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Break Room (formerly Off Topic)
Ian's microfarm.
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[QUOTE="kingofnobbys, post: 1962303, member: 81934"] Setting up My Microfarm Seed-bank I spent a few weeks boning up on how to propogate herbs , veggies and other edibles ( berries , etc ) from seed and came up with a long list of interesting herbs , veggies, berries and companion plants , and beneficial insect-attracting , bird attracting and habitat ( mostly natives ) , and then set about searching online to find commercial seed sellers who had these. I also contacted some local relatives to ask if they'd be interesting in sharing the costs if I buy the seeds in bulk lots and what edible plant varieties they wanted added , the idea being we split costs equally and maybe if they don't have ready to used garden beds , they could help my wife and out with some weeding and cultivating while growing their share of vegs and herbs in my beds . My nephew who lives only about 2km away came on board , since he has 4 in his household to feed and at the time his partner had last her job ( due to the NSW covid lockdown ) and he was required to work from home ( a mining geoscientist employed by a steaming coal mining company ) and they were finding it hard to get sufficient fresh fruit & veg at the supermarkets, no one at the time knew how bad the food security issue might become or if the pandemic was going to get really bad here ( like it was at the time in Italy, Spain, NYC, UK and France and China ), the worse was expected. By the time Shayne had given me his list , I already had some online veg, herb and berry plant seed orders placed, enough for my wife and I to get started , then Shayne and I got together my email and settled our combined list and qualities and I placed the combined order on the promise he'd fix me up with his half of the cost when the order arrived , the supplier told me they were overwhelmed with orders from all over Australia and there was very long queue of customer orders ahead of my order and it was likely to take several weeks to reach my order ( in chronological order ) . While waiting for the seed orders to show up in the mail I got organised and set up a MicroFarm Spreadsheet where I summarised all the key propogation , cultivation and seasonal aspects for the seeds on hand ( some seeds already in hand in my stash under the laundry sink in sealed jars , some over 10 yrs old = dubious fertility / viability ) . My spreadsheet (screen dumps) , seasonal is southern hemisphere orientated ( reverse if north of equator , feel free to use my data if you find it handy ) [img]https://i.postimg.cc/WzDRtwZR/screenshot-92.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/rwqkNxX4/screenshot-93.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/9ftwNGrj/screenshot-94.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/YjKpHssD/screenshot-95.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/kgCbN1gy/screenshot-96.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/RhrFSh3T/screenshot-98.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/d1GF9B18/screenshot-99.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/gJy9h2Ss/screenshot-100.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/mgS87FBt/screenshot-103.png[/img] Very recent additions ( freebies from Woolworths) [img]https://i.postimg.cc/yNqrTzSb/screenshot-101.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/BQkhqGNn/screenshot-102.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/RZGLW5Lt/screenshot-104.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/s24xjsPF/screenshot-105.png[/img] direct links [url=https://i.postimg.cc/WzDRtwZR/screenshot-92.png]https://i.postimg.cc/WzDRtwZR/screenshot-92.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/rwqkNxX4/screenshot-93.png]https://i.postimg.cc/rwqkNxX4/screenshot-93.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/9ftwNGrj/screenshot-94.png]https://i.postimg.cc/9ftwNGrj/screenshot-94.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/YjKpHssD/screenshot-95.png]https://i.postimg.cc/YjKpHssD/screenshot-95.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/kgCbN1gy/screenshot-96.png]https://i.postimg.cc/kgCbN1gy/screenshot-96.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/RhrFSh3T/screenshot-98.png]https://i.postimg.cc/RhrFSh3T/screenshot-98.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/d1GF9B18/screenshot-99.png]https://i.postimg.cc/d1GF9B18/screenshot-99.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/gJy9h2Ss/screenshot-100.png]https://i.postimg.cc/gJy9h2Ss/screenshot-100.