I’ve been starting think of gardening as a balancing act of yin and yang activities.
Most of us see the garden as a wild unruly child that needs to be tamed. So we approached the garden with destructive activities like mowing, pruning, weeding and spraying. Basically we are fighting an uphill battle against nature. The outcomes of our actions are short-lived and lead to high maintenance gardens.
Big M loves the mowing and pruning. I wonder if all men are naturally draw to these yang activities?
Lately, I’ve been trying to work with nature and undertake more productive activities. Permaculture encourages us to view the garden as an ecosystem and work towards long term outcomes. Ying activities include sowing seeds, planting in seedlings and perennials. Using native and indigenous (local) plants. Selecting hedge plants that can also act as wind breaks, provide shade or resist fires.
The dots in the yin and yang are the recycling activities. It is seeing the good in the bad. It is about using and valuing renewable resources and producing no waste. Example activities include composting, using manure and mulch and keeping a worm farm.
When our garden reflects an equal measure of destructive (yang) and productive (yin) activities, the environment will be in balance and self-regulating. In a mature ecosystem if a type of pest gets out of hand, predators will keep them in check without the need for pesticides.
According to the Spotless authors, men and women approach cleaning differently. I wonder if we also approach gardening in different but complementary ways?
Early this year was marked by the Black Saturday bushfires. Uncharacteristic hot days and strong winds whipped flames through Victoria and resulted in Australia’s worst loss of life from a bushfire. Over 2000 houses were destroyed!
We had a busy weekend and didn’t get to do as much gardening as I would have liked. I think we have two limes on the way (we can’t remember which dwarf plant is the lime and which is the mandarin, but the fruit are definitely not flat like a mandarin!). Perhaps it’s really a Meyer lemon tree and we’ve been had in a little lime green lie?
We planted in some climbing telephone peas and blue lake beans in the fourth bed. The potatoes are looking a little haggard from the strong winds we have been having.
I’m starting to get worried about achieving our challenge total of 236kg of fruit and vegetables on one tank, for one couple in one year. In the last six months, we’ve only had 2 months above the needed 20kg.
The last vegetable bed was out of action for several months, as we put off digging up the pawpaw tree and to allow for the no-dig mixture to decompose down to soil.
We had one failed potato crop due to planting at the wrong time of the year. We had crop failures due to a lack of bees pollinating flowers, and squash bugs infestations. We also assumed that our fruit trees would bear in the first year, but found out later that they may not.
I’m going to admit it’s been harder then I thought it would be grow our own fruit and vegetables. There is so much to learn about growing edibles. I don’t feel like giving up, but I feel a bit like Edison.
“I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb.”
- Thomas Edison
Watering the vegetable beds had become a daily meditation. That was until, I discovered the joys of listening to music on my ipod while hosing.
Occasionally when I am finished I like to sit at the base of the tank and have some time out. Sometimes I think about my future plans for the garden. Sometimes I mentally list the tasks we need to do on the weekend. Maybe I’ll watch the birds or the clouds.
And sometimes I’m just avoiding doing the washing up.
“Every dollar’s worth of fruit and vegetables has needed at least 103 litres of water to mature. Every equivalent dollar’s worth of home grown food uses only 20 litres”.
– David Holgrem
We purchased a three thousand litre plastic tank with the assistance of a government grant. It collects rainwater that runs off of our one car colourbond garage.
Fortunately we are allowed to use the rainwater as we choose, and it’s the main source of water for the vegetables and fruit trees. Our tank is situated close to the beds and trees, so we have managed to do without a water pump. Gravity works well until the tank is below a third full, then the pressure seems to drop off and watering takes twice as long. So far the tank has been big enough.
Natural rainfall always gives our plants a big boost in growth.
Grey water is typically waste water from the bathroom, kitchen and laundry.
We looked into using grey water to supplement watering the garden. However, grey water is not suitable for use on vegetable beds, fruit trees or herbs. Grevillas and a large majority of other Australian natives are not tolerant of the levels of phosphorous in grey water.
At the moment, we currently have a grey water hose that attaches the end of the washing machine, and we direct this waste water on to our grassy areas. It’s been effective at keeping our lawn alive in between rainy days, and our grass seems to stay greener longer then our neighbours’.
It was a refreshing change to have several days of rain last week. Brisbane has been on water restrictions, which were lifted slightly in April. Most people I spoke to wanted the restrictions to stay for a little while longer, because at that stage the dams were only half full. Now the dams are reaching three quarters full – I wonder when the drought will be officially declared over?
Big M dutifully tracks the rainfall in a gauge he got for Christmas. It’s not unusual for our garden to not receive a drop of rainfall for six weeks at a stretch.
We started this year on a target of 170 litres of mains water per person per day, and now the government has relaxed the target a little to 200 litres. We were pleased to discover that our water consumption is half the average target.
The hose pipe ban has also been lifted. We’re now able to use mains water on alternate days to water the garden, wash the car and general outdoor cleaning. My relatives in Toowoomba were on even stricter restrictions. They have been using buckets to water their garden, and complaining of “level 5 shoulder injuries”.
Paul McCartney has launched “Meat-Free Mondays” to help cut carbon emissions. The livestock industy is responsible for about 18% of global greenhouse gases. The aim to cut back on our meat consumption is more likely to be achievable than encouraging everyone to turn vegetarian.
Good quality organic meat is a luxury, so perhaps we should be aiming for quality rather than quantity. Here’s two quotes from Italian cooks:
“Years ago in my village, meat was not consumed very often as we were by the sea and fish would obviously cost a lot less…… If we have to reduce our weekly intake of meat to be able to afford the best [organic], then so bet it.”
- Gennaro Contaldo
“Traditionally, vegetables were cooked more often in a Sicilian kitchen than was meat. Meat was expensive and so it was saved for special occasions and celebrations.”
- Rosa Mitchell
We’re been trying to eat vegetarian at least once a day. Please leave your suggestions for any vegetarian recipes that you have tried and would recommend.
The grey clouds this week reminded me of England. We had a good break from watering the garden. Southeast Queensland’s dams are now three-quarters full for the first time in seven years.
However, all of our eggplants split. The seedlings I prepared a little while ago are mostly all at the two leaf stage. Our native Finger Lime is flowering, and our dwarf avocado is budding. The beans are back!
We had our very first baby cabbage last night. A caterpillar had attacked the green outer leaves, so Big M decided it was time to ‘rescue’ it. It had a milder flavour to the usual ones.
We were busy doing non-gardening things this weekend.
LSA stands for linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds. Linseeds are also known as flaxseeds. It’s better to grind these up yourself fresh using a coffee bean grinder or a mortar and pestle. If you do buy them pre-ground from the shop, make sure they were stored in the fridge. When you get them home put them in an air-tight container and keep in the fridge for up to a month. They are packed full of fibre, calcium, essential fatty acids, protein and minerals.
1 Tbsp LSA
1 Tbsp hazelnut meal
1 Tbsp honey
1 small punnet of strawberries
Hull and quarter the strawberries.
Add the LSA and hazelnut meal, stirring to mix.
Add the honey and stir well to serve straight away.
Posted by littlem 
A recipe from the archives of Gustoso is featured in the 
Posted by littlem 
Posted by littlem 
