Three beds underway

A pleasure working with the crew of Tending 3 getting the beds in place and planted out. 

A trip to Bunnings at Ashfield netted some discounted coir good for bulking up the topsoil and as mulch. Brought back a Black Russian heirloom tomato plant and various herbs to go with the Malabar Greens and Warrigal Greens. 

Someone sowed a potato in the bed so that will make an appearance. 

Brought a load of worms from the worm farm and packet seed from home to see what will and will not take in the fresh soil. 

Fingers crossed the first Tuesday Lunch club of 2015 will be from the garden.  

Ross Gibson had apparently purchased another four beds so they will be constructed at some time in the future. We still have enough soil to partially fill them. 

Water tanks and drum composting bins to come. 

See Sarah's post on Facebook here.

Guys just wanna have fun.

http://www.fungi.com/blog/items/the-petroleum-problem.html

Mycelium 

Talking with Joyce Hinterding in class about the wonders of mycelium, the working part of fungi. Could be a good addition to conditioning the soil in our raised garden beds. 

Paul Stamets name cropped up in conversation. This is one application of fungi, remediating the environment after an oil spill. Other articles make clear the need to treat the whole of the soil as an organism that needs feeding and 'tending'. 

Paul Stamets on TED

http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world

Meanwhile, Tending 3

Internal strapping to keep it all neat and tidy.

The four raised garden containers have been bedded into the former lawn ready to be filled with the remaining soil. Straps have been added to hold the sides of the containers firm. Makes me wonder how these things get sold - flat pack easy to load in the Cherokee Suburban. Have one Olla Pot and small Warrigal Green seedling in place with some open terracotta placeholders for when more Olla Pots are ready. 


Just want to let the original Tending crew that things are happening again. Thanks to those students in the courtyard who help shovel some soil. We appreciate the effort helping to get the Tending project back on track.  

Where's Wiley

For those worried about the soil condition, when digging the trench for the garden bed containers I found many healthy looking worms in the dead roots of the grass, they vigorously escaped the full sunlight. 

I would recommend a soil test at some stage. Heavy metal contamination is always an issue. Worms, amazing creatures, they evolve to be able to absorb heavy metals and bioremediate soils, here and here.

De-growing the economy

Life in a ‘degrowth’ economy, and why you might actually enjoy it

2 October 2014, 5.46am AEST

Samuel Alexander 
Research fellow, 
Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute 
at University of Melbourne

http://theconversation.com/life-in-a-degrowth-economy-and-why-you-might-actually-enjoy-it-32224
accessed 03 October 2014

The Gardening Experiment Continues...

Greetings and welcome to other tending folk. Could not wait to get a forum up for us to share info. A new blog for a new phase of Tending. 

A brief overview of what is happening.  

tending2 raised garden beds

Relocating beds.

Screening soil.

Tuesday Lunch Club - Hospitality research cluster. 

Tuesday Lunch Club exploring tending2.

Look! Purple yams.

Big heart.

Colour Experiments.

Foraged Warrigal Greens.

Warrigal Greens spanakopita.

Tuesday Lunch Club - Black.

ARTcycle tour of Balls Head Coal Loader Sustainability Centre -
note piping and mesh used to prevent possums and birds attacking raised gardens.

Balls Head Coal Loader Sustainability Centre - vertical gardens.

First raised garden bed placed 50cm off concrete paths.

Olla pot.

Raised bed filled - soil now has to settle.

After many false starts the first of the garden beds is filled with soil. The wait is on for the soil to settle and a layer of topsoil from the old beds to be spread over the top. Have to fix the puncture in the wheel barrow again. 

The olla pot is in, I was thinking it might be an experiment to grow salt tolerant indigenous edible species. I already have Warrigal greens in my garden which seem to grow well with either salt or fresh water. Pig face will grow. I am looking into Samphire and have located seed - just not sure if it requires salt water. 

There are some other local salad greens which might be suitable, just have to taste and test.