Garden Mix, Potting Mix & Soil Rejuvenation

A visit to the local landscape supplies yard has become like an annual pilgrimage for me at this time of year. Spring has finally arrived and when the sun finally comes out I’m usually always itching to get outside and get a few jobs done.

I often buy compost in 40litre bags to supplement my home-made efforts which costs about $5 a bag, but buying in bulk is much better value especially if you’ve got a few bigger jobs in mind to do. So in case you’re wondering why I have to buy it when I talk so much about making my own, the point is, I find my efforts at making compost are still not producing as much as I need for those bigger jobs.

So I got a half metre each of compost and garden mix which cost $114. They both look much the same because the garden mix has a certain amount of compost already in it, but you can plant directly into it. The compost on the other hand, is a much stronger mix and shouldn’t be planted into directly, but it’s great for rejuvenating the soil.

In addition to the 2 trailer loads of ‘soil’ I stopped in at Bunnings and got an 8kg bag of coarse pumice ($14) which can be added to the garden mix to make it more suitable for potting. The pumice helps to improve drainage and it also helps to aerate the soil.

While I was about it I couldn’t resist this bright pink Azalea which reminded me of one I had some time ago but which died on me. This was in an 8cm pot and cost about $9. So this was my first little potting job using this new mix.

I’ve got a few other jobs planned too, but more about that later.

*****

From an economics point of view the photo below shows 4 x 40litre bags of compost next to my bulk compost which cost $57 — half of the $114 I paid in total. The bags cost $5 each so if you can imagine a pile 2.8 times this size, that would cost the equivalent of $57 the same as what I paid for the bulk mix. Based on this estimate the bulk mix works out about half the price or a little bit more. 

This isn’t as good a value as I recall from 20 odd years ago but it still works out cheaper than the bagged stuff and well worth buying it this way if you’ve got a few bigger jobs to do. 

A 40 litre bag of potting mix costs between $10-20/bag depending on the quality, so buying it by the bag can be expensive, especially if you need several bags. That’s why I buy a load of bulk mix every year. 

Farming Worms

About a year ago a good friend of mine who’s a keen gardener living nearby, decided to move away from Auckland. He had a worm farm that he didn’t want to take with him, so he asked me if I wanted it. I had no hesitation in accepting it.

I’d heard quite a bit about worm farming over the years but never been that bothered about pursuing it, so I didn’t really know much about it, other than how the juice collected from the worms can be diluted and used to water the garden, with terrific results.

This particular worm farm is made out of black plastic. It has three levels and is raised up on legs with a tap attached to the bottom level, through which the juice drains into a bucket.

After determining a suitable spot for it under some trees in the shade I levelled out an area laying down some paving tiles for it to sit on. It’s best for it to be located in a place that’s in permanent shade. The worms themselves prefer to be in complete darkness much like their normal home under the ground. Apparently, they’re quite fussy eaters — they don’t like citrus scraps or onions or anything else that’s too acidic. We mainly feed them all our kitchen scraps but the worms especially seem to love the pulp that comes out of the vegetable juicer (my wife is juicing daily). They probably like it so much because it’s very easy for them to get stuck into, having already been minced up.

Before long the worms were producing huge quantities of juice. The bucket was filling up every 2 or 3 weeks. So we just transfer it into 3 litre milk bottles until we need it. Then I mix it about 10:1 in a watering can and pour it on the garden.

Things were going really well with the worm farm until one day we noticed something wasn’t right. When we opened the lid to feed them all the worms were massed together around the outside perimeter of the farm and appeared to be rather slimy and the sound they gave off was a sticky-gurgling-bubbling noise. We also noticed that quite a few worms had escaped (as pictured below) into the lower chambers which is not normal.

After doing a little bit of research we came to understand that this was a sign that their environment had become too acidic. We also learned that an essential part of their diet is carbon roughage usually in the form of paper or cardboard. 

At this point we decided to give the whole worm farm a complete clean out as the lower chambers were full of worm castings anyhow. This would be great for putting on the compost*. 

The picture above is of the bottom chamber. The picture below is of the top and middle sections. You can probably see there’s quite a marked difference in the consistency of the castings between the bottom and middle sections – the middle section is quite dry in comparison to the bottom compartment which is quite sloppy. The middle section was full to the brim with castings, so much so that the top compartment was sitting directly on the castings, so it was definitely time for a clean out.

