5.10.2013: Christine and Glen's Garden at Chermside West

[Elaine de Saxe]

See comments under this date in 'Events'.

A wonderful morning Christine and Glen! A bountiful garden with the background gurgle of the aquaponic pumps. Glen has been very busy creating variations on the aquaponic theme. Andrew will have photos and a report of the technical side of the setups. I can only comment on the welcoming hosts, their wonderful oasis in suburbia, the superb pizzas from their famous oven and the delightful company of keen gardeners.

It is always a delight and always a learning experience to see how others tackle their challenges ... every garden is different. Thank you so much Christine and Glen for your welcome and to the other BLFers for your company. A wonderful morning.

The Pizza oven:

Some general view of the extensive garden - there's much more than this!:

[Lissa]

What a garden! So many interesting and beautiful places with the artwork and quiet spaces with seats :) Truly inspiring.

Big thank you to Christine, Glen and Alexander for having us over.

[Craig Hogan]

Nice garden, sorry I didn't get along! Can I ask what kind of temp the oven gets too? Just with the flue in the middle could loose some heat?

[Andrew Cumberland]

Remember the theory mate - it cooks by heat radiated from the bricks on the top, sides and bottom.  Losing heat was not his problem.  He used a 600 year old schema from Italy to build it.  Damn, that thing cooks fast.  Not sure about his, but my flue also has a stainless steel cover to stop any heat loss.  Not that you need it quite frankly. 

[Craig Hogan]

Yeah your right, it just looks so big that it had me wondering. Your cover actually works the other way. Leave it open and it will draw more oxygen into fire thus higher temperature.

[Christine Cox]

The flue pipe is not so wide The thickness of the bricks and the rendering and the tiling makes it look huge. But only about 150mm in diam. Bread took about 20 mins, Roast about 80mins, vegs about 50mins,  pizza about 8 mins. Very hot oven.

[Andrew Cumberland]

I'll put more up, but here are some that I have themed. 

The oven:

The pizza - Glen looks justifiably proud of himself, Stevo looks justifiable like he is enjoying it:

Stay tuned for further installments (between youtube clips! - hey, I really missed my damn computer okay?!)

[Andrew Cumberland]

Some of Christine's Mosaic Madness! Some very impressive work hidden in this garden.  It's wonderful to be able to make little discoveries as you look around:

[Christine Cox]

Thank you everyone for the appreciation Andrew the photos are wonderful THANK YOU.

[Lissa]

Newly inspired to get my outdoor area cemented and (eventually) turn it into an artwork with mosiacs :)

Just got to find a tradesman who will actually turn up :/

[Andrew Cumberland]

More to come yet Christine!

[2k3bpm3wt3pi2]

Christine and Glen I loved checking out your garden with all of the different areas, it was fantastic - definately something to aspire to! It was great to meet you, I'm sure I'll be seeing you again. It'll be interesting to see if my brother-in-law's pizza oven turns out the same deliciousness.

[Andrew Cumberland]

I think I shall nick name her Christine Gaudi.