shiukopuppy's Blog
shiukopuppy's posts about: oats
Sep 13, 2007 | 2:50 AM PST
Tags: green manure , oats , lawn , organic
These are my oats that I planted as a green manure. They've grown long enough for me to till them back into the earth. I'm bulking up the soil in this small plot to plant my organic lawn - I bought a mixture of lawn seed that is suited to my local conditions. I think I already mentioned that it will be watered with gray water and it will reduce the erosion that has been happening with every rain.
The chicken coop (dog house) is being painted with an organic sealant at the moment. And we are building our chicken run. Last time that I discussed seeds, I had the feeling that some had gone missing. I have since found the rest of the vegetables I planted: more eggplants, tomatoes, chillies plus cucumbers and peppers.
I've been so busy at work these days that I think the gardening is falling behind! Will make sure to work extra hard this weekend. Phew..
Sep 3, 2007 | 4:12 AM PST
Tags: green manure , choi sum , pak choi , kai laan , oats , companion planting , organochlorides , pesticide , Bokashi bucket , almond , snapdragon , coriander , mint , spinach , lettuce
After all of my uploaded images were deleted, I lost faith in garden
blogging. But I have done my grieving and am going to try again because I've had lots of fun hanging around on gardenguides. How have you all been? :) I've
also been busy preparing for Australian spring lately which left me little time for computer distraction..
During the last month, my boyfriend and I bought a cheap greenhouse and set it up in the backyard. There are shelves for his bonsai trees and cuttings and I have filled my side with seed trays that will grow my companion plants, herbs and vegetable seedlings. I've also sown lots of flowers and sprinkled some flower seeds over the lawn.
We sent our garden soil to a lab to test for organochlorides - if that goes well, we will get a couple of chickens to move in. If there are pesticide residues here, we will have to do without them. We also invested in a Bokashi bucket which uses beneficial bacteria to prepare compost, and prepares meat, citrus, eggshells for composting too, so there is minimal waste. Spring bulbs are flowering and cherries and plum trees are starting to blossom!
LOVING UPDATES on my pre-existing plants:
Almond tree: the buds are swelling, and it looks like the flowers will be pink and white!
The snapdragons look like they will also burst soon..
The nashi pear buds are also swelling but I have had to protect the buds with paper bags because the possums decimated all of the leaf growth last year.
Coriander, mint, spinach, lettuce, peas and flat leaf parsley are thriving. Onions are growing along steadily..
Asian greens - mibuna, pak choi, kai laan, choi sum, mizuna etc. are doing very well.
The green manure (oats) is almost ready to be dug into the soil to prepare for the gray water lawn.
And my garlic is growing! So satisfying.. ^_^
