Abu Thaabit's Gardening Adventures

[abu thaabit]

Asalaamu alaykum

I found this forum a while back but didn't find the need to register, now here i am, i thought i could keep a diary type thing here showing everyone my journey to organic sustainability bi-fadl-lillah.

My gardening inspirations include bill mollison and other permaculture advocates whose ideas i've followed since late in high school.

I live in australia so this might be an interesting experience for most of you, also something to brighten your winter as we have opposite seasons here (its spring now).

Any way i started my garden in winter (june) with broccoli, lettuce, celery, sage and broad beans, really an excellent experience. The possums wiped out the celery and most of the lettuce, the broad beans were battered by the wind and eaten by i don't know what, i got a decent broccoli though, one lettuce survived, its leaves are bitter though, i'm gonna compost it soon.

now its spring and i'm rejuvenated to get back into it, here's what i started with:
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0664/DSCN1545.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0664/DSCN1545)

my previous garden was at the back of my home, this time iwanted back and front, starting with front, i planted this smal patch on a beautiful sunny spring day, it turned out to be a false spring (typical of melbourne) and winter came back for a week, i built this greenhouse type thing to stop the wind battering my tomatoes, basil, mint and chilli that i got from the nursery, also i decided to use it as a seed raising area so its kind of multifunctional, also it keeps the neighbours adorable yet destructive kids off the plants.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0859/DSCN1544.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0859/DSCN1544)

as you can see ive also added a cucumber which survived a possum assault in the back (they ate all my zuchini seedlings and cucumber seedlings!), a parsley (flat leaf type, italian i think, my mum gave me), i've got some pyrethrum in small pots there, the peas are starting to sprout, i sowed a lot of peas, and ive got a lot more to go.

The seeds ive sown so far are sunflower in the two big black pots in the top left, i've got nasturtium, corn, beans, chillis, capsicum, eggplant, okra, others i forget now, inshaAllah they all grow well and produce.

[abu thaabit]

ok so in the back ive got the lone surviving lettuce, im gonna compost it soon as its bitter, and the leafless broadbean, i have no idea what is eating the leaves on it.

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0824/DSCN1540.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0824/DSCN1540)
http://a.imagehost.org/t/0167/DSCN1542.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0167/DSCN1542)

i planted some raspberry there, its grown a bit which is promising, below ive started an experiment, i will plant potatoes in the spot there approx. 2'x2', as they grow i will put cinder blocks ('breeze blocks' in UK lingo) around and fill with dirt, with the same idea as the potatoes in tyres/bin/bag etc that ive seen a lot of lately on youtube, ill keep this thread updated with progress about that.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0849/DSCN1541.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0849/DSCN1541)
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0058/DSCN1543.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0058/DSCN1543)

[abu thaabit]

here is part of my yard with the bed at the back, this is the southernmost part and the bit edging the house is shaded all year, i put my compost against it.

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0774/DSCN1547.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0774/DSCN1547)

here is the neighbours fig tree, it fruits without watering last 2 years i was here, the snake there is attached to my washing machine, i only occasionally use biodegradable ecofriendly detergent, other times i use no detergent at all, so i have no qualms about letting it run there and hopefully water the figs so i can get a huge crop this year bi-fadl-lillah. the western neighbours are a nice pakistani family and agreeed to let me water and fertilise the fig trees.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0962/DSCN1546.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0962/DSCN1546)

future plans, get rid of that tree in the middle, dig up all the stones in the yard, have a mini orchard at least 3 trees and produce farm, maybe a pair of hens, a little pond for aquaculture.

i know my garden isnt that great but thanks for reading, please make dua for me and my family and garden, i ask Allah to guide us all and give us whats best for us ameen ya al hayyul qayuum.

[edibles]

you have a tidy garden. i like it

good luck with your plans

[Riz]

very nice mate :)

so its spring in oz :)

[abu thaabit]

yeah its spring here, pretty much, i will post updates as they come inshaAllah

[Tania]

Welcome to the forum :)
I like your spring green house.

[abu thaabit]

thanks, i forgot to mention its removable, so when the weather improves (ie no chance of frost, warmer nights) i can just pick it up and put it in the shed, or use it in the back yard for the real heat loving plants.

its 2 metres long by .7 m wide and at the back approx .8 m tall, the plastic is called builders wrap, i got it from the hardware store for about AU$13 for 5x2 metres (still have 2 m left over) and the wood normally i would use recycled but i was all out so i purchased it.

its saturday here im gonna get into the garden, ill take the camera and hopefully remember to use it! ill post here this arvo.

was salaam

[Tania]

Its very useful. I will buy one too if i find something like yours here.

