The History of Ken and Harriet's House

The History of Ken and Harriet's House ..... see the Blog Site: http://kenandharrietshouse.blogspot.com/

Aquaponics

Aquaponics ..... is the system whereby native fish are being used to produce an abundant free supply of organic vegetables with very little water usage.


From the website: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/ ...... Aquaponics by definition is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. The beauty of aquaponics is that in the combining of the two they equal out the negative aspects in each of them. In other words, the sum of the two when combined is greater than the sum of the two individuals.
Nutrient rich fish water is pumped from the fish tank into gravel beds, where plants growing in the gravel extract the nutrients from the water. The water then drains back into the fish tank cleaned of excess nutrients and freshly oxygenated.

Imagine a system on your back patio, enough to feed the whole family. With no chemicals and no wastes, using about one tenth of the water used in dirt grown vegetables. You might be wondering where's the catch, but there isn't one!

See the hyperlinked websites at:


http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/


http://www.aquaponics.com/

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Aquaponics is my new major project I am about to start. I have initially laid out the system in white lime as two areas .... see the photos above:

1. Lower Fishpond: (2.50 metres across) .... up against some existing hugh granite boulders left over from a landscape job fifteen years ago.
2. The Upper Vegetables beds: marked as rows on the upper slope above the fishpond. The beds are 1.0 metre wide * 2.0 metres in length with a 1.0 metre wide brick paved path between each bed. The beds will be 35 mm in depth. The beds are filled with coarse gravel and nothing else.

A small excavator is coming soon to dig out the fishpond and the beds.Then a commercial vinyl pool liner will then be used to line the pond and the beds. The liner is cut to shape to fit the pond and each vegetable bed. When filled with water, a submersible pump will pump fishwater through pipes up to the beds and through the cleaning action the growing vegetables, return fresh water to the fish.

Fish can grown from fingerlings which can be obtained locally in a plastic bag (as you buy goldfish) ..... for 0.50 cents each. The fish eventually grow to table size in the fish pond. If they are bass, you can buy guppies which readily multiply and feed the bass. You can also handfeed the fish fish pellets.

The fishwater contains a lot of ammonia from the fish which would be toxic to them in the final end. The pump pumps fishwater through pipes up to the beds. Bacteria grows on the straight gravel and leftover root systems from former vegetable crops. The bacteria convert the ammonia into nitrates which are readily taken up by the vegetables. In so doing, the vegetables return fresh water to the fish.

In the vegetable beds, any leafy vegetable can be grown ...... growing straight in the gravel and water. You cannot grow root crops as it only gravel they growing in. The nitrates which are produced by the bacteria growing on the gravel surfaces are readily taken up by the plants. Nutrient level is greatly helped by the sprinkling a rock dust fertiliser like Alroc Minereal fertiliser which provide the growing plants with all the necessary minerals for growth.

You need to add about a matchbox full / square metre of vegetables every three months. You cannot add to much as it doesn't dissolve away. The bacteria just keep on breaking the fine rock particles down into minerals (about a 100 of them). Pest eradication is nil as insect pests only attack weak plants. See the hyperlinked website: http://www.mineralfertiliser.com.au

In summary, Aquaponics is the system whereby native fish are being used to produce an abundant free supply of organic vegetables with very little water usage.

Watch this space for future developments.

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The Blower

The Blower ....... we bought a new electric blower the other day from Bunnings Hardware down the road for &A100.00 only. The previous one was ten years and just went down .... the motor just burnt out. The new one is a Ryobi with an extended nose on small wheels for rolling along the paving. It blows and vacuums at the same time, all with movement of a lever that blows or sucks. When it sucks, all leaves and debris is sucked through a metal impellor which mulches leaves into a small size. When the catcher bag is full, a zipper on the edge is unzipped and all the mulch can be sprinkled on the garden.

Alternatively, the catcher bag can be taken off through undoing the binder cord and a very powerful blast of air can be directed out from outlet where the bag goes and the blower will quickly blow leaves and any dirt off paths in a matter of seconds.It is great for the big areas of paving around the house.

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The Herb and Vegetable Planter

The Herb and Vegetable Planter ....... I made this planter (3.00 m * 0.5 m in size) out of old recycled timber screwed together. I have this new wonderful 24 volt battery powered drill that can slowly drill holes through timber to the length of the drill. Then you can simply turn the chuck of the drill and simply replace the drill with a socket head to screw in hexagonally headed coach scews. If you want take the screw out, you press the reverse lever and the drill reverses out the screw.

I made an initial frame so that it had two internal frame supports. This then made three planting beds. Then I nailed an outside screen of vertical boards cut at random lengths to give a soft undulating edge. The three internal garden beds were lined and trimmed with plastic sheet to prevent moisture from the future compost affecting the timber frame. Seven wheelbarrows of compost from the big heap down the hill, were wheeled to fill the beds. Herbs (Chives, Basil, Coriander, were planted in one bed. Then several sprouted onions in pots, which I grown in pot several months earlier, were planted in the second bed along with two tomato seedlings. In the third bed were planted a rhubarb plant and several other tomato seedlings.

