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Post by angra on Dec 10, 2012 5:02:39 GMT 10
We recently moved house and were sad to leave the garden, which we'd put a lot of time and effort into, including some lovely roses.
So we took many cuttings, dipped them in rooting powder (don't go there!), put them in tubs of potting mix and now they are coming along a treat.
So we sort of transplanted a garden.
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Post by jules on Dec 10, 2012 17:14:26 GMT 10
Shouldn't you be dipping them in rooting gel?
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Post by angra on Dec 10, 2012 18:21:42 GMT 10
Jules - you are naughty.
Hell it's been no more than 16 degrees here today...thanks to AGW.
Yes I know.
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Post by jules on Dec 11, 2012 11:40:24 GMT 10
I dunno if its (the cool summer weather) thanks to agw, but more extreme extremes are due to AGW.
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Post by chookmustard on Dec 11, 2012 19:50:33 GMT 10
Vege patch cranking. Zucchinis, cucumber, tomatoes and beans doing well. Found that seasol power feed helps a lot on growth and disease reduction.. Salvia, zantedeschias pumping too
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Post by jules on Dec 11, 2012 21:32:12 GMT 10
Anyone here use comfrey tea?
It makes a great liquid fertiliser and compost activator. You can add straw and dry manure to the fertilizer tea if you like, and it seems top make the tea more effective.
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Post by chookmustard on Dec 12, 2012 6:21:37 GMT 10
I haven't used it as a tea. I, growing it near my compost pile and cut off leaves and add it to the compost every now and then. Do you stew the leaves in cold water for awhile ?
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Post by jules on Dec 12, 2012 9:38:59 GMT 10
I stew them for a week or so. Sometimes more. Although my tea bucket is over 10 years old, and its never been changed, had hundreds of litres of water thru it over the years. I've added banana skins, mango skins and various other things over the years, just to see what would happen.
Usually tho I use it on the garden and then add the leaves straight away, just a few usually. That way they have a week or two to stew up a bit. Cos the bucket is already pretty rank and there's alot of microbial activity going on the leaves start to break down pretty quickly.
Everything seems to love it, tho we haven't really done much gardening over the last few months. We have had a minor drought where I live - no rain for maybe 5 months, so its only self seeded veggies, herbs and chillies that we have going at the moment and everything is still just recovering from the dry weather. But everything was drier than it should have been even for that amount of time with no rain(I live out of town so access to water can be an issue when its really dry.) We're off to Melbourne for chrissie so nothing will be happening till we get back.
We'll be putting in some corn, zucchini and tomatoes and pumpkins and sweet/potatoes before we go if we get time.
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Post by angra on Dec 13, 2012 9:39:30 GMT 10
Last year our tomatoes and capsicum got devoured by pests (it was a wet summer) so I'm thinking of companion planting this year. Anyone got experience of this? I hear pyrethrum daisies are good make a nice display as well.
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Post by jules on Dec 14, 2012 9:10:54 GMT 10
Wikipedia has a reasonable list of companion plants here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plantsAnd here's a list of insect repelling plants: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_repellent_plantsI've never heard of pyrethrum daisies as such, but now that you mention it... I've seen them in peoples gardens. Couldn't comment on how they work tho. I spray white oil and this stuff called Dipel as well, and sometimes a chilli spray made out of sauce and water, tho very rarely. Dipel is pretty awesome. You can buy a big tub of the powder and it lasts for years It makes caterpillars rot on the spot. Its a combination of bacteria and spores thats targeted at them. This page has a run down on the basic pest reduction methods that are minimal waste, minimal chemicals. it recommends stuff like chamomile spray, bicardb spray and the like. It also recommends minimal protective gear when spraying dipel, but I don't know anyone who bothers, and I know quite a few successful organic (ish) gardeners who use it. www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au/upload/alternatives-to-chemicals/GardenAlternatives.pdfI'd like to know how to stop monoleptus beetles (monolepta australis). They took the flowers (all of them) off my favorite avo tree this year. The fuckers.
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Post by chookmustard on Dec 15, 2012 11:43:28 GMT 10
As far as I know companion planting can be effective, but only in mass planting situations. Growing yellow and/or orange flowering plants near your veggies (eg, marigolds)will attract predator insects (eg, ladybird beetles). The proviso is that more is better. One or two marigolds, for example, won't be enough to attract the good insects and in I think marigolds also have a repellant effect on some pests. My advice would be to mass plant pyrethrum daisies,marigolds and anything else that could provide a benefit. More work though.
Brought a spray pack 2l Charlie Carp today. Used Seasol Powerfeed 2 weeks ago which seemed to promote growth a lot . Will see how the Carp juice goes. Also got a 2l pyrethrum spray pack. Not too keen on using the really strong chemicals, the missus gets upset when I do that and I like to stay out of trouble.
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Post by jules on Dec 17, 2012 21:24:10 GMT 10
That seasol stuff is good too. Anything with seaweed is good tho.
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Post by chookmustard on Dec 17, 2012 21:27:01 GMT 10
Seaweed is a good tonic. I should post some pics of the results.
Found some grapes growing on my Shiraz and Sauvignon blanc vines!
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Post by jules on Dec 17, 2012 21:27:26 GMT 10
Ha unreal!!!
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Post by chookmustard on Dec 17, 2012 21:41:53 GMT 10
Blueberries are not producing though.... Very disappointing.
Although, I have been a bit lackadaisical re weeding and spraying this season....
Laziness produces no crops
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