Cooking Compost, Chilli Oil & planting more Australian Natives

I have reticulated the watering of my compost. I extended the drip tubing from the garden to the underside of the compost lid (which is carpet). The tubing is attached to little brackets so the carpet doesn’t get continually wet from the watering (see pics).  Perth had a record no rain for 63 continuous days from Jan-Mar, then it drizzled for a bit, then no rain for a further several weeks. I made up the initial mix (see recipe below) and since then I’ve thrown in pruned leaves, soft stems and soft veggie scraps. I then turn the pile with a pitch fork every few weeks or more. By the end of spring, this should be ready to use as rich organic garden mulch.

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The cable tie acts as a hinge for the lid. This can be easily changed if needed.

Compost recipe

2 parts nitrogen (green leaves, chopped lemongrass blades, veggie scraps) to 1 part carbon (dead leaves and thin sticks).  I’ve read that a 2-to-1 ratio of Greens to Browns will make a fast batch, also known as a hot-pile. So, this hotpile should be ready for my hotpatch in about 4 months.

The Carbon:Nitrogen ratio in this batch is about 30:1. In the initial mix, I added some mushroom compost, blended manure, rock dust and blood & bone meal. After a few days, I stuck my hand down into the middle of the pile and it felt warm. 

Planting small Western Australian Natives

To attract more small wildlife into my patch, I’m trying out some natives to attract beneficial insects such as native bees and coloured butterflies. I listened to a talk by the ‘Frog Doctor’ (Biologist) at the 2011 Garden Show and he gave out free native tubes that I have planted around my pond.

Can you spot the 3 small natives close to the rocks?

Part of his advice in ‘creating’ a habitat pond was to get the yellow flowers in the morning sun and blue/indigo flowers in the afternoon sun, then use a log or old piece of wood with scattered 2-5mm drilled holes to make a home for native bees, making sure that some of the wood dips into the pond (coming soon).

I now have six West Australian small natives & interstate natives mixed with non-native plants around the pond.

 

  

 This was the only lilly to appear in Autumn. It lasted about 3 days.

I’ve also planted some small bushy natives in corners of the veggie patch and time will tell if this will aid my quest for housing good pests. I already have Ladybugs around and they are one of the best predators (grrrr!) for an organic veggie patch.  I tell visitors that if you listen closely, you can hear them growl. 

Autumn planting - progess after 5 weeks

Left - garlic and beetroot in the bed, bok choi in rear green pot.

Right - potatoes at the back, nasturtiums in the front.

Carrots and snow peas in the tub                

Chilli oil is a great to preserve fresh chillies. All I do is simmer chopped up freshly-plucked green and red chillies in olive oil for about 20 mins, let it cool, and then pour into glass jars to be frozen. 

Bottled chilli oil, less then 1 hour after picking the fresh chillies

It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. 

As a snack, it’s great with cheese & crackers and red wine. Try it!

Autumn 2011

A regular oversupply of hotness has left me with many chillies. 

 

What I’ve done in autumn:

I dried most chillies on the below tray in the garage. 
This amount is about 3 weeks worth of growth. 

The zucchini’s and cucumbers became spent in mid Jan (they stopped growing).  I ripped them out, crushed some of the leaves for mulch then prepared a raised bed for autumn planting.

Lemongrass declumped.
This 2 year old bush became huge and really needed a haircut. I lifted the entire bush out and broke it into about 8 separate plants.

I planted one clump back and potted up the rest with some manure and mushroom compost.  The lemongrass then turned khaki-brown over the next few weeks so I may have burnt the roots with the manure.  The remaining bush should re-establish itself in the autumn heat for fresh winter lemongrass teas.

Raised beds: This year, I’m experimenting with planting seeds directly into the ground (as transplanting seedlings has a high failure rate). I bought a pile of seeds online from Edenseeds and seed.com.au and they arrived about one week later.  I made two extra raised beds using untreated pine and filled them with different mixes to match what will be growing in them.

I also dotted Nasturtium, French Marigolds and Echinacea seeds around the place.  I’ve read that Nasturtiums attract the cabbage moth and divert them away from other plants.  The cabbage moth is responsible for the green munching caterpillars that love green soft leaves. I’ve also heard that once you have Nasturtiums, you’ll always have Nasturtiums so I hope my experiment works. The Nasturtium seedlings rose up to about 10 cm within 3 weeks.  

Here’s one Nasturtium seedling a bit too close to the base of my favourite chilli plant.

Can you see it? It’s at the bottom and has 2 round leaves.

I prepared my beds 2-3 weeks before planting the seeds.  

Here’s a summary.