We had obtained the rhubarb plant from a plant sale very cheaply up at Toowoomba a week ago when we went up for the Carnival of Flowers. If we have our own rhubarb plant, we can obtain stems whenever we want to cook them. You cut off the leaves as the acetic acid in them leaves makes them toxic. We could only obtain rhubarb whenever we went up to Tamborine Mountain in the summer time. That was little erratic as it depended on us going up to mountain in the right season.

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The Fish Pond .....

The Fish Pond ..... several years ago I had dug out the fishpond and had used a black vinyl pool liner to hold water in it. It had been neglected in the last few months and had gone down to half level as I had bucketed out water to water some far off new trees out in the paddock. The water had gone green with algae and had become an eyesore rather than an asset to the garden.

In September this year, I siphoned the remaining water down into the lower garden. I washed and scrubbed out the liner and pond with clean water. I then filled the pond back up with clean water. The water is clean and fills the pond nearly up to the stone rim. The water gives a wonderful restful quality to the garden. Our next project is to get a local blue flowered water lily growing and flowering in a pot along with some goldfish.

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The Pool and the Grewia Bushes

The Pool and the Grewia Bushes ........ the Grewia bushes are planted as a clipped hedgerow around the back of the amphitheatre as an enclosing screen. I clip to the height of the pool decking fence so that it all appears approximately at the similar height.

In the big frost in late June, the Grewia bushes were badly frosted. In early September, I trimmed all badly frosted foliage and just now after the rain, the bushes have thickened up again. See the photo below.


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Environmental bas relief ....

Environmental bas relief .... This is a work of art for an outdoor setting. Months ago I had nailed it up on a outdoor section of old post and rail fence in the garden. Early in the year I was up one of the beaches on the Sunshine Coast which is north of Brisbane. I was walking along in the upper sandy section of the beach and began to find all this beautiful drift detritus:

• floating segmented breadfuit nuts to 50 mm in size ..... just beautiful tapered shapes
• small sections of bleached and sand-etched branches
• sea shells of various sizes
• White bleached and flat cuttlefish bones of various lengths
• twisted seagrass strands of various lengths
• white flattened stones to 20 mm in size
• waterworn multicoloured pebbles to 10 mm in size
• various brown - greyed leaves from flat to twisted shapes
• grey volcanic pumice to 25 mm size
• local grey banksia flower stalks
  

This was the leftover detritus that had floated in on the last very high tide. The detritus was stranded in parallel intersecting rows and left on a base of graded white sand. The sand underneath was in intersecting curves left by the ebbing tide.

I collected this detritus up in a bag with the intention of making an artwork of this small section of seaside beauty. As the artist at work, I took it home and began to work with it. It wasn't sculpture which is three dimensional but it was two dimensional ie. a bas relief. The detritus was laid out on a white canvas backing board normally used in painting. Using white wood glue which dried as a clear glue (PVC glue), I layered the detritus at an angle suggested the movement of the tide across the canvas. I was interested in of all the elements ..... the floating segmented breadfuit nuts ..... the small sections of bleached branches and shells etc. Then graded sand was sprinkled over the area to suggest the washed effect of the beach. I then nailed a frame around the canvas of old driftwood boards. This was then nailed to the section of post and rail fence.

In September this year, I took the bas relief off the fence and added and glued more small sections of bleached branches and shells with further swirls of sand. After it was all dry, I nailed back up again.

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The Italian Garden Pot

The Italian Garden Pot ..... one of several in the garden. With the spring weather, it has new green shoots and new flower blossums on the dwarf orange tree planted in it.

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Bird Feeder

Timber Bird Feeder .....

Future Shed

Future Car Shed With Demolition Posts and Split Slabs .....

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Planter Surrounds, New Planters and Plant Boxes

Planter Surrounds, New Planters and Plant Boxes ....

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Native Bush Garden

Native Bush Garden .....

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Subtropical Plants

To grow plants successfully it is important to know that all plants thrive in full sun positions to some shade with many variations inbetween. In a cultivated situation around a house with plants being grown from all over the world, it is vital to keep the sun - shade gradation worked out.

In our own house, we have a lot of pots and planters around the east and the south side of the house.

• The front entry of the house: The front faces east so this side gets more sun till midday. Then this side is in more shade all of the afternoon.
• Southern side of the house .... Pots are also up the southern side of the house. This side is more shady which some plants find more desirable.
• Northern side of the house .... it mainly open to the sun ..... there are no planters here as glass windows are from the top horizontal beam and run down to the floor. See the interior photo at ....http://kenandharrietshouse.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
  

With the new spring weather, every thing is coming out in flower. I have made over time, planter surrounds in old timber. You can have large plastic pot filled with black compost from the heap down the hill. The planter surround covers the pot and you do see the black plastic pot. A plant in the compost grows very quickly.

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Subtropical Plants ......With growing plants, you need you need to take into accont that all plants have a desirable growing zone that ranges between full sun and shade.

The New Garden Arbour

Arbour ..... We have just installed a new garden arbour at the front entry to the garden. It is in green tubular steel screwed together in many short sections. We bought it for $A20.00 up at the local hardware store ..... it was made in China.

