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TGoG 109 – Kim’s Journey

May 13, 2015 @ 15:48 By Gavin Webber 5 Comments

Listen to the Episode Below (00:36:31)
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You’ve heard me talk many times about my sustainable living journey, but what about Kim? After all, she has been right by my side for the entire trip, so what does she really think about it so far, and how does she think she has changed along the way.

Kim and GavinIt’s an interesting question that we take a deep dive into during the show.

It all stemmed from a Facebook comment from Teena;

How is Kim enjoying her sustainable journey?  Life is very different since you watched Al Gore all those years ago and we have heard and seen how Gavin feels, but not Kim perspective.

And I tell you what, once we get going, Kim didn’t hold back either.

Great show, full of useful insights into someone who has gone from crazy consumer to a very mellow and caring woman who I love to bits!

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Filed Under: Environment, food, Gavin, Green Psychology, How To, Kim, Podcast, Sustainable Living, TGOG Podcast

How To Grow Cabbages

October 15, 2014 @ 17:14 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

Cabbages are a staple around here in spring.  In our climate this vegetable grows over winter and is ready to harvest in mid spring, however you can grow cabbages all year round in warm or hot regions.

So let me step you through how to grow cabbages.  The basic process is the same in most climates although planting time may vary.  Check local references for planting time in your area/climate.

Preparing The Soil

Firstly, the soil.  Add lots of well-rotted manure and home-made compost to the soil as cabbages are very heavy feeders.  Dig it in well.

Well composted soil

I added chicken and cow manure to my soil.  It looked amazing, very friable for good root and plant development.

Planting Seedlings

It is best to plant seedlings that you have grown from seed.  Once the seedlings grow their first true leaves then they are ready to plant.  If you don’t have any luck at growing your own from seed, it is perfectly fine to purchase some from your local nursery.  They still work out quite cheap as you usually get eight seedlings in a tray.

Plant each seedling at least 30 cm (1 foot) apart as they do grow large.  They don’t like crowding during the latter stages of growth.

Cabbage seedlings

Keep the soil moist as the seedlings grow and mulch well.

Pests and Feeding

The biggest issue you will probably have is trying to keep the pests off your cabbages.  The pests that like to munch on your cabbages are white cabbage moth caterpillars in the early stage and snails and slugs as the head begins to swell.  If you have some fine netting like old net curtains, then drape these over the garden bed to exclude the cabbage moths from landing on your seedlings.

I use a simple to make chilli, onion, and garlic spray to keep these pests at bay.  If that doesn’t work, then pick them off by hand.

Another way is to disguise your cabbages, by interplanting them with another vegetable.  In the past I have chosen potatoes that grow and then die off leaving the large head nearly ready to harvest.  I  have found that companion planting works well, and keeps the moths at bay.

Companion planting

As the heads begin to form, make sure you regularly water with a bit of liquid fertiliser.  This gives the cabbages a big boost when it needs it the most.

Harvesting Your Cabbages

You can tell that they are ready to harvest when you squeeze the head and it feels firm and hard.  It should be at least 20 cm (7.8 inches) across to get a good feed out of them.  If you want them a bit larger just remember to keep watering and fertilising each week, keeping the soil moist.

If the soil dries out, the cabbage will start to bolt to seed as a survival mechanism.  This will also happen if you leave them in the ground too long.  A good tip is to check the shape of your cabbage because if it starts to change from round to oval shape, it is beginning to bolt.  Pick it quick.

How to Grow Cabbages

So here are some fine-looking specimens of red cabbage that I have grown this season.  The red cabbages take about two to three weeks longer to form heads in our climate than do the white or savoy cabbages.  Not sure why, but this always seems to be the way it is each season.

Harvest all types of cabbages by pulling the plant out roots and all, then strip off the outer leaves until you have a firm, unblemished cabbage head like the white cabbages below. Don’t waste the discarded leaves.  If you have chickens then they will turn them into eggs quick smart, or throw them on the worm farm or in the compost bin.

