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#1
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Drought & more
g'day fran,
yeh much like janet, use all grey water and mulch, mulch, mulch & more mulch, and water when stress is evident. hope it rains again soon! while i'm here ted & sheena have moved onto their property near howard, 40 acres in all, they are presently filling gaps in the walls of the hhouse on their way to repainting and redecorating. they are living under the house for now. they have a well treed property with 3 dams that could use a good drop of rain. no gardens as yet i think they will be a long way off yet at least until the house is finished. they have 5 brahford-X cattle 2 are calves, can see some good meat coming along some time in the future. will have to get some udate pics online soon, everytime i go to do anything about it there is something else to do i find, usualy if we think rain is coming we maintane our contour rips and lay more mulch and do work to stop bits of erosion around the house site. take care all, len n bev 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/ |
#2
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Drought & more
g'day fran,
yeh much like janet, use all grey water and mulch, mulch, mulch & more mulch, and water when stress is evident. hope it rains again soon! while i'm here ted & sheena have moved onto their property near howard, 40 acres in all, they are presently filling gaps in the walls of the hhouse on their way to repainting and redecorating. they are living under the house for now. they have a well treed property with 3 dams that could use a good drop of rain. no gardens as yet i think they will be a long way off yet at least until the house is finished. they have 5 brahford-X cattle 2 are calves, can see some good meat coming along some time in the future. will have to get some udate pics online soon, everytime i go to do anything about it there is something else to do i find, usualy if we think rain is coming we maintane our contour rips and lay more mulch and do work to stop bits of erosion around the house site. take care all, len n bev 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/ |
#3
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Drought & more
"len brauer" wrote in message
yeh much like janet, use all grey water and mulch, mulch, mulch & more mulch, and water when stress is evident. hope it rains again soon! Thanks Janet and Len for the input. I'll finally respond now that things have calmed down a bit round here. I've been doing some experimenting and thinking since you two posted - partly because of your posts but in reality more because of the need to get things thoroughly wetted down in case of fire. Anyway, here's my thought on watering. I realisd when I read your posts and thought about them as I wandered the garden that my problem isn't lack of water but in how it is delivered. We still have a very full dam which has only dropped about 6 inches since the drought began. It's spring fed and we have pumped out of it a lot but no impact. So lots of water. In the wetting down process, I've realised that I have to experiement a lot more with specific watering strategies and change them depending on the soil quality. I'm only talking here of the food growing areas of the gaden as opposed to the formal 'garden' which has a big and powerful sprinkler system installed that is operated by a poerful pump. My garden area is on gravity feed and I have a number of watering options - ie micro irrigation sprays, a low pressure sprinkler for rural use (brilliant Len - can get them from Diggers Garden Club in Victoria) and then just using the hose head without anything attached. Now because my area is a mix of well prepared annual veg beds and then ranges in all sorts of conditions through to simply just limestone rock encrusted subsoil. Now mulch only seems to do any good in 2 cases. One is the best soil and only spread on thinly and then watered with any sort of irrigation or on best soil and spread on thickly but only watered by hand or any sort of sprinkler but only after the thick mulch is pulled back and the soil exposed. This sort of defeats the purpose. I'm going to have to work harder at both soil prepa nd to do something about getting a delivery system that gives BIG water droplets that can penetrate through thick (and possibly matting down) mulch. Anyway, water and mulch are two strategies to work more on but does anyone find any other tricks that work well? Like does anyone have shadeclothe installed overhead? Does this work to reduce the stress on plants? Has anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? while i'm here ted & sheena have moved onto their property near howard, 40 acres in all, they are presently filling gaps in the walls of the hhouse on their way to repainting and redecorating. they are living under the house for now. they have a well treed property with 3 dams that could use a good drop of rain. Thanks for the news Len. Please give him my regards. Have you had any luck selling yet? no gardens as yet i think they will be a long way off yet at least until the house is finished. they have 5 brahford-X cattle 2 are calves, can see some good meat coming along some time in the future. I'l bet you already have the Barbie lit :-)) will have to get some udate pics online soon, everytime i go to do anything about it there is something else to do i find, usualy if we think rain is coming we maintane our contour rips and lay more mulch and do work to stop bits of erosion around the house site. Look forward to seeing more photos. How have your plants survived the drought? Do you still have any water left? We have noticed that dams which have never been empty in the 30 odd years we've been in this area are now empty. Sodding drought! |
#4
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Drought & more
