verge gardens Archives - Our Permaculture Life

Ingeniously Simple Idea to Harvest Compost Worms By 8 Year Old Boy: Film #14 with Morag Gamble

Morag Gamble — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 12:06:00 +0000

This ingeniously simple idea to get compost worms out of a worm farm is the brainwave of an 8 year old boy.

The inspiration…

My son, Hugh, was inspired to find a simpler and better way to extract worms from a worm farm. He was selling worm tower kits at the local market and was getting tired of the long process of separating the worms from the castings. He knew there had to be a better way …

Hugh’s method of collecting worms had us harvesting an abundance of worms so rapidly.

The typical method – too slow for Hugh

We had taught Hugh the typical method of separating worms, but he found it was fiddly and took too long. The standard method is up-ending a worm farm on a table or other smooth surface and mounding it up like a volcano. The worms move away from the heat and light towards the centre. Bit by bit you gently scrape away the castings, wait, scrape some more etc… and you are eventually left with a bundle of worms in the middle.

The typical method of separating castings from worms. Mound it up, scrape it off …. repeat a few times…

This method is still good for collecting the castings for your garden since you are rescuing most of the worms to put back into the farm. If however you are particularly wanting to extract bundles of worms for whatever reason – to feed to chickens, for fishing bait, for a micro-enterprise as Hugh was doing – I’ve not come across a simpler way.

Hugh’s ingenious idea…

You’re not going to believe how remarkably simple this method is, and just how effective it is. I love that Hugh brought his creative thinking to a challenge he was facing and found a solution. This method he has developed is a standout – it revolutionises the process, making it so easy and convenient. Essentially, he decided it would be much easier to entice the worms to come to him. Check it out how he does this in our short 3 minute youtube clip (link above).

Please share….

Please share our little video and spread Hugh’s positive idea. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/moraggambleourpermaculturelife to get notice of each new movie I make. You can also subscribe to this blog so you get notice of each article and film.

The post Ingeniously Simple Idea to Harvest Compost Worms By 8 Year Old Boy: Film #14 with Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Do you want a weed-free garden? Film #12 Weed-Free Mulching by Morag Gamble (3 mins)

Morag Gamble — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 13:36:00 +0000

Do you want a weed-free garden?

It’s easy. How you mulch makes such a huge difference for on-going weed maintenance.

In this 3 minute film, I show my new weed-free section of garden and contrast it with two other areas mulched differently…. The results speak for themselves even after just five weeks.

No weeds – used compost, newspaper and mulch
Some weeds – used compost and mulch (no newspaper)
Weedy – used compost, but no newspaper or mulch.

Watch my new 3 minute film about weed-free mulching: https://youtu.be/Ymtj2yU_ov4

With the Spring warmth and rain, the weeds are growing fast and the difference is obvious.

The key is the newspaper – but not on the ground as usually described in no-dig garden instructions. I put my newspaper layer on top of the compost and cover it with mulch. I do this because the newspaper:

stops weeds from the soil and compost layer
keeps moisture in the compost layer (dries out more on top of paper)
allows the soil organisms to access the compost more readily
enables roots of plants to go deeper (you make a hold in the paper and plant into compost below)

Take a look through this No Dig Gardening link from my blog to get more background information and see the step by step pictures on how to make a successful and simple no dig garden. http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/morags-simple-successful-no-dig-garden.html

If you’d like more information about using newspaper, please check out this post too: http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/can-i-use-newspaper-in-my-garden.html

Happy Gardening!

The post Do you want a weed-free garden? Film #12 Weed-Free Mulching by Morag Gamble (3 mins) appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Three Great Uses For Dandelion Leaves – Wild Harvest this Edible Weed in Springtime

Morag Gamble — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 16:42:00 +0000

Go wild harvesting for dandelion in the cities, the suburbs, parks or out in the countryside. They are a superb and abundant food source – actually a superfood weed.

True Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) – a familiar plant in our everyday landscapes – typically overlooked as a source of great food and medicine.

Of the dandelion family (also known as False Dandelion) is Cat’s Ear (Hypochoeris radicata). It is a familiar plant in my landscape. It has a blander taste than true dandelion and tends to be less bitter – young leaves are less fibrous. The leaves are also edible – raw or cooked. The root can also be roasted as a coffee substitute. Not good for horses to consume too much.

You don’t need to go far to find dandelion greens. Stop and look around you – you can probably spot some close by. They are an abundant and attractive edible weed. Around here, they are popping up everywhere at the moment. Don’t weed them. Eat them!

Dandelion has been consumed for thousands of years as a food but also used as a medicine to treat anaemia, scurvy, skin problems, blood disorders, and depression.

WHY EAT DANDELION GREENS?

Dandelion greens are rich in antioxidants which prevent free-radical damage to cells, and are high in:
Vitamin K (building strong bones, preventing heart disease)
Vitamin A (healthy teeth, bones, mucus membranes, skin and eyes)
Iron (essential for producing red blood cells and transferring oxygen from the lungs to your body)
Fibre (helps body shed waste)
Potassium (to help regulate heart rate and blood pressure)
Also vitamins C and B6, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, and copper.

THREE WAYS TO EAT DANDELION GREENS

Eat raw dandelion leaves. Harvest them while they are still young and tender before they’ve flowered for the best taste. At other times you may prefer to blanch them in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds to improve taste before adding them to salads or sandwiches.
Make dandelion leaf pesto (add dandelion leaves to your favourite pesto recipe)
Add dandelion leaves to your stir fry, quiche, soup, stews or casseroles.

USING OTHER PARTS

Every part of this common edible weed is tasty both raw and cooked, from the roots to the flowers.

The roots make a delicious coffee alternative and medicine and the flowers are sweet and crunchy. You can eat them raw in a salad, or make a wine.

CAUTION: Choose dandelions you know have not been sprayed with pesticides, fertilisers, or other chemicals.

More edible weed ideas coming soon!

The post Three Great Uses For Dandelion Leaves – Wild Harvest this Edible Weed in Springtime appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Simple & Affordable Way to Start Seedlings for Your Kitchen Garden – DIY Soil Blocking

Morag Gamble — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 16:44:00 +0000

Spring is around the corner here and there’s so many food plants I’m excited to get into the garden. Because of this, I’ve been focussing a lot on seeds a lot this month.

In recent blog posts and youtube films I have been talking about using milk containers to make self-watering seed-raising pots and also explored seed-balling too.

Here’s another super way to get seeds started – soil blocks. Last week I was delighted to see them in use at a local school garden and it reminded me to give them another go for my current seed-raising blitz.

These soil blocks are made with a commercially-made soil-blocker but you can form them with your hand too, or your own DIY set up. Image source: sgaonline.org.au

Soil blocks make growing vegetables from seeds so easy and successful. I often hear people say that they don’t bother growing from seed – because it’s too hard, too time consuming, too fiddly, they never have success and so on. I think many of us relate to this, and I have felt this way in the past too. Self-watering posts, seed balls and soil blocks just make it all so much easier.

I’m going to experiment with a few simple DIY methods of soil blocking and play with a few mixes. I’ll document my trials over the next weeks to let you know know how they go. Let us know too if you have some great ideas. Watch out for a little film about this on Our Permaculture Life youtube channel. I encourage you to subscribe so you get each weekly episode delivered to your inbox.

A dried soil block awaiting use at the school – simply sit this in a tray of water and allow to soak it up the moisture, it will be activated and be ready for seeding.

Why grow from seed?

