"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"George.com" wrote in message
How are you jokers in the drought areas of Aus doing with your vege
gardens?

So far no worries but then we supply our own water and aren't subject to
urban water restrictions. We specifically bought this place because it
had
good water. Our pastures are the problem - insufficinet feed to support
the
number of cattle that we would normally in a non drought times.

What arrangements have you ockers put in place during the drought for
watering the veges?

Now careful with those "ocker" and "joker" appellations! We may call
ourselves that but it's not something we accept too well from furriners!

joker is as NZ as it is Aussie. 'Kiwi joker', 'the joker down the road',
'hurry up you jokers'. We may trade it for pavolva.

Aussie, ocker, cobber, digger, thats just part of the list we call folks
from Oz. Those are the polite ones.

rob

How are you jokers in the drought areas of Aus doing with your vege gardens?
We read today that Sydney had a real downpour.

What arrangements have you ockers put in place during the drought for
watering the veges?
Stuff the drought water anyway?
Roof tanks (how have they stood up to the long dry?)
Alternatives like peeing in bottles etc? (I read an account of Mexicans
growing veges in containers and using nothing but urine to supply nitrogen)

Just interested.

rob

"George.com" wrote in message
How are you jokers in the drought areas of Aus doing with your vege
gardens?

So far no worries but then we supply our own water and aren't subject to
urban water restrictions. We specifically bought this place because it had
good water. Our pastures are the problem - insufficinet feed to support the
number of cattle that we would normally in a non drought times.

What arrangements have you ockers put in place during the drought for
watering the veges?

Now careful with those "ocker" and "joker" appellations! We may call
ourselves that but it's not something we accept too well from furriners!

Stuff the drought water anyway?
Roof tanks (how have they stood up to the long dry?)

Water tanks wouldn't be enough to keep a veg garden going throughout a
drought if one is on water restrictions. It may help out a bit but not for
long.

FarmI wrote:

Water tanks wouldn't be enough to keep a veg garden going throughout a
drought if one is on water restrictions. It may help out a bit but not for
long.

Exactly. Our 7,000 Litres would last a week of selective watering over
our 50 square metres of garden.

g'day rob,

we do lots of mulching first up.

then as much as we can harvest it we use all used water from our home
in the gardens, that includes my wee bucket.

then having a substantial water tank if you are going to go the
expense might as well make it worth while will go a long way, reckon
our holding will get us through the long dry winter that seems to be
ahead.

we do all hand watering as well that way we have some idea how much is
going on and we apply it where it is needed the most, never over the
whole garden bed area.

we are still planting trees etc.,. when most others are holding off
because they have no water of their own, one lady when she heard that
i was still going ot plant thought it was going to be a futile
excercise as they would surely die in this drought, well they have not
only lived so far but have thrived, on an average each tree gets about
1/2 bucket of water a week.

at least now then our trees & shrubs are already in the ground and
settling in for when the er um big wet comes hey chuckle.


On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:14:52 +1200, "George.com"
wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

"George.com" wrote in message
...
joker is as NZ as it is Aussie. 'Kiwi joker', 'the joker down the road',
'hurry up you jokers'. We may trade it for pavolva.

Aussie, ocker, cobber, digger, thats just part of the list we call folks
from Oz. Those are the polite ones.

ocker, cobber and digger are all really specific here, they mean different
things.

otoh kiwis are just kiwis. or new zellunders.
kylie (who was accused of saying "bread" like a kiwi the other day. whatever
next?)

"George.com" wrote in message
...
How are you jokers in the drought areas of Aus doing with your vege
gardens?
We read today that Sydney had a real downpour.

What arrangements have you ockers put in place during the drought for
watering the veges?
Stuff the drought water anyway?
Roof tanks (how have they stood up to the long dry?)
Alternatives like peeing in bottles etc? (I read an account of Mexicans
growing veges in containers and using nothing but urine to supply
nitrogen)

Just interested.

hm. at our place (outer woop-woop, no town water, hence no restrictions
beyond what we decide) we have various rainwater tanks (mostly not big
enough to be much use ;-) and two-and-a-third dams. we don't even use one
and a third of the dams at this point (the wildlife uses them though), and
one of the rainwater tanks is solely for kitchen, brewing & greenhouse use.
the house dam is for shower, outdoor tap, washing machine, washing the
dishes, toilet. one tank is mainly for the chooks' water, the other is very
small & i use it on the garden.

mostly, we use shower, kitchen & washing-machine water on the garden, and
it's plenty for what we've got atm (big veggie garden which supplies almost
all our veg - onions being the only exception atm), large yard with a number
of beds i'm actively working on hence need a bit of water, some fruit trees
& such). tbh, using this method we have more water than we really "need" for
the gardens so i often give shrubs & things some water where, were the water
not available, i'd just leave them to it & they could wait for rain. partly
this is because our washing machine uses a full bathtub's worth per load
(were i buying one now, i'd go for a frontloader).

