Episode 2. Dirt Queen – One woman’s journey from clay to loam | Grow Lights | Community Harvest..

Posted on | September 6, 2008 | No Comments

mp3 file approx 54 Minutes & 36 mb:

In this episode:
* From mud pies to dirt queen – My journey from clay to loam.
* There’s a disco in my nursery – My new grow lights
* PH stands for Phun.
*Interview with Kerry Dawborn from the community harvest project.
*Tribute to Kevin Heinze, passionate gardener and tv presenter of “Sow What”.
*Setting up the vegie patches for spring planting.

Grow Lights:

Here is some general information I found while surfing the web. I didn’t buy my lights from this site. If you’re looking to buy from this site, I don’t know where these sellers are based. They maybe overseas sellers. http://www.homegrownlights.com/WhyLED.html

I purchased my grow lights on ebay from a person based in Australia.
Here is a page with information about how NASA is using LED lights to grow food in space for astronauts. There’s a brief history of grow lights here as well.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/light_farming_010926.html

My personal plant disco:

The four phases of soil in my garden.

This is the natural clay. This was the starting point in the main vegie patch 17 years ago.

This is the soil in the small veg patch near the apricot tree. It is still heavy but it’s on the way. It has had a couple of loads of compost over the last couple of years and small amounts of mulch. I never used to grow much here until I realized that it’s a natural plant haven in high summer. I need to add quite a bit to it this year to get it ready for spring planting. I’m looking to plant parsley, lettuce, greens, leeks, basil and cucumber to ramble over the lawn.

This is the soil in the small vegie bed near the circle. The soil in this plot has had some tending over the years. Daffodils were planted there, until they became so crowded, that I moved them out. This photo shows the soil to be more developed again, but as you can see bits of tree roots holding it together. These broken roots will break down much like internal mulch. There are tree roots invading the soil all over the block. If they are regularly broken up, in the various patches, there’s no problems. This bed will have tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers.

This is the soil in the original patch which is now beautiful and crumbly and deep. In the early years, I brought in 120 bales of spoiled hay to this site, not to mention yearly additions of compost and anything else I could get my hands on. There are three sections in this area. The main section will get its first rest in 17 years. I’ll sow a nutritious green crop and slash and leave it to mulch. The other smaller sections need compost and will grow beans, red onions, garlic and button squash.

More information about soil ph at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_pH

‘No dig garden method’ fact sheet from the Gardening Australia show:

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s867068.htm

Kevin Heinze passes away at 81 years of age.

Story from the Australian news paper

You can find the Community Harvest Project at:

http://www.communityharvestproject.org.au/

Here is a link with some information on the use of grey water in the garden. It is interesting to note that the use of grey water to grow vegetables is not advised.

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/BHCV2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Grey_water_-_recycling_water_at_home?OpenDocument

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Original post blogged on b2evolution.

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