural Tanks Style

We are running two types of fish in our system here at The Factory. Catfish and Australian Bass, these fish co-exist well and are seemingly happy after adding a few hiding spaces and blocking off the pump (I lost a few that got sucked up into the submersible pump).The grow beds are now showing the results I had expected to see - that being that the charcoal is out performing the expanded clay in spades! I scattered lettuce seeds over both beds and put in garlic & onions (some Walking Onions ...

Changing Yard

When I purchased this block in 2005 and had the factory built in 2006 (which we moved into Easter 2007) I never envisaged the changes in the business, the amount of visitors to the yard, or the evolving garden bed industry that has resulted.This has caused two effects which must be rectified/managed and until now has sort of slipped by due to many factors.The display area I have built since 2006/7 has run its race. It is not really a safe and practical area to take visitors.Tanks have been solde...

Hügelkultur

I accidentally stumbled across a relatively unknown (despite being an ancient form of gardening) method using raised garden beds. Admittedly this form of gardening most likely didn't utilise corrugated iron raised beds back in the day like I do, but the principle remains the same.So what is Hügelkultur?Basically it is building a raised garden by layering timber: beginning with large logs/blocks, then stacking gradually smaller and lighter timber until you get down to leaves and bark. This is th...

Spaghetti Vegie

I thought I might explain "Spaghetti Veggie" for anyone who has never heard of it/grown it.The plant grows similar to a Pumpkin and has football shaped fruit (that's Aussie rules football I should add). These are a creamy colour that have green tinged stripes although these are not very prominent and only appear on the top side (well mine did anyhow). They look similar to a Butternut Pumpkin minus the "ladies waist/hour glass" part.You harvest them similarly to a Pumpkin and to us...

Terracing

A friend (and somewhat mentor gardener), known locally as Bare Foot Brian, came to me with a concept to prevent his back yard being washed down and across the road whenever it rained. Basically he wanted some sheets of corrugated iron rolled up into semi circles (Brian called them "curvy bits") that he intended to bury into the side of his hill of a back yard and back fill. I thought they would simply topple over but made them for him all the same. They were sheets that I cut lengthways to ...

Special Seymour Medlar Marinade

It's always a bit of fun trying new things in the kitchen. Tonight, we created a new recipe with (homegrown) medlars, which we used to marinate a lamb shoulder, cooked in the Weber Q.Ingredients:1 lemon, juiced 3 Cloves of Garlic 1 Pinch of Parsley 2 Shakes of All Purpose Seasoning 4 Shakes of Dried Oregano Pulp of 5 Bletted Medlar 1 TSP of Chopped MintMethod:Combine ingredients in a bowlRub liberally over the meat (we used lamb shoulder) and leave to marinate for at least 3 hours before cookin...

Our Wicking Bed system

The first Wicking Bed I made was 14 years ago and I chose to do one of the unique corner/heart/kidney shapes we do. I simply put a bottom on it and then sealed it. As I was a "newby" I went by the book so to speak. I put an overflow pipe in at a predetermined height, I laid pipework in the bottom and I added some plastic upturned crates which I covered with matting. The first crop went gang busters, it really performed well however the second crop (which was corn) f...

Wicking Beds

Funnily enough Wicking Beds are not a new concept by a long stretch of the imagination. However, in Australia they are only just starting to catch on.I'm not quite sure if it is the media attention from all the reality gardening and self sustainability shows or the "monkey see monkey do" aspect or even the ease of internet browsing that has driven this surge but it sure has taken off.So what is a Wicking Bed? Basically it is a large version of a self-watering pot plant.There is a permanent water...

The Secret to Growing Carrots

To grow nice straight carrots is something a lot of home gardeners find troublesome. I have grown them successfully plenty of times: on the Facebook page I have videos of the carrots I have grown -  nice straight and actually easy to grow. The secret is (and it isn't really a secret) to use sand. I lay good compost in a deep trench and then back fill it with sand (or a really sandy mix of soil) and then lay a thin sprinkle of good compost on top to strike the seed. Then plant your...

Growing Celery

During my journey from just tank maker to also being a garden bed maker I have discovered quite a few tricks. Some have been as a result of outside influence, some direct teaching from those wiser about gardening than me and some by pure accident. There have also been some experimental quests I have undertaken, some successful, some not but you can't win them all hey?I did discover accidentally a great way to grow Celery that will make you the envy of every home gardener - I was even a...

The beginning, let's start there....

So now I have this thing called a "blog" - something most of you probably know about, but for a tank maker that left school at 15 to learn my trade it is a bit of a foreign thing; bare with me whilst I learn...My wife says to me all the time about how simple computer stuff is: "You do it all the time". Yeah, right, but I do what I know how to do and this is not really it. When I asked her about this blogging thing her example was "how to prune your celery" - she's no green thumb!Further dis...