Here we go again??

cfsmtb said:

Hmm, winter plantings, how about mushrooms? In summer, the area sounds
good for leafy greens, ie salady stuff etc that doesn't like being
scorched by the harsh arvo sun

Hmmm...mushrooms I've never tried. Except the ones in the boxes that
live in the laundry and are really a bit of a gimmick. Any hints?
Leafy greens sounds like an excellent idea. That's given me enough
motivation to actually get it planed out.

The only prob with leafy greens for a pacifist like me though, is
keeping those damn snails and slugs away without killing them!

cheers
David M

EuanB <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

<snip>

Queensland's best is the Pacific Motorway. It was needed for
heavy vehicle loads but constructing this $1.5billion had
another glorius effect.

Within 6 months of opening 30,000 Brisbane residents moved to
the Gold Coast to take advantage of the reduced travel time
(from 1 - 1.5 hrs to 45mins).

Of course this gridlocked Tugan (to be fixed at $0.5billion).
And the growth in the Sunshine Coast (over an hour away) has
led to the Gateway upgrade now approaching the $2billion
mark.

But you still can't get from the North side of Brisbane
without traversing the fringes of the CBD. Radial bus routes
and rail lines are needed (don't bother with roads make the
PT work)

The recently launched SEQ regional plan will focus
development to the west of Brisbane (Ipswich). Of course
there is no infrastructure out there so they will build to
encourage development.

At first glance this appears ok because it reduces pressure
on the sensitive coastal hinterland. But.....

The upper Brisbane valley, including the outskirts of
Ipswich, is some of the most productive lowland agricultural
land in Australia. It is comparatively well watered, has
good soil profile and is well drained. It is perfect for the
siting of sewerage recycling fed horticulture. Short pumping
distances (reducing energy use) and good access to markets
including international. Water passed through here could be
collected and fed (after nutrients are removed and following
desalination) into the Brisbane water storages alleviating
potential supply problems.

However everyone wants back yards, unless we can foster a
cultural change in people to accept community property
solutions and units (max 6 stories) we will never get in
front of urban sprawl.

I can't see that happening any time soon. The government's
answer, so far, is to reduce the standard block to 600m2
(some areas 450m2 is ok). There is no incentive to look at
alternatives.

Cheers

BrettM

David M said:

Hmmm...mushrooms I've never tried. Except the ones in the boxes that
live in the laundry and are really a bit of a gimmick. Any hints?
Leafy greens sounds like an excellent idea. That's given me enough
motivation to actually get it planed out.

The only prob with leafy greens for a pacifist like me though, is
keeping those damn snails and slugs away without killing them!

Do some R&D via google or checkout various biodynamic/permaculture gardening sites for the mushies. Pests? Spray with a DIY garlic/chilli spray mixture (plenty of recipes around for that, just remember to wash produce before eating!) Or use sawdust lightly sprinkled around the patch, snail/slugs hate it! OR beer traps....

cfsmtb said:

Do some R&D via google or checkout various biodynamic/permaculture
gardening sites for the mushies. Pests? Spray with a DIY garlic/chilli
spray mixture (plenty of recipes around for that, just remember to wash
produce before eating!) Or use sawdust lightly sprinkled around the
patch, snail/slugs hate it! OR beer traps....

Thanks for the ideas. The recipe I found last week is garlic/oil and
soapy water. Might put some chilli in for good measure. Might stay away
from the beer traps though; wouldn't want to trap me a bogan.

Cheers
David m

SteveA said:

David M said:

cfsmtb said:

We're looking forward to a bumper crop of kennebecs, roma tomatoes,
corn & pumpkins in our front yard. (Give the grafted apple, lime &
apricot a few more years). The part of the backyard is being fenced

off

Quoted message said:

for salad veggies. Who here remembers The Good Life? 😄

I loved The Good Life. We're on a small lot within 4.5km of the CBD,
but still have our herb garden and tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin,
watermelon, beans, yellow squash. And we had ducks until a fox ate
them. For some reason foxes still live within 4.5km of the CBD, and
this was a cunning fellow who's managed to dispatch our ducks despite
us sleeping nearby and our dog unawares...this holidays we're gonna
build a fox-proof duck enclosure.

My plan to procure a goat has been unfortunately thwarted.

Cheers
David M

And we're just the other side of the CBD to you! We are 'redoing' the
yard at the moment. Bought a lemon tree, and a chili plant on Sunday.
More to come in the next couple of weekends.

You'll need more than one chilli plant, you'll want birds eyes,
habaneros, scotch bonnets, jalapenos for when the whimps come
for dinner etc ...

cfsmtb said:

Ah, it all makes complete sense now doesn't it?

We're looking forward to a bumper crop of kennebecs, roma tomatoes, corn & pumpkins in our front yard. (Give the grafted apple, lime & apricot a few more years). The part of the backyard is being fenced off for salad veggies. Who here remembers The Good Life? 😄

A great proportion of the land from Box Hill - Doncaster - Ringwood was orchards, cut flower gardens and a few market gardens. Just about all thats left now is Pettys Orchard by the Yarra at Doncaster North (whatever its called) From thousands of acres of food to ten.

