Shade from the Heat

Most of what can help keep your house cool is infrastructure and not an air conditioner like most people might believe.

I have written about keeping cool last summer and  mentioned about growing reeds to act as shade for windows but as I was growing corn near one our windows I decided to use them as shade by placing the box on a few blocks. So far the hot weather seems to have calmed down.

I feel with our house which gets very hot easily that shading with plants in the windows alone will not help provent the temperature from rising during hot weather so I am going to try putting up shade cloth along the wooden eves on the northern side of the home.

Seeing as we are renting they will not be put on permanently but with the use of screw eyes into the eves and tent pegs and rope to tie it down so when we move it's as simple as pulling the pegs out and unscrewing and filling the holes.

Once finished I'll have to post photos and an update on how effective this is.
If anyone else has had a house that suffers from the heat and used shade cloth to lower the temperature let me know how it went.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
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Container Growing

As a renter it is rare to have a vegetale garden already set-up and putting money and energy into something that you may have to leave behind so making a container garden is great.
A potted vegetable garden can have very diffrent needs to that of one made on the soil or in raised garden beds.

You have to be careful when buying containers for growing any plants as the material they are made from can cause growth problems. A pot or container made of ceramic must be sealed as the porous nature of ceramic can absorb much needed water.

Black plastic pots are not well insulated and can become quit hot during summer and the roots around the edge of the pots can become burnt and water evaporation is increased.

I have found that stirofoam boxes are highly insulated and work well for growing veggies and herb in. I'm growing tomatoes in one and corn in another.

Wooden containers such as half wine barrels also have little issue when it comes to high temputures and have a nice rustic look.

The soil you put into the container is importent as it needs to contain most of the nutriants the plant will need over its productive life. The mixture needs to have moisture holding abilities as plants in a pot can not resort to absorbing moisture from deeper in the grown.

A balance is needed however as soil that holds water without allowing some air to the roots will cause roting and die back and is why it's often recomended to get high quality potting mix.

Nutriance is often washed away with daily watering so the use of a liquid fertiliser fortnightly is a good way to return the nutriens that are lost and allow the plants fully develope.

Conditions maybe more harsh so picking plants that can handle the heat or the shade.
As a rule of thumb plants with smaller leaves or hair deal with sun and heat exp. Tyme, tomatoes and rosemary. If you have a shaded cooler area plants with larger greener leaves can take in more sunlight exp. Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli.

As with any garden its testing to see which ways work best.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Grey Water Capture

G'day.

For awhile now I have been collecting my grey water from my washing machine and using it to water the lawn and veggies rarely as I worry a bit about build up of chemicals that might cause my family to become ill.
I have also thought of collecting waste water from the kitchen sink as I feel the chemicals are not as harsh and also the bits of food can be broken down into compost.

As well as having my portable basin sitting in the laundry sink which the washing machine drains into I am going to set up another portable basin which will be filled with filter sand and planted with samphire.

This is my current portable basin which I use to collect grey water.

 

The basin will be placed at the same height as the top water level in a plastic barrel so there is always water in the filter to keep the micros which break down any toxins in the grey water alive.

The plastic barrel will be used to store water and a tap will add to the bottom to fill watering cans.
I am going to try using samphire plants and filter sand to provide surface area for the growth of benificial micro organisiums. As samphires are salt marsh plants that grow in damp yet harsh enviroments I think they should be able to survive if a mineral build up becomes a problem.

I will write another post as this project comes together.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Indigenous Plants

Planting indigenous plants came help improve your productive garden as well as invite a few friends to come for a feed and sleep.

When buying indigenous plants to grow in your yard you first need to find out what would have grown there. In Adelaide there were many different ecosystems from sand dunes, swamps, grassland and woodlands. Here is a good place to start finding out >> http://www.backyards4wildlife.com.au/<<

'The Reedbeds'
Copy of the c. 1890 watercolour by James Ashton, from the White collection. This view (towards the Mount Lofty Ranges at sunrise, from the vicinity of present-day Adelaide Airport) shows the extensive wetlands which once characterised the area.

Another very important tip to remember is to buy plants whose seeds have been locally sourced to help protect and increase the genetics of those local indigenous plants.

Planting native plants will encourage some help from wild life. Blue tongue lizards and sleepy lizards have a strong appetite for slugs and snail however you may have to protect your crop as they also enjoy strawberries, passion fruit and other fruits and vegetables. Planting native flowering plants attracts many predatory insects who and or their young feed on pest like aphids and white fly. We can’t forget the native birds that not only like feeding on native flowering bushes but will eat the slightly larger pests like caterpillars, grubs and other insects

Indigenous plants can also have a direct benefit to you. There are many native plants that produce edible leaves, roots and fruit with high amounts of vitamins just make sure you know which ones and what part you can eat, and there are books on the subject.  Many native trees grow to different highs and can benefit as shade trees to keep your home cooler during the hot summer weeks so your air conditioner doesn’t run as much. Many native trees can also fast to colonize open area which comes from surviving after fires so you can plant trees in your yard a year apart and later use them as fire wood or stakes. Indigenous plants if grown in the right area only need to be watered while they are establishing and self sown plants need no watering unless there is unusual harsh conditions.

If you do not have a yard or are rent and don’t have permission to plant in your yard you can grown most natives in pot with easy (I am growing a bonsai red gum) as they do well in harsher environments or find a local group that looks after native habitats close to you.

