Water useage I

Tanks are now effectively empty.  By 'effectively' I mean that the three IBC's were run dry and I have disconnected them in order to undertake some gluing and refinement of plumbing connections as a result of experience over the past nine months.  One of them has collected about 50l in from the western catchment of rear shed which was collected while disconnected.  The 2Kl tank still has about 300l of water in the bottom.  I would have wasted about 600-800l.  It is 49 Days since all tanks were full.  10mm rain in that time (would have only caught 30l on eastern catchment of shed due the light rains mainly being diverted by my first flush diversion system on that (pine needled) side).

Doing the numbers, that means I have effectively used 3900-4100 litres in 49 days of 22.12C Avg Temp (23 days over 30C, 9 days over 35C, 1 day over 40C). 

I have therefore pulled slightly more than 80l per day from my rear shed tank system.  I have in addition used water from the two 1Kl side tanks off the house, and about 1Kl of tap water (in one event, charging the vine/lime tree planting before xmas).

Projects

Water - collection, storage, syphon distribution, watering cans, ollas and groundcovers, wind, soil

Soil - compost, clay, pottery, amendments, roots and life, mulch, seedlings, soilblocks, hydration

Propogation - cuttings, seeds and seedlings, treelings, divisions, Growbags

Structures, shadehouses, greenhouse, paths,

Plantings - trees, vines, lawn

Projects - 

    Underway - soil blocks, seedling trays, green house, shade house(s), grow bags.

    Ongoing - syphon system, compost collection, garden beds, compost and mulch beds, ground covers.

    Projected - lucerne plantings, seed bombs,vine posts and rails, path renewal.

[Written 13 November 2021, (growbags added since)]

Make the most of it!

I'm a bit of a lazy gardener, though there's a lot going on upstairs at least some of the time.  So, it behooves me when I have the occasional active phase outside that I make the most of it.  Both the time I have active, and the thoughts I had when I wasn't.  Both are resources.

And when the seasons throw you a curve ball, be it a prolonged dry spell, harsh wind, torrential rain, deadly heat, cold snap or hard frost (and often several at once) it's important to make the most of it.  Observations of extremes sometimes clarifies things massively, leading to experiential applications rather than just theoretical imaginings.  And, of course, there are the opportunities that a crisis inevitably throws up.  Nature in extreme is nature in excess - the question is how to harness and harvest this.  Extremes define the limits (edges), reframing for a new perspective.

Edges. Stacking. Zones. Sectors. Design factors all.  Use them to make the most of it.

Iterative processes, nature's heuristic, integration of self with the landscape.  Insight. Make the most of it.

*

So what brings this philosophical excursion from the realms of silence (the number of 'draft' posts I have collected, however, is starting to mount up)?  You could probably guess - an 'extreme'.  In this case, the relatively benign one of possibly the wettest November since written records were kept here (1897, five years after our house was built).  It's gonna be a close run thing, but even if it turns out to fall (just) short of the arbitrary record set in 1952 it is certainly a highly unusual situation in the context of this place and time.  The farmers hate it (they're trying to get the harvest in during the dry moments), but I have come to the realisation that these 'unseasonal rains' are providing me a brilliant opportunity.

The (expanded) water tank and distribution system is fully charged (and with doable plans to increase the  utility of distribution - freeing up time in the summer ahead to get a start on next autumn and winter before they bring new surprises.

The ground is as hydrated as it's been, with prepared beds (composted and mulched) ready for plantings. New techniques and technologies in play, perennials increasingly in place.

[post originally written on 24 Nov, 2021)

What Was and What Will Be

 If you've been following my blog at all you'd be up to date on the weather in the Mid North.  It was a wet year, relative to the previous two.  Annual rainfall ALMOST got to 500mm (499.6, in fact), more than the the previous two put together.  Last summer was 'mild', once we got past xmas, and this summer is looking like going the same way.  Though, lest we get too excited, the Bureau of Meteorology says that last year was the fourth hottest on record and the present 'mild' conditions are a result of an El Nina climate event.  Bottom line, take advantage of the present conditions but keep preparing for the increasingly hot dry climate of the future.