How to grow Cabbages

Well Worth The Wait

These white cabbages are delicious in any dish you decide to cook them in.   One of my favourite recipes is Cabbage and Bacon.  It makes a great meal for the family if spooned over a pile of mashed potato.

So there you have it.  How to grow cabbages in your very own garden.  Definitely worth the effort and the only issue I have is keeping those moths at bay!

Do you grow your own cabbages?  Do you have any tips that I may have missed?  If so, add a comment below; sharing is caring!

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Filed Under: Gardening, How To, vegetables Tagged With: Cabbages

Building a Wicking Bed on Concrete

April 26, 2014 @ 18:00 By Gavin Webber 21 Comments

Do you desperately want to grow vegetables, but all you have is concrete all around you?  Do you have blazing hot summers that turn your soil into dust?

Well if you answered yes to either of these questions, I have a DIY gardening project for you.  Building a wicking bed on concrete!

I had an unused space on some concrete in the backyard, so I decided it was just the place to grow food.  I built the frame out of spare wood I had lying around and wrote about it in this post titled Yet Another Garden Bed!, way back in January.  Yes, I know that it has been four months, but I had to find a spare day in which to complete the project.

So this is where we left the project.

Building a wicking bed on concrete

Garden bed made from scrap wood

You can see all the concrete beneath it.  Impossible for a garden bed to drain properly, and obviously not a good place to dig into!

So we must build up and provide the proper conditions for vegetables to grow.  Enter the wicking bed.  It has a water reservoir and proper drainage if we have a lot of rain, so the veggies never get waterlogged.

The entire project cost me $11 in hardware, and I reused a lot of things that I had lying around or scrounged.

Firstly, we put in the liner.  I opted for some builders plastic that I had leftover from some other job.  I made sure that the concrete was well swept and had nothing that could piece the liner.

Stapling the liner to the wicking bed

Stapling the liner to the wicking bed

The liner gets stapled to the top of the bed, spacing the staples about 15 cm apart.  Here is a close up.  Nothing too fancy.

Stapled liner on wicking bed

Stapled liner on wicking bed

I found that by starting at one edge of the liner made the job a lot easier.  I trimmed off the excess using a Stanley knife leaving about an inch above the wood just in case I needed to make any adjustments with the liner.

Wicking Bed lined with builders plastic

Wicking Bed lined with builders plastic

Next I fitted an overflow pipe.  I used a 22 mm spade bit on my drill and drilled a hole just below the centre line of the bed.  Be careful to drill from the outside in.  When you see the tip of the spade bit against the plastic liner, stop.  Drill from the inside out so that you don’t rip a tear in the liner.

Then I fitted a piece of 19mm poly irrigation pipe and sealed it in place with more silicon.  It won’t move from the liner.

Overflow pipe about half way down bed

Overflow pipe about half way down bed

Just so you get an idea of how much pipe sticks out, here it is from the other side.

Outside view of overflow pipe

Outside view of overflow pipe

It will only move if someone accidentally kicks it.  Otherwise, it is pretty sturdy.

Now it was time for the watering tube.  I found some 32 mm electrical conduit on the side of the road a while back which was ideal for this project.  You can also use slotted ag pipe, but as this bed is quite narrow, I decided to use the conduit.

Watering pipe in place

I drilled 16 mm holes along the pipe, added an 90° elbow joint to the watering tube, and capped it off at the end.  I joined all the parts together with more silicon sealers.  I use silicon because I wanted something that I could dismantle in the future.  Normally when working with PVC pipe you would join it with PVC Solvent (blue glue), but I figured that it too toxic in a wicking bed for growing food.

32 mm electrical conduit joined together with silicon sealer

32 mm electrical conduit joined together with silicon sealer

I fastened the watering tube to the bed at the staple line with a saddle clamp so that it will not move when watering.

Sand to stop watering tube from moving

Sand to stop watering tube from moving

To stop the pipe from moving further, especially when filling the bed, I put a few shovelfuls of  washed sand (had a bag lying around from my last paving project).  Then I filled the bed with smooth gravel up to the level of the overflow tube, and raked it as level as I could.

