#ourpatch

The first harvest of last year's Ginger plantings. We bandicoot around for pieces rather than dig up the whole lot. I've found that, for propagation purposes, it seems (only a theory at the moment) that planting some rhizome in a wide, shallow tub rather than in a deep pot, stimulates more shoot production. This is only the second try on the experiment, so I can't say for sure. The new plant comes from the little white bud, not the main rhizome, so planting a big chunk isn't the best way to propagate. These new buds and shoots can be broken off of the main rhizome, complete with roots. Dry the wound where you broke the shoot off and let it air dry for a little to get a good seal that will stop water getting in and then plant for next year. I'll be doing a whole article on growing Ginger for our website soon and also had an article in @grassrootsmagazine back in no. 266 in which I first wrote about the topic. With food prices sky-rocketing, we're changing our writing focus on https://ligayagarden.online to a more instructional one. Of course, a lot of the info will be shared on this account for those who don't want to leave the familiarity of Instagram. ________________________________________________ #propagation #growyorownfood #eatyourgarden #ourpatch #urbanfarming #suburbanfarming #homesteading #growingginger #Ginger #herbs (at Gawler, South Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfAdtPEv3JP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Dad's Hibiscus is quite the battlefield. It is massacre today as the invading Aphid army is being decimated by Ladybirds and their offspring, parasitic wasps only 1-2 mm long and tiny spiders that are just a little bigger than the wasps. The brown and lighter coloured Aphid corpses cover the flower buds as the defenders take their toll. It's a tough battle though, as Aphids are all female and they're born pregnant. Imagine the terror of being invaded an army of pregnant women. I can think of little that scares me more!. I'm glad I'm not a Hibiscus. Modern smartphones are amazing! I took these pics with mine without a tripod. Hand held pics are no mean feat at my age as hands shake a little when trying to do fine work. There's no way I could spontaneously taken these shots without good tech. The ability to observe garden goings on in such detail has changed the way that I see our garden over the last few months. I can get uo close and personal with the tiny defenders of our food and in many cases, tell at a glance who is friend and who is foe. Even though it is tempting to use hone made pesticides I know that they would kill our allies as well, so only net the #aquaponics and cautiously use slug bait nearby. Some folks go nuts when I tell them that I use slug bait in the aquaponics but to be honest, nothing else works effectively. __________________________________________________ #insects #insectsofinstagram #ourpatch #urbanfarming #urbanpermaculture #frontyardharvest #frontyardfarm #pestcontrol #gardenpests #gardenpredators (at Gawler, South Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcZiY99PYnV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A few folks have been asking why I haven't been posting many posts here on IG of late? I've been having a little end of Summer rest before the hard work of pruning, mulching, rain tank moving and trench digging starts in the cooler weather. I've been popping a story up on most days and am happy that just over 100 people see each of them. Our following is up to about 1600 and I'm really happy with that and don't really want to work to grow it any larger - it's at a nice size where if I scroll through the list, there are no strangers and I work to send everyone a like or a message from time to time to keep it all nice and personal. Much bigger and I'll start to forget people. For me, this journey has been about connecting with gardeners, food growers and activists through IG and becoming a part of their communities, as they become a part of ours. It's a journey that has reached a comfortable place and I'm not itching to move on along the path any further. I've also been writing a lot for a blogging site called Hive which pays reasonably in a cryptocurrency. Then there's the Adelaide Plains Library talk next week to get ready for, another Sunday chat with @agriadventures this weekend, a guest post for @sky_perma to be worked on too. Coming up are some workshops from here and a couple that I'm looking forward to at the Playford Community Garden with @missnatlily2015 and co. The garden is having some down time too. Only a twice weekly watering at the moment as the big harvests have finished and we all need a rest. Pretty soon I'll be giving it a very hard prune and a really big feed so that it can get itself ready for Winter. Oh yeah! While I remember if you visit @ligayagarden, you'll have to call Jelina 'Doctor Haines' now! Yes, it's all official and she's been conferred her PhD! _________________________________________________ #growitlocal #saurbanfood #ourpatch #permaculturesouthaustralia #ourgarden #frontyardfarm #urbanfarming #homesteading (at Gawler, South Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca5vtOsPnDB/?utm_medium=tumblr

Finally got one to go red! They're in a different position this year and most of them got Sun scald during that super hot burst of weather we had recently. Can't remember the variety but it bites! ________________________________________________ #gardentoplate #homesteading #ourpatch #ourgarden #growingchilies #gardenactivist #frontyardharvest #frontyardfarm (at Gawler, South Australia) https://www.instagram.com/ligayagarden/p/CY4_aE6vVry/?utm_medium=tumblr

Another low pressure sprinkler for the drip irrigation. Sometimes I think outside the box but usually I think outside the box that the box came in. A little observation and horizontal thinking (i.e. laying on the lounge over these hot days) lead to the realisation that shifting one existing sprinkler and counter-intuitively adding an EXTRA sprinkler would result in LOWER water pressure being necessary to cover the garden with heavy drops of water. Hooray! _________________________________________________ #waterefficientgarden #dripirrigation #watersavinggarden #ourpatch #ourgarden #greenthumb #homegardens (at Gawler, South Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXns33_vwLq/?utm_medium=tumblr