i get pretty tired & exasperated sometimes bucketing the greywater around,
BUT, the garden is going extremely well, i had no losses from heat or
drought over summer, and my dream of turning a poor sad neglected & dry
property into a fertile and self-sufficient garden for food, birds & animals
is all panning out pretty well so far. i've got loads of worms now, the
soil's improving, it's getting more beautiful every day, and is definitely
worth the hard work! so if i can do that during a drought with my greywater,
all power to me, but honestly, anyone _can_ do it & more & more of them are.
people in towns are now becoming very interested in greywater systems (i'm
not likely to have the greywater police round, but they are, hence they're
obliged to make sure they do things properly, whereas i can let it pump into
a bathtub outside & bucket it around) and tanks.

we keep our showers short, flush the loo only for poos, & do things like
using the shower water for the washing machine, then bring the water back
for another load & such as that; and endeavour not to waste a drop so that
we'll always have it when we need it. these types of things are becoming
more common. i think the current drought has been a real wake-up call for a
lot of people & we will all learn a lot from current bad times.

which isn't to say there's not total greedy ninnies out there - of course
there are. but people are starting to realise more & more what's important,
what can be done without, & to just THINK about things more & act
accordingly. frankly, the populace is streaks ahead of the govt on this &
don't we all know it.
kylie

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
"George.com" wrote in message
...
joker is as NZ as it is Aussie. 'Kiwi joker', 'the joker down the
road',
'hurry up you jokers'. We may trade it for pavolva.

Aussie, ocker, cobber, digger, thats just part of the list we call folks
from Oz. Those are the polite ones.

ocker, cobber and digger are all really specific here, they mean different
things.

yes, I realise that

otoh kiwis are just kiwis. or new zellunders.

or birds, or chinese goosberries.

rob

"0tterbot" wrote in message

BUT, the garden is going extremely well, i had no losses from heat or
drought over summer, and my dream of turning a poor sad neglected & dry
property into a fertile and self-sufficient garden for food, birds &
animals is all panning out pretty well so far. i've got loads of worms
now, the soil's improving, it's getting more beautiful every day, and is
definitely worth the hard work! so if i can do that during a drought with
my greywater, all power to me, but honestly, anyone _can_ do it & more &
more of them are.

I always feel a sense of real wonder when I contemplate how much can be
achieved over time and with effort and water.

I went to visit some Open Gardens in the Nimmatabel region of NSW some
months ago. I well remember one farm. It was like a moonscape.

Typical Monaro sheep country - naturally treeless and rock stewn but good
basalt country and all it needed was water. It was a 3 km drive into where
the house sat under the lee of an east facing hill but subject to Southerly
winds.

The before pictures were amazing. A disgustingly sad weatherboard cottage,
missing many boards, peeling paint, broken windows with a ratty old garage
set in a desertlike landscape of no grass or trees or anything - the only
thing missing was the pic of sheep wandering through this old house. It sat
in the middle of a big paddock.

To see how much the owner had achieved over a 25 yr period, and the life
they had brought tot his moonscape was astounding. First plant trees and
lug water to them - this went on for years till they built up surrounding
wind breaks. And the garden! It was now a to die for garden. Lush grass
on that rich basalt soil, a thriving veg garden and chook runs and a superb
flower garden with the most glorious Peonies I've ever seen. I can still
see it in my mind's eye. More power to the lady of the house who did, and
continues to do, a brilliant job.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

I always feel a sense of real wonder when I contemplate how much can be
achieved over time and with effort and water.

i know!! it's just so thrilling!!!!!! it's nice to know lots of other people
understand this. i feel i've hit upon my life's work :-)

I went to visit some Open Gardens in the Nimmatabel region of NSW some
months ago. I well remember one farm. It was like a moonscape.

Typical Monaro sheep country - naturally treeless and rock stewn but good
basalt country and all it needed was water. It was a 3 km drive into
where the house sat under the lee of an east facing hill but subject to
Southerly winds.

The before pictures were amazing. A disgustingly sad weatherboard
cottage, missing many boards, peeling paint, broken windows with a ratty
old garage set in a desertlike landscape of no grass or trees or
anything - the only thing missing was the pic of sheep wandering through
this old house. It sat in the middle of a big paddock.

To see how much the owner had achieved over a 25 yr period, and the life
they had brought tot his moonscape was astounding. First plant trees and
lug water to them - this went on for years till they built up surrounding
wind breaks. And the garden! It was now a to die for garden. Lush grass
on that rich basalt soil, a thriving veg garden and chook runs and a
superb flower garden with the most glorious Peonies I've ever seen. I can
still see it in my mind's eye. More power to the lady of the house who
did, and continues to do, a brilliant job.

wonderful! very encouraging. i must say i'm lucky in that we have a fairly
good (for want of a better word!) climate here, so it wasn't a moonscape &
there was much to improve upon. (starting from scratch would just overwhelm
me, i'm like that - i can't design :-) but yes. very encouraging. i like to
see other people's stuff.
kylie