Saturday, August 17, 2013

The 30 minute garden blitz

After saying in my last post that I have a lot of time I actually manage to fill it pretty well and although I would LOVE to spend an entire day gardening that rarely happens as I LOVE exercise too and have dogs to work kids to tend too and well I don't need to explain life to anyone we are all I the same boat! But the weather has been divine for Victorian Winter and I have been determined to get in 30 minutes of gardening the occasional morning and 30 minutes every night sometimes its right before dark but never the less I grab the opportunity and usually have a plan of what I want to achieve and its amazing what I can get weeded in that time. I have my garden tools out all over the yard for easy access although sometimes remembering where I have left them can be a bit tricky! A couple of days ago as soon as I exited the car before I went in side I managed to hoe little drains in the front beds then hoe the paths and rake the leaves off the path and it looked fantastic! I usually weed most afternoon 30 minute slots as I can try and get all the Vitamin D I can from the sun - its so rare in Ballarat Winters! I have included some before and after shots of how much you can get done doing little bursts of gardening. :) Also I posted this a month ago - now the weather is arctic but still if its not raining I can often manage to get out there after the kids get home from school for at least 30 minutes.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Bunny Chick Liqued Poo Tea :)

I have had much time on my hands with 4 weeks forced leave of massage work! So I have been able to do things I've had little time to do for years and Chick Bunny poo tea is one of them. My father in law taught me this one as a farmer from years back, I am altering the method slightly as I don't want any chance of contact with the poo! He used to get very technical with the ratios of poo to water and use a hessian bag to strain the poo, I don't do this and I feel my way is much easier. Basically I have gathered large amounts of poo from the chooks - easy to do as they aren't terribly bright and instead of laying eggs in their nice hay filled lay boxes they kick all the warmth out leave it bare and sleep there leaving copious amount of poo behind so easy to gather transfer to a large bucket fill with water and leave for about 10 days. I then pour the lot into a open ended watering can - forget the ones with spouts it gets too blocked, you then use liquid as a tea for my newly planted veggies. Its the same deal with the bunny poo, as a rule the rabbits will always poo in the one spot making it easy together, most of the time its directly put on either Roses or the fruit trees but the tea works well directly poured over the leaves for a easier uptake for the plants. I probably wouldn't do this right before harvesting....its really just to kick off growth, anyway its working well and plants are thriving. I have a picture here of our Bok Choy and this was planted about 5 weeks ago and is getting harvested now so it really does make for very fast growth.