Happy New Year to all
 

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a happy New Year, a
successful harvest for those in the southern hemisphere and a happy
planning of the new season for those in the north. I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

As an indication of the strength of permaculture, I have done *no*
gardening at all for the last 6 months. I planted no annual veg this
year, and yet I've managed to harvest all of the following from my
year-old garden in that time, either because they were perennial or
self-seeded:

Pigeon pea
Artichoke
Green beans
purple king beans
Spinach
Leaf amaranth
strawberries
chillies
red pepper (capsicum)
blueberries
peaches
lots of fresh herbs
and in the spring I'm going to have some nice fat asparagus spears for
the first time. By the time I get back there'll be self-sown pumpkin,
zucchini, okra and resprung pontiac potatoes to harvest.

In addition, we've had a lot of native birds come through to enjoy the
first flowerings of the local species I've planted and to drink from the
pond.

They say that the indication of the stability of a garden is how it
survives without human intervention. I'm about to find out how mine will go.

Tara

Happy New Year to all
 

"Geodyne" wrote in message

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a happy New Year, a
successful harvest for those in the southern hemisphere

Grrrrrrrr! Did you have to remind me!!!

I've had the most poopful season, but then in the drought of the century I
couldn't expect better I suppose.

So far the tomatoes are still surviving but all else (except the perennial
greens) are drooping - even the strawberries were cooked before they could
be picked.


I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

Sea???? To do with the job or the research? Either way, have a lovely time
and pray for rain while you are gone.

As an indication of the strength of permaculture, I have done *no*
gardening at all for the last 6 months. I planted no annual veg this
year, and yet I've managed to harvest all of the following from my
year-old garden in that time, either because they were perennial or
self-seeded:

Pigeon pea
Artichoke
Green beans
purple king beans
Spinach
Leaf amaranth
strawberries
chillies
red pepper (capsicum)
blueberries
peaches
lots of fresh herbs
and in the spring I'm going to have some nice fat asparagus spears for
the first time. By the time I get back there'll be self-sown pumpkin,
zucchini, okra and resprung pontiac potatoes to harvest.

I'm pea green with envy. I can't keep the water up to my garden at all (not
because of lack of water but due to the winds and the intensity of the sun).

Shadecloth has done wonders for the toms though so next year I will cover
more of the veg garden with it.

In addition, we've had a lot of native birds come through to enjoy the
first flowerings of the local species I've planted and to drink from the
pond.

They say that the indication of the stability of a garden is how it
survives without human intervention. I'm about to find out how mine will
go.

Now I'm trying not to be cynical, but failing utterly. Whoever said that
must have lived in a much nicer climate (like the UK). Stability of the
garden in the wilds of Oz is a bit of a myth, methinks (at least in the
summer and anywhere outside the Southern Highlands and their 50 inch
rainfall a year)

Have a great time Tara and see you when you get back.

Happy New Year to all
 

"Geodyne" wrote in message

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a happy New Year, a
successful harvest for those in the southern hemisphere

Grrrrrrrr! Did you have to remind me!!!

I've had the most poopful season, but then in the drought of the century I
couldn't expect better I suppose.

So far the tomatoes are still surviving but all else (except the perennial
greens) are drooping - even the strawberries were cooked before they could
be picked.


I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

Sea???? To do with the job or the research? Either way, have a lovely time
and pray for rain while you are gone.

As an indication of the strength of permaculture, I have done *no*
gardening at all for the last 6 months. I planted no annual veg this
year, and yet I've managed to harvest all of the following from my
year-old garden in that time, either because they were perennial or
self-seeded:

Pigeon pea
Artichoke
Green beans
purple king beans
Spinach
Leaf amaranth
strawberries
chillies
red pepper (capsicum)
blueberries
peaches
lots of fresh herbs
and in the spring I'm going to have some nice fat asparagus spears for
the first time. By the time I get back there'll be self-sown pumpkin,
zucchini, okra and resprung pontiac potatoes to harvest.

I'm pea green with envy. I can't keep the water up to my garden at all (not
because of lack of water but due to the winds and the intensity of the sun).

Shadecloth has done wonders for the toms though so next year I will cover
more of the veg garden with it.

In addition, we've had a lot of native birds come through to enjoy the
first flowerings of the local species I've planted and to drink from the
pond.

They say that the indication of the stability of a garden is how it
survives without human intervention. I'm about to find out how mine will
go.

Now I'm trying not to be cynical, but failing utterly. Whoever said that
must have lived in a much nicer climate (like the UK). Stability of the
garden in the wilds of Oz is a bit of a myth, methinks (at least in the
summer and anywhere outside the Southern Highlands and their 50 inch
rainfall a year)

Have a great time Tara and see you when you get back.