The four corner posts were initally wired to some sturdy timber pegs beneath the soil to secure them. Mixed concrete was then added to the four holes around the four corner posts.

I had old bricks stored on concrete slab up the top of the land from eleven years ago from my former landscape and contract business. I wheelbarrowed dowen several barrows of bricks and paved the short section under the arbour. This matched the rest of the brick paving in the path leading to the house and in the amhitheatre.

The presence of an arbour provides a real sense of entry into the garden as series of outdoor rooms of belonging but each room is on a different level.

We had a front entry pot of a beautiful flowering subtropical creeper called 'Dipladenia'. It throws small tendrils out with small green leaves and in spring and beautiful pink tubular flowers. We moved the pot down adjacent the new arbour. As the vine grows, the tendrils can be trained over the arbour. The vine will flower in spring with many beautiful pink tubular flowers.

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Front Entry Pot

Front Entry Pot ..... we had a front entry pot of a beautiful flowering subtropical creeper called 'Dipladenia'. It throws small tendrils out with small green leaves and in spring and beautiful pink tubular flowers. We have just installed a new garden arbour at the front entry to the garden. It is in green tubular steel screwed together in many short sections. We bought it for $A20.00 up at the local hardware store ..... it was made in China. We have moved the Dipladenia from the front door down to eventually grow over the arbour. See the photographs below. We have replaced the Dipladenia with a hardy fern. The pot sits in a reproduction cast iron holder with a paperbark bed to soften the edge. _________________________

Native Rain Forest Wisteria

Native Rain Forest Wisteria ...... I grew this native creeper many years ago at the end of the house. It isn't a prolific flowering creeper like the common garden variety creeper which has masses of purple flowers at this time of the year.

We had a week of solid rain in August then a big thunderstorm the other week and a bit of rain last night. With the warmer weather and temperatures up around 25 degrees in the day time, things have begun to grow and flower after all the drought. We still in drought over here and we need a LOT MORE Rain all over Australia.

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The Climate at Chambers Flat in September:

Keep in mind we are in spring over here and going into summer soon. We had BIG frosts over here in late June = -five degrees which is very cold for here but not for other parts of the world which experiences snow in the wintertime.). It frosted off everything. Then we had a week of solid rain in August then as big thunderstorm the other week and a bit of rain last night. With the warmer weather and temperatures up around 25 degrees in the day time, things have begun to grow and flower after all the drought (the worst drought in 100 years). We still in drought over here and we need a LOT MORE Rain all over Australia. The photos below demonstrate in colour what Harriet and I have doing lately. The bush is alive with new growth and birds are everywhere with their prescence and calls. As I am typing here at 4.45 p.m. in the afternoon, a wallaby with a joey in its pouch, quietly hops down the driveway above the ponds. It stops to see around in the bush then continues on a few minutes later. We are blessed to have this five acres of light open bush we bought 30 years ago in 1977. The photos below give a small window into some new things I have been doing. _______________________________

Garden Happenings in September ..... In the context of this blog posting, Ken and Harriet Aitken own five acres (2.00 hectares) of land .... of light open bush mixed with open areas of grass among the trees on as slight southern slope. As at 2007, we bought land out at Chambers Flat Rd., Chambers Flat which is 35 Kms. out from Brisbane, Australia in 1977 = 30 years on. We bought land for $A13,00.00 in1977. Now we are in the middle of everything .... not that we want to sell. Acreage land has become very valuable around us now. We live in a special house built largely of demolition timber and stone, built twenty seven years ago in 1981 for a fraction of the cost of a new house ($A32.000). Some of the stone is very old from the late 1800's. Australia as a whole was only settled after 1788. Compared other countries, the 1800's is very old to us. See the blog site on the house and garden at:http://kenandharrietshouse.blogspot.com/2007/04/history-of-ken-and-harriets-house-we.html ________________________

The Family At Home ....... My Mum, Norma Aitken was up staying with us from Ocean Shores for the weekend. The previous day, we had gone gone down to Surfers Paradise to go on a Whale Watching trip in the afternoon. See the blog site at: http://whalewatchingsparadise.blogspot.com/
Anthony, our twenty five year old son had come out from Brisbane city to have lunch and afternoon tea with us and to see his grandmother. We are all sitting around the outdoor table on the lawn .... see the photos below.

Earlier, when we sitting around having lunch together, Claire, our twenty seven year old daughter phoned us from Canada. See the grey inserted photo of her below. She had been over there for several months since July as a volunteer leader in a children's Christian Adventure camp.

Now she is doing an outdoor education course with the aim of teaching outdoor education in another camp till next September 2008. She phones us about every week, often around 9.45 p.m. at night while is about 8.30 a.m. the next day over in Canada on the other side of the world. See her blog site at: http://www.claireisoverseas.blogspot.com/
which goes into detail on her initial experience with the Adventure Camp and her Outdoor Education Course .... a different location. Also see her photographic Albums at: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/ ...... Enter the Search function for 'Claire' and up will come her albums.

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