"len brauer" wrote in message
yeh much like janet, use all grey water and mulch, mulch, mulch & more mulch, and water when stress is evident. hope it rains again soon! Thanks Janet and Len for the input. I'll finally respond now that things have calmed down a bit round here. I've been doing some experimenting and thinking since you two posted - partly because of your posts but in reality more because of the need to get things thoroughly wetted down in case of fire. Anyway, here's my thought on watering. I realisd when I read your posts and thought about them as I wandered the garden that my problem isn't lack of water but in how it is delivered. We still have a very full dam which has only dropped about 6 inches since the drought began. It's spring fed and we have pumped out of it a lot but no impact. So lots of water. In the wetting down process, I've realised that I have to experiement a lot more with specific watering strategies and change them depending on the soil quality. I'm only talking here of the food growing areas of the gaden as opposed to the formal 'garden' which has a big and powerful sprinkler system installed that is operated by a poerful pump. My garden area is on gravity feed and I have a number of watering options - ie micro irrigation sprays, a low pressure sprinkler for rural use (brilliant Len - can get them from Diggers Garden Club in Victoria) and then just using the hose head without anything attached. Now because my area is a mix of well prepared annual veg beds and then ranges in all sorts of conditions through to simply just limestone rock encrusted subsoil. Now mulch only seems to do any good in 2 cases. One is the best soil and only spread on thinly and then watered with any sort of irrigation or on best soil and spread on thickly but only watered by hand or any sort of sprinkler but only after the thick mulch is pulled back and the soil exposed. This sort of defeats the purpose. I'm going to have to work harder at both soil prepa nd to do something about getting a delivery system that gives BIG water droplets that can penetrate through thick (and possibly matting down) mulch. Anyway, water and mulch are two strategies to work more on but does anyone find any other tricks that work well? Like does anyone have shadeclothe installed overhead? Does this work to reduce the stress on plants? Has anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? while i'm here ted & sheena have moved onto their property near howard, 40 acres in all, they are presently filling gaps in the walls of the hhouse on their way to repainting and redecorating. they are living under the house for now. they have a well treed property with 3 dams that could use a good drop of rain. Thanks for the news Len. Please give him my regards. Have you had any luck selling yet? no gardens as yet i think they will be a long way off yet at least until the house is finished. they have 5 brahford-X cattle 2 are calves, can see some good meat coming along some time in the future. I'l bet you already have the Barbie lit :-)) will have to get some udate pics online soon, everytime i go to do anything about it there is something else to do i find, usualy if we think rain is coming we maintane our contour rips and lay more mulch and do work to stop bits of erosion around the house site. Look forward to seeing more photos. How have your plants survived the drought? Do you still have any water left? We have noticed that dams which have never been empty in the 30 odd years we've been in this area are now empty. Sodding drought! |
#5
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Drought & more
On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:55:18 +1100, "Fran Higham"
wrote: "len brauer" wrote in message snipped yes providing shade cloth cover for you gardens is going to help stop the plants stressing so much, but getting the cloth and putting it up can be a bit of a hinder. with the gravity feed water would running drippers and soaker hoses (holes down) under the mulch work that is waht we plan to do when we get around to pumping from the dam to a gravity feed tank. the dripper hose may not even need drippers as such just a small hole poked through at the right intervals. also the soaker hoses (maybe 2 running parrallel) running the length of the vege gardens under the mulch i reckon should come close to keeping veges well watered. anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? my expereince is i have a better chanse of keeping things alive in the ground and well mulched than what i do when they are in containers be they small containers ie., plant pots. my opinion would be that containers would tend to dry much more quickly, then you can't have worms in contained plants as the worms create galleries that the water runs down and doesn't necessarily soak the medium. if gardening space in the yard is a premium then it just gotta be containers. snipped will do hope the visit them again real soon. selling yet? at the moment we are staying put but that is a day by day thing we have much to do yet to make this place attractive to others who maybe don't share our ideas or foresight. snipped I'l bet you already have the Barbie lit :-)) yup got some new burners and new hose for it and all chuckle. snipped empty. Sodding drought! managing to keep all plants going at present our dam has good water in it but finances don't permit us the luxury of accessing it. we are presently doing most watering from the tanks as the bore is not producing much. take care len -- 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/ |
#6
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Drought & more
On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:55:18 +1100, "Fran Higham"