Earth -  My previous compost and other soil amendments (gypsum, manure, straw and other mulches) have had some effect, but it's a slow process.  I've almost completed my Compost Heap the Third, and it is looking a lot more like it should than the previous two attempts.  I've brought in a load of 'healthy' soil to add to it when I scatter it around.  I've mulched around all my present beds with inches of pea straw in an effort to moderate the harsh effects of the sun.  I'm getting ready to plant out a few of my old beds once the compost is ready, a bit of like a doomsday clock for my procrastination / patience.

Air - Wind hasn't been such an issue over the past year, maximum wind speed was 'only' 75kph.  Still dessicating even in a wet year, but my previous wind break strategies appear to have worked okay.  I am factoring it into bed design and plant selection strategy and try to make all garden structures (of which there are a few) sturdy against it.

Fire - Sunlight has been my main issue again this summer.  I have tried to moderate its harsh impact by utilising partial shade of effect of existing trees, mulching heavily and using ground creepers to keep soil temperatures down (I measured soil temp at 70C on exposed soil last summer on a 40C day), laying out shade cloth over beds on the hotter days and, most recently, building an experimental shade tunnel - which appears to have worked quite well (and withstood 50km winds).  I have begun work towards using trellis structures to shelter north and southern faces of the house against the summer sun whilst still collecting heat in winter, as well as around some of the pathways near the house.  This combined with my planned network of shade tunnels for the garden beds should go a fair way towards preventing solar devastation over the next few years at least.

Water - Capture, retention and use of water has been my main focus this past year.  I think I now know what I'll be doing in the coming year to maximise the value I'll extract from every drop of water that falls on this property.  There's a lot of small and not so small projects underway so I'll give them a separate post, merely listing them here.  My main problem is what to do about controlling the excess during heavy rain events. (I've got some ideas but they need refinement).  My main projects include - use of Olla's and 'drip containers', expansion of siphon distribution, expansion and adaptiblility of rain water tanks, increasing water retention in the soil, eventual semi-automation of the system.

Wood - tree and vegetable propogation advances, planting out of perrenials, utilisation of existing and new structures to add vertical elements to the yard.

That's enough for this lengthy post.  Except to say that it's been an interesting year, the youtube revolution has accelerated in the garden sphere, and I'm looking forward to having another good year out here.

I hope you do too.

Spring Weather Report 2020

 145.4mm rain total.

September  45.8mm falling on ten days.
October      87.2mm over nine days.
November  12.4mm over seven days.

Wind: Nothing over 50kph, and only one day with that.
Minimum temperature: one day below at 0C (in September)

Maximum temperatures: 42.4C (Nov 27)
September: seven days over 25C.
October: five days over 30C.
November: sixteen days over 30C, of  which twelve over 35C and two over 40C.

Relative Humditity:
September average 68 (min 14.5).
October average 69 (min 14).
November average 50 (min 4.7, four below 10%).

First heatwave of summer came at the end of spring.

Permaculture Design Series Videos!

You may recall that in the past I got rather upset at the legalistic commercialised behemoth some of the old Permaculture institutions seem to be turning into.  It was very disheartening.  So, I was very pleased to find another set of Mollison lectures on Youtube, this time hopefully safe from being copyright infringed.  I have added a link to the playlist in my blogroll.

 Credit should go to Networks Productions for releasing the videos into the infosphere.  Cheers!

Winter Weather Report 2020

88 mm rain total (306.8 mm yearly total to end of August).

June    31mm falling on nine days.
July     12mm over ten days.
Augsut 51mm over fifteen days (max 6mm).

Heaviest rainfall in a day was 11.6 mm on 21 June.
Wind: no major wind, one day in June it gusted up to mid 50km/h.

Maximum Temperature 23.3C

Minimum temperature: -2.3C

June:     3 days below freezing
July:      4 day below.
August  1 day below.

Relative Humiditity: 81%, 85%, 84%.

Autumn weather report

108 mm rain total (213mm yearly total to end of May)

March  10mm falling on four days.
April    64mm over eight days (max 13mm).
May     34mm over eleven days (max 6mm).