Becoming more convinced that we are not living in a society anymore but in an economy.

The Good Life - oh Geraldine ! 😄

cheers
Hugh

quote='David M'cfsmtb said:

Snip

, the area sounds

Quoted message said:

good for leafy greens, ie salady stuff etc that doesn't like being
scorched by the harsh arvo sun

Snip

The only prob with leafy greens for a pacifist like me though, is
keeping those damn snails and slugs away without killing them!

cheers
David M[/QUOTE]

Had great success keeping slugs/snails off english spinach.
Had ( when at Blackburn Vic.) a plentiful supply of free (dumper jumper) copper circuit board offcuts ( tinned boards are no good)
I think that any copper would do the trick as long as its free.
The slimy little beasties do not like crossing copper. Must set up some sort of electroloysis. Arrange a baricade 50mm high around the plot and watch them turn back.

Just finished a bunch of bananas, pawpaw just started and mangoes 2-3 weeks off - (if I can beat the bats and possums), eating snake beans, winged beans, corn - fail, perenial roma tomatoes, chilli prernial here, tigerella toms, waiting for spaghetti squash, watermellon, casava and lufah. Cant grow much here in summer. So hot the pollen gets roasted in the flowers.

Now how do I put a cycling slant on all that!
Its what I do when not cycling.

Be careful - dont sit on your secauters Ces.

Cheers
Hugh

HughMann said:

The Good Life - oh Geraldine ! 😄

LOL!

Bikesoiler just reminded me of The Young Ones episode, where they attempted to bribe the laundromat's washing machine with promises of Felicity Kendals underwear.... 😄

cfsmtb said:

LOL!

Bikesoiler just reminded me of The Young Ones episode, where they attempted to bribe the laundromat's washing machine with promises of Felicity Kendals underwear.... 😄

or the one where Mike was carrying a fish. probably he only decent contribution he made in the entire series
🙄

PiledHigher said:

cfsmtb said:

This crapola form of 'urban planning' starts me grinding teeth. The
outer S-E 'burbs are full of McMansions on bloody good farmland. And
Australia is facing a huge salinity problem elsewhere. 😠

And some of this is market gardening areas that used to supply
melbourne with food, now we get the food from hundreds to thousands of
miles away and then food costs become much more dependant on fuel
prices than they need to be.

Greetings,
Not for long. As noted on SBS tonight, the US runs out of oil in 2013.
Our oil reserves are virtually gone by 2040. By 2030 (Oil Industry
paper, 2003) world oil production will be one third of what it is now.
Deduct all but 10 per cent of that because the world militaries will
demand priority for it (F-22 fighters don't fly very well on biowaste}.
My only prediction for your future is that it will be drastically
different to how you live now.
Regards,
Ray.

cfsmtb said:

PiledHigher said:

What they don't mention is the rampant sales of farmland as new housing
in that area that is increasing the traffic, and you are allowed to
sell it as 20 minutes to the city*. Look its got a lake(dam) and a
cafe, hows that for 'lifestyle'.

* at 3am tuesday in school holidays

This crapola form of 'urban planning' starts me grinding teeth. The
outer S-E 'burbs are full of McMansions on bloody good farmland. And
Australia is facing a huge salinity problem elsewhere.

I hadn't thought of it like that. Interesting.
It's not as if Australia has a lot of good farmland, hrm.
Lots of veggie gardens in future, I'm guessing!

What they don't mention is the rampant sales of farmland as new housing in that area that is increasing the traffic, and you are allowed to sell it as 20 minutes to the city*.

Hehe.. or 25 kilometres to the city. RADIAL KILOMETRES.

Look its got a lake(dam) and a cafe, hows that for 'lifestyle'.

It's called a sedimentation basin. I live in a Delfin development with one of these (I call it Springf*ck Sedimentation Basins). It's pretty, but I agree that it's not the solution to the road problems. The west side of Brisbane is much the same with stacks of vacant land and fairly ordinary roads leading out that way. The proposed Ipswich Motorway will only encourage people out that way.. but hey, whilst they're stuck in traffic, I'm getting to work on time on my pushie!

"Stuart Lamble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:slrndk1iji.n4u.7d5-a->

Quoted message said:

It's a sad fact of life, I fear. My sister now lives in Berwick, on what
used to be farmland; just across the road from her is a farmer that
refuses to up and sell until Jennings sells off the remaining blocks of
land. In the meantime, she's waking up to the dulcet tone of lowing
cows. It'll be a shame when that stops.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

The sad thing in the case of the farmer who refuses to sell is that the ever
increasing rates (increasing due to urban development) will eventually make
having a farm uneconomical and force him to sell to a land developer.

Henry.

