Summertime

Summertime, and harvest-time approaches. We are just taking the first Tomatoes and Chiles. A feeling of satisfaction and reward, a sense of achievement and relief.

Patent pending
Bird-Scarer.
All rights reversed.

What the birds are leaving for us!

Little bastards are very active... The main pests are the Mousebirds and a large and unruly flock of Finches. The Finches demolished the sunflowers I was growing for Chicken food, and have taken to eating the seed out of Tomatoes that the Mousebirds have opened up for them.

In an attempt to create some "ScareAllBirds"1 I made a few CD-mobiles and have strung them up around the veg patch. We'll see how well they work. Personally I am skeptical.

Frankly, none of the gardening books I have talk about the real problems I see in the garden. They bang on about Blights and Aphids, Beetles and Caterpillars, but not one of them mentions Bushbuck (which have played havoc with the Tomatoes and Chiles this season) or Mousebirds! Time for a new gardening book, maybe?

Software Mobile?

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[1] We don't really have much trouble with Crows. They occasionally try to catch young Chicks; seldom succeed. I can't really see how a Scarecrow would be much use against the Crows or the Mousebirds...

The Rat Race

Half-time score:

Rats: 1

African Ingenuity: 6

That's right, no less than six Rats trapped. Hopefully that's cleared out the Colony That Ate The Beans. I don't like having to set these traps, but it's a must-do. After all, we're talking about the carriers of Bubonic Plague, here.

I'll leave the trap out a few more days just to be sure I've caught the lot, but the trap has remained empty the last 2 nights, so I think we may have nailed the problem. This time.

But they'll be back.

Chicken Hygeine

The Cottage Smallholder » "How do I keep my chickens clean?" is a great post about Chicken Hygiene!  Chickens are simply not very clean animals.  It's OK up to a point to justify some of their habits by rationalising, "Well, there's no sense applying human standards to other animals."  Mountain Gorillas, for instance,  die if they don't eat each others' shit, since that's how they share certain enzymes vital to their digestive systems.1

Chicken Mites are a real bugger and get out of hand really fast in warm weather.  I detest using poisons, so dealing with Mites was a real dilemma for me for a long time, until The Lightbulb Moment a few years ago.  Now, about four times a year, I clear out the bedding and crap from the chookhouse, and then take a blowtorch to all the surfaces (especially perches.)  Works like a bomb2 and kills all bugs and their egss, provided I play the flame back and forth over each area for a while and let it get good and hot.  Occasionally I get a bit too enthusiastic and manage to scorch the wood a little, but usually there's no problem.

Speaking of which, its probably time I cleaned out the chicken house again this weekend...

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[1] I read it somewhere.  What is this? Wikipedia? The Spanish Inquisition?


[2] ...visions of broken bits of chookhouse flying through the air...

"Oh the Climate She Is a' Chaaaangin'"

(Apologies to Bob Dylan)
Something unnatural's going on. Its Winter. The very middle of Winter.  And yesterday I harvested a (Lime Green Salad) Tomato off a plant left over from last Summer.
A Japanese White Eggplant has just fruited.  Normally Eggplants don't make it through the Winter, here.  The climate is just that much too cool for their liking.
Normally seedlings are safe from cutworms at this time of year.
The volunteer Tomatoes popping-up all over the veggie patch never make it as far as growing their true leaves.  This year I have some that have reached 10cm tall and look ready for permanent homes.  Whilst I can (and will!) "make hay whilst the Sun is (briefly) shining", I find the whole thing deeply worrying.
There's a small beetle I call the Cabbage Bug, since the Brassica tribe are their favourite food, along with Beets and Chard.  My reading seems to indicate that they are a sub-family of Laybug, but, unfortunately, one that eats plants.  "Dormant in Winter." I would advise the Neophyte Gardener. Oh! How they would laugh at me now, as I daily watch my Beets, Turnips and Chinese Cabbages -- even Lettuce -- getting shredded by these small beasts.  They look something like Ladybugs -- about the same size and shape -- their colours run to red-and-yellow on black, and they seem to have lack any form of predator.  Oh the Sin of Hubris!  It is soooo tempting to get out some sort of Spray to sort them out.  Presumably whatever birds or bugs normally keep them in check are sleeping through the alleged Winter.
Oh well, we will be Powerless for most of the day.  The electricity company will be replacing a transformer and improving insulation on the cables upstream from us to prevent birds electrocuting themselves.  I'm happy to be powerless for a day in the cause of bird-preservation, even if they are merely the Bloody Noisy Hadeda.  I shall spend the day planting Very Early Tomatoes, Chillis, Eggplants and Tamarillos.
(For those of you who may have been following the Saga Of Autumn-Sown Chillis: The Chillis have survived handily so far.  My seed-tray mix tends to be a bit heavy and airless, being almost-pure compost, so the seedlings are all a bit yellow and pale, and they really want moving out into better homes.  I shall attempt to oblige tomorrow.)
Anybody who claims that there No Such Thing As Global Warming[1] has, I think, probably been eating some of those odd, spotty fungi.  I am deeply worried and frightened by the coming Summer.  Last Summer we saw the "Hole in the Ozone Layer" larger than ever in recorded history.  The Ozone Layer might not be getting the press coverage it was a few years ago -- seems that Al Gore and Peak Oil are stealing the limelight -- but it's still there.  And growing.  I fear the effect on our crops of ever-higher UV levels.  This is part of the reason I am consciously choosing to plant red- and purple-coloured varieties of vegetables where practical; the anthocyanins that cause the red/purple colouration also impart a UV-tolerance.  So I'm told.  We hope.
Already I'm trying to figure out how to erect shadecloth barriers to protect plants through the heat radiation of the coming Summer's afternoons to avoid sun-scalded Tomatoes and Chillis!
And it is only July.
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[1] Alright, alright: It's really "Global Climate Change" and not "global Warming".  But shorthand works!