wrote: "len brauer" wrote in message snipped yes providing shade cloth cover for you gardens is going to help stop the plants stressing so much, but getting the cloth and putting it up can be a bit of a hinder. with the gravity feed water would running drippers and soaker hoses (holes down) under the mulch work that is waht we plan to do when we get around to pumping from the dam to a gravity feed tank. the dripper hose may not even need drippers as such just a small hole poked through at the right intervals. also the soaker hoses (maybe 2 running parrallel) running the length of the vege gardens under the mulch i reckon should come close to keeping veges well watered. anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? my expereince is i have a better chanse of keeping things alive in the ground and well mulched than what i do when they are in containers be they small containers ie., plant pots. my opinion would be that containers would tend to dry much more quickly, then you can't have worms in contained plants as the worms create galleries that the water runs down and doesn't necessarily soak the medium. if gardening space in the yard is a premium then it just gotta be containers. snipped will do hope the visit them again real soon. selling yet? at the moment we are staying put but that is a day by day thing we have much to do yet to make this place attractive to others who maybe don't share our ideas or foresight. snipped I'l bet you already have the Barbie lit :-)) yup got some new burners and new hose for it and all chuckle. snipped empty. Sodding drought! managing to keep all plants going at present our dam has good water in it but finances don't permit us the luxury of accessing it. we are presently doing most watering from the tanks as the bore is not producing much. take care len -- 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/ |
#7
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Drought & more
On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:55:18 +1100, Fran Higham wrote:
[snip] Now because my area is a mix of well prepared annual veg beds and then ranges in all sorts of conditions through to simply just limestone rock encrusted subsoil. Now mulch only seems to do any good in 2 cases. One is the best soil and only spread on thinly and then watered with any sort of irrigation or on best soil and spread on thickly but only watered by hand or any sort of sprinkler but only after the thick mulch is pulled back and the soil exposed. This sort of defeats the purpose. I'm going to have to work harder at both soil prepa nd to do something about getting a delivery system that gives BIG water droplets that can penetrate through thick (and possibly matting down) mulch. Anyway, water and mulch are two strategies to work more on but does anyone find any other tricks that work well? Like does anyone have shadeclothe installed overhead? Does this work to reduce the stress on plants? Has anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? [snip] I've only been watering by hand, even small fruit trees in large pots. However, I'm blessed with a climate where generally no more than 4 weeks pass without rain, and usually there's one good soaking rain every week or two. So, my personal experiences won't be much help. However, my brother has had good luck with soaker hoses underneath thick mulch. That delivers the water under the mulch, so there is no need to remove it (until the end of the season, of course). Also, I have read that the Pueblans in the Southwestern United States use sunken garden beds so that water naturally collects there, and this also helps to keep the plants cool. Of course, improving the soil helps greatly, too. Best of luck down there! John Wheeler Western Pennsylvania, USA (where I haven't seen a day above freezing for several weeks) -----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers =----- |
#8
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Drought & more
On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:55:18 +1100, Fran Higham wrote:
[snip] Now because my area is a mix of well prepared annual veg beds and then ranges in all sorts of conditions through to simply just limestone rock encrusted subsoil. Now mulch only seems to do any good in 2 cases. One is the best soil and only spread on thinly and then watered with any sort of irrigation or on best soil and spread on thickly but only watered by hand or any sort of sprinkler but only after the thick mulch is pulled back and the soil exposed. This sort of defeats the purpose. I'm going to have to work harder at both soil prepa nd to do something about getting a delivery system that gives BIG water droplets that can penetrate through thick (and possibly matting down) mulch. Anyway, water and mulch are two strategies to work more on but does anyone find any other tricks that work well? Like does anyone have shadeclothe installed overhead? Does this work to reduce the stress on plants? Has anyone tried big container growing for veg and if so what aspect and what sort of containers, growing medium etc? [snip] I've only been watering by hand, even small fruit trees in large pots. However, I'm blessed with a climate where generally no more than 4 weeks pass without rain, and usually there's one good soaking rain every week or two. So, my personal experiences won't be much help. However, my brother has had good luck with soaker hoses underneath thick mulch. That delivers the water under the mulch, so there is no need to remove it (until the end of the season, of course). Also, I have read that the Pueblans in the Southwestern United States use sunken garden beds so that water naturally collects there, and this also helps to keep the plants cool. Of course, improving the soil helps greatly, too. Best of luck down there! John Wheeler Western Pennsylvania, USA (where I haven't seen a day above freezing for several weeks) -----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers =----- |
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