Oh what a lovely tea party.

draw back the curtain.


The teabag is a little well-brewed.

The weeds have been decomposing anaerobically for a good month and a half now (just a few weeks longer than was recommended by Gardening Australia). The basic process of anaerobic decomposition is that the microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. This releases the energy into the water rather than the air. It's used a lot to treat waste water and reduce the release of gases and such from landfill. On an industrial scale anaerobic digestion can be a renewable energy source. Methane and carbon dioxide rich biogas can be harvested and burnt to drive a turbine. What we did was a little more lo-fi, not in an air tight vessel or set up to siphon off the gas, but none the less the same process. We are more interested in breaking down the nutrients in the biomass (the weeds) into a form that the plants can use easily. Unfortunately this works too well so the final mix needs to be mixed with more water to dilute it or it will burn the plants.

Black with one.

Anaerobic decomposition happens naturally in mangroves; their leaves break down in the oxygen starved mud; however in that instance the mud is high is salts and so they smell like sulphur (rotten eggs). The "beautiful, brown, sludge" that formed in our weed tea smells like death. The water is releasing many of the gases that have dissolved into it over the weeks.
There was also an abundance of invertebrate life gathered in the pot. Many small compost flies and about six spiders had taken up residence. To these bugs the rotting smells means food or food for their young.

We haven't put it onto the garden just yet. We are making some seeds for Autumn planting and I hope they like tea. The tea bag on the other hand had can go on the compost heap.


Lars comes in for a whiff...



... and feels a little overwhelmed.

Liquid bread

I was given a beer making starter kit for my birthday a few weeks ago so it seems as good a time as any to start planning. We have some recycled bottles, the kit and now all we need is a bit of cooler weather or my father's cellar. Beer needs to be kept at a constant temperature and it's easier to keep it warm in cool weather than cool on a hot day. It can easily be wrapped in a blanket to keep in the heat that the fermentation produces. Another tip is to use long neck bottles or short stubby bottles as they provide less surface area for the secondary fermentation of the yeast. I've been told that oil in additives such as chilli is the key to enhancing those flavors. Also water purity and general cleanliness is paramount, as the less other junk there is in there the nicer the beer is at the end.
We're looking forward to the experimental side of brewing. I have had some experience with preparing wine for bottling, on my uncle's vineyard, and in that situation too, cleanliness in all things is paramount. One year everyone forgot the metabisulphite, used to stabilize the fermentation in the bottles, and corks popped all over the place. The next year too much was added and the wine was undrinkable.
Here's some link love
www.coopers.com.au
http://store.coopers.com.au/products/home-brew
www.aussiehomebrewer.com

Autumn is here and with it a whole new season of work in the garden. I think the weed tea is about done and it's going to rain this weekend. I'm hoping to bust open a bail of pea straw and get mulching.
Speaking of mulching I've been tearing up the cooch grass and turning it in on itself. It seems to be keeping it down to some extent but it's so dry and thirsty under it that it's like sawing through wooden skewers.
I've been trying to get my head around a philosophy that Cass found about weeds. They improve the soil and get it ready for the plants you want. Weeds are part of biodiversity and soil health. All monocultures are doomed to collapse. In short weeds are a good thing if managed properly.
I'm going to put up a "no spray zone" sign on the footpath and start encouraging some of the purslane growing in the cracks.

1. Weed tea

Sorry to all the stoners out there, this isn't what you thought.
If there is one thing that grows in any garden it's weeds and our garden is no exception. Weed tea is a way of making a high nutrient liquid fertiliser. It takes about 6 weeks but we got the process rolling today. It makes a great fertiliser and renders the weeds compostable.

If you want to do it too you will need a big container, tub or other water-holding vessel, a flowerpot and a big lot of weeds. The flowerpot acts as a big tea bag that can go into the compost after it's all brewed.

We used an old record crate and a flower pot that seemed designed to fit perfectly.

Like this.

Pack the offending plant matter in tightly.

For tufty grass cut off the roots so they can't feed the stems.

Add some water till it's all covered.

Cover the whole lot so no light gets in and let it brew for 5 or 6 weeks.

The other reason I wanted to clear out the weeds was to give our poor lemon tree a chance. It was being choked by cooch grass and so getting little to no water. The leaves were turning a distressing shade of yellow and falling off.

Before

After

Now the tree can get a drink it should start to bounce back. Hopefully the compost and mulch I added will help too. Cass and I got an old bath some time ago and turned it into a garden bed. We put a small aquaduct made of roof tiles from the plug hole to drain the bed and to give more water to the lemon tree.


Watering the bed


Aquaduct

The Gardening Australia Fact Sheet.