November 2011 Blog Posts (9)

As a trial run with the new tray-type dehydrator, we spotted some Sundowner Apples at Aldi, selling for a good price. No time like the present ... gotta try out the dehydrator sometime.

Read up on drying fruit - all I have ever dried were Bananas in the sun and herbs and chillies in the small round dehydrator. So to stop them turning too brown, I dipped them in…

Dioscorea alata NOT Dioscorea bulbifera turn out to be the edible variety. See Russell Reinhardt comment from forum below.

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

Dioscorea bulbifera is a…

It's nearing the end of spring but with temperatures rising and no rain, I'm organising the shade structures for the garden to give my plants some relief in the hot dry weeks and months ahead.  The investment in time and mulch for the gardens is paying off with the soil retaining moisture and plants still pretty happy.

My nasturtiums are doing well all over the garden and…

Fruiting plants which are making the most of the heat are the Fig a White Adriatic. Supposedly a ‘dwarf’ and given that it is living in a 300L wicking bin, and will be ruthlessly pruned, it will be a dwarf! The first fruit is on - or to quote Ali (she of Mud Pie blog fame), my Fig is Figging ;-) After the winter layoff, I pruned it and painted it liberally with Green Harvest Tree Paste (similar to Biodynamic tree paste but more readily available). The other fruit trees have been similarly…

This is a very good over view of water harvesting approach of Brad Lancaster as found in his series : Rainwater Harvesting for Dylands and Beyond.



The guy's methodology  is holistic and accessible. Practice and…