African Rat Trap

Tempted to title this post "Oh Rats!" or "Getting Ratted"...

A Rat Plague of Near Biblical Proportion has descended upon us.  It happens most years around this time; I guess that all the Rat babies born in Spring or Summer are now fully-grown, leaving their parents burrow to set up home for themselves for the first time.  And, of course, the Veggie Garden is the local Rat Supermarket.

I have heard it said that, "Where a Human Being is, there is a Rat within 20ft."  I believe it.  Certainly the first thing I saw upon landing in Boston was a Rat.  And likewise for Johannesburg, London or pretty-much anywhere else I've been (except Switzerland¹) just so you know I'm not picking on anybody.

The first few years I tried conventional Rat traps -- the kind that go SNAP -- but freely confess that they scare me shitless.  For days after setting one of those things I harbour nightmares of my fingers getting SNAPped, worry about The Dog getting her pretty (though excessively long) snout SNAPped.  They're humane, though, the SNAP traps.  The real downside is that they get at most one Rat and then need resetting and re-baiting.  Quite often, too, the Rats would make a Clean Getaway with The Cheese.

I once tried poison -- the kind that comes in waxy blocks -- well tucked away from Dogs and Small Children in a scrap of irrigation pipe.  The label claimed that it was "safe" in not causing secondary poisoning of any unsuspecting creature that might eat a Rat carcass. I have my doubts.  Anyway, the stuff disappeared within a couple of days and didn't seem to have any effect.

Then I read how to construct an African Rat Trap.


Read and Learn:

First dig a hole in the ground, of a size and shape to bury a large-ish bucket to its brim.  Place said bucket in the hole, and fill the bucket a quarter or a third full with water.  Place a piece of wire across the centre of the bucket, suitably baited with something Yummy To Rats.  I believe that people in Zimbabwe use Peanut Butter.  It certainly worked well for me, but I seem to have Vegan Rats who far prefer a chunk of Carrot.  Empty the bucket periodically of drowned Rats.

See, the Rats stretch along the wire, trying to get the food, but not being trained for the High Wire, they lose their balance and fall into the water.  Frequently they actually do get a nibble, so at least they don't die hungry!  I've had such a trap deal with as many as eight Rats in one night.

Seems a tad cruel, yes, but very effective. And we're talking about Bubonic Plague and stuff, so Rats are the one thing I won't abide.  Then, too, the presence of a plentiful Rat supply will inevitably be followed by a Plague of Snakes, and pretty dangerous ones, too.  The Rats also eat the bark off numerous trees, including our fruit trees.  We've already lost a 2-year-old Avocado tree this year.  Not to mention that they're playing merry hell with my Nantes Carrots that I'm supposedly growing up for seed (barely visible in the pics due to having had their tops eaten off.)

Cue Monty Python: Has it got any Rat in it?

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[1]  I believe that Rats are strictly Verboten in Switzerland unless properly Licenced and Taxes Paid, and that they get a severe Talking To and Finger-Wagging if they wiggle their snouts inappropriately.  Local Canton rules may apply, though.

Chook Chore

Dear Mike,

Thank you for cleaning out our Chook-house today.  It really was getting a bit fragrant in there at night, and things should smell a lot better now that you've cleaned and aired the house and put in clean wood-shavings.