Wind: no major wind, one day gust maxed at 60km.
Minimum temperature: 2.3C

Maximum temperature: 35.4C
March: seven days over 30C.
April:   eight days over 25C, max 29C.
May:    five days over 20C, max 23C.

Relative Humiditity: 52%, 71%, 75%.

We surpassed last year's rainfall total of 181mm on the first day of May.  In 2018 we had a total rainfall of 189mm.  We surpassed that on 20 May.

So, good conditions for gardening through autumn.  Farmers got there crops in around the regular dates (around the beginning of May, some earlier and some later).  Countryside is greening up beautifully and water catchments are full.

Puttering

Well, all those people who doubted our sanity choosing a low impact, low cost 'lifestyle' in the country are now possibly wishing they had done so too.  Tiny apartments (with a 'view' if you're lucky) or the biggest house possible on the subdivided block, urban infill taking away the parks, centralised shopping districts that you need a car to get to.  Le sigh.

As for me, I awoke around sunrise this morning with my limited list of things to do in the yard before I head out to fulfill my caring responsibilities for the next couple days.  Water everything (a few days next week in the mid 30C's) check on all the new plantings (another set of daisies and herbs out the back door, bulbs starting to pop up everywhere, vegie transplants and seedlings, zillions of potted plants, new potato patch).  Still need to turn my compost-heap-the-third.  Feed the birds.  Feed the turtle.  Admire the wood I've started stacking away for winter in the woodshed.

Life is good.  Keep smiling.  Enjoy the day.

Tagari Update

You may recall that back in December I wrote to Tagari publishing, asking about their motive for closing down some youtube videos of a Permaculture Design Course from Melbourne Uni that was made a few years ago.

I got a response, which in itself was pleasant.  Basically, they said they can't be responsible for the world not always reaching up to my expectations (I'd said I'd thought that PC was about more than eliminating all competition - afterall my watching the videos was leading me towards paying for a PDC irl, so we'd all gain by their loss - but that I couldn't think of another relevant motivation for what appeared to be 'cornering' behaviour (to use marketingspeak)).  Which is true, as far as it goes.  The answer was a pithy little number, with a subtext of cuting me down to size with its wit (or maybe the author is just a witty person).  So, after I'd absorbed the lesson and seeing Tagari's behaviour as the epitomy of its own truth, I fired back a response saying how disappointed I was in them.  lol

And in my reactive spitefulness decided not to go to a PDC that was being held at a not too far distant working PC farm which I'd first went to in about 1990 just after it'd started up (back when PC was a movement that seemed to be full of idealists).  Which was lucky because the large amount of money this would have cost turned out to be necessary for more immediate needs in the months following.

The PDC was scheduled to start in less than a month from now.  So it would have been cancelled out by the Koalavirus.  And if I had paid for my spot, I would have been loathe to ask for my money back as the conveners probably rely on such payments, and waited the requisite time before attending at some time in post-covid reality.  And would have felt guilty if I'd asked for my money back, but as it would have been my last likely available capital for many months I would have likely done so.

So ironically, I can say Tagari saved me either a small fortune or a lot of grief with their small mindedness.  Which is kinda nice.  So far I've resisted the urge to email them and say thankyou.

Lucky the spirit of Bill is bigger than all of that, so I've continued my own adventures on the path.  More on that later...

Belated Anniversary in a time of plague

It's been a bit over a year since I started this little online garden journal so I thought I'd better mark the occasion.  Late is better than never.  Especially in this time of plague.

In times like this I feel doubly sorry for the untold millions who live in tiny apartments without easy access to green and clean.  Life must be tough in the concrete jungle at present, where 'home' must be getting close to 'cell' (think 'prison cell') for millions / billions around the world.  It makes me really appreciate the small patch of paradise I live in, the multitude of tiny freedoms that I enjoy, the opportunities for growth and development with which I'm surrounded in these difficult days.

