Winter chores and indoor farming

Well, despite weeks of burning goodness in my Lisbon treaty compost system, alas, upon inserting a temperature probe recently, I discovered that the microbial activity had just about stopped.

Composting is essentially backyard chemistry - to encourage the microbes into a frenzied orgy of decomposition they require a ratio of 25 parts carbon-rich material (generally dry/brown matter) to each part of nitrogen material ("wet" incredients - green stuff, fresh grass and veggies). I have found that most people stuff up with too much nitrogen given the carbon-rish stuff is a little harder to source in quantities that match the input of kitchen veg. For this reason too, putting dried grass clippings and dry leaves on a garden bed can lead to nitrogen depression of the soil as the carbon-rish materials divert nitrogen towards the decomposition whilst drawing it away from plants. This is a temporary effect however, with the nitrogen being released down the line. The other mistake people make it failing to aerate the heap. Oxygen is essential for the microbes to breakdown the material (they need to breath too). If you starve them of oxygen, only the anerobic beasties survive and they take their sweet time to munch through the matter (like months to yers).

So amongst this week’s tasks, I undertook a forensic di-section of each heap. The moisture content seemed adequate, however, very little oxygen has been infiltrating. Also, I found a considerable increase in temperature around clusters of rotting cardboard, confirming my suspicion that the heaps were carbon-starved. Each was refilled in a series of layers containing leaf/vegetable rot, torn cardboard and a hand full of dirt – compost lasagne! I finished off by pouring over each heap a bucket of recently brewed nettle tea (which smelt live human faeces). This is an old fashioned "compost starter" however, I'm yet to learn precisely what it does (I think I'll take a sample and find out what it contains - watch this space). Three-sided cuts that looked like the doors of an advent calendar were added through which I will be able to drill aeration holes. Then finger’s crossed!

So as part of an ongoing examination of the utility of the humble dunny roll for hosting germinating seedlings, the picture to the left shows the strike rate for the broad beans sewn a couple of weeks ago. My guess is that the slower germination rate in the outer rolls is a result of exposure to colder soil temperatures (ie the back ones are insulated by the edge ones). In future, I would surround the seedlings with bottles of water to create a thermal mass that would insulate the seedlings (thanks Alanna for introducing me to thermal mass).

I’ve extended my arable land in the backyard by scraping up the stone layer, peeling back the weed matt and removing the root mass. For two-thirds of the bed I am testing a cover crop (or green manure) of winter rye (Secale cereale) and Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa). Cover crops are the focus of my PhD research, so I thought I’d test them out in my "mini-farm". I have also convinced my mate Andy in Galway to use them in his much larger raised garden beds.

Also into the new beds I have transplanted my dunny-roll broad beans and half of my organic potato onions (a winter variety... I hope). The next step in my dunny roll experiment is to see whether its better to leave the seedlings in the dunny rolls or to take them out before transplanting them. So were left in the rolls and half removed (that's four replicates!). Watch this space…

In the front raised garden bed, I have planted the remaining onions, transplanted some parsley plants from Andy’s garden and also planted a small section of the cover crop just to keep an eye on when I leave for college each day!.

This week I have also commenced some "indoor farming" by germinating trays of mustard, alfalfa and mung beans, with the seed from the latter two just coming from edible seed from the health food shop. They seem to be liking the growing conditions so far.

I’m hoping to up the ante soon and grow pak choy and lettuce indoors on our main window sill.

Finally, this week I extended my cottage industry to beer brewing! I like to think of it as a drewery for DruBrew! My goal is to be self-sufficent in Coopers Pale Ale, which retails for about $Aus 20. Hoping to stock up on beer for the Christmas season. Its snug in the laundry drying cupboard which maintains the perfect heat - so bring on the festy season!