Morning fog

As the seasons change, sure enough comes the Huon fog. Lately there has been some signs of the Huon fog with it rolling around the Huon River as if it was alive. And bang. The other morning the fog rose and sat up to 150 m above sea level or even more. It was so thick you could not see 10 metres in front.

Below is a picture of the fog sitting on top of the Huon River.

Is newspaper toxic for your organic garden?

I have never given a great deal of thought before to using black and white newspapers in the veg patch having seen Peter Cundall and others use it before. However I am not so sure after reading another blog found here.

http://cityfoodgrowers.com.au/blog-latestposts.php?catid=104

interesting points are as follows:

What is the newspaper process?

Newspaper is made from paper which comes from wood. When the paper is created, chlorine is used to prepare the pulped wood so it can be made into paper and then bleach (made predominantly from chlorine) is used to dye the paper to a whiter level.

Newspaper ink was initially all based on petro-chemical substances and over the last 30 years, printers have moved towards more vegetable based inks, with soy being the most common ingredient. Soy based inks are predominantly derived from genetically modified soy crops.

Petro-chemical inks are highly toxic to the environment, whilst vegetable based inks are not so toxic and more biodegradable. Newspapers normally use a combination of petro-chemical and vegetable inks. The proportion of use may depend on how environmentally friendly the paper owner chooses to be as vegetable based inks are more expensive than petro-chemical inks.

The newspaper inks have pigments in them to create the print colour. The most common pigments are based on petro-chemical substances. These pigments combine with the ink to produce the black and colour print

What are the risks?

Each of the risks below impact the primary task of the successful organic gardener and that is to promote and protect life in the soil. Such impacts will lead to lower seed fertility, weaker plants, greater infestations of pests and diseases and lower life force in the plants which results in lower nutritional value and poorer taste:

Chlorine toxic impact:

1. Toxic breakdown – When chlorine dissipates after use, two of its by-products are dioxin and organo-chlorides and these substances do not break down easily, they bio-accumulate, which means that any chlorine left in the newspaper you use in your “organic” garden will leave these two toxic substances in very small quantities in the garden and the atmosphere around the garden. Dioxin is known as the most toxic chemical on earth.
2. Stops micro-organisms – Chlorine and bleach are incredibly effective at killing micro-organisms, just think how you may use bleach at home. In a compost heap or in your garden beds, one of your main tasks is to encourage the proliferation of life via micro-organisms, so anything you put into the garden to slow this down makes it more difficult to have healthy soil.

Ink toxic impact:

1. Heavy metals from petro-chemical ink – Its quite likely that the newspapers you use for your garden have a mixture of petro-chemical and soy based ink.  When released into the atmosphere, petro-chemicals can contaminate soil and groundwater. 
2. Support of GM products in soy ink – Usage of GM products is very contentious with the proponents believing it’s the saviour of our ailing food system and it has no adverse affects on the environment. If you don't support GM products and prefer to be more cautious with the avoiding the potential impacts of GM products residues in your soil, then avoid newspaper produced with GM soy ink

Pigment toxic impact:

1. Heavy metals in pigments – Common inorganic harmful substances used are Cadmium for yellow, Phthalocyanine for blue and with black ink; the carbon used for such inks is often produced with petro-chemical oils. 
2. Combination of ink and pigment – As indicated above, the potential for toxic substances in newspaper is very high, given the process of production. These substances, when combined together and whilst breaking down in your soil, may result in other harmful substances.

Seasonal change

Autumn is really starting to show is colour at the moment, Almost as soon as we experience another 38 degree day, this morning nudged a low 5 degrees with us also waking to some morning wintery fog lately. The tomato's which have been ripening continuously since January are now showing signs of exhaustion. The poplars and birch leaves are changing colours and the 25mm of rain we received on Saturday has brought some well needed moisture back to the soil. The ground is still dry deep down, however at this time of year we should be past most of the hot weather and this recent rain should see the onset of our wet winter and plentiful ground moisture.

The chickens have been in moult for the past month, with daily eggs which were nudging 10 a day now hitting between none to 2. And one chook  which I have never seen go broody, has decided to do so. As soon as I clean the chook shed and wheelbarrow the chicken poo out, the next day the pen is a mess of feathers.

The veg patch is now well and truly in transition from the summer to winter crops. The corn is being eaten at the moment however I have not been enamored by the flavour this year. They seem to be lacking in sweetness which might be a result of not getting enough water into the bed early on which meant delayed growth with the cobs not receiving enough sunlight to sweeten. I purchased some cobs of our local veggie man (Alex from Golden Valley Farms) who grew 360m of corn this year. His too were slower to ripen however he kept the water up and is now harvesting plenty of profits (I hope for him).

I have been very happy with a number of varieties of determinate tomatoes, but the only indeterminate to grow vigorously this year was Break O'Day. Rouge de marnmande ripened and tasted good, but the plants did not meet the same growth as the previous year. I put these indeterminates into a no dig bed this year and I am thinking this made root growth with the dry summer too difficult. Lesson learned.

Veggie gardening is all about lessons learned. Whether it is the snail/slug war in spring which can hammer your spring/summer seeds, the rain gods not being favourable. wildlife,  insect pests and diseases and timing of plantings, every season brings new experiences.

