New water tank

Everybody is celebrating that the dry spell is over. Winter rains have arrived in Perth and given us a good downpour. Highest daily rainfall was just under 60mm on 25 June. Still, there is no reason to talk abut a wet year. March was totally dry. April and May had below  average rainfall and even the 'wet' June did not reach the average rainfall for Perth. It remained actually 4mm under the average. Here is the chart again, from http://www.watercorporation.com.au/R/rainfall.cfm:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	30.2	0.4	0	19.4	85	171.4	42						348.4
2010	0	0.2	40.4	25	88.6	51.4	142	63	43.6	20.6	11.6	17.4	503.8
Average	9.5	12.7	19.5	44.1	117.5	175.7	169.7	133.6	80.6	52.2	22.1	12.8	850

July has started well, with already 42mm in just three days. The weather has changed a few days ago, it is now quite cold and dry but sunny. Night temperatures have dropped to 3 degrees which is not unusual for the temperate climate in Perth.

The desire to catch as much rain as possible for use in summer made us buy another polyethylene water tank. We went again for 3000l again, to match the size of the first one. This one is a good one. Like the other one it came with a tap to harvest the water. The inbuilt overflow has a cover with mosquito mesh. The tank also has a filter for the big inflow area on the very top of the tank which allows it to be filled to the very top. We don't want to waste any of the 3000l, apart from the one that is below the waterline of the tap and difficult to access anyway. I can't wait to water the garden with rainwater during the coming summer. Twice the water in the tanks should last twice as long. I guess it will give us plenty to smile about all the way through summer.

Our water bill in the last half year has dropped considerably. We actually used 50,000l less water than the six months before. Surely the cause was more than just installing a rain water tank. It happened through being conscious and mindful of the use of water in our lives and through following all the water saving tips promoted by the Water Corporation. However, the water tank was the motivator, that it clear to me. It changed our attitude towards the availability, usefulness and preciousness of water.

The new tank was on special because of end of year sale. I saved the delivery fee of $65 and tied the tank to the ute with some proper straps. It was easy to handle and I unloaded it with my children. We rolled it in the garage on my boy's skateboard and there it stayed for a few days until we brought it through into the garden on the weekend.

The tank was a lot cheaper and is a lot better than the last one I bought two years ago from the same company. Both tanks don't match. They are different makes, but they at least have the same colour. Also, they do not stand next to each other anyway, and design purposes have rarely been a deciding factor for purchases in my life.

The inlet of this new tank is close to the side of the tank and it therefore can be positioned straight under the gutter's down pipe. The gutters got a good clean, amazing how much compost gathered in there. It went straight into the raised garden bed.

This time we did not need to prepare the base for the tank much, as the location already has some proper bricks that were laid evenly. The last time we used some rock samples as a base, compacted down with dirt and held in shape by garden bed shaping made out of thick plastic. It has worked well so far. Despite the overflow from the full tank running straight down the tank with a danger of eroding the base, it still looks good.

All that needs to be done now is to undo a few pop rivets, remove the downpipe and put the tank in place. It fits neatly under the gutters and will catch a part of the roof that previously ran off freely. I guess the roof inflow area is about 50m2 or about half the size as for the other tank. 1mm will bring in 50l. 60mm should do then to fill it. There is hope this winter. July has 100mm to go to last year's rainfall and 120mm to average rainfall. We have a few days grace to put it up, make sure the foundation is right as well.

Lettuce in pots

Lettuce in pots - planted on 22 May 2011.

The idea of growing lettuce in pots came to me from a Bulgarian gardening friend. He gave me a pot of lettuce as a present one day, just dug it up from the garden bed. It seems to be working well. The seedlings get the best nutrients straight to their roots due to the compost contained in the small pot. Their roots can venture out through the draining holes if they need more space.

I thought about cutting out the bottom of the pot to give the plant better access to the soil outside the pot, but I did not want to go that far. I want to reuse the pots until the plastic gives up. Therefore the pots were left as they came to me.

Lettuce in pots - 3 July 2011

The lettuces have grown well in the past weeks. It has been six weeks since I planted them or at least since I took the photo above. We harvested three decent salads so far. I simply picked the outside leaves, gave them a thorough wash, included a capsicum that was ready to be picked too and we could eat the most delicious salad.

The second generation lettuce was seeded when I planted the first lot. It was ready today to be planted out and again I used old pots to give them a good start in best home made compost.

There is a variety of salads, simply seeded from a mixed lettuce seedlot, not sure whether they are heirloom varieties. The next lot would be ready to go, but I though these will do me for the next weeks and I decided to seed other plants, just not sure which ones. Will consult the plant calender and wait for the moon to change.