Really, there are just so many good reasons to grow from seed if you can, such as:

– you have access to such greater diversity of plants and varieties

– you can use your own seed saved year after year

– you know the source of your seed

– you can support the continuation of local seed varieties

– it’s much cheaper to grow from seed

Basic Soil Block Ingredients:

4 parts compost
1 part worm castings (optional) for extra nutrients
1 part soaked coir peat (coconut fibre) for moisture and for binding the block together
water

Making the Soil Mix

Mix together dry ingredients. Keep some aside if you to thicken up the mix later.
Mix 2 parts dry mix to 1 part water.
Try to make a consistency like sticky mud.
Keep adding more water until you get the right feel.

Depending on the mix of ingredients, the ratio will vary – so just keep checking. It will be good when, if you squeeze a handful, a few drops of water are squeezed out. If lots of water comes out, add more dry, if no water comes out – add more water.

Making the Soil Blocks

Make them by hand. They don’t need to be cubes – they can be 5cm balls with flat bottoms – as long as they can stand on their own. Simply make an impression in the top with your finger into the block to make a hole for the seed.
Use a home-made blockers. You can make from a all sorts of containers such as old cans, sections of pipe, glasses….
There are also commercially available Soil Blocking Tools

Seeding the blocks

Place seeds in the holes.
Keep watered – usually by flooding the tray that the blocks are sitting for a few minutes and then draining off.

These blocks give the seedlings much more space to grow and do not have their roots disturbed by being pulled part when they are transplanted. Because the seed block is bigger than the usual seed tray, they don’t dry out as much and there is more nutrients available – and therefore the seedlings are much healthier.

Easy to make, easy to sow, easy to maintain and easy to plant out. Sounds like a wonderfully simple seed raising strategy to me.

Have you tried seed blocking? What was your best mix and best method?

The post Simple & Affordable Way to Start Seedlings for Your Kitchen Garden – DIY Soil Blocking appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Film #6: How to Grow Urban Potatoes by Morag Gamble

Morag Gamble — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 15:19:00 +0000

Growing a sackful of potatoes in the city is super easy. Watch my new 5 minute film, How to Grow Urban Potatoes for step-by-step instructions.

All you need are a bag, sprouting spuds, compost, mulch and water (possibly enriched with worm juice).

There’s many clever ways of making good use of space in small gardens. The simplicity and practicality of potato grow bags just makes so much sense – particularly in small urban food gardens, verge gardens, balcony gardens – but also for any kitchen garden that wants to use vertical growing space too.

Potato grow bags – use whatever you can find as the sack.

All you need to make a potato grow bag is:

sprouting potatoes
compost/rich potting mix
sack or large bag
handful of mulch
water (enriched with worm farm liquid if possible)

Always select healthy sprouting potatoes to begin with. Here are kipflers and purple potatoes.

Click the image below to watch How to Grow Urban Potatoes.

Take a look at my other short films:

Film #1: Our Permaculture Life: My Permaculture Garden (33 mins)

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village. I’ll be teaching a Permaculture Design Course here from August 29 – Sept 9

Film #2: Our Permaculture Life: Community Permaculture Garden (9 mins 30 secs)

At the Yandina Community Gardens – I’ll be teaching a Permaculture course there each Friday from 23 September.

Film #3: How to Make Comfrey Tea with Morag Gamble (4:52mins)

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village

Film #4: Incredible Edibles Talk with Morag Gamble at the QLD Garden Expo (42 mins)

My presentation at the Queensland Garden Expo in July 2016 about the incredible edible plants I love to have in my garden and why.

Film #5: How to Make a Worm Tower

The post Film #6: How to Grow Urban Potatoes by Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Film #4: Incredible Edibles Talk with Morag Gamble at the QLD Garden Expo

Morag Gamble — Sun, 17 Jul 2016 17:00:00 +0000

I love edible perennial plants and self-seeding annuals – they make gardening so much easier and very productive. I rely on these plants as the backbone of my edible landscape because they provide such resilience and abundance. They are so useful for food, fiber, fodder, teas, medicine, mulch, organic matter, income …

I filmed my talk about Incredible Edibles at the Kitchen Garden Stage of the incredibly popular Queensland Garden Expo on July 10. In this talk, I share my passion for and knowledge about some of my favourite plants and strategies. The plants I talk about here are also very helpful for verge gardeners, small-space gardeners, and community gardeners.