We're especially grateful that you didn't leave the job too long.  When you do neglect our bird-brained needs, the mite population starts to build up to quite alarming proportions.  As you know they suck our blood, and can make us quite anemic.  Our young chicks, especially, are vulnerable to those menaces.  Also, you then have a much longer, harder job of cleaning, since the best way to rid the house of mites is to flame the interior thoroughly with your blowtorch.  Thank you, though, for finding a way to deal with bugs that does not involve poisons on our roosts and laying boxes.  We think it is much more effective, too.

You really ought to get around to making some changes to the Chook-house to make your life easier.  Replace that stupid little flap on the side with something you can open right up -- have the entire side of the house open so that its easier for you to get in for cleaning.

We were not best pleased with your last modification, though, where you blocked us from roosting atop the nesting boxes, though we do confess it keeps the nesting boxes much cleaner.  Its made things just a bit crowded in the house at night, with fewer roosting places to go around, and we really hate roosting close to the door.  We get very frightened when the Ratel comes sniffing around at night.  But really, we're not too badly off, so we're not complaining -- we still have much more space at night than any of our poor imprisoned battery-raised cousins -- plus we get to roam about all day, enjoying dust-baths in the shade of the Big Oak Tree on hot afternoons and Banana Snacks are most welcome around mid-morning.

We do think that one of the Young Lads roosting in the trees got taken by a Lynx early this morning, but we're not too sure.  Let's see there were 1,... errr... 1,... errr... 1,... (ooh I'm getting dizzy; now what was I doing?)

Crapulaciously Yours,
The Flock.

Now if only the little buggers Feathered Ladies will start laying decently again... Thanks always due to the guys at Tsitsikamma Furniture for the endless supply of poison-free wood-shavings.

Blight Update

Well, the Cherokee Purple tomatoes are a writeoff, as are all of the Lime Greens which were in close proximity.  (One Lime Green plant is a little further away from the disease zone, and may yet survive.)  The Tigerellas are showing just a touch of blight, as are the Taxi; both groups are not far from the blight zone, but the Bordeaux treatment seems to have arrested the disease progress, helped along by somewhat-less-humid weather -- though it remains very hot.



Down in the main veggie beds, the Brandywines (my most-blighty tomatoes) are still looking very healthy and blight-free, though there are other fungal diseases of minor impact around.  There is so much new growth on them, though, that I shall go for a prophylactic Bordeax treatment again this afternoon, just to be sure the new leaves and flowers get some protection.  After two disastrous years of Brandywine harvest, I am determined to do everything I can to ensure a decent crop this year.  The catch, of course, is that we've already started harvesting a few Red Kaki, Ida Gold and Cherry Tomatoes, whilst the Brandywines have barely begun flowering, so there's still quite a long and difficult time ahead for them.

Pumpkin-Fly Cage Experiment

On the experimental front, my shadecloth caging of the Squashes seems to be working!  Yay!  Uncaged squashes are not worth the bother, resulting in 100% losses to Pumpkin Fly.  But the Squashes under cloth are (so far) mostly free of stings.  The Telegraph Improved cucumbers gave us a few very tasty cukes, but the rest (not caged) are mostly stung.  Still, we rescue the pieces that we can, and the Chooks get the maggots, so nothing goes waste.

I was unable to track down any proper insect-excluding cloth in the country, so tried out a piece of 12% Shade Cloth.  The big questions are: whether the holes in the cloth are small enough to keep the fruit-flies out, and whether the cloth will cut out too much light.  I'm not too much concerned with this last issue, but fruit-flies (alright, Pumpkin Flies, if you prefer) are quite small.  So far the prognosis look good.  Of course it means I will have to hand-pollinate any Squashes I want to save seed from... but that's a small price to pay.

The Cutworms Have Landed

Yup!  It's that time of year again.

A couple of days of great rain, followed by a warm, humid day, and out come the Ravening Cutworm Hordes.  I must have lost about 40% of the baby lettuces so far, and the soil is so wet that actually finding the little bastards is extremely difficult.

As far as I know, every organic farmer faces this problem.  You build up the soil - years of backbreaking composting - only to create the perfect conditions for Cutworms.

I know of only two successful approaches to managing the Cutworm Problem:

1. For widely spaced, high-value plants - Tomatoes, Chillis, Eggplants, Artichokes and similar - cardboard collars to protect every individual plant.
2. For denser plantings, mass-planted and direct-sown varieties like Carrots, Mustards, Beans, co-planting a decoy or sacrificial crop.