Leveling out the gravel in the reservoir

Leveling out the gravel in the reservoir

With the reservoir now complete, it was time to lay the separating textile so that the soil that I am about to add will not mix with the gravel.

Kim gave me this old blanket to use.  It was made from acrylic and kept on shedding everywhere and the dogs had contributed to its demise.  It was perfect, as it will not rot, even though Kim says that it is the most expensive wicking bed layer ever.  The last wicking bed I made, I used a thick cotton blanket, however it rotted down within six months, with the aid of some worms.  Best to stick with some sort of non-organic fabric that is porous.

Loose weave non biodegradable blanket

Loose weave non biodegradable blanket

Once I laid the blanket on top of the gravel, I then folded over the edges and started adding soil.

Filling the wicking bed with soil

Filling the wicking bed with soil

I had some really great soil over in the garden bed near Cluckingham Palace that I had been building up.  It was a mixture of chook house bedding, mushroom compost, and clay.  It had broken down over the years and the bed was just overflowing with great soil.  I need to remove some as I am planning to relocate and espalier some apple trees in that spot.  Win-win all round.

Wicking Bed filled with soil and liner trimmed

Filling the wicking bed with soil

I didn’t quite have enough soil, so I threw in a bag of compost from the hardware store, and mixed it through.  Just the right level and about 7.5 cm (3 inches) deep.  Most annual vegetables are shallow rooted so will have no problem with this depth.

I left enough room for some pea straw mulch if needs be in summer, and the soil will probably settle anyway.

Now for the big test.  To see if I managed to keep the liner intact and that the overflow pipe worked sufficiently.  I put the hose in one end, and thankfully, water came out the other end after about 3 minutes.  That means that at 20 litres per minute (flow from hose) the bed contains about 60 litres of water in the reservoir.

Overflow pipe test

Overflow pipe test

Brilliant, if I do say so myself.  The soil will stay moist during hotter weather and will only need to be topped up twice a week if it doesn’t rain.

It was now time to plant the bed out.  We didn’t have any pick-and-come-again lettuce anywhere in the garden, so this was the perfect place.  I did have to purchase the seedlings, which was included in my $11 outlay, but I wanted something quickly established as we have a private garden tour for next weekend.

Wicking bed planted with lettuce varieties

Wicking bed planted with lettuce varieties

You can see that I need another punnet of plants and as Kim wants more spring onions, her wish is my command.  I will buy some spring onion (shallots) seedlings tomorrow and plant them out.

Anyway, I am proud of my efforts.  Building a wicking bed on concrete is a great way to add growing space if you can’t remove the offending concrete slab.  It was an easy project, and is the third wicking bed that I have built.  This one is especially nice as it blends in with the aesthetic of the decking area.

What do you think?  Will you be covering up some concrete near you soon with a wicking bed?

 

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Filed Under: Gardening, How To, reduce, vegetables, water, wicking

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About Gavin Webber

About Gavin Webber

An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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Podcast Reviews

  • Always inspiring and entertaining!
    August 4, 2016 by floriographer from Australia

    I've crowed about Gavin's podcast before but I just have to recommend it once again - I love that he shares his learning as well as his successes - it helps the rest of us try try try again! Thanks Gavin!

  • ms
    July 22, 2016 by Ketaea12 from New Zealand

    I really enjoy listening to Gavin, he has a kind lovely voice. He covers some great relevant topics for the everyday greenie. With lots of tips or how to or what not to do. Thanks Gavin, love it!!

  • Well worth your time to tune in
    October 23, 2015 by A Vision Splendid from Australia

    I can highly recommend Gavin’s podcast ! I have followed Gavin’s blog since the very beginning and have loved to see his journey unfold. Gavin has a lovely speaking voice so this podcast is always very easy to listen to. Gavin has a very authentic approach to his green living lifestyle. He shares the ups and downs but always provides motivation and practical steps that we can all implement.