Happy New Year to all
 

g'dat tara,

a truely bountiful harvest, and the highest productivity by the sounds
of it.

the seasons greetings to you and yours also

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/

Happy New Year to all
 

g'dat tara,

a truely bountiful harvest, and the highest productivity by the sounds
of it.

the seasons greetings to you and yours also

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/

Happy New Year to all
 

Fran Higham wrote:

I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

Sea???? To do with the job or the research? Either way, have a lovely time
and pray for rain while you are gone.

Research for the job. First I'm off to a conference in NZ, then I'm off
to sea for 6 weeks to collect some data over the Campbell Plateau, to
the south east of the SOuth Island of NZ. As I have a spare few days
before the conference and between the conference and the trip, DH is
coming with me and we're going to get in a day's scuba diving off White
Island, and a day's kayaking in the Marborough Sounds, as well as a few
other pleasant side trips such as visiting wineries and hiking out to a
gannet colony. I've been working so hard (with another 4 very long days
to go and a lot to get done) that I'm *really* looking forward to it.

I'm pea green with envy. I can't keep the water up to my garden at all (not
because of lack of water but due to the winds and the intensity of the sun).
Shadecloth has done wonders for the toms though so next year I will cover
more of the veg garden with it.

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a bad season, Fran. In reality, mine
hasn't been much better. I'll admit that most of my stuff was harvested
in the late spring before it got really hot (such as the broad beans and
artichoke), and th rest of it has come up with the little bit of rain
we've had in the last week or two. In between I moved all of the young
trees that I planted in winter into one garden bed and was only watering
it. I let the rest of the garden dry out completely, not least because I
was never home to look after it.

Of course, now that I'm about to leave, everything is springing into
life. The strawberries are suddenly doing their best triffid imiiation
and I have all sorts of interesting seedlings coming up in the pine bark
paths, such as pak choi, chillies and okra.

Now I'm trying not to be cynical, but failing utterly. Whoever said that
must have lived in a much nicer climate (like the UK). Stability of the
garden in the wilds of Oz is a bit of a myth, methinks (at least in the
summer and anywhere outside the Southern Highlands and their 50 inch
rainfall a year)

I'll have to agree with you there. The only reason my garden survived
the summer at all (and quite a bit still didn't) was because we have the
recycled water and mulched a lot. Even then it was all I could do to
keep stuff alive, forget about having it grow. For that matter, I was
putting 100-200 litres of water each week into my 1000 litre pond,
because that was what I was losing to evaporation.

DH has said that there is talk of an early end to the drought (Jan
rather than March), so I'm keeping my fiungers crossed about that.


Have a great time Tara and see you when you get back.

Thanks, and thanks to you as well, Len. I'll check back in in March.

Tara

Happy New Year to all
 

Fran Higham wrote:

I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

Sea???? To do with the job or the research? Either way, have a lovely time
and pray for rain while you are gone.

Research for the job. First I'm off to a conference in NZ, then I'm off
to sea for 6 weeks to collect some data over the Campbell Plateau, to
the south east of the SOuth Island of NZ. As I have a spare few days
before the conference and between the conference and the trip, DH is
coming with me and we're going to get in a day's scuba diving off White
Island, and a day's kayaking in the Marborough Sounds, as well as a few
other pleasant side trips such as visiting wineries and hiking out to a
gannet colony. I've been working so hard (with another 4 very long days
to go and a lot to get done) that I'm *really* looking forward to it.

I'm pea green with envy. I can't keep the water up to my garden at all (not
because of lack of water but due to the winds and the intensity of the sun).
Shadecloth has done wonders for the toms though so next year I will cover
more of the veg garden with it.

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a bad season, Fran. In reality, mine
hasn't been much better. I'll admit that most of my stuff was harvested
in the late spring before it got really hot (such as the broad beans and
artichoke), and th rest of it has come up with the little bit of rain
we've had in the last week or two. In between I moved all of the young
trees that I planted in winter into one garden bed and was only watering
it. I let the rest of the garden dry out completely, not least because I
was never home to look after it.

Of course, now that I'm about to leave, everything is springing into
life. The strawberries are suddenly doing their best triffid imiiation
and I have all sorts of interesting seedlings coming up in the pine bark
paths, such as pak choi, chillies and okra.

Now I'm trying not to be cynical, but failing utterly. Whoever said that
must have lived in a much nicer climate (like the UK). Stability of the
garden in the wilds of Oz is a bit of a myth, methinks (at least in the
summer and anywhere outside the Southern Highlands and their 50 inch
rainfall a year)

I'll have to agree with you there. The only reason my garden survived
the summer at all (and quite a bit still didn't) was because we have the
recycled water and mulched a lot. Even then it was all I could do to
keep stuff alive, forget about having it grow. For that matter, I was
putting 100-200 litres of water each week into my 1000 litre pond,
because that was what I was losing to evaporation.

DH has said that there is talk of an early end to the drought (Jan
rather than March), so I'm keeping my fiungers crossed about that.


Have a great time Tara and see you when you get back.

Thanks, and thanks to you as well, Len. I'll check back in in March.

Tara