"David M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

cfsmtb said:

We're looking forward to a bumper crop of kennebecs, roma tomatoes,
corn & pumpkins in our front yard. (Give the grafted apple, lime &
apricot a few more years). The part of the backyard is being fenced off
for salad veggies. Who here remembers The Good Life? 😄

I loved The Good Life. We're on a small lot within 4.5km of the CBD,
but still have our herb garden and tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin,
watermelon, beans, yellow squash. And we had ducks until a fox ate
them. For some reason foxes still live within 4.5km of the CBD, and
this was a cunning fellow who's managed to dispatch our ducks despite
us sleeping nearby and our dog unawares...this holidays we're gonna
build a fox-proof duck enclosure.

My plan to procure a goat has been unfortunately thwarted.

Cheers
David M

Almost 20 years ago I was doing a serrvice call at one of the many Vietnames
owned shopfront buildings in Victoria Street Richmond. In the tiny backyard
there was a very neat veggie garden - it was a thing of beauty. I could not
imagine anybody trying to set up such a veggie patch in one of these
buildings.

Henry.

BrettM wrote:

I can't see that happening any time soon. The government's
answer, so far, is to reduce the standard block to 600m2
(some areas 450m2 is ok). There is no incentive to look at
alternatives.

Our block is just 336m² and our house is 170m². That's 25 (RADIAL) Kilometres out of Brissy.

LH

hemyd said:

The sad thing in the case of the farmer who refuses to sell is that the ever
increasing rates (increasing due to urban development) will eventually make
having a farm uneconomical and force him to sell to a land developer.

Yup. He intends to sell; he just doesn't see any point in doing so until
Jennings has sold off the last block of land in their current
development. Given that those are being priced at ridiculous ($200k+)
levels, that might take a while, and I doubt he'll lose out by waiting
in any case.

I look at the state of Melbourne right now, and I reckon we're going to
be in serious strife when the oil price jumps such that petrol is two or
more dollars a litre. I'm sitting pretty, being right on a major rail
line, but the majority ... *shudder*

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

David M wrote:

The only prob with leafy greens for a pacifist like me though, is keeping those damn snails and slugs away without killing them!

Beer traps my friend. Beer traps. Apparently these are awesome. Same goes for fruit fly traps.

I have a lilly pilly hedge which - like most lilly pillies - gets attacked by psyllids something chronic. My nursery dude told me to use Rogor and I did, not knowing just how poisonous it is. I did it once and it killed the infestation quick smart, but I've learned my lesson and now use Pest Oil once every two weeks or so in order to deter any pests that feel like making my plants their home.

Also, even though my yard is very, very small, I have a small compost bin into which all our green waste (and my mum's!) goes. I planted some (drought hardy, of course) plants on the weekend and made sure I improved the soil with compost prior to planting. This makes a huge difference.

LotteBum

Stuart Lamble said:

hemyd said:

The sad thing in the case of the farmer who refuses to sell is that the ever
increasing rates (increasing due to urban development) will eventually make
having a farm uneconomical and force him to sell to a land developer.

Yup. He intends to sell; he just doesn't see any point in doing so until
Jennings has sold off the last block of land in their current
development. Given that those are being priced at ridiculous ($200k+)
levels, that might take a while, and I doubt he'll lose out by waiting
in any case.

I look at the state of Melbourne right now, and I reckon we're going to
be in serious strife when the oil price jumps such that petrol is two or
more dollars a litre. I'm sitting pretty, being right on a major rail
line, but the majority ... *shudder*

I was thinking about that myself this morning. What's going to
happen to all these short-sighted people when we do run out of
affordable oil? I'm tipping 10 years, 15 tops, before all hell
breaks loose. Now we get idiot politicians votegrabbing about
dropping fuel taxes - well done, chump, that'll save you 12 months -
why not use that money to make some serious inroads into sustainable
energy production?

Bring on the nukes .. and don't dawdle on it ...

Price of unleaded (for example) should be fixed at $2.50 a litre for the next 5 yrs. All proceeds/costs borne by the guvmint.

If anyone complains they should be locked up for 2 weeks, no questions asked.

LotteBum said:

BrettM wrote:

I can't see that happening any time soon. The government's
answer, so far, is to reduce the standard block to 600m2
(some areas 450m2 is ok). There is no incentive to look at
alternatives.

Our block is just 336m² and our house is 170m². That's 25 (RADIAL)
Kilometres out of Brissy.

I'm an Urban Designer by trade (hmmm...probably bad to admit such a
thing in this thread). In any middle-ring area (Perth) I would
generally default to an R25 zoning (approx 25 dwellings per Ha) which
specifies an average lot size of 350sqm and a minimum of 320sqm. 600sqm
averages are irresponsible IMHO. And note that I believe that this R25
is the "default" background density - it you are near a busy road,
public transport, open space, a school, shops etc then you can often
justify R40 (200sqm avg) or even R60 (180sqm avg), though obviously R40
and R60 will generate group or multiple dwelling built-form typically.

This is not to say all planners, developers, urban designers and local
authorities agree with me, but I think we're slowly winning the war in
WA at least. I was at the 2005 ACNU (Australian Congreas of the New
Urbanism) in Sydney in August and was a bit staggered to find
NSW/VIC/QLD seem to be well behind the game in many respects (no
offence intended, but it was an observation made by more than a few).

Cheers
David M