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/

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/

"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!

"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!

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/

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/

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)


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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 =-----