Tropical Cyclone Hamish

Google map of Toowoomba's water supply dams.

Toowoomba is a little further SW on the Google map and from that corner of the map is the first of our three dams called Cooby dam.
Next heading north east is Perserverance dam and then our biggest is Cressbrook dam. The combined dam level, after 4/5 yrs of sever drought and even more years of below average rainfall, is sitting at 10% full of 90% empty.

Just to explain why I'm just a little excited about the following weather forecast, even though it has the potential to cause damage and disruption to large parts of coastal areas or Queensland, it's also one of our (Toowoomba's) few chances of receiving enough rainfall to create inflow into our water storage dams from our creeks and streams. Toowoomba being roughly 200/250km's inland from the coast.

The last major inflow was in 2001 and before that was 1996.
We (Toowoomba and surrounding residents, approx 120000 ppl)have been on sever level 5 water restrictions for at least 5 years now and some form of water restriction for as long as I can remember.
So it is I am looking forward to this cyclone with hope and anticipation.
If we do receive some decent rainfall (200/250mm+) then it will be nice to hook up a few hoses to the taps and water the veggie garden.

QUEENSLAND WEATHER FORECAST
Issued at 11:35am on Saturday the 7th of March 2009

STATE FORECAST
for the rest of Saturday and Sunday
Rain areas with some moderate to heavy falls developing about the coast and
adjacent inland between Townsville and Mackay tonight and spreading southwards
to the Bundaberg area on Sunday. Isolated afternoon showers over adjacent inland
parts of the eastern districts. Isolated afternoon thunderstorms over the Cape
York Peninsula. Isolated showers over the SE corner, becoming more frequent late
on Sunday. Fine elsewhere. Winds mostly moderate W to NW over the tropics,
tending fresh to strong E/SE elsewhere along the coast, and increasing to gale
force in the vicinity of the cyclone.

IDQ1070002
EXTENDED OUTLOOK
TC Hamish will dominate the weather across most of the east coast of Queensland
into middle of next week. The cyclone will most likely cross the Capricornia or
the Wide Bay coast on Tuesday. Cloud and rain areas with moderate to heavy falls
associated with the cyclone will affect the coast and adjacent inland areas
between Townsville and Mackay during the weekend, and then spread southwards
between Mackay and SE corner on Monday and Tuesday. Strong winds will continue
along the central and south coast, easing to the north of about Bowen by late
Monday. Hazardous beach conditions and dangerous surf are expected along the
coast south of about Fraser Island on Tuesday.
In the wake of the rain, sultry conditions will occur over tropical and central
coast areas from Monday with just isolated afternoon showers and possible storms
over the Cape York Peninsula. An upper trough will extend into southwest
Queensland with very isolated afternoon showers and thunderstorms on Monday and
Tuesday. Fine conditions continuing elsewhere.

British Earl Ordered to Take Out the Trash

Erik Deckers' Laughing Stalk Blog

Beetroot

Beetroot anyone. Visit Sustainable Gardening Australia.
This is an excellent web site.

There is still time to get a late crop in, in most areas.

Sustainable Gardening Australia's, Vision, Mission, Purpose & Values

Vision

Sustainable Gardening Australia envisages a world where people cultivate their gardens in sympathy with the environment by following the seasonal rhythms of the land, its ecology and climate.

Mission

Sustainable Gardening Australia works to protect and enhance the Australian environment by promoting the benefits of sustainable horticulture.

SGA Statement of Purpose

The principle purpose for which the Association is established is:

(a) the protection and enhancement of the natural environment to ensure its sustainability; and

(b) the provision of information or education, or the carrying on of research about the national environment and the practices of Sustainable Gardening.

The principle purpose is enhanced and supported by the following purposes:

(c) to continually improve the gardening practices of all Australians so that they are more appropriate to the prevailing conditions of the local, Australia and global environment;

(d) to raise awareness of the environmental issues relating to Sustainable Gardening;

(e) to reconnect people to the natural world through gardening;

(f) to encourage responsible gardening practices and design to lead gardeners to respect the earth and the reality that we share, not own the land;

(g) to formalise links with and interaction with the local government and to work with local communities to achieve environmentally sustainable outcomes relevant to that community and the local government;

(h) to provide advice to the gardening profession and home gardener on sustainable gardening practices;

(i) to ensure people develop an understanding of their connection with global communities and the indirect impacts that some gardening decisions can have on the environment well beyond their neighbourhood.

