Posts

Showing posts from March, 2018

Not that I know what I'm looking for...

Image
... because I've never grown in before, but I think my Saffron has started sprouting, cause these guys don't look like the other weeds?

Tech in gardening, fooling about with Google Android AR app 'JustALine'

Image
An interesting app was dropped this week and I loaded it up on my Pixel 2. I call it the virtual garden label system. You can call it JustALine ( https://justaline.withgoogle.com/ ). This app uses the phone to draw in the real world space. It’s just a demo so doesn't save it’s drawings but it could turn into something really useful. All my plant labels are fading so it would be nice to have a virtual record of everything. Great for mapping out the future of the garden too. With the data this thing collects, it shouldn't be too hard to generate a 3D map of the garden to run in a browser. While it doesn't save any AR data, t does save a short vid and I added some comments when I posted it on FB... If the drawing were persistent, you could mark where you grew stuff, where you buried stuff, what did you add to that bit of ground, pathways to find stuff, put labels everywhere without turning your garden into scribbled mess. You could leave detailed instructions t

Quicky Autumn harvest post this week

Image
Got a few apples this year. Granny’s were scorched by the heat but the Monties Surprise looks ok. Great tomato harvest and busy processing it all into sauce and eating lots of tomato/basil/parmesan toast for lunch. Capsicums finally fought off the caterpillars and got some fruit to the colour stage. All the grapes are scoffed and almost didn’t have any left for the photo.

Earthworks continued, or 'learn to eat sand'!

Image
New holes dug, and the filling in of old holes with fish heads, bamboo, and grapes. This is a sequel to my previous post ( click here ) A huge hole was dug out the back between two of the apple trees. The intention is to fill it with compost and eventually replace all the sand between the trees with nutrient rich soil.     My biggest problem now is what to do with the new sand dune sitting in the backyard. Have to  release those grains back into the wild. Still amazed at what is dug up out of the back yard. The hole dug at the foot of the back yard fence now has enough ‘fill’ in it to plant a grape given to me by an uncle. I’ve cleaned out the tiny strip of garden that ran along the side of the house and planted some bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii). Had to hire a breaker to knock down the short stone wall.    Turns out there are two types of bamboo, the invasive runner, and the less troublesome clumping type. With this clumping variety, I’m hoping to s

Seaweed selection

Image
We’ve just has a couple of storms blow through and while it was nice that the tomatoes weren’t blown off the stems, the big bonus is the seaweed washed up on the beach Thick and rubbery, this type gets thrown into the seaweed tea Soft fronds laid out under plants This stuff is old boot tough and gets buried for long term dividends.