[abu thaabit]

asalaamu alaykum,

i didnt get a chance to post all weekend, its monday now, well here anyway.

the following is the 'before' photos of the south western part of the yard, no after photos yet but the aim is to pull all the grass, then pick up the stone surface (approx 2-6" deep) and hopefully sell them, then lay down a new garden, underneath the stones there is a black tarp, then sandy soil that had grass once years ago, also im going to downsize the tree.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0524/DSCN1549.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0524/DSCN1549)

the stones are very dirty and grass grows because the leaves that fall from the tree and others nearby break down to create suitable conditions for that.
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0956/DSCN1550.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0956/DSCN1550)

later today ill be working on a worm farm, ill take the 'in progress' photos when the weather clears.

was salaam

[abu thaabit]

below is a view of the south eastern part of my yard, this photo is taken about 1130 am, so you can see this area is semi shaded, the middle gets some sun in the morning and the late afternoon, so this make a unique problem, or maybe advantage, but i don't yet know how.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0260/DSCN1551.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0260/DSCN1551)

here is my two compost, one a heap style, held with recycled wood, the panels from an old bench, the stakes from a pallet i found and sawed the slats in half, the other a barrel that i cut each end off then flipped over and the ends fit in place nicely as the have a kind of lip.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0570/DSCN1552.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0570/DSCN1552)

here is my bamboo, apparently its the runner type... i think its dead... i will take it out and use it for tomato stakes, the barrel planter i think i will use for grape or similar at the front of my home.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0657/DSCN1555.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0657/DSCN1555)

[Riz]

hi..

the bamboo doesnt look dead, i can see small green leaves on it :)

[abu thaabit]

whoops, i pulled it out yesterday! i figured it wasn't growing!

here are the after photos, you will notice i pulled most of the grass out of the stones and downsized that tree, ive found that the possums are still visiting my yard though :mad:

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0187/DSCN1578.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0187/DSCN1578)

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0769/DSCN1579.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0769/DSCN1579)

all the pictures, past and present are imagehost dot org 'forum thumbnails' if you click them you will be redirected to the full size images, ive done this so it doesnt take ages to load the thread page and that way you can get a small sample before clicking aswell.

[dhakiyya]

:D guerilla gardening :D I love the whole permaculture/ organic / sustainable thing :) I haven't had a chance to try it much because I've moved around so much..... now I live in Saudi where I dont' know anything about what to grow, but my husband's friend's father has run a farm on the oasis here for many years so inshaAllah I'm going to ask my husband to ask him lots and lots of quesitons about it inshaAllah :)

[abu thaabit]

havent had time to update the last week, been slowly progressing alhamdulillah,inshaAllah photos soon, most of the spring seeds i sowed are germinating in trays, now i need to hurry up and make beds for them to live in, then i will be ready for an agricultural assault, ALLAHU AKBAR.

dhakiyya did you see this one:

warning has some music, the guy in it is a muslim now im pretty sure, and married a jordanian sister, i ask Allah to guide us all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk

[abu thaabit]

asalaamu alaykum,

well last week i started on the new bed in the yard against the back fence, so i moved the stones to the side and started digging down, i had some excess mulch and grass that i pulled out and i didnt want to waste, so i buried them deep to compost themselves, then i was thinking of planting a tree there as the soil was very sandy, well draining and really nice to dig.

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0053/DSCN1597.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0053/DSCN1597)

the bed is ready now as of last night, i spent yesterday layering it up with compost and soil and mulch, today i will plant in it inshaAllah and hopefully photograph.

oh i almost forgot, yesterday i also made a mini worm farm, i found so much worms in the bottom of my compost bin that i whipped together this budget home for them:

this is one of those water containers, maybe 4 litres i think, in the bottom i put stones, then a layer of shadecloth mesh, then i put some compost and worms, and some kitchen garden scrps for them to munch on:
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0061/DSCN1623.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0061/DSCN1623)

bottom of compost:
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0572/DSCN1626.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0572/DSCN1626)

then i put it on an angle in the shade, later on i observed that the late afternoon sun gets that spot so i moved it to the shed.
http://a.imagehost.org/t/0880/DSCN1630.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0880/DSCN1630)

was salaam

[abu thaabit]

asalaamu alaykum,

sorry i haven't updated in a while, ive been pretty busy with work and hardly anytime to take advantage of spring let alone post here, anyway i finished the beds but found a massive earwig problem, ie they eat all my seedlings (especially pumpkin and zucchini), so ive got some chooks now, im gonna free range them for a while to assault the earwig population, i wont post to many pics as right now my garden is more like a hard rubbish collection!