Congratulations and thank you to all the volunteers who set up the WONDERFUL edible demonstration gardens at the Expo with the verge garden theme – a huge effort!! It was great to ramble through it with Costa Georgiadis, Jerry Coleby-Williams and chat with old and new friends.

This recording is 42 mins.

FILMING NOTE: This is the first time I have tried to film my own talk (I usually have a helper) and of course, I forgot about the camera. At one stage I moved too close – oops – half a head. A few minutes later I realise and move back again – please excuse this!

Take a look at my other short films:

Film #1: Our Permaculture Life: My Permaculture Garden (33 mins)

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village.

Film #2: Our Permaculture Life: Community Permaculture Garden (9 mins 30 secs)

At the Yandina Community Gardens – I’ll be teaching a Permaculture course there each Friday from 23 September.

Film #3: How to Make Comfrey Tea with Morag Gamble (4:52mins)

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village

The post Film #4: Incredible Edibles Talk with Morag Gamble at the QLD Garden Expo appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Verge Gardens and Incredible Edibles: catching up with ABC’s Costa and friends.

Morag Gamble — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 15:45:00 +0000

Verge Gardens are the theme of the Giant Kitchen Garden display at the Queensland Garden Expo (July 8-10).Verge gardens bring food to the streets, food to the people, connect communities and lift spirits.

The wonderful Costa Georgiadis of ABC’s Gardening Australia led a huge group of people through the verge garden with his fabulous commentary of why verge gardens are the bees knees – it’s got me thinking about what more I can do along the street at my place. Always wonderful to see him and get a big beardy cuddle.

Costa espousing the benefits of having a salad garden on the verge.

Gardening extraordinaire, Barbara Wickes, president of the cottage garden group The Perennial Poppies, coordinates the extraordinary effort it takes to get the Giant Kitchen Garden displays ready for the expo each year.

After Costa’s ramble through this amazing demonstration garden, he sent the crowd across to the Kitchen Garden Stage where I talked about my favourite incredible edibles. I had a table full of cuttings from my garden that provide an abundance and resilience in subtropical gardens – a diversity of perennial and self-seeding plants and a selection of common but overlooked edible leaves. (The video of this will be ready soon.)

Me launching into the Incredible Edibles talk.

The Giant Kitchen Garden is like a meeting of old friends – I caught up with Roman Spur of Spurtopia, the Yandina Community Gardens, Northey Street City Farm, Robin Clayfield, Brisbane Organic Growers and many more… Jerry Coleby Williams also led a great wander through the verge garden.

ABC Gardening Australia’s Jerry Coleby-Williams talking about verge gardens.

Here are some of the people I met along the way and some garden features on display…

I was delighted to hear the latest news from Roman Spur of Spurtopia – new baby girl and new house (bought from savings – no debt).

I caught up with Cath Manuel of Soil to Supper, then saw part of her no-dig garden presentation.

Beautiful kales.

The display garden demonstrated how you could set up a street side stall to share verge garden produce in the community.

These are great to help increase homes from microbats in urban gardens.

Showing the potential for a verge garden – from children’s play spaces, herb, vegetables, flowers, fruits, upcycled pots, interpretive signage, habitat logs …

An interesting pot of strawberries….

Looking down the main street of the verge garden displays.

The bug hotel in the centre of the verge garden roundabout.

The boot flower garden.

The stiletto palette garden!

On my way out of the expo I had a lovely ramble through the Nambour Community Gardens. This garden has a series of productive terraces full of delicious produce. Their yellow cherry tomatoes were particularly yummy.

The post Verge Gardens and Incredible Edibles: catching up with ABC’s Costa and friends. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.