It has been a while since I have written the last post, my kitchen ceiling was replaced and demanded a more comprehensive paint job not only of the ceiling but of the whole kitchen. It has been completed and the place is ready for us to move in. It felt great to paint and to see the bright new colour reflect the light. The garden had to suffer, but things happened that I will write about soon, such as the arrival of a new water tank and of two transplanted fruit trees, the digging out of several root systems of a lilac tree and more. Watch this space.

Lettuces - 27 September 2011

Lettuces starting to seed
after 50 meals we ate just picking the leaves!
10 October 2011

Mulch is spread

Beautiful mulch, organic material to enhance the productivity and biodiversity of our soil. I just noticed that I never wrote about the adventure of spreading the mulch and yesterday was the International Day for Biological Diversity.

2011 is the Year of Forest Biodiversity, but nevertheless, improving the soil of any environment is right up the aisle.

Mulch saves water and keeps the moisture in the ground. Now it finally has commenced raining and the first showers strong enough to penetrate the mulch. We want the water to stay in the ground as long as possible and nourish a healthy plant and animal live. (Only the breeding of the slaters should be exempt from that process.) The impact of mulch on biodiversity is well documented.

It took a while to spread the pile of mulch. We did not count the total number of wheel barrows that were needed to shift the 25m3 of shredded trees. We set an easy task and focused on lots of around 15 wheel narrows at a time. We used early mornings or evenings to work, as the days in March were still very hot and the work turned out to be quite intense and sweaty.

All of the front garden was covered. We also filled up two raised garden beds and spread lots of mulch in the backyard under the trees and shrubs. Not long and it will be time to order the next lot!

Rain, lettuce and termites attacking trees

La Nina has been bringing higher temperatures than usual to Western Australia with the result that the North of WA and the Estern States got a lot of water while we were waiting for the rejuvenating downpour. Now the dryspell seems to be broken. It is bucketing down this morning. This is a most welcoming change as so far we only had trickles.

My water tank has been empty for a few months now and I did not want to plant anything before I had the water to look after the plants. Early this week I got some gourmet lettuce seedlings and put them into into pots to prepare for a later planting in the grounds, the lettuce within the pots. I learnt about this method from a Serbian gardening friend. This way the lettuce gets good nutrients to start off and when the pot gets too small the roots can venture into the ground to find further plant food.

So far the pots are still waiting to be set into the earth, they are just sucking up the moisture from the rain as I am writing this.

On Tuesday we had to get the plumber out, as the toilet was blocked. This followed up from two other blocked drains two weeks ago. It demonstrates that the plants were really suffering in the dry weather and were looking for any moisture they could find to get them going. Our old drains are just the right things for this. Tuesday was the third time in the seven years we have been living in this house that the drains got blocked. An expensive affair, but understandable. One of the drains was attacked by a peppermint tree we planted as seedling to shadow the view into our kitchen window. The roots got into the kitchen drain and did a lot of damage, probably two years ago. That drain was replaced with plastic pipes. The other drains were just cleared, so it is only a matter of time when this happens again.



Pin Cushion Hakea



The other implication of the past dry weather was an increased attack on the trees from white ants. Two weeks ago the local council offered a green verge collection and using a chain saw we removed two wattles, a pin cushion hakea, the peppermint tree outside the kitchen window and an oleander bush that was pushing over the fence to the neighbour. 

Trunk of pin cushion hakea,
eaten up by white ants

All these trees were affected by white ants or termites that hollowed the trunks and were in the process of killing the trees.

The garden looks a lot neater now, especially out the front. My daughter thought that there was enough space now for a community garden. The mulch is looking good and will keep the moisture in the ground once we get enough rain to reach the earth in the first place. The sprinkles until today only wet the top of the mulch but did not make any impression on the soil below. That is to change now. Hurray!

Still no rain

Looks like the climate of the world is changing, the rain has not come in Perth, March went without much of a drop and April is still dry.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	30.2	0.4	0	4.2									34.8
2010	0	0.2	40.4	25	88.6	51.4	142	63	43.6	20.6	11.6	17.4	503.8
Average	9.5	12.7	19.5	44.1	117.5	175.7	169.7	133.6	80.6	52.2	22.1	12.8	850

Nothing much to report. We put some seeds into the ground, lettuces and broad beans, also rocket. Still needs water from the mains, therefore we have not put that many plants into the ground. Our focus is more on preparing the soil, that is making compost, mulching and tidying up to prepare for planting when the rain finally arrives.

An exception and a delight is the small papaya plant that has come up from the compost. I always wanted to grow some papaya, as I love eating it and have seen plants grow in Northbridge.

I also put some seeds into a pot but had no luck as no plants germinated. I wonder how long it will take for flowers to emerge. At the moment it is only about 20cm high, but has heaps of leaves and takes well to the additional compost that I placed at its foot.

