I can proudly say that we survived the great heatwave of January 2014, only being a bit frayed at the edges! I hope we don’t see another one of those for a very long time. Chances are though, we will see more of this heat as summer is only half way through.
After yesterdays peak of 45.4°C (113.72°F), it has cooled right down to a comfortable mid 20’s (about 77F). We are having a very lazy day, enjoying the outdoors and surveying the damage.
We lost one hen, as mentioned in the previous post, a few apples that cooked on the tree, Scarlett runner beans, but guess what? That was it! The citrus trees have never looked so good, and loved the heat. There is a flush of new growth on all 8 citrus trees, so it just goes to show that one plant’s misery is another plant’s saviour. Four of these trees even started to flower again.
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| New growth on the Mandarin tree |
Our tomatoes, zucchini, capsicum, cucumbers, and chillies survived unscathed. The pumpkin vines are looking a bit worse for wear, but the main plants are intact with the already formed pumpkins still growing. I even picked two rather large cucumbers this morning!
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| Cucumber, less two I picked this morning. |
I also relearned that a thick layer of mulch of at least 5 cm (2 inches) stops rapid evaporation during these extreme conditions. I re-mulched all the garden beds on Monday night after the first hot day and found that each morning, before watering, the soil beneath was still moist. All beds only needed a light watering to keep the veggies happy. You cannot have enough mulch. Mulching is good.
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| Zucchini growing strong |
Speaking of chickens, thanks so much for all the comments you posted on the last post. I was really having a bad day, and welcomed the overwhelming support. You will be glad to hear, as I am, that all the remaining chooks are in good spirits and doing all their normal chooky antics.
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| The mulberry tree that kept them shaded. |
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| Edwina II and Poppy Chicken |
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| The girls checking to see if I have food. |
Over breakfast, Kim and I discussed our adaptation plans now that these temperatures are becoming more common place due to climate chaos.
I never thought I would have to say it, but my thinking has now moved from prevention to adaptation. The climate express train shows no sign of abating, with very little global action from the big greenhouse gas emitting countries. I will still be energetically promoting Green Quick Tips to the masses, and reminding folk how to cut their emissions at home via this blog, all the while saving lots of cash. However, that is more longer term, and does not solve our heat induced issues.
So what is a bloke to do, but to adapt. We are going to call in some experts to review our home to see if we can insulate the roof better, and see if there is anything else we can do to make it more comfortable all year around. We already practice passive heating and cooling, and cover the north facing (southern hemisphere) windows with awnings to prevent light and heat entering the house. If there is a cool breeze at night, we open up all the windows and doors to release the trapped heat.
We are going to get super serious and spend a bit of money on this. Because you know what the alternative is? Move further south. To Tasmania.
Although I love Tassie to bits, and many folk are a lot greener down there, I have thrown a fair bit of money in this place and I love the community we have built around it. It has taken a lot of work and social investment to get to where we are. Our town needs our help, even though many probably don’t know that yet.
So our decision was kind of made for us. We know where we have to be. We are staying put, and adapting in place, here in Melton West.
I will let you know how this plan progresses as we do more research and results come to hand.
Glad you survived this heat wave, sorry to hear you lost a chook its so hard keeping all the animals cool. I love that mulberry tree. After a heat wave like that we seem to go over different ways to keep the house cool. I have no idea what to do with mine, all week no body slept in their bedroom as the bedrooms are upstairs, and it was like a sauna up there. I slept like a baby last night as it was the first night I got to sleep back in my bed.
I notice you have your cucumbers growing upwards, what a great idea I might try this as I lose my cucumbers each year.
Your gardens are beautifully mulched its reminded me I think I need some more. Do you use pea straw or sugarcane mulch.
Hi Sharon. The mulberry tree was planned. I knew that in summer it would provide them with shade and some fallen fruit, and winter it would let in the sun when it drops its leaves.
The cucumbers grow very well like this. I only wish I had made it higher.
I have tried both types of mulch and I am leaning towards pea straw for two reasons. When it rots down, it provides nitrogen to the soil instead of drawing from it, and secondly it mats together unlike sugarcan mulch which blows away easily.
Gav x
So pea straw for the Christmas gift was a good choice, huh.
Brilliant choice my friend!
I can probably put a few numbers to it!
Last hot day I had before the warm week (40.5 C), I took a few readings and found that the coolest places were in the mulch under the sweetcorn @ 20.4 C and in the mulch under some small bushes that are under an oak tree @ 22.1 C
Compare this to soil under mulch with sun on it @ 41.6 C
wet soil with mulch in the sun 35.4 C
and soil with no mulch 64.8 C
so that extra layer of cover and evaporating moisture made a big difference.