I'm writing this partly because it's still a bit wet and cool outside.  I have a few tasks for the day to keep up with my longer term goal of greening my block.  Key for the day will be sorting out the outflow from my latest rainwater tank addition (a repurposed agricultural chemical container that holds about 1100 litres), turning my latest hot compost heap, planting out a few more of my potted shrubs (the survivors from my experiements with taking cuttings last year), transplanting a few seedlings of what will hopefully be some winter vegies.  If I feel really active, I've got some other potted plants that I've accumulated to repot and a fair bit of organising to do in the shed (which has become overcrowded and run down over the past few months as I've only gone in and out of it to get what I need).  The idea is to free up workspace for a few 'construction tasks' that I'd love to do - such as build a workbench so I can build some decent infrastructure for the yard.  That should keep me busy for a while.

As the social isolation has become our new 'norm' I've had a bit more time on my hands.  I did do a few shifts at a nearby vineyard, out on a tractor through the night towing a 'chaser bin' alongside mechanical harvesters, and have stepped up my support efforts for my ageing parents (spending a night or two a week with my father, who lives a couple hours away), but these 'jobs' have not filled in all of the 'spare' time created by cancellation of meetings, organising and running the various community organisations and functions with which I'm involved.  This has left me lots of time to concentrate on our block and get my hands dirty.

I might even find some time to blog about what's been happening.  Which would be nice.

Stay safe.

Summer Weather Report

111.8 mm rain total.

December  5.8mm falling on two days.
January      23mm over six days.
February    83mm over four days (78mm falling in one night).

Wind: only a couple days in January where wind gusts pushed into 70kmh.
Minimum temperature: 6.9C

Maximum temperatures: 46.1C
December: twenty days over 30C, ten of which over 40C (two spells, five and four days).
January:     twelve days over 30C, four of which over 40C.
February:   eleven days over 30C, none over 40C.

Relative Humditity:
December average 41.3 (min 5.5, 11 below 10%)
January average 50 (min 4.5, five below 10%)
February average 62 (none below 10%)

Farmonline rain data is collected within 100m of our home, so will continue to use it.

After a hot dry spring, summer began the same way.  The intense heat waves (multiple days over 40) combined with wind and dry spells.  This weather created serious fire conditions.  We did not suffer locally from this, but the rest of the continent did.  This type of weather only broke properly on the first day of February, with the heaviest rain in a few hour period for home that's been recorded.  The towns in immediate vicinity had similar experience, but rest of state was less than half the rain we got that day (still very helpful to them).  The milder weather we've had since has been wonderful.

The heat events arose due a long patch of time where air over centre of continent didn't get shifted and just kept heating up.  This was apparently a result of Indian Ocean Dipole and Southern Ocean Ocellation events.  Long term climate changes made the result hotter and drier but didn't drive it per se (or so I'm told).  The heavy rain even came about when the monsoon turned 'on', sweeping the rain we got from North Queensland through the centre and to here (not seen this before).  That combined with Indian Ocean Dipole 'flipping' and the Southern Oscillation returning to 'normal', all in the space of about two or three days.  Was quite weird how it happened.  I watched it all on weather radars over that period.  New something was going to happen, didn't think it would a river forming across our street!  We weren't flooded, but was a close thing for a few of our neighbors.

Tagari?

I wasn't going to be posting again today but, sadly, feel a little need to vent.  This came about as I decided to get back to my occasional visit to a Permaculture lecture series delivered by Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton at Melbourne Uni from a few years ago.  It was really cool, having discovered this, as it allowed me virtual access to the permaculture design course, at least for a 'taste'.  The videos had been up for several years on youtube.  They'd only garnered 2-3000 views, so I was pleased to have found them.

Imagine my surprise when I went back to learn a bit more about 'housing' from Bill Mollison to find that the videos had been taken down and the account deleted, apparently after a copyright claim by Tagari Publishing (the publication company founded by Bill Mollison and David Homgren (has sold his part, taken up by Lawton I believe) years and years ago).

Something in me had always seen 'permaculture' as a fantastic means by which hippies were changing the world.  I have become a little more cynical seeing all the people piling on the bandwagon, more cynical seeing the prices they charge, sceptical at the value of much of what is offered when you look at the almost 'pyramid sales' structure that lies behind it.  I'd thought Tagari and friends stood for something other than that, that the rather iconoclastic spirit of Bill would still be wafting around.

