(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)

Posted by admin to Home Garden on 2008-02-22, 13:20:31

Ever since I began gardening I've had this nagging desire to have my own greenhouse. A place that was dedicated purely for propagating plants and storing them in some form of recognizable arrangement. Yet I've never had the chance, or the space, to construct one.

Even with our smallish suburban plot I found I was once again limited to making compromises. However, this time I was committed to seeing the 'half-full glass' rather than the 'half-empty' one.

And, Voila! Here is the logical outcome.

This is the side of my shed. Not any side, mind you, but a North-facing side - very important for us southern hemispherean gardeners! It's main purpose is to keep the other 3 side walls erect (and gives somewhere for the roof to hang on to as well). Apart from that, it's just a thoroughfare for the wood pile at the rear.

Look closer and you'll begin to be inspired by the possibilities. Here is a wall pleading to be utilised and so I consented by erecting some framework for future shelving.

What about the cover, I hear you ask? Well, here is the genius... One of the problems with our climate is that in summer it gets far too hot for far too long. So I couldn't just construct a standard greenhouse or all the plants would sizzle in summer and die. Therefore I needed another option and it came quite suddenly and somewhat divinely - in other words I can't remember how I came up with it!

I plan to have two types of cover - clear plastic sheeting for the cooler months and UV-resistant shade cloth for the warmer ones. Both of them will be made as single, continuous sheets that can be taken off and put back on again.

Here's how they will be attached;

1. Steel REO bars - approximately 2m long - will be concreted 500mm into the ground opposite the shed wall and on the other side of the 2m wide path. They will be spaced out at 1m intervals requiring 6 for my 5m long shed.
2. Channels will be sown into both the clear sheeting and the shade cloth at similar intervals wide enough for 20mm PVC pipe to travel through - much like a tent would work.
3. Then brackets will be attached to the roofline at the same width intervals and will hold the PVC piping.
4. Once these things are in place it's simply a matter of pushing the PVC piping through the channels on the cover and placing one end through the roof brackets and the other over the vertical REO bar. This will create a half-dome effect.
5. As the seasons switch the covers can be interchanged to turn the greenhouse into a shadehouse and vice versa.

It's a very simple system but will provide me with the space to grow a quantity of plants both for use in the garden and also for experimentation. I'll keep you updated with progress photos.

(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)

Posted by admin to Home Garden on 2008-01-22, 15:44:09

Optimism has entered my garden once again. Even as we approach the end of a tired summer when my plants are showing signs of heat stress or their inability to cope with persistent diseases, there is a tinge of anticipation in the stratosphere above our home.

There is nothing more hopeful in our yards than creating a new garden bed. The aroma of expectation wafts through my creative senses imagining scenes that are still years away. Thoughts of new plants that I will be able to upload for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day traverse my mind. Oh... the accolades - I should begin writing my speech now.

But with this newfound optimism also comes the tyranny of labour. The joy I shall reap in 2-3 years time will only come about if I get my butt into gear and start preparing the soil. No longer will my wife put up with my incessant "One day..." - it's now action time.

So, why hasn't this bed been prepared until now? Unfortunately it's bordered by our new garden shed - which is finally finished BTW - and couldn't be planted out until the walls had been erected and painted. But now all of that is completed and the garden bed was just hoarding various species of weed - weeds that wouldn't dare inhabiting any other garden bed.

Also I had been waiting for my first compost heap to fully decompose and cool down so that I could start using it. And what a compost it was! Four wheelbarrow loads later and I had made way for the next one to be turned.

And 4 barrow loads was only just enough. This garden bed, with its very deficient sandy soil (using the word "soil" is a big stretch of the term), sucked it up in no time and was begging for more.

After watering the compost in it also became very apparent that the sand had become water-repellent. This is a huge problem if you're planning to introduce plants straight away. Fortunately I have some time on my hands as I'm hoping to plant in early spring - some 9 months away - so solving this dilemma isn't as urgent as one would expect.

While most gardeners would propose adding some wetting agents or water saving crystals, at 35 I'm a misnomer wanting to do it the "old way". That is, I'm keen to start a 'green manure' and give the soil a chance to repair itself - naturally.

As this process will take 3-4 months, I'll keep you updated with how the soil is improving and how the plant choices are progressing.

(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)

Posted by admin to Home Garden on 2007-12-02, 15:29:56

It finally arrived on Friday - the camera that I needed to show you through my garden again.

