Here's the link: http://mashable.com/2015/02/24/flow-hive-invention/
Father and son duo Stuart and Cedar Anderson have created a contraption that allows for honey on tap straight from the backyard hive. It is a bit expensive and costs $600 for a complete Flow Hive, which comes with everything you need other than the actual bees. .
Here's the link: http://mashable.com/2015/02/24/flow-hive-invention/
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Remember that we talked about mushroom compost containing salt? That is exactly how to kill citrus trees. Mushroom compost looks great like real dark soil, but it is true that it contains a lot of salt.
I always wondered why my citrus trees died or at least not thrived: it was the mushroom compost. And citrus does not like salt (apart from a small dose of epsom salts every now and then). I have a source of cheap mulch material. The company is called hay direct. He sells feed grade hay and lucerne too. He comes fortnightly into the mountains and I paid $60 for a big round bale, but it was not lucerne (don't ask me, a grass I never heard of). If you don't mind moldy stuff you can even get it cheaper.
I want to fill the fruit gap from late winter to spring. Besides loquats there are strawberries which started to ripen this week, two weeks after the loquats. I don't know which variety it was. Who knows which is the very earliest strawberry variety?
Yes, I have planted loquat trees in Katoomba and two weeks ago, I really harvested six fruits from a tree half a meter high. The taste was so so. Due to the wet weather some were split open. I bought the tree from daley's, the variety is Nagasakiwase.
I am interested in getting fresh fruit as early as possible in the year and loquats seems to fill a bit of the gap. According to Glowinskis (THE fruit book for Australia) there are earlier loquat varieties: Herd' Mammoth, which seems to be a vigurous tree which crops heavily, Tanaka which is a very early season variety but the taste is bland, Whittens and Swells Prolific which has a good taste. I did not find any of these varieties for sale. And I don't know either weather the flowers of these early varieties would be killed by frost or weather these varieties are suitable for the mountains at all. Does anyone here has more informations? Please comment! Hi all backyard farmers! Is anyone interested in keeping bees? I am just organizing the equipment for myself. It seems that packaged bees are available for around $70 and a Warre hive for around $ 150. Please let me know this week!
I think our first meeting was quite a success and there are some ideas for the following meetings. However, it was a huge mistake to not making an email list, so please, go on the contact page, drop me your email and maybe the phone number!!!
I too think that it is not such a great idea to put the minutes on the page, so I will send them around per mail - as soon as I have got the emails. The Community Garden is a great place to meet on a sunny day. Has anyone and idea were to meet on a rainy day? Input appreciated.
If you have ideas to share or want to write about your garden secrets here's the place.
Contact me please, write three lines about your garden, gardening experience and three words what you want to write about. At the moment I will add the posts manually, please convert your pictures into a web-friendly size. (Sorry, I am not a tech freak and can't help you here). I am lazy. I dragged the idea around for quite a while. But now I finally got around to organize a meeting place for people who want a bit more than a tiny salad patch behind the shed. Seriously backyard farming: sure is about growing your own vegetables, but how about some grains or honey or olives? Simply a bit more than the "organic gardener" magazine has to offer.
Last autumn I tried to dry amaranth heads on the lounge room floor given the size of our house there must be better ideas. I would like to grow oats, but what do I do once they are ripe? Sometimes I harvest seeds and it is way too much. Oh yes and we want to go into beekeeping and what about a community cow? Interested then come along on the 5th of October in the Community Garden Katoomba |