I have recently begun harvesting capsicums. The variety is Antohi Romanian and each plant has about 20 yellow capsicums which lately have started turning red. The watermelon has finally started producing melons. One plant in particular is a seed collector with some large melons already set and the vine having grown much more vigorously than the others.

All the winter vegetables are now in. This year I have Cabbage (Savoy and Spring Hero), Kale (Borecole and Red Russian), Broccoli (Arcadia and Marathon), Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Mizuba, Mibuba, Leeks, Kohl Rabi, Turnips (Hakurei - great eaten raw), english spinach, rocket, chicory, silverbeet, beetroot (bulls blood), carrot (merida), Collards, Lettuce, Spring Onions, cauliflower and I am sure I have missed more.

And once the french beans are completely exhausted, in will go the Garlic. The final transition to winter will be when the pumpkins, capsicums, chilis, corn and tomato are pulled and replaced by tic beans as a green manure to prep the soil for next spring/summers vegetables.

happy gardening - bring on winter

Pumpkin - buttercup

Tomato "Riesenstraube"

Peak Oil and Economic Contraction

Tomato Tomato and more tomato

It is the time of the year when there are too many tomatoes in the kitchen with the large quantities ripening on the vines. There is nothing better than your own tomato sauce, tomato passata or chutney's, all bottled for use over the next months. While I grow the vegetables, my wife Genevieve is the person who takes the produce and makes a variety of sauces etc to make use of all the produce that comes in at this time of year.

There are a million recipes available on the internet, but the following is one Genevieve used last season which was very tasty.

Ingredients (adjust to your quantity of toms)

• 6 kg toms rough chop
• 1kg onions rough chop
• 750 g sugar
• 2 cups white or cider vinegar
• 120 g cooking salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp white cloves
• 1 1/2 tbsp all spice berries
• 1/2 tbsp  cayenne pepper (can use ground spices but we like the extra zing)

Method

Bring all ingredients to boil, cook, stir regularly for 4 hours (simmering low). Strain through a sieve and return to saucepan. Bring to boil and cook for 5 mins.

Pour into bottles, seal and invert briefly.

Today's harvest

With the tomato harvest in full swing, here are some thoughts on the varieties I am growing:

Riesenstraube - outstanding, prolific at the moment with brilliant tasty cherry toms. Kids eating them like lollies and am yielding punnet loads full per day at the moment from 3 plants (interestingly a friend in Hobart has not had the same success however may be a case of tomato blight.)

Kotlas - starting ripening first week of Jan and have had constant picking with slight drop of in yields lately. A stayer and very early which backups up trial of 1 plant 2 summers ago (a very cool summer). Will be staying in future

Hill Billy - Good sized medium to large with a good yield and was the first of the large toms ready late Jan. Does not need heaps of staking so good solid variety.

Legend - As Steve Solom says the taste of this tom is "legendary". I love it on sandwiches, or to make sauce. Ripened mid February but cute moneymaker style tomato and compact bush so less maintenance but yields well.

Gold Nugget - tiny yellow cherry, good on pizzas and early to ripen. Not our favourite so only grow one plant.

Rouge de Marmande - So far growing not as vigorously as last year but the tomato they produce are nice and large.

Break O'day. - Has been the best grower so far of the indeterminates. Good medium sized rounds balls about the same flavour as Rouge.

Money maker. - Disappointed this year. Seemed to suffer from the very hot days which stunted them a bit.

Mamma Mia - Seem to be splitting around the top. Not handling the dry as well as last year.

Roma - Again not as large as last year but producing may toms.

Tomato - Riesenstraube

 

 

Summer has finished. So how hot was it?

The weather for February at my veg patch was as follows

 

February	2013	2012
Max Avg	25.7	25.2
Min Avg	10.3	11
Highest Max	38.1	39.1
Lowest Min	4	5.2
Rain	42.3mm	11.7mm
Avg Wind	4.3 km/h	3.3 km/hr

Feb certainly was warmer than last year and the average maximum was 26.2 with two days left. A cold front came through with the last two days 21 and 18.5 degrees celsius bringing down the average. Interesting was that the nights were cooler.

But as we all know it is hard to get a handle on the climate by looking at months on there own. In fact looking at Summer is not much better and comparing results over a decade or century would be preferable. However Cygnet has no official weather station.

This summer compared to the last is as follows:

Summer	2013	2012
Max Avg	24.1	24.1
Min Avg	9.7	10.3
Highest Max	40.6	39.1
Lowest Min	4	3.1
Rain	108mm	119.1mm
Avg Wind	5 km/h	3.8 km/hr
(Dec to Feb)

It seems that our average day time temps are on a par with the previous year as well as rainfall. What has been different is the windier conditions this summer.

My corn has not been as productive and quick and tall as last year, and with average day time temps on average the same, I wonder if the winds has something to do with it. I have watered the plants no differently. Another reason may have been the wetter spring the previous season providing more deeper soil moisture which seemed to dry out quicker this season. Many theories but it is interesting how every growing season is different. I have heard others describe their tomato season last year as dreadful yet they are going great guns this season. Others the opposite. Without detailed study we can only theorise the reasons.

Dave