I can see some of you SLR snobs already looking down your nose at my choice, but bear with me, there is a logical explanation.

I originally intended to get the latest Canon 400D (branded as a Rebel XTi in the US). In fact, I was almost swayed to part with more cash and indulge in the 40D. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a keen amateur/pro photographer - he teaches Photography at the college I work at - who asked me some serious questions on my intent of its use. Questions that took an SLR-lusting-wanna-be away from my preferred choice.

Now, apart from my wife's dodgy point-and-shoot that we lost, I've always had SLR's and enjoyed the freedom of their many options. But, for the type of photography that I intend to enjoy, this point-and-shoot on steroids has it all...and a little bit more.

Let me show you some of the specs;

- 18x Optical Zoom (That's right...18x) - Serious macro work for flowers, bugs, birds etc plus the freedom to enjoy the neighbour's backyard from the porch - not that I would do that.

- 8 megapixels

- Superfast 15fps spontaneous picture-taking

- Everything can be automatic or manual at the slip of a dial

- Aperture sizes from f2.8 up to f8.0

- Autofocusing

plus, an optional extra is the conversion adapter (CLA-10) which can hold the TCON-17 telephoto lens capable of extending the focal point by 7x - or the equivalent of a 416.5mm lens!!!

So, why the change of mind? Portability. I've lugged SLR's and their accompanying lenses around before and always whinged about it. And though I didn't want to be seen as an amateur, practicality won it - I must be getting older! And just when you thought they were good enough reasons, I found this one for half the price of the EOS!!

I spent some of the weekend taking a few pics and trying out what this camera could do. Here's a small sampling - my Flickr page. [Side note: I'm thinking of adding an option for Blotanical users to link to their Flickr pages on their My Plot. Would it be a useful addition?]

Anyhow, you should expect a few more pics of my garden from hereonin.

(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)

Posted by admin to Home Garden on 2007-11-13, 16:05:22

Are you a 'sitting duck' for some unscrupulous gardener to heist your plants? And if so, what on earth are you going to do about it?

It's not like you can safely secure each plant to the ground with a padlock and key. Nor would your garden look attractive with lengths of barbed wire or electric fence. And while these options border on the extreme, gardeners are now looking for measures to safeguard themselves from garden theft.

Unfortunately it's no longer a rarity to see a recently landscaped garden devoid of plantings that were in place the day before. Once the landscaper has moved on it appears to be open season on plants and those looking for a quick garden makeover move in. Less than 10 minutes later gaping holes appear across the landscape and the offenders are well on their way, possibly saving themselves hundreds of dollars.

For most home gardeners, a heist of this magnitude is quite unlikely. Yet there are gardeners tearing their hair out trying to respond to this growing nuisance - gardeners like Michael Newton. And the result of his dilemma has pushed him into a corner stating, "I have had enough. I will just let the weeds grow now. There is just no point."

Any gardener can understand his frustration as there are few options available to secure ourselves from garden theft. Obviously the area you live in, the type of plants you have recently positioned and whether your garden is obscured to the general public all contribute to the possibility of becoming a victim to plant theft. Yet each of these are not easily overcome.

Sure, you could move but that's never easy and won't guarantee that the area you move into won't change over the years. You could even plant more common, cheaper plants but how boring would that be? Or, you could open your garden up so that 'all-and-sundry' can have a squizz and lose your privacy in the meantime.

Here's a few gardening tips for those not wanting to suffer at the hands of plant theft;

1. Aim sensor lights towards your most recently acquired plants. Sensor lights (aff.) can flood your garden with light the moment an intruder enters the property or heads to your plant.
2. In the same vein, although far less efficient at deterring humans than animals, is the Scarecrow Sprinkler(aff.). While this may annoy the would-be thief it may not be enough to distract them from their intent. Plus, unless you're a light sleeper who wakes the moment your retic turns on, you're probably unlikely to be aroused with the sprinkler than a set of sensor lights.
3. Keep a guard dog. While this is a great option for keeping intruders at bay, having a dog in your prized garden can wreak its own set of problems.
4. Stake your plants. Plants that are positioned and have been tied to a stake, or set of stakes, are less likely to attract the interest of a plant thief - but then again, it all depends on what that plant is.

After a month or two, your plant's roots should have secured it in place and also made it a less likely target. However, if a thief plans to steal one, or more, of your plants there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.

There are no simple answers to this dilemma but it would appear that gardeners are going to have to find some. And sooner rather than later.