Seeing that Tagari has joined up with the lawyers has disappointed me.  They might, I suppose, have their reasons.  I've written them to find out.  I hope they send me back a response to which I'll go 'Aha, of course!'.  I really hope so...

Or maybe I'd be better putting my faith in the frog (see below)?

Amphibian friend, bringer of hope.

I am currently in the middle of a three day project of using a sprinkler for a couple hours at night to soak the backdoor garden beds, building a 'bank' of subsurface moisture for them to draw on in the approaching heat wave.  Sadly, I'm using tap water for this, but needs must at present.  I think this approach will lead to less watering in the coming weeks and better plant health.

Be that as it may (more on the subject of water and watering to come), I went outside just now to check progress (for my two hour session I'll check it at least twice as it can be a bummer if an old hose connection gives away or there's a significant change in water pressure and you only find out at the end).  While down on my haunches watching the pattern of spray distribution I noticed something near my feet.  Upon examination it turns out to be a frog!

I don't see frogs around here, there's nowhere for them to live and just about everything that eats meat has them at the top of the menu.  I occasionally here some at a reed bed in a watercourse soakage point about 500m away, but that's it.  And we don't have toads either (that I've seen or heard of, anyways).

So it was a real pleasant surprise to have a frog hop past me on the back veranda.  I gave him a little pat while he made like a leaf and wished him well.  Hopefully he'll find a home amongst the shaded, cooler pot plants nearby and eat lots of mosquitoes.

I'm real excited, a frog means I must be doing something right in our yard in respect of water and evaporation strategy.  We are expecting four days of 40C and above coming our way this week, with high thirties for a couple days beforehand, starting tomorrow.  With wind.  Will be torrid.

I hope the frog gets through it.

Note:  I had a look on the living atlas and found it to be a 'common eastern froglet'.  Apparently it's common through its wide distribution, residing in bodies of standing water or flowing creeks.  Only open standing water around here is the turtle pond, and I'm sure Molly (our Long neck turtle, rescued after road injury by someone else a year ago) would enjoy sharing her abode with a frog - for about as long as it took her to hunt and devour said frog.  Very glad that I saw it!

Compost update

Day 13 Turned warm
Day 15 Turned mild
Day 17 (today) Still 'mild' so added a dozen handfulls of chook poo and a few light water sprays through the layering while I turned it in the morning.  By evening it was warming up again nicely - though I don't expect it to reach 'hot' as I'm hoping the straw will break down before then (still clearly identifiable, I think it was more a case of moisture than of nitrogen, though both relevant).  Recently learned that fresh chook poo is less nitrogenous than dried material.  Interesting.

I'll let the heap go through at least one, if not two more turnings before deciding whether I get it out before xmas or not.  Not ready at the moment.

Spring Weather Report

41mm rain total.

September  17.8mm falling on six days.
October        5.6mm over five days.
November  17.8mm over four days.

Wind: five days peaking over 50, two of which were over 60kmh.
Minimum temperature: one day below 0C (-1.4C in September)

Maximum temperatures: 42.8C
September: eight days over 25C, two of which over 30C.
October: ten days over 30C, five of which over 35C.
November: nine days over 30C, three over 35C, one over 40C.

Relative Humditity:
September average 60 (min 8.2, one below 10%)
October average 47 (min 5, five below 10%)
November average 51 (min, seven below 10%)

I've shifted my source of rain information to farmonline.com because it matches my personal experience much closer than the 'official' one.

I've added relative humidity to my reportable stats as it is one of the keys to evaporation.

It was a hotter, drier spring than the past three that I've lived here.

Evolutions

So, what else have I been doing besides obsessing about my hot compost experience?  Lots of things!  As with all things gardening, words can't really do it all justice (it's a fractal kind of experience I find) but I'll try and at least make a record.

This blog - trying to diversify.  Haven't got around to any pictures (it will no doubt make much more sense with a picture or two).  Haven't got around to index catagories ('labels'), which would make it possible to follow themed time patterns.  If I have the inclination, will get around to both of these things because they are very much value-adding to what I'm doing here.