So we  are conscious now of always adding a bit of corrugated cardboard cut up into strips and layered in with the food we give them because they also like their environment to be kept aerated. Since we did this they seem to be doing fine.

*As mentioned above. I put the castings and the sludge from the bottom compartment into the compost. As part of my normal compost routine I usually try to mix up the wet and dry ingredients that I have on hand. Eventually it will all even out into a nice crumbly consistency. I’m looking forward to seeing what difference the worm castings make to my compost when it’s ready to be used in the garden. 

A Visit to Auckland’s Botanic Gardens

As I mentioned in my previous post, one thing I’ve been thinking about doing is visiting other gardens besides my own, whether public or private and sharing some of my observations.

When it comes to inspiration you can’t beat a visit to a public botanic garden. For one thing they have a much bigger budget than any private gardens I know of so they are usually always well kept and there’s something of interest to see all year round — and they’re usually free to visit which is always a bonus. 

I happened to be in the vicinity of the Auckland’s botanic gardens at around midday recently so I decided to go there to eat my lunch. I had my camera with me so I thought I would take a look around and if possible get a few nice shots.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best. It had been raining all morning and had been blowing a gale too, so I wasn’t too hopeful about getting anything particularly outstanding. Being the first week of spring you never know what surprises await you when you visit any garden. Not that I was looking for garden inspiration particularly but I was looking for some interesting subject matter for my renewed interest in photography, so what better place to go for a keen gardener like myself?

Sadly the wind ruined many of my shots, so I’m keen to go back again on a nice still day. However, the Cactus Gardens were seemingly unnaffected by the wind so I managed to get this stunning shot. The clouds may help you to appreciate what was happening in the atmosphere on that day. The sun even came out momentarily between the clouds. I had fun processing this using the HDR technique. I think this could work quite well as a stretched canvas print.

The particular area I was interested in seeing was the section dedicated to Magnolias. I’ve noticed around Auckland all the magnolias coming out in bloom this time of year. They really are quite a spectacular plant but grow far too big for my garden. So here’s a few pics I got...

The rhododendrons were also blooming. They seemed to be a magnet for the Tuis with several of them in one tree feeding on the nectar.

Botanic gardens are well worth a visit. Why not take a visit to a botanic garden near you if you have one in your area.

Blog Marks 3 Years

I’m rather proud to announce that my Garden Blog has now been running for almost 3 years. I had no idea when I first started how long I would continue with it or how successful it would be. Anyway, I thought I would show how it’s been performing and take the opportunity to thank YOU, the audience, without whom my efforts at blogging would’ve been a complete waste of time.

As you can see from the stats shown below the readership has been steadily growing over that time and currently it’s on track to reach 2,000 page views a month within the next month or so.

It has been interesting to see what posts have caught people’s attention and the wide variety of countries represented in the audience stats. The stand out performer of all my blog posts has been the one about Myoga Ginger. I had no idea it would generate so much interest, but I was helped to see why when I received some of the feedback, comments and questions about this rather unique plant.

I have a few ideas about what I’d like to do with the content over the next year or so to keep it interesting. One thing I’d like to do is talk a bit more about other gardens besides mine, whether public or private, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m also thinking of inviting other keen gardeners to do a guest post about their garden or maybe an interview. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

I had thought of marking this auspicious milestone with something more interesting than a simple post about it. Perhaps a little prize or gift for one of you readers but I kind of ran out of time to organise anything properly and I didn’t want to do a half job, so I might save that for later.

Anyway, thanks again for stopping by.

The Clash of Gardening Styles

I’ve heard about the contention that arises between a husband and wife or 2 flatmates who share a garden but can’t agree on how it should be done. Everybody’s different and has their own style, theme or approach that they want to work on. Some like it formal, some like it informal. Some prefer to plan everything carefully, others like to leave everything to chance and let nature do its thing on its own.

Sometimes, my wife Izumi and I also disagree. For me, I prefer to have a finite plan that is clear and well defined. I like to clear an area, turn over the soil and grow my crop. Then after harvest, I like to pull everything out and start all over again. I don’t have a lot of patience for plants that aren’t performing as I think they should, or plants that are taking up more space than I think they’re worth.

