This week and weekend has been very wet in Sydney. It is basically miserable and is preventing me from doing a number of things, including gardening. As a result there has been a devout lack of gardening posts on the site of late. Today is no different in terms of the weather as it has been steadily raining all day.
This is a bit of a bonanza for the garden in preparation for the move with all my plants receiving a monumental soak. The plants were struggling at times with an extended dry period prior to this rain setting in. The plants have now had an extended soak and are looking healthy once more successfully recovering from their heat stroke or other dilemmas.
Generally the garden was coping, however as happens with container gardening the combination of thirsty plants and evaporation the moisture was leeching quickly. Those plants that I had mulched in the two sessions I mentioned in my Mulching Day post were doing better than the others. However, it is fair to say that most of the plants were spending the day starved of moisture and looked forward to a daily drink.
On this problem I have some products to try and fix this that will deliver moisture, and liquid fertiliser directly to the roots of the plants in a truly recyclable manner. That said given our impending relocation to Wollongong I am holding off implementing these measures until the plants are settled once more. Back to the plants.
The plants that have benefited the most seem to be the 2 varieties of lettuce and spinach. The Green Coral lettuce was suffering due to its transplanting. This would not have been a major issue, except the heat caused it to continually dry out and struggle. Now it has regained its former vigourous growth and green foliage.
The Red Coral Lettuce was already struggling prior to its transplant. Remember this is the lettuce that looked like a Christmas tree. I had to free it from its previous dilemma, and then it was struck by the heat extremes and the constant lack of moisture. It is now looking very good and finally beginning to spread and look more like a lettuce than a Christmas tree. I am happy for that as I have been unable to havest anything from this plant to date due to it being a runt when bought, then crowded by the Green Coral lettuce in the shared accommodations.
My perennial Spinach was also struggling with the heat. The paradox of this plant is that it loves full sun, however that means that it dries out constantly and then wilts. This plant was starting to benefit from the rather deep mulch that I had placed around it on Mulching Day, however the constant soaking has turned the plant right around. It has once again resumed vigorous growth.
The only plants that a really struggling are a number of very immature sun flower seedlings. They are struggling not through a lack of care, but because something has pecked off their leaves. The stalks are thus back in the home made green houses and are remaining green. With luck they may produce some new leaves and grow, however that is more hope than anything.
So all in all the garden is very healthy, which is good news given that in less than 10 days time they will be facing a new challenge in a new post code. The weather in Wollongong will be reasonably similar to Sydney at this time of year, if anything a bit milder. That is a good thing for both the garden and the gardener in my opinion. As such I do not expect much of a culture shock for the traveling plants. The plants will have some months to adjust to the area, prior to winters onset that will be a few degrees cooler than Sydney.
In terms of moving the plants we shall be using a truck and ensuring there will not be wind shock on the journey. So I expect the plants to travel well and simply assume a new position in the yard of the new digs. The thing that I will need to prepare for transport with much more care is my worm farm.
I have been trying Google over the past few days, however drawing a rather large and consistent blank on the subject. I am thus thinking that I will drain the worm juice, remove any usable vermicompost to some storage containers (to use at the other end), and then tether the three layers together. The tethering should keep the layers in place and reduce the chances of the farm separating in transit. If anyone has experience, or knows someone who has had experience, in relocating a worm farm please let me know of any ideas.
Fingers crossed I will get a shot at the garden tomorrow as I need to dig out my black mondo grass from the front garden bed and plant it in some pots. I am buggered if I am leaving the plants that first kindled my interest in gardening behind. They are good to look at and drought resistant, and thus need to come.
Thats it for now, and please any fellow vermiculturalists with experience relocating worms please contact me via a comment to this post.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hi there!
I’ve done a number of worm moves myself, and based on my experience it is really nothing to be too worried about. The idea you’ve come up with is pretty much spot on - ie. eliminate unnecessary extra weight by draining off liquids and separating worm castings (vermicompost), then secure your worm layer in some sort of container for the trip.
If at all possible, make sure you have a nice home for them wherever you are going. I’d mix up some new bedding and food scraps then let it sit for some time prior to the move (of course, this may not be possible).
Anyway, best of luck!!
Bentley
April 17th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Good luck with the move man, I’ve never had to relocate a lot of plants as I’ve usually wound them down and not planted anything new for a couple of months before hand. This time however that is going to be different!
We did lose a lime tree one year when we did the move unfortunately. Repotted it at the same time though which I’m pretty certain was the worst thing at the time but had to be done.
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April 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am
We’re having a lovely good soaking drizzle here in Melb too
Found this entry on shifting worms
http://www.dr1.com/blogs/entry.....;e_id=1945
And so long as they’re not hot or handled too much, apparently they should survive the move.
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