Weather - I'll put up a 'Spring Summary' some time soon (it's calendrical summer here now).  But, in short, we had some rain this week, maybe 10 or so mil's (a bit less than half an inch) which is the most we've had since early august.  Had a few hot days during the past month, topping 40C on two or three days, and twice that above 35C.  Nights still cool, dropping to around 6-7C consistently.  Humidity generally very low, winds generally moderate and generally blowing.

Water - I'll use a separate section to describe where my watering experiments have led me to, here I'm more interested in capture and storage.  On the back shed I've linked both sides to our 2Kl (500gal) tank, using the overflow outlet to lead in the second side.  I'm doing this because funds are tight and we're not likely to get anywhere near filling the tank.  If we do, I'll unplug it and try and get a temporary capture point somehow.  If I'm not here when a downpour arrives I'm banking on my non-fixed pipes 'popping' under the pressure and letting the water out of the system that way (albeit uncontrolled).  I've acquired a 1Kl 'tote' which used to hold herbacide off of a farmer friend, well rinsed and hopefully pretty safe for my purposes.  It's got a metal base and cage around it, along with a tap system, so it should be pretty useful when I decide where to put it.  When it's connected we'll have nearly six kilolitres of tank water storage, which is starting to approach a useful capacity (though every little bit counts).

Wildlife - besides the run of lizards and birds and insects the most noticeable visitors have been three brown snakes spotted near the southern fence.  The biggest was about 3', the others about half that.  If I'd blinked at the wrong moment I wouldn't have seen them, so I suppose there's others that have been as well.  The good thing is that there's still plenty of little lizards everywhere so I don't think any of the brownies have settled in.  If you don't know, the brown snake is the world's second most venemous snake (inland taipan is tops of this ladder) so needs to be respected.  I definitely enjoyed watching them though, especially before they became aware of me.  I could do without it though...

Seedlings - I've got a few seed trays going, along with quite a variety of scrounged materials making do as seedling 'potlets'.  Probably a couple hundred 'pods', many with several seeds in them.  For once, most appear to be sprouting.

Cuttings - I'm winding this operation down for summer, have about a dozen still in the cutting area waiting to grow big enough for a pot of their own.

Potted plants - coming from various cuttings, seeds, offcuts, layerings, totalling close to a hundred herbs, bushes and shrubs (with a handful of trees) probably ready to go out into the garden at the moment, but most will wait till the end of summer so they don't just dry out and die in the heat (easier to manage climate when they're in pots at this stage of garden development).

Vegie beds - used almost all my first hot compost heap to build three back door beds and four others out the back section by the shed.  Put about 4" of compost down on all these beds.  Then mulched over with pea straw (except for one bed I've been using to experiment with water set up so I can see the soakage properties of my mix), thin if only seeds are put in the bed, progressively thicker for those beds with seedlings.  Planted half of these out with vegetables, will plant the other half out with seelings of similar types.  Plants include; climbing beans, dwarf beans, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, basil, carrots, lettuce, corn, rock melon, sunflowers, marigolds, basil, thyme, chamomile, borage, strawberries, snapdragons, dill.  Also got more sprouts on the way, with silverbeet and rocket to come.  Also chives and spring onions.  There must be others but I can't recall them now.

Note on vegie beds - when it was 40C the other day I went out to check a few soil temperatures.  By the back door the soil was over 50C where I'd done nothing with it.  It was in the low twenties under straw and compost, under 30C where just compost.  Out the back section it was all under 30C, with coolest spots under the silverbeet under the shade cloth.  All my sprouting seeds survived.

Irrigation set up - will get a post of its own as it is work in progress.  In short, syphon connected containers all leveled and working well.  Test run of drip system using salvaged polypipe seems to be working.  Will expand to cover several beds tomorrow.  The milk carton watering system is working to specification, though will be replaced eventually with dripfed irrigation.  I think it's a success.