this is before planting:
http://a.imagehost.org/t/0891/DSCN1631.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0891/DSCN1631)

this is now, attack! destroy the earwigs LOL:
http://i.imagehost.org/t/0625/02112009.jpg (http://i.imagehost.org/view/0625/02112009)

was salaam

[abu thaabit]

asalaamu alaykum

the last weeks have been pretty hectic in my yard, alhamdulillah, i wish i had more spare time to spend there to finish it up.

the following photos are from around a week ago, click the thumbs for a large view:

this area im clearing will be for the hen house and run, i let the hens free range in the yard but for municipal regulations they must be housed 1 metre from the fence and 3 metres from the house, which is really inconvenient, on the left that tin is the roof of the existing hen house which will bo moved to the clearing.
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0390/DSCN1707.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0390/DSCN1707)

this is me making stuff from recycled materials
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0036/DSCN1673.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0036/DSCN1673)

and we have a raised planter!
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0482/DSCN1683.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0482/DSCN1683)

this is the northern part of the yard, it will be raised up with the excess stones and made into a family area
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0799/DSCN1708.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0799/DSCN1708)

[abu thaabit]

this is my dwarf 'meyer' lemon tree, recently planted into this half of a barrel, make sure you put holes for drainage!
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0298/DSCN1705.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0298/DSCN1705)

and this is the potatoes coming up
http://h.imagehost.org/t/0949/DSCN1706.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0949/DSCN1706)

[abu thaabit]

spring has really kicked in now, with force :sunny: (like 35 c) here is the small garden at the front of my unit and the first fruits (cherry tomatoes) are stating to appear:

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0781/DSCN1703.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0781/DSCN1703)

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0091/DSCN1711.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0091/DSCN1711)

was salaam

[Riz]

salaam..

looking forward to see the hen house fully operational :) Its all coming together slowly

don't you have major drought problem too in OZ, i was watching the news today

[abu thaabit]

the drought is ongoing, but its multiplied by unsustainable farming practices, if everyone was using permaculture or at least water harvesting and preservation techniques then it wouldnt matter if there was a bit less rain, note that there is still rain, just a bit less, and where does the rain go? it runs off to the sea, or pools eventually an dries up.

australia has several climate zones anyway, tropical in the north with heaps of rain, desert and temperate dryland in the middle with rain that runs off and drought, temperate in the south/middle, highlands and cold zones in the south and southern most state.

im in melbourne which could be classed as cold without snow and not as cold as UK and we have a long hot summer, pretty much anything can grow here, some things will die at winter though, somethings might not handle the heat without shade.

the main broad acre agriculture in australia are sheep and beef cattle which need to drink and wheat which is just huge (100s of 1000s of acres) empty fields for rain to runoff, this makes for disaster, having said that home gardeners can have a water tank, in fact get government rebates for that so no probs here, there is enough water to fill tanks and to be caught by plants, just not enough other good ideas to fill traditional monocultural farmers heads about water retention.

if geoff lawton, hafithahullah, can 'green the desert' then we should be able to live here, its just a matter of breaking from the current unsustainable practices.

also i do wudhu over a bucket then water the plants with that, so as not to throw it down the drain, and i encourage every muslim to do that, wudhu water is very clean compared to grey water and inshaAllah will add blessing to.

[Riz]

how many hens are you thinking of keeping !? you gonna get a cockerel too ?

[abu thaabit]

i have two hens! i think their breed is 'isa brown' an australian breed i guess, if you look at the pictures you should see one of them, according to the council i can have up to 20 hens without a permit, LOL, 2 make enough noise for me (theyre farm hens, not suburban hens so they carry on a bit but mostly quiet), but i need to get a permit and neighbours permission for a rooster (a cockerel is a rooster right?) so i don't think ill bother.