  • very good
    June 28, 2015 by Scared pax from United Kingdom

    This is a great podcast if you want to improve your life in so many aspects and become a more sustainable person. I love the soothing voice, the good pace, and it contains lots of useful information. Recommended!

  • opened my eyes
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    A wonderful show!

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    April 30, 2015 by Alan Whelan from Ireland

    This is a great podcast if you're looking for practical info on saving money by living more sustainably from someone who's made that journey over the last few years. Told in a nice, easy conversational style

  • Green Living, inspiring and practical
    January 8, 2015 by EliseMac from Australia

    Thanks Gav for sharing what has (and hasn't) worked along your journey for living a greener lifestyle. Inspiring and achievable for anyone, I look forward to this podcast weekly.

  • Local food equals less waste
    December 27, 2014 by allotmentadventureswithjean from Australia

    Another brilliant podcast from Gavin Webber encouraging us, and showing us how, to cut down on food miles, growing our own food, and cutting down on food waste. Gavin is a really interesting speaker, showing us how to eat better, growing our own food and how to live more sustainably.

  • Honestly australian
    December 15, 2014 by HodgepodgeOz from Australia

    Fantastic podcast, with a wide variety of well thought and researched topics. Gavin is a honest, forthright pod aster with a genuine interest in helping others get green. Like a day alongside is a day wasted, so too is a week without listening to Gavin. Highly recommended for people starting out, or those in the midst of their new lifestyle. Keep it up Gavin, wish there were more great reviews! Kimberley

  • Morning motivation
    December 8, 2014 by Bunnyworm from Australia

    Gavin has a great passion for living this greener lifestyle that motivates others to do the same. The podcasts are always interesting and informative. :)

  • Passionate Advocate
    October 18, 2014 by BoomOpGirl from Australia

    Gavin's enthusiasm and passion for creating a more sustainable world is nothing short of contagious. Thanks Gav, you are my weekly source of motivation for living a sustainable life! :)

  • Gavin speaks from the heart
    October 13, 2014 by Green gavin from Australia

    Gavin's podcasts are required listening for anyone planning to live a more sustainable life. He doesn't preach, but tells you his story from the heart. You'll laugh, smile, share in his concerns and along the way you'll pick up some great tips on living a simple life.

  • Green thoughts, so well iterated
    October 9, 2014 by Kwasikwami from Australia

    This is a wonderful podcast. Not only does Gavin talk knowledgeably on a range of sustainability topics from gardening tips all the way to the issues facing humanity as a whole, but he does so in such a wonderful voice, it's like listening to my Dad, love it!!

  • Easy listening inspiration on being green
    September 24, 2014 by Broomedy from Australia

    Gav knows how to share his journey to a more sustainable life in a manner that shows just how easy it really is. Not to mention healthier, economically beneficial and generally rewarding. The podcasts are an easy way to absorb Gav's great lifestyle. I recommend to anyone.

  • Thanks Gavin!
    August 31, 2014 by Honeywoodmilk from Australia

    Great practical advice for a greener lifestyle. This podcast is for anybody interested in growing their own food in suburbia, saving electricity, brewing beer, making cheese, all that wonderful business and most of all, saving money! Thanks Gavin, love the podcast mate!

  • Enjoyed those ideas for staying warm
    August 15, 2014 by enduringdragon from United States

    Like you we are having winter here in Chile—brrr! Every bit we can save on heating we will.

  • Green Podcasts
    July 26, 2014 by Carneu from Australia

    Excellent podcasts, which are full of information to help get started on a sustainable lifestyle.

  • Practical ideas and inspiration
    July 19, 2014 by HeathrowHeath from Australia

    I highly recommend Gavin's podcast and blog. Down to earth, entertaining and inspirational. Thank you.

  • Interesting & easy to listen to
    April 27, 2014 by Velocity3 from New Zealand

    Gavin & his guests make this green journey lots of fun.

  • Great green listen
    April 18, 2014 by Obscurenickname from Australia

    Gavin is a great down to earth, tell it like it is aussie with a passion for sustainability and growing food and making cheese

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