Busy Weekend

Compost - turned on Day 12 (Sunday).

On Saturday, windy, mild and sunny I was pretty busy so limited myself to watering as much as possible.  Added nitrogen to all the back plants (nettle juice).  Compost was pretty cool, was only getting to 25C, seemed 'wet'.

On Sunday I spent much of the day collecting up carboniferous material in the yard, mixed up about 50/50 by volume with pigface I trimmed back off the gravel path.  Cut everything small.  Used four droppers and some chicken wire to put up a frame to contain the spread of the heap as I think that was a problem.  Used 3L of nitrous to boost temp when I turned it into the frame, layering the above materials.  On top I loaded it up with my compost heap from April (120L) and about 20L of an old weed compost that's been collecting for a year.  Still undersize but we'll see if that boosts temperature a bit.

In the yard I transferred 3 more plants from 4" to 6" pots, freeing up more of the smaller pots to take cuttings and seedlings as they become ready.

Experiments, besides the compost, included setting up a 'proof of concept' with three large (72L) planter boxes with siphons as a step to using hydrolics to move water around the garden rather than muscles.  Pleased with results so far, I could imagine water points around the yard and even moving grey water from the bathroom with siphon systems.

Another trial was to use a plastic milk carton to construct a handled, shielded planting pot.  Idea seems to work.  Which is nice, as plastic milk cartons are probably the most bulky part of our recycled materials and this might extend their use a year or two before putting them in the yellow bin.

This morning I went to a neighbor's to pick up a couple boxes of chicken manure (fairly fresh) to fire up my compost heap on its next turning, can use sawdust/newspaper/etc to add carbon if it gets too hot.

Also put up another (lower) wind 'baffle' on west face of central vegie bed as some of the herbs are suffering from wind effect.  Will have to get a more long term solution in place as the wall is not the most stable and would crush a foot or an animal if they tipped it.