[Riz]

they lay an egg every 3 days huh !? yep a rooster is a cockerel :)

A friend of mine got some hens, but they use to lay the eggs in someone else's garden all the time, he use to follow them a round to see were they layed the eggs, i think it was because his children were really noisy and the hens thought might as well lay our eggs somewhere else :)

[abu thaabit]

nope, they lay an egg each 6-7 days a week, when they have a day off usually they lay earlier in the following day.

here is one of my hens having a dust bath (tayammum!) in a pile of dry soil next to the potatoes

http://h.imagehost.org/t/0118/DSCN1717.jpg (http://h.imagehost.org/view/0118/DSCN1717)

they puff all their feathers out and clean with the dust, next time ill record with video inshaAllah.

when laying, hens need a quiet (where they dont feel threatened) and ideally dark place, private of course, with lots of straw or shredded newspaper so the eggs dont break.

ive noticed when im working in the yard and a hen disappears for a while if i go and look in the existing hen house it will "mwak" (like purring) shyly as though saying "how rude! fear Allah when im doing my female business!" LOL

[Riz]

great small setup you have.. an egg a day is quite productive :GreenThumbs:

you gonna try growing some okra this season too, you seem to have the hot weather for them they love it ?

[abu thaabit]

i have the seed for okra but havent managed to germinate it yet, if i locate it in a hot microclimate like next to the brick wall and hot water system i might be able to keep it as a perennial.

[Riz]

coo,l love to see it growing if you do..

how long have you been growing stuff ? i only started 3 seasons a go from a complete newbie and i have been learning ever since :)

[Tania]

I would like to keep 2 hens but i am not sure if my dog will leave them alone. May be would be to stresfull for them. But your hens have a good life :)

[abu thaabit]

this is my second season i guess, i started at the end of autumn/early last winter (may/june) and have been tinkering since then, really my yard is a place to learn and experiment until i can get some proper land like a few acres to live on bi-fadl-lillah.

[Riz]

i would love few acres of land to till and grow veggies in, maybe some livestock too :)

[abu thaabit]

my front garden is doing well (refer to earlier posts) the cherry tomato is booming likewise the perennial basil, i wan to try to take cuttings of that.

the jalapeno isnt doing aswell but appears to be budding up to flower, new additions include yellow pear tomato in the bottom right and some random pumkins from compost bottom left.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0044/DSCN1739.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0044/DSCN1739)

also here is a pot ive sown radish and carrot in it, inshaAllah when the radish is ready after 30 days that will make more room for the carrots that take a few more months to mature.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0246/DSCN1738.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0246/DSCN1738)

this was the second stage of the potayo tower, until the hungry hens ate them to the ground one morning i didnt take kitchen scraps to them early enough! i shouldve seen it coming and fenced it. i think it will keep growing though inshaAllah.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0134/DSCN1734.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0134/DSCN1734)

was salaam

[abu thaabit]

fruit is growing, i cant wait...

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0468/DSCN1742.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0468/DSCN1742)

this is azalea, i think its native to australia, its a fern that grows on the water surface, it grows fast and will cover, i still remember one time when i was a kid i thought it was grass and ran straight into a dam that was covered in it at an 'open garden' we were visiting.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0643/DSCN1737.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0643/DSCN1737)

this is my choko, also known as chayote, its a prolific climber, to the point that in the tropics its considered a weed, but you can eat the bland fruit and leaves so not a weed to me, this one was in the cupboard with potatoes for a couple of weeks, it sprouted white as you can see, now its outside in the kitchen for a few days its started to green up and a tendril popped out to reach for something.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0573/DSCN1733.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0573/DSCN1733)

[abu thaabit]

and here it is now, 2 or 3 days after the first photo:

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0716/DSCN1743.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0716/DSCN1743)

i got it from the local asian greengrocer and ive seen it in supermarkets also, ill probably plant it soon, i think next to the hen house for shade and fodder, ive been told to plant it half in the soil, apparently it grows very fast, i hope so, weve had a few 38 degree days already and the poor hens need more shade to cool the yard down.

[Riz]

^ that's a weird looking vegetable :) is it from the gourd family !?


also known as the "cucurbits" family ( melons, squashes, pumpkins etc.. )

[abu thaabit]

yes it is a gourd, a very useful one, its a creeper which is useful in and of itself, plus you can eat the fruit, leaves, stems and the tuberous root (after 3 years), the fruit is apparently very bland though, it needs to be marinated well, in australia some people fry it then put butter and pepper on it.

if i can find the camera ill take on more picture before i plant it hopefully this arvo.