Compost Heap the Second

I'm half way through producing my second batch of hot composted mulch.  Based on a couple fruit box of relatively fresh chook poo and three small bails of pea straw.  Bulked up both nitrogen and carbon content to make up for mass by adding a barrow load of pigface (succulent ground cover) and a few newspapers worth of screwed up wettened paper balls in alternating layers with straw through the middle of the heap.

So far, going well.  The first period was marked by very hot temperatures, up to just over 70C.  Heap was steaming away in the morning and damp on top in the 'vents'.  It got rained on late on Day 2, I covered with tarp on day 3, took the tarps off again for day 4, got dumped with more rain leading to day 5.  That led it to cool down (I presume).  So I restocked a bit of nitrogen into it and tried to get back onto schedule.

The combination of my increasing experience (and strength!) as well as the materials used (straw based as opposed to dried tangled ribbons of weeds and garden cuttings) mean it is simpler to turn, less tiresome and quicker.

Sun Dec 8     Day 11 Turn Hot
Fri  Dec 6      Day 9 Turn Hot
Thu Dec 4     Day 8 Turn Warm to hot
Mon Dec 2    Day 5 Cooled down so turned with addition of chook poo
Sun Dec 1     Day 4 Hotto very hot
Wed Dec 27  Start

Post Script completion of first hot compost heap

From an unpublished post:

This is Day 23 for my compost heap.  This morning I measured temperatures for first time since Day 18.  They were around 40C all around, with outliers of 35C and 45C.  The centre of the heap was 50C with one reading of 55C, some dry patches and not a great deal of recognisable anything.  Horse poo almost all gone, some husks of long leaf prunings, woody twigs etc (which I remove when I find them) and occasional still-clumped chicken poo.  I added three more shovels of chook poo to centre while turning it over and wet it down on the outside.  Around sunset temperatures were a pretty even 30-32C all around at probe depth.

I used two shovels of my compost around seven iris bulbs/plants I put in around the trellis rose near the house.  I didn't do much with the sandy soil, just enough to cover the top of the bulbs. I used the the compost to mulch between them, mainly as soil conditioner.  Certainly noticed the difference when I put some water on it, the way it was soaked up and held by the mulch.  The guy we got the bulbs from numbered all the plants he gave us, so we can identify any particular favourites in future.

On Day 24 I took some final temperatures.  They'd dropped to 30-35C.

By Day 25 the heap's temperature was down into the mid twenties, so I thought it was time to start putting it out into the garden. 

First time final turn

Today was Day 18 on the compost and I turned it this morning.  Temperatures were steady at 35C-40C at probe depth around the heap, outliers of 30C and 45C.  Centre of heap was about 50C, with a pocket at 55C.  One small pocket of dry, one sizeable thatch of straw.  Added one shovel of chicken poo over the straw in the new centre.  Recast the enclosure to using only two stakes and chicken wire.  Gave it an external spray after turning it.  In the evening, heap read a steady 35C at probe depth all around, so I guess it's still digesting.

On day 17 it had been reading 35C to 40C all around at probe depth, one reading of 45C.

I'll test it tomorrow, but won't likely use it until mid-late next week.  I think this is an almost success.  Will need to increase size of heap and use a higher proportion of nitrogen in the initial stage next time.  Combining this with my evolved enclosure should speed it up a bit, and if I don't soak it part way through (which brought temps down to 20C throughout) I reckon I'll have a good chance of getting a great heap out of it.  All in all, a successful experiment.

Regarding the siphon system: I put four of my container tanks around the rear yard, connected them all up with polypipe.  Unfortunately they vary in height a bit so I will have to do a bit of raising and leveling to maximise my storage.  Apart from that, I'm pretty happy with it as it simplifies and speeds up the watering (especially when combined with my plastic milk bottle and PVC pipe water dispersers).

A point of note regarding the containers - they hold 120L, not 72L like I previously thought.  So I've just added half a kilolitre to my water storage!

Tomorrow, I will try and sort out the siphon system depths and heights and then leave it for a week or two before anchoring the polypipe into safer, non trip hazard, formation.  Apart from that, my goal will be to sort out the garden as much as I can to cope with three hot days following when I'm not here.