Two at school

Yesterday was a big day in the wild backyard: the X-man started 'big school'. He's been keen to go to school five days a week ever since he started preschool (two days a week) last year, and now the time has finally arrived.



I suspect he'll be a little tired by the end of the week, but he has a lovely teacher & had a great first day :) He has lots of preschool friends in his class, and a big sister to see at lunchtime, so there were no first-day tears or nerves - just lots of excitement!

We've had a run of hot days, although not to the extreme experienced in some areas further south. Two of the capsicums got sunburnt - the plants are fine in the Earthbox, but the fruit not shaded by foliage has been badly damaged. I'm planning to include shade for the new wicking beds to avoid this sort of thing:



I've started reading up on composting worms, and how to look after them, as they'll be an integral part of the wicking beds. I came across a recommendation to start with 1000 worms per household member (so 4000 for us, divided between the two beds). For those with knowledge in this area - does that sound about right?

Still on the wicking beds, the husband came home with a container of Diggers Eco In-Ground Timber Protecta last week. According to the website:

Diggers Eco In-Ground Timber Protecta is the eco-friendly answer for consumers seeking a safer alternative to creosote and common timber treatments.

Diggers ‘Eco’ provides improved protection against moisture and deterioration on timber and masonry surfaces by providing a tough bitumen coating. This coating increases the life of building materials in outdoor, below ground applications by sealing toxins in and keeping moisture out.

Eco’s unique formulation is not classified as hazardous according to the criteria of the Australian Safety & Compensation Council. In December 2008, it was registered as a certified product for use on organic farms by the Biological Farmers Association (BFA). The BFA is the regulatory body for conformance with all leading organic standards around the world. The standard is viewed as one of the most respected and rigorous standards for organic production internationally.

The revised plan is to paint the inside of the timber around the wicking beds with this stuff, above the 'pool' (which is already lined), to seal in the CCA, rather than plastic-lining the whole thing.

Lee the gardener is back tomorrow morning, so there'll be another wicking bed update in the next few days.

And one last thing - I don't think I've introduced you to my Christmas present ...

Earthbox capsicums & wicking bed progress

Earthbox update

The three capsicum plants are all doing well - and they're all fruiting:



The plant on the left is producing two fairly large, standard-looking capsicums:



The centre plant has one fruit at the moment, and although it's a bit longer & thinner, it still looks pretty much like a standard capsicum:



The plant on the right - the tallest of the three - is producing something quite different:



And, of course, being the methodical gardener that I am (shut up - stop laughing!) I have no idea where the label from the punnet has gone. I think they were all supposed to be the same variety, but clearly they're not. Lucky I like surprises :)

Wicking beds

After much research & thinking & talking, the wicking beds are finally a happening thing.

Today we went from timber* & couch grass-infested dirt:



We laid weedmat (can't pull out all the grass, can't nuke it, so we're going to try smothering it - or at least excluding it from the growing media), and started building (the husband & Lee the Gardener - who provided most of the labour - with the X-man as apprentice looking on). We've used coachbolts to hold it all together, and a decent drill & rattle gun made the process reasonably fast and painless.



Once the bottom sleeper course was together, the 200um plastic liner went in, followed by the ag pipe & coarse sand:



We found the end cap & the 90 degree joining piece for the pipe didn't fit properly, so we'll need to do a little digging in the sand to put the proper ones in before the soil goes on top (the kids are already convinced it's a sand pit!), but in the meantime we put together the rest of the bed walls:



And we made a start on the second bed:



I'm pretty happy with how it's all coming together.

* Yes, it's CCA (copper chromium arsenate)-treated pine. While it wasn't top of my list of materials, due to a lack of conclusive studies about arsenic leaching, we decided to use it because of durability, ease of use, availability & cost factors. The 'pool' section at the bottom is completely lined, and we're going to also staple heavy-guage plastic around the inside of the rest of the box, and drill drainage holes just above the top of the 'pool', inclined down towards the outside, so any overflow will run straight out. This fact sheet has more information, and the results of a chemical review by the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority is here. The plastic lining is recommended in both documents, and there's also evidence that any arsenic leaching is restricted to about 150mm immediately next to the timber. Root vegetables within this distance were found to have slightly raised arsenic levels, most of which was within the skin & was removed with peeling. Above ground vegetables showed no increased level (and that's without any barrier lining).