[abu thaabit]

i bought a small pot of rue recently, mainly for the hens as its good for their health, the seeds must have been directly sown as when i separated the seedlings this is how many i got! i will try to swap some with other people for other good herbs.

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0525/DSCF0089.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0525/DSCF0089)

and here is my front doorstep garden as of 10 minutes ago:

http://a.imagehost.org/t/0467/DSCF0090.jpg (http://a.imagehost.org/view/0467/DSCF0090)

the cherry tomato on the left just keeps growing and my jalapeno is starting to flower, i trimed the basil a bit to try cuttings and also to give more room for the cherry, also the yellow pear tomato on the right is doing well too, really starting to branch out, i will trellis it onto the railing.

was salaam

[Riz]

the basil has gone into flower huh bigtime !!! it must smell awesome.. when it flowers it slows down leaf production and concentrates all its energy on making the seeds, you can pinch out all the flowers and it will keep on producing leaves albeit the leaf production will slow down a little same with the coriander/cilantro.

ive never head of rue before, looks like small shamrock :)

[abu thaabit]

asalaamu alaykum,

ive started a new job alhamdulillah, unfortunately i dot get enough time to do major work in my garden so its going slowly.

riz, the basil does smell nice, i have it there as a companion to the tomatoes, ive tried taking cuttings from it, with some hope of success, i want it to seed everywhere so i can catch it, but i dont know if it even makes seed...

here is my front door garden 2 hours ago:

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0753/DSCF2108.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0753/DSCF2108)

close up on the ripeing cherry tomatoes and the fruiting yellow pears:

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0397/DSCF2109.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0397/DSCF2109)

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0191/DSCF2110.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0191/DSCF2110)

[abu thaabit]

here is some more tomatoes i rescued from mcBunnings for 20 cents each, they look dying but once i repot them inshaAllah they will go well.

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0696/DSCF2112.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0696/DSCF2112)

here is some herbs and seedlings i got today from a discount nursery, notably tansy for the hens, pineapple sage, lebanese cucumber, 'spanish eye' lavender (most fragrant there at the time) and a few others see if you can guess:

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0999/DSCF2113.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0999/DSCF2113)

here is my potted radishes and carrots, i found out what caused the holes, it was some little green caterpillars about 3 mm long, i took care of them quicksmart, i wish i took a closer look earlier though, anyway:

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0296/DSCF2114.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0296/DSCF2114)

was salaam

[Riz]

here is some herbs and seedlings i got today from a discount nursery, notably tansy for the hens, pineapple sage, lebanese cucumber, 'spanish eye' lavender (most fragrant there at the time) and a few others see if you can guess:

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0999/DSCF2113.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0999/DSCF2113)


was salaamGood luck with your new job brother..

i would say the one in the middle looks like a cucumber plant, and the ones either side could be, *thyme, rosemary (*its just a guess though)

The basil is big and bushy i have never got it that big though :).. when you harvest the leaves do you refrigerate them or dry them out ? and what kind of food do you use the leaves for, I usually use the basil leaves for garnishing a pasta based dish or in tomato soup..

[abu thaabit]

there's no such thing as luck riz ;)

the main reason i planted the basil was i read it was a good companion to tomatoes, so ive only had it a few times fresh, i guess i may dry them in the future, ive noticed it attracts a lot of bees, so that is good they will pollinate my tomatoes too hopefully, it is nice though when you add it fresh to pasta dish for garnish.

underneath the basil something started to grow, and now its flowering, its what i call a compost surprise, one of those plants you get when you chuck pumpkins and zucchinis in the compost then after a while you use that compost for a new bed and it grows for you... surprise!

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0386/DSCF2143.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0386/DSCF2143)

here is the hens looking for earwigs, sometimes they stand near the gate waiting for me to feed them, rather than give them food, i just show them a spot where thee might be earwigs or cockroaches hiding, it just takes one sighting and they will be busy for hours scratching them out!

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0029/DSCF2139.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0029/DSCF2139)

slow progress on the upgraded hen house and secure area.

http://g.imagehost.org/t/0071/DSCF2141.jpg (http://g.imagehost.org/view/0071/DSCF2141)

was salaam

[Riz]

the hen house is coming along slowly but surely :)