Seedlings, good sites, slaters

Seedlings
It has been time to plant out the seedlings I raised, so today I made myself a couple of bean teepees.

My garden constructions are always organic looking - ie wonky. I call myself the WabiSabi Construction Company.

We are so lucky here having such a lot of resources nearby - horses over the fence for manure, beach nearby for seaweed, mangroves over the road where we harvest driftwood for art, fences, garden edges, and a stand of teatree for garden poles and great kindling for the fire. Plus a decent sized lawn - all clippings get used as mulch on the gardens.
We have rainwater tanks - although that resource needs careful management.

I have a great spot to raise seedlings - a covered outdoor area with doors that roll up when it is time to harden off plants.

Websites of interest

I came across this comment in Organic NZ -

Research by New Zealand Footprint Project attributes 56% of the country's resource use to the way food and beverages are produced, distributed and consumed, 23% to consumer goods, and far lower figures to travel, overseas holidays, household energy use and other activity.

"Reducing resource use through localizing food systems, using backyards and community owned land would be the most effective way to reduce the national ecological footprint" said scientist and project manager Ella Lawton.

The New Zealand Footprint site looks really interesting - and I had never heard of it before. 

Also there is a free digital library at soilandhealth.org mainly on holistic health, homesteading and agriculture.

Slaters

slaters

We've been seeing a lot of these lately, out at night - and I didn't know if they were good or bad for the garden, so went Googling and found a good site here.

It turns out that they are both good and bad, in that they break down compost material to help the soil - but they can also be responsible for eating plants (sigh). 

Management, not blitzing, is the answer - see the above site