The first method, pictured here, is quite labour and material intensive, though it does provide a good use for toilet-roll inners, which are otherwise a "waste product".  Never truer, the dictum, "One person's shit is another person's gold."  Collaring works pretty well.  The collars are pushed into the ground, so that what you see in the picture, is only about half the length of the collar.  This stops the cutworms from getting in either under or over the fence, and seems to have a better-than-90% success rate.

Decoy, or sacrificial planting is a method I have not had a lot of experience with.  The trick is to plant your decoy crop a couple of weeks before your real crop.  Buckwheat is a good decoy, since it seems to be very attractive to Cutworms, and is good for the soil besides.  The idea is that there is a forest of Buckwheat, which the Cutworms are more likely to encounter than your precious crop plants.  The Cutworms chow down on the decoy plants, giving themselves away, and satisfying their hunger on plants that don't matter to you, leaving most of your crop plants (hopefully) untouched.

The difficulty I have with this is that my veggie beds are in such intensive use that there really is no gap between one crop and the next.  Frequently I find myself planting a new crop in amongst another that is approaching harvest - such as in the picture, where baby Tomatoes have been planted among teen-stage Lettuces.  This makes it very difficult to get a trap-crop into the bed in the correct timeslot.

I would love to hear of any other Cutworm Management Strategies that you use - successfully, or un...

Blasted by Bugs

Damn and Blast!  Last weekend saw us hit by a double-whammy.  A berg wind (very hot, adiabatic wind coming off the escarpment) coupled with a no-doubt-related outbreak of Cabbage Beetles.  I don't know if they have a "real" name - its a species of Shield Bug - that attacks the Cabbage tribe of plants almpst exclusively.  They're about the size of Ladybugs, black with distinctive orange dots patterned on their carapace.

These little buggers suck the sap from the plants, which, coupled with the very hot, dry wind, has caused major havoc.  Chinese Cabbage that have made it all the way as far as seeding have been destroyed.  Bok Choy, Tat Soy, Red Mustard and Rocket that were 5 days from harvesting -- nailed.  Radishes that just came up a couple of weeks ago -- trashed.  Golden Globe turnips that I am growing for seed have taken a severe beating, but should survive.

The trouble with these little bugs is that they exude some Noxious Stuff, so nothing (as far as I can determine) eats them.  The only solution I can come up with is caging the plants with an insect-proof netting.

Caging is my latest Bright Idea for several things.  Not only will it keep the Cabbage Eating Bastards at bay, but will also work as isolation cages for Chillis so that I avoid a repeat of The Great Cross-Pollination "Experiment" of 2002.  Additionally, I think it may work quite nicely to keep Squashes from being stung  by Fruit Fly (well, I guess that they're roughly the same thing as Pumpkin Fly).  I am quite late for planting Squashes this year, which means that all the fruiting will happen during the Fruit Fly Season.  Normally this would mean 100% losses, but I am optimistic (eternally?) that caging will prove to be a good solution.

Killing Kikuyu

In response to someone's query on strategies for eliminating grass on the permaculture-oceania mailing list, I bemoaned the difficulty of getting rid of Kikuyu, to which April Sampson-Kelly <email-elided> wrote:

what does kikuyu need?
...
My strategies for replacing kikuyu are based on these observations,
I stop cutting it, i stop light access by covering it with cardboard sheets and mulch (which also serves to cut ventilation and risk of fire, and reduce risk of soil erosion by water or wind)

A Thousand Thanks to April and Jedd for prodding my few remaining neurons back to life...

A walk around the garden with my eyes open was all I really required. Places where we've planted Keurbooms (an indigenous Acacia forest pioneer - no data on N-fixing, though I suspect they do) show that the trees have been successful in out-competing the Kikuyu to the limit of their drip-line.

However! I am in a big hurry. I don't have/want to spend 10 years at this - I need to clear the area to get my self-sufficiency level up and back on track.

I also notice that Cape Gooseberry (Phaseolus something) has been extremely effective at shading-out the Kikuyu in an area where they were allowed to go rampant - they freely self-seed, helped along by the otherwise-bloody-nuisance Mousebirds. So: as soon as the rains stops, and with Spring on our doorsteps soon, I shall be planting a couple of seed-trays of Cape Gooseberry. Along with all the volunteers that usually get weeded out of the veggie garden I'll pop them into the (very long, rank, unmowed and ungrazed for over 10 years) Kikuyu. Once they've killed off the grass they are relatively easy to clear.

Should be rid of the grass in about 18 months to 2 years... Yay!