I mulch with a mixture of aged clover hay and pea straw and some bulky twiggy garden prunings sprinkled in pea straw as a shade canopy, nine days over 42 C for me and the only casualty is a sick strawberry plant where the dripper malfunctioned and waterlogged it! everything else is powering along.
Steve from the sticks.
That is amazing Steve! Great statistics that prove unequivocally that mulching is a worthwhile activity in the garden.
Can I use the stats in a blog post?
Gav
Sure Gav, do what you like with them, I will see if I can dig up a photo for you. However if the goal is roots under 35 C then mulch is not enough on its own. the dappled light and slight moisture gives it that extra margin.
For me the big lesson has been the radiation, plants in full sun for long periods will burn and damage even when it seems cool. UV is only 11’s this year, bring back the ozone hole and UV hitting 16 every day and see how things cope.
P.S. insulation is amazing, I removed one piece in the roof of a friends house to do some wiring you could feel the heat on top of your head when you stand under the missing piece inside the house. Steve
I think we have no choice but to adapt. When the peak oil train comes crashing through and leaves us high and dry without grid electricity it will be survival of the fittest. Houses with poor insulation, facing west with large unprotected windows and all the rest of the permaculture poor, passive solar poor properties will be the first to become uninhabitable.
I’m hopefully off this morning to pick up some fencing wire and reo mesh scraps with which I hope to make some serious trellissing over our back decking area. At the moment I have blinds to pull down but I want that area under greenery. I have kiwi vines which will one day cover the whole area with fruity goodness but I’m planting 4 perennial chokos (chayote) to cover areas needing shade too. They grow like fury and provide a great savoury fruit that you can eat alone or hide in many foods (including jam). 2 planned for the back deck, 1 for the goat shed and 1 for the greenhouse. I value the plant incredibly for its shading properties. It’s a curcurbit so it has those lovely large leaves and I remember ours when I was a child thriving under severe amounts of neglect. 😉 I’m also thinking through how to help our animals further as a tin shed is not the best building for temperature stability. :/
I found in our gardens the huges and veggie beds did well. As you say, mulch. My hugels haven’t such a good mulch layer but they hold water in the branches used to build them. My gardens did well and lost nothing but the greenhouse was another matter.
I agree Jessie. More insulation, more shading, more rainwater tanks, and better garden planning.
Your choko idea is a brilliant one.
Gav x
Now that Hubby has some extra time on his hands and depression to fight, one of the first things we will be doing is to put some whirly gigs up in the roof. We need 4, 2 on the main house and 2 in the pergola which has 4 walls and only a large opening to the back yard. The heat gets trapped in the peaks making it almost unuseable in hot weather, plus it keep the hot air up against the house. When we went up to get the Christmas decorations down (we have lined the ceiling battens for storage) the heat up their was so bad it was a rush to get down. If we just buy the silver ones, Bunnings have them now for $49 each. Ive watched the Youtube video on installation and its not difficult. Its a pity i dont think your back would let you get up there. Hubby says that the thing they didnt mention was the need for intake vents and he would put these in the eves. He’s big (being a nerd) on airflow paths.
Hubby built a 15m long pergola on our North side specifically to keep the sun off the house. It works well and our house is noticeably cooler (without the air con) than others.
Im trying to remember what colour your roof is. Do you think this would affect things. Though i am sure we would all love the entire roof covered in panels.
I will wait to see how your adaptation takes place, and yes, please stay in Melton. How can i eat your cheese if you are down there. There are already so many of my blogging friends down in Tassie. I think it would make a great place to retire to if you were planning to be self sufficient. They have alot of problems with unemployment, and utilities. The property next to Narf77 was for sale for less than $200K with land and her amazing view of the Derwent. I was so tempted.
Hi Lynda. The roof is dark grey, and does need resurfacing, so I am going to try and convince Kim to go for a lighter colour. White would be perfect, but quite dazzling.
Sorry about your hubby’s job. I am sure you will keep him occupied around the home until he finds another.
Gav x
I so agree with you Gavin. We have to adapt and we have to mitigate. Our little box of a house is just so wrong for our climate especially looking into the future. I don’t know what to do about it. It should be re-built but that is a very costly exercise. Good to hear that your other chooks survived the heat.
Maybe look at shading the windows and adding extra insulation is always a step in the right direction
I’ve been having similar thoughts of my own. We’ve already done a lot to retrofit the house but I know we could do more. I’m also thinking of how we can create more shade throughout the farm. We’ve put more dams and ponds in and created swales. But the last few days shows just how much more we need to do.
Definitely a good idea Kate. I am investigating ways to shade the veggie patches without it looking too unsightly. Might have to construct something with shade cloth.