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/mgS87FBt/screenshot-103.png]https://i.postimg.cc/mgS87FBt/screenshot-103.png[/url] woolies [url=https://i.postimg.cc/yNqrTzSb/screenshot-101.png]https://i.postimg.cc/yNqrTzSb/screenshot-101.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/BQkhqGNn/screenshot-102.png]https://i.postimg.cc/BQkhqGNn/screenshot-102.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/RZGLW5Lt/screenshot-104.png]https://i.postimg.cc/RZGLW5Lt/screenshot-104.png[/url] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/s24xjsPF/screenshot-105.png]https://i.postimg.cc/s24xjsPF/screenshot-105.png[/url] I also placed orders for gardening tools ( we didn't have much and nothing heavy duty / long handled << I'd only grown stuff in pots >> ) and I sourced on Amazon biodegradiable coir seedling pots & seed raising trays ( no one local had these left in stock either ), and had to hunt about by phone to find a gardening centre who still had seed raising potting mix in stock ( the stuff like seedlings & pots , seed raising tubes and trays , and potting mix , was like gold dust by now ( April ) and was flying off the pallets as quick as it arrived on the trucks ). 2 x 10kg bags seed raising mix were procured and delivered and stashed in the spare bedroom in a spare 35L plastic archive box. Planted as seedlings or cuttings in 40cm Décor Selfwatering Posts [img]https://i.postimg.cc/kXNgF7Z2/screenshot-106.png[/img] Ran some experiements with herb cutting in water to get to them to grow roots from August thro to November which will be shown later , sprouted OK on the windowsill , and were OK when planted in seedraising mix in mini coir pots until the long heatwave with very dry weather arrived in January 2021 , and we were back into Lev 3 water restrictions due to the extended heatwave - all died lack of water. Also did some test sowings of some herbs and veg and greens from about August but again a flop as these were OK til the hotwater hit and we didn't get them into the beds soon enough - all died in the heatwave and through lack of water ( see above ) . Only seeds sowed in my first batch that have survived and are flourishing are my Mixed Gem Nasturtiums - they've literally taken over the entire top 1/2 of my 6m x 3m feature bed , covering nearly 9 sq-m after we transplanted them from the 600cc converted food tub to the bed in September. [img]https://i.postimg.cc/0jdrKsVG/IMG-1051.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/mrzDNMdg/IMG-1052.jpg[/img] Discovered nasturtiums are very readily propogated from cuttings as well as being self seeding. So when we have some mature enough shrub and ground covering native herbs and flowers to go into the big 6m x 3m bed , we'll cut back the nasturtium and propogate some cuttings to plant in the little verge between the south bdry fence and the sleep retraining wall along the entire length of the retraining wall to beautify this and attack insects, birds and more skinks ( and local wild eastern water dragons , eastern bearded dragons and Jacky dragons ) into the yard , wont mind if the possums visit too. Only cuttings that have survived are two of the Pomegranate cuttings in a 40cm Décor selfwatering pot on my front patio , one is growing like crazy , but the other is doing very well too. [img]https://i.postimg.cc/gk5nNGHd/IMG-1061.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/VkC5h2Kt/IMG-1062.jpg[/img] My Black Mulberry seedling also in an 40cm Décor selfwatering pot is thriving and I've even got small mulberries forming on it, it likes the spot on the front patio too. It's grown from a 2ft tall seedling to 3ft tall in 12mths and been through it's first winter dormancy. [img]https://i.postimg.cc/B6q6Xb45/IMG-1063.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/cCz49cYT/IMG-1064.jpg[/img] berries forming [img]https://i.postimg.cc/KcC15ZNb/IMG-1063a.jpg[/img] We are now in Level 2 water restrictions and the forecast is relaxation to Level 1 soon as we've had a very wet summer ( last half of Jan , all of Feb and so far Mar due to the El Nino and very strong northern Monsoon this year ) , dams are getting very full , and many coastal rivers on the north coast of NSW and in Qld have been in flood . Still too early to install the automated drip irrigation system in my beds in the back yard. Seeds sowed 2021, experimenting with cliplock bag seed sowing as a trial ( handy way to see how many seeds are viable before sowing these once they've started generating roots and leaflets ). [img]https://i.postimg.cc/rp1jq0Y8/screenshot-109.png[/img] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/VLkV4RZX/screenshot-108.png[/img] [/QUOTE]
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