Monday 21 September 2015

A Seed Raising Tip and Some Upcycling in the Garden

The blog posts are a bit infrequent at the moment as I find myself settling into making the same things that I have already posted about. That's a good thing - it means that those things have become habits that I can sustain.
Last week I whipped up a batch of dog food, using up some items from the pantry and fridge that were past their best. I described my process for ecofriendly dogfood here, but I have yet to get the cat to eat anything that doesn't come with too much packaging.

Batch of dog food


but he's gorgeous, my old Cinderpuss

Acting like a kitten


I've been out in the garden too. My seedlings have just taken off - I think thanks to a tip I read from Lynda Hallinan who experimented with seed raising techniques and discovered that those that did best were the ones watered with warm water. Good enough for me, and I would have to agree - best ever growth.
Those are all recycled pots and tags -I haven't had to buy any plants this year.


In fact so good that my courgettes and cucumbers are of a size ready to plant out, but the weather is still a bit cool here. Today I fossicked around (as gardeners do) to find materials to make protective tents for those plants. I came up with these old beehive boxes, which are just perfect. One has a plastic lid that we found in the mangroves, the other I have stapled recycled plastic to.



I'm feeling more confident about the survival of my plants  - although you can spot some Quash (eco friendly) snail and slug bait in there. Quash is an iron compound, beneficial to plants but toxic to slugs and snails. However our personal tally from wandering about at night with torches and boiling water, is now over 3,000 slugs and snails. 
Lastly, a shot of our lime tree which is just thriving. It gets mulched with seaweed and lawn clippings, fed with citrus fertilizer 3 -4 times/ year.

The Tahitian lime tree - covered in blossom, little fruit and ready to pick fruit


Thanks for visiting

6 comments:

  1. The dog food looks good enough to eat!
    I bought a Tahitian Lime tree on Sunday at the markets, after having to pay $2 each for Limes recently, I decided to fight back and grow my own! Yours looks very healthy.

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    1. Yeah, but it smells like dogfood lol. However the dog loves it. The lime tree got repositioned after it failed to thrive in a previous position, so we are so pleased with it. It is right next to an avocado tree - a good liaison I feel, especially after picking!

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  2. Two dollars for a lime? Yikes! That's a lot.
    Your plants look healthy and happy. Lovely not to have to buy any and have your own. This is y first season trying to garden in South Carolina in the heat and humidity and it has been a failure so far. We bought organic soil to make one raised bed and whatever we plant comes up, grows for two weeks and then one by one, the plants just disappear. It's disheartening and we are beginning to suspect the soil.
    I love the photo of your black kitty in a box!

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    1. Ooh, that sounds frustrating with the disappearing plants. You need timelapse webcam haha. I would be suspecting critters if that was here.

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  3. Cats are so finicky but I have found my dogs preferred homemade food over commercial brands. It's fun to watch and get ideas from you on how to extend the season in the garden. It gives me time to plan using inspiration from you while my gardens rest for winter.

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    1. That's the nice thing about blogs from the other side of the world - I always hope I will remember those ideas come time to use them!

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