Athiesm

by with No Comment Personal

I made the decision that I am an athiest a few months ago. I always get in the debate about what atheism is well here it is.

“Atheism, as an explicit position, can be either the affirmation of the nonexistence of gods,[1] or the rejection of theism.[2] It is also[3] defined more broadly as an absence of belief in deities, or nontheism.[4]Many self-described atheists are skeptical of all supernatural beings and cite a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Others argue for atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism[5] and naturalism,[6] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere;[7] and some religions, such as Jainism and Buddhism, do not require belief in a personal god.”

For the full article see wikipedia here

6 weeks since I planted the results so far

by with No Comment Permaculture & Garden

I should have noted the date when I planted my first stuff bt it was around begging of December so that means it has been approx 6 weeks since I planted. Whats happend?

GENERAL LEARNINGS

  • Must note down what I plant where I plant it and when – (seedings can look pretty similar when they are small)
  • I didn’t wait long enough for some seedlings to grow before I repotted them – they died
  • None of the mint grew at all
  • None of the carrots grew at all
  • I almost killed an aloe vera cutting a freind gave me becuse I overwatered it
  • Don’t plant in pots of normal soil it doesn’t drain well enough (I ended using a mix of soil potting mix and much (a third each) it seems to work better.
  • My plants don’t iike the heat – my seedlings are all in the shade now.
  • My old compost heap wasn’t composting I worked out why it was getting to hot. I moved it so it was under lemon tree and measure a 10 degree difference between the two locations last week.
  • Green beans grow quickly!



Basil from seed – > growing I have 5 plants that seem healthy – bt small

From Our Garden


Basil plant bought from Kmart
They are growing well I found that the basil I have planted in the beds have been attacked by slugs. I have moved one such plant to a hanging basket to reduce slug attack.

From Our Garden


Chives
THey are growing I have 3 chive seedlings

From Our Garden


Green Beans

I dug over bed D last week and added mulch to the soil and then covered with mulch (to prevent evaporation and keep the plants cool). I then planted beans. I did this because as I don’t have any compost yet I though it might be worth growing the beans to rejuvinate the soil ( I will dig the beans into the soil when they are grown).

From Our Garden

OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS
The back garden gets pretty hot (much hotter than the front – last week it was 40 degrees in the shade (this is about as hot as it gets in Melbourne). I think what is happening is that the brick floor that covers half the garden is heating up and eating the air. I need to fix this – not sure how though.

Soil contamination?
How could I go about checking this to make sure there is nothing nasty in my soil? Any Ideas?

2 months in and need to get organised

by with No Comment Productivity
Its 2 months since I decided to start planning a vegetable garden

I was listening to the survival podcast yesterday morning (one of the best podcasts about modern chemical free gardening) and it occured to me that I was not really going to get anywhere with without some proper organisation.

So far I have planted some 
tomatoes, basil , chives, lettuce etc. 
Many items such as tomatoes will need to be planted throughout the year so I need to build a planting calender. I have also allready lost track of what seeds I planted where so I need to get organized hence the blog. I hope that documenting my progress will make things better for me and hopefully useful for other people too

I am planting

by with No Comment Permaculture & Garden
I am getting green fingers!!
I am building a very small permaculture garden
Permaculture comes from “permanent agriculture” it is a type of gardening where you work to create an environment to allow a successfull ecosystem to develope and manage itself.
It  requires careful planning and a lot of work upfront but after a few years in will create a garden that will be very productive and require little effort to work.
I have made my first step…
I am growing tomatoes and basil. These two plants work very well together the basil deters a number of tomato pests and encourages a number of bugs that also deter tomato pests. Basil also is said to improve the flavour of tomato too.
As you can see my seedlings are very early days at the moment
see below
As you may expect I have been researching this topic I found a great podcast on Modern survivalism (that includes permacuture gardening) 
Also below is a film from a guy in a city that produces 60% of his food in his garden