 

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Trying at buying LOCAL... and Inderpentent

Buying local is better for the environment using less energy to transport food and good from the shop to your house and if you choose locally grown and manufactured products from your local shop you are not only helping yourself use less energy but also the business and the people they buy from.

Buying from your local shops helps to strengthen the local economy. Every time you buy something from a shop your money gets divided, most of the money goes into paying for the replacement of the item you just bought and the rest pays for power, phone, water, gas, packaging, wages, maintenance, Ink, sometimes advertising and a little left over to invest back into the business.

If the local business you buy from also gets some of their stock from other local businesses then the support multiplies and local businesses have a soft spot of others of their kind (trust me, I know).

A local business becomes a big part of the community with your local butchers, bakers and green grocer’s feeding you. Hardware and nursery’s helping you to build and maintain your house and garden. Hairdressers keeping you looking your prettist and the list goes on…

Many sports clubs are sponsored by shops from the surrounding area allowing them to in turn support other shops for sausage sizzles, uniforms and more.

In this day and age with “The Big Boys” rubbing their ads of how they have the lowest prices it is easy to think that the “do” but in many cases it is only the items on special which are cheapest and everything else get a big mark up, after all they are the ones who have the million dollar rents, advertisements and transport costs.

Sadly local stores could be cheaper (not their fault) but with the monopoly in full swing it has led to price hikes behind the scenes. Take this example that I know for a fact, there was a type of item which is used to seal things it is called a tube of A. A was bought from three different companies 1, 2 and 3, these companies used to send their representatives to the hardware to get us to buy their tubes of A and we would let each of them know how much the other was selling them for and purchase the cheapest. But company 1 got greedy and wanted to get rid of company 2 and 3

So company 1 bought company 2 but left it called company 2 and made its prices higher so less people would buy their tube of A with the money they got from the loyal buyers or company 2 they then bought company 3 which allowed them to increase the prices of all the tubes of A including company 1’s and laying off representatives having no competition and I feel the government should have stepped in before this could happen.

On a final note if smaller businesses did have more customers they would have a higher turnover and would be able to lower their prices not having to fear if next month they might not get enough turnover to pay the bills.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Son of a BIKE!

Mid last year my car broke down and it made traveling long distances very hard, having to borrow cars while others weren’t using them but on the other hand it made me remember how good it was to ride a bike with benefits for both you and the environment.

Firstly I’ll talk about you. After a few weeks from riding the bike and really pushing myself I found it took further for me to get tired and have to slow down making it fast to get to work (meaning I didn’t have to leave the house as early.

Riding strengthens your muscles while also building stamina, improves heart health, helps burn fat and increase your balance all while you’re just on your way to the local shop, school or work and you don’t have to wear an interesting outfit either.

You can often feel a bit more at peace while riding it may be the fresh air when not behind a car, the slight sensation of flying when going down a hill or the scenery when you’re on a bike path along a river or park which helps to lower your stress.

In most cases the community will thank you for using a quieter form of transport that is less likely to hurt children or curse pollution and allowing one less car on the road for those that may need a car.

Now to the environment, using a bicycle powered by legs or electric motor means no air pollution and one with a petrol motor makes pollution but not as much as a car and often the motor can be switched to manual when needed.

Bikes also use A LOT less metals, plastic and rubber than a car would while being constructed and maintaining putting the metal for other uses like… making more bikes?

• If you are thinking about getting into riding a bike as a form of transport here are some helpful tips.
• ·         Practice riding to where you plan on going to find out when you need to leave to get on time
• ·         Make sure your bike has lights and their working
• ·         It is a good idea to get a fluro vest to cars can see you
• ·         Mount a review mirror to your right handle
• ·         Be patient and give way to car, it’s safer (don’t pull out to go around car if a car is behind you)
• ·         Bring tools and spare parts so you don’t get stuck somewhere.

Keep these tips in mind and if you have any riding tips leave a comment

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax:  08 8356 2316 
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds

Dishwashers, better than you?

I, for a long time have thought that using a dishwasher meant the use of more water and more gas/electricity but for most machines that is not the case.

Dishwashers use less water than washing by hand. Unlike washing in the sink which requires you to submerge your plates, cutlery and pots these machines use powered jets of water to BLAST the food and muck off and on top of that the dishwashing machines reuses an allocated amount of water over again through the jets when in washing mode.

After being told that I then thought, but it must use more power than me? (I use no power to operate by the way). Well I was then told that most dishwashers take in cold water and heated within rather than being filled with hot water and thereby no gas or (extra)power is used to heat the water which helps in two ways.

Firstly, as most people find it takes time and precious H₂O  to wait for the hot water to make it all the way out of the tap. Secondly most heat is also largely lost while traveling from water heater to your tap when your pipes are not insolated.

Being a modern appliance there are always setting to control just how economic it is you want it to run the machine from guzzler to eco-man and let’s not forget the energy rating star system that the government has in place to help us buy smarter.

Oh and last of all it’s less work for you!

As always comments welcome, don’t forget to subscribe and take a wonder to our Facebook page.

NATURAL HARVEST
Garden tools, Organic Seeds, Fruit Trees & Seedlings

Address: (Inside) 49 Henley Beach Road,

   Henley Beach South, 5022, SA

Phone/Fax: 08 8356 2316
Email: naturalharvest@live.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Natural.Harvest.Seeds