There is rain predicted for tomorrow, but I doubt it, the weather map looks nothing like it. http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/4day_col.shtml. My water tank caught a bit of rain in the March storm, but not enough to be used really, as it takes ages to fill the watering can, I guess we only has 2mm anyway, nothing much at all.

Making yoghurt

I like to eat yoghurt and love the full cream varity with lots of healthy bacteria. Also I don't like the additives that comercial yogurt usually contains, such as pectin and gelantin. My German friend Karin inspired to make my own yogurt and my Bulgarian friend Boje does hers too.

The yogurt culture is already in the milk and the glasses are waiting to be filled.

You need milk, water, milk powder and a good food thermometer. I am using a milk jug thermometer that can be clipped on to the pot rim for easy checking of the milk temperature without picking up the heat from the pot. I bought the thermometer at a kitchen supply store for under $10 and it has served me well.

The other things I use are screw top glas jars to store the joghurt and an esky to keep the mixture warm for the joghurt to set, plus hot water for sterilisating the glass jars and for filling the esky.

The procedure is simple: I make about 3.5 litres in one lot. I heat up two litres of cold water, add 1 litre of milk and four cups of skim milk powder. I stir it well and heat it to 80degrees Celsius, then take it off the stove to let it cool. I try to get the temperatures pretty accurate.

I then choose my glass jars and sterilise them in boiling water. I use about 10 jars of various sizes and pre-heat them in handwarm water in the sink before I leave them for about 30 seconds each in a big pot with boiling water. I do the same with the lids, to ensure they are clean and germ free. I reheat the boiling water after about three jars to make sure it is close to boiling and does the job. I cover my kitchen bench with a fresh tea towel and let the water drain off the glasses.

When then milk is cooled down to just below 50 degrees I mix in the joghurt culture. I use a joghurt high in beneficial bacteria, if possible organic joghurt. So far I have never used a started culture but will explore that avenue. I put the filled jars into the esky which I already filled with the hot water left over from preheating and sterilising the jars. I ensure the jars are nearly submerged and I add boiling water until the  inside water temperature is about 48 degrees.

The jars will be left in there for at least 4 hours. After that I take one out and turn it over to see whether the yoghurt has set enough. I let it cool down and put it in the fridge when room temperature, usually over night. This method has done me well and the product is delicious. I can't wait to eat it.

Great websites with information about making your own yogurt :
Cuising.com.au
Pick me yard
How to make yogurt
Wiki - How to make yogurt

Water tank is empty

It has not rained for some time. Western Australia has not had any benefit of the increasing rainfall everywhere else in Australia. this is a typical La Nina, wetter all around, WA drier. The Lleuwin current is about three degrees warmer than usual and this affects out rainfall just as much.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2011	30.2	0.4	0										30.6
2010	0	0.2	40.4	25	88.6	51.4	142	63	43.6	20.6	11.6	17.4	503.8
Average	9.5	12.7	19.5	44.1	117.5	175.7	169.7	133.6	80.6	52.2	22.1	12.8	850

No rainfall this month and only 9mm in February. Our suburb got a bit more than the official metropolitan rain gauge. Dams are at a record low and so is my water tank.

It has been in place for only two years and I don't think it was time to clean it, that's a task for the end of the next summer. It does not empty as such because the tap is about 50cm above the base line. When we put it up we were so excited to finally get it in place that we forgot to insolate the tap's neck. And soon the rain started filling it so there was not opportunity to change the tap without spilling all the precious water.
Small amounts of water have been leaking from the tap all around the year and allowed a blanket of green algae to grow on the outside of the tank.

Time to get rid of this stuff and making sure it does not affect the tank water. Who wants algae in their water tank? We really want to drink the water if possible and use it in the garden all through summer.

I got the tape out, wound it around the neck of the tap, got rid of the algae with a soft brush and screwed the tap back into place. It's looking good and now waiting for the rain! Last year we had the first storm on 22 March and it was a terrible hail storm that resulted in a lot of damage, loss of power and trees stripped of their leaves.

At the start of summer I was calculating how long the water would last. I think I though it would run out by the end of January, but with a ittle bit of December rainfall and tw showers in January is lasted until mid March. That makes me happy. Although I cheated and from December only watered half of the garden beds with the watering can and used mains water for the rest. I can't wait to see the water usage bill to calculate the total of water that I have been using in the garden.

The garden is quite barren at the moment, only the spring onions are looking good. I planted a few more zucchinis and tomatoes, as the plants were coming up from seeds. Also coriander is just coming up well and the basil is still doing fine. I grow two different varieties, one with straight leaves the other one with a more curly Italian variety. Some pumpkins have survived the mildew attack and are doing fine, capsicums and chillies are thrieving. Sweet potatoes love the weather. Still, if we only had rain soon!