But I have to admit there is some merit in doing some things Izumi’s way. She often likes to let things go to seed, so she doesn’t like it when I pull stuff out too soon. She likes things to be left alone and given a chance to see what they can do.

Take this broccoli, for example...

Can you guess how long this has been in the garden? It’s actually into its third year now. If Izumi hadn’t protested each time I said I was going to pull it out, it would’ve been long gone.

The only reason I’ve allowed it to stay is because it has become “the Broccoli Plant that Keeps on Giving”. In fact that was the title I had in mind for this post, but it was taking too long to get to the point and I came to feel the real story lay in the value of learning from other’s gardening styles.

The point is, I am totally amazed at what this broccoli plant has given in terms of fruit. Something I would never have learned if I continued doing things my way.

In Auckland we can pretty much grow broccoli all year round, so this thing seems to continuously flower from one season to the next. But it has become unbelievably prolific. I have attempted to circle in red all the little flower heads that are forming and were visible in the above photo. I counted about 25 and that’s just what can be seen from this angle. There were more besides these all at various stages of growth elsewhere on the plant.

Admitedly, the flower heads aren’t that big, but there’s plenty of them. So contrary to what I used to believe about broccoli's flowering only once and that’s it, if you just cut the head off the plant at harvest time and leave the root in the ground, it will start shooting from the sides and continue shooting as long as you keep plucking off the heads.

Perhaps I should concentrate on feeding the soil. Maybe I can increase the size of the heads.

Anyway, there was enough for a meal this time.

Collecting Firewood

The cost of electricity is pretty expensive these days so any little bit we can save on heating the home in winter is a good thing. So, every year I’ve got my ears and eyes peeled for any firewood that’s looking for a good home. See how I got my firewood situation sorted this year in the attached U-tube clip.

Truth is, I was looking for a way to test my time-lapse photography skills on my new camera and I thought this would be a good way to practise.

Enjoy...

The Mandarin Tree

Every year we look forward to the beautiful sweet, seedless fruit borne on the Mandarin tree just outside our kitchen window. However this year the fruit on the tree has taken a back seat to the avian visitors who’ve frequented it. They’ve made interesting subject matter for my rekindled interest in photography.

The tree attracts several different kinds of birds who seek out the bright orange, sweet fruit that this tree produces this time of year. As mentioned in my previous post about a Tui that’s been visiting the tree, moments later a rosella joined in, so I got a shot of him too...

Actually, Rosella’s usually travel in pairs and if you look carefully you’ll see there’s more than one rosella in the shot. Can you see the second one? All you can see is a flash of red to the left of the frame.  Seeing how well hidden it is might help you appreciate how tricky it was getting a clear shot of one of these birds. They’re pretty shy and they take off the moment they even spot any human.

They make a ‘cackling’ noise as they communicate with each other through the tree. Although they’re an introduced bird from Australia and considered a pest and a threat to other native species, I actually quite like them – they’re so colourful. A friend of mine actually caught one and tamed it and had it flying around inside his house. Probably not such a good idea when you think about all the droppings it left everywhere.

Another frequent visitor to the mandarin tree has been the ‘silver eye’ or the ‘wax eye’ as some like to call them. When you see them it becomes pretty clear why they’re named that. They have a distinctive white ring around their eyes. These birds dart in and out, moving around so quickly making them a challenge to shoot. So I was quite pleased to get this shot...

Having said all of the above, you can imagine what a treat it was one morning for my wife and I to witness all 3 birds in the tree at the same time. It was interesting to witness them interacting with each other. I’ve often wondered what is meant when I hear it said that “the Rosella is a threat to our native species”. Are the native birds physically threatened? Or is it the food supply or something else in their environment that is threatened?

Anyway, this was the first time I’d ever observed these 2 birds up so close to each other and while they kept their distance from each other and appeared weary of each other while they followed each other around the tree, there was no real confrontation between them. Moments after these shots were taken a third bird entered the scene...

This rather inquisitive Silver Eye also seemed weary of the rosella and was keeping his distance but he wasn’t afraid to get close enough for a good look at what he was up to. If he had to get away I bet he could easily out manoeuvre the Rosella.

So although we missed out on quite a bit of fruit off the tree this year, this was more than made up for being able to witness, photograph and share all this bird activity.