Bed 1: Beetroot and Garlic

Mix:      About 50% mushroom compost to a remaining mix of blended manure, fresh potting mix and Green Life’s Veggie Mix.  A little sulphur powder was added in case the mushroom compost makes the soil too alkaline and superphosphate granules to aid the garlic growth. Seeds planted 1 week after the full moon (the March 19^th full moon was unusually larger than normal, so I’m taking advantage of the subsequent waning cycle).

Rear of Bed 1: Potatoes (Kestrel variety).

Mix:      Blended manure, fresh potting mix then covered in blended manure and sugar cane mulch.

Bed 2: Onions and celery (amongst 3 happy butternut pumpkins)

Mix:      Blended manure, potting mix, Green Life’s Veggie Concentrate.

I didn’t raise this existing bed up much as the pumpkins were there first.  Out of 11 pumpkins, these 3 champions are the survivors.  Brown onions went down the left-side into a mix of fresh potting mix and Green Life’s Veggie Concentrate. The celery is planted at the rear behind the small piece of shade cloth, in the middle of the bed.  Coriander seeds were scattered in front of the shallots and topped with blended manure.  Some leftover naughty Italian parsley is at the front of the bed and I haven’t had the heart to rip it out yet.

Bed 3: Parsnips and red onions

Mix:      About 50% left over potting mix from last years pots to a remaining mix of Green Life’s Veggie Concentrate and a little blended manure and mushroom compost.  I let this sit for about 6 weeks. I planted the parsnip seeds 1 week before the full moon. Parsnips are slow to germinate, but some popped up in 2 weeks.  I planted the red onions and garlic I week after the full moon.

Problem eggplant (foreground in above pic). Planted end of 2010 in the winter-shady end of the bed. It grew fast in the heat, but then the aphids and the cunning solanaceae worm attacked the inside of the stems and each big leaf slowly went limp. I ended up cutting two thirds of the plant off.  I scattered coriander seeds around this end of the bed for winter-long non bolting fresh coriander.

I also planted 4 garlic cloves as this bed will get a different amount of winter light to Bed 1.  This means I have 2 garlic growing areas and they’re having a race for the best and biggest cloves. 

Western red carrots & snow peas in last year’s potato barrel. 

This barrel has been unused for 5 months and contains mostly sand, so I sprinkled a tiny amount of blended manure on the top just for fun. New Tuscan Kale was planted in the purple pots. Some shot up to a few cms within 1 week and they should be ready for sale in about 3 months.

Lettuces and Bok Choy

Planted direct into the closest 3 pots (foreground) a few days before the full moon. I used a bag of Richgro premium potting mix from Trading Post Nursery and sprinkled some seed raising mix on top of the seeds, then watered in. The Bok Choy germinated in 3 days.  The pegged shade cloth forms a canopy for the afternoon sun.  Perth is still having weeks of sunny days in the low 30s so I’ve been hand watering all pots twice a day  (I’m really looking forward to some cool cloudy days!)

New compost bin (old washing machine tub)

I found this abandoned tub and I’m experimenting with using it for a compost bin. My old square plastic bin was too big for my narrow space. I’m hoping this compost will be perfect for soil top up in 6 months.

Goji Berry tree

Bought from Tass1trees. They grow their Goji berry plants from seed and they’re one of the few retailers around Perth selling them. Dug the hole twice the size and depth of the pot, then filled the hole with Green Life’s Veggie Mix, mushroom compost and Multigrow (chook poo).  Planted in early autumn and a few weeks later it was still flowering and fruiting. The leaves taste great too.

Curry tree (Murraya koenigii)

This has quadrupled in height since transplanting it here 1 year ago.  It didn’t move much for the first 6 months but as the hot weather and some mushroom compost hit it, the plant took off.  It’s been sheltered by the surrounding pots, the tree fern, some shade cloth and a north facing wall.

I bought this tree for $15 from a guy at the Girrawheen markets.  He’s there most Saturdays and his plants are much bigger than the ones in nurseries for the same price. The leaves are a nice addition to home made pizzas.

Wire net for climbing beans

 

I planted climbing bean seeds in some spare spots along the dripper line at the bass of the wall. Things may get a little crowded back there in a few months. From left to right: Goji berry, thyme, rose x 2, sage. I want the beans to just bully their way up, grab the wire and go nuts on my fence.  When the beans are finished, I’ll use the leaves as nitrogen rich green manure for next summer’s crops.

What I’ve cooked with my produce:

Zucchini fritters

Includes shallots, chilli, mint and parsley from the garden. 

Zucchini and sweet potato hash browns

I used a lemongrass blade as I didn’t have a round egg shaper.

Chilli oil

Fresh red and green chillies simmered in olive oil, then steeped while cooling. The chillies and the oil were poured into a glass jar and this keeps for 2-3 weeks in the fridge.

That's it for my autumn 2011 update.  I'll post again when all the seedlings come up.

Facing East, about 10:00AM on 1 Jan 2011.