SGA Statement of Values

1. The core business of SGA is to focus on garden businesses with face-to-face contact with the home gardener and those involved in decision-making relating to private or public gardens.

2. SGA will develop business systems to ensure that gardening professionals and garden businesses provide home gardeners with accurate and consistent advice on environmentally sustainable gardening.

3. SGA will develop widely recognised standards that are effective in delivering continually improving environmentally sustainable outcomes by influencing the behaviour of gardeners.

4. SGA will develop extensive Australia wide market-awareness of sustainable gardening that has the twin aim of an uncomplicated and environmentally sustainable gardening outcome and genuine value.

5. SGA as an organisation is to be ethical, decisive, focused and effective, compassionate and flexible while continually adapting to changing circumstances.

6. The culture of SGA and the systems of SGA will enable and encourage those people committed to reducing environmental damage to have the opportunity to contribute to the organisation and to communicate without fear or favour.

7. The goal of SGA is to maximise numbers in all categories of subscription for all people and organisations that have genuine environmental values.

8. The team culture of SGA will prioritise environmentally sustainable objectives over the interests of the individual.

9. SGA will have a financially conservative culture always focused on protecting the long-term effectiveness and financial independence of SGA.

10. SGA will work collaboratively, not competitively, to reduce potential environmental damage caused by gardening products and practices.

11. SGA will maximise the environmental value to home gardeners, garden businesses in the community, sponsors of SGA, the Government and other parties by delivering real and not perceived outcomes. SGA wishes to ensure that the total dollar invested in the environment by the community is most effectively spent.

12. SGA will not be unduly influenced by single-issue groups or vested interests and will always address the totality of environmental problems that relate to all gardening products and practices in a balanced way.

13. SGA will be continually looking at the long term and at the present so that the development of SGA will not be compromised by short-term enticements.

14. SGA will encourage innovation in the garden industry.

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Petrol head alert.

Petrol head alert.













You mean I still gotta wait 2 weeks.

V8 Supercars











Also, could it be possible?

QUEENSLAND WEATHER FORECAST
Issued at 11:40am on Friday the 6th of March 2009

EXTENDED OUTLOOK
Tropical Cyclone Hamish, currently of the NE tropical coast is expected to
moving slowly SSW and deepen. Rain areas will spread south along the coast over
the next few days with heavier rain developing on the central coast on Saturday
through to Monday. Rain areas will also spread west on Sunday and cover eastern
QLD on Monday. Showers and thunderstorms over the tropics will extend south into
the Channel Country on Monday. By this stage the tropical Cyclone will be very
close to the central coast with damaging winds and flooding rain. Over the SE 
coast showers will increase into rain over the weekend with further rain on Monday. 

Fast track map link.

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This little piggy looks happy with his work.

This little piggy looks happy with his work.






You only have a week left to post your guess of how much money the piggy held to win yourself a free piggy at This little piggy went to market.

I will post to anywhere on the planet so anyone can have a go.




Counting in progress.

Don't forget to leave your guess of how much money the piggy held to win yourself a free piggy at This little piggy went to market.

I will post to anywhere on the planet so anyone can have a go.

Lettuce be sweet, please

Tessa from Blunders with shoots, blossoms 'n roots sent me this Question about bitter Lettuce via my Gardening question and Contact widget.

If after reading all the to and fro between Tessa and I you have anything to add then Tessa has said she would love to here from you. You can either leave a comment here or go to Tessa's Blog at Blunders with shoots, blossoms 'n roots


Thursday, 19 February 2009
Name: Tessa
Subject: Bitter lettuce
Message: Hi, Well, I certainly hope you can help me- or I might go crazy! Would you happen to know what makes lettuce go bitter- I'm growing it in winter when it couldn't possibly be too hot to cause it to bolt. I've been careful with my watering too. Even one of the varieties that I've never had a problem with has sometimes been bitter! Oh, it's driving me nuts! It's my staple, year round. I hope you can help! And now that I'm done...happy gardening! Tessa

My response was as follows:-

Hi Tessa, thanks for the question and sorry for taking so long to reply, I've had a major attack of procrastination this last week.

So bitter lettuce huh?

First off I need to ask you a few questions.

What was your soil prep prior to planting?

And do you know roughly know what the ph of your soil is.

And did you buy seedlings and if so what size were they at planting.

Also did they receive full sun all day?

I am looking for what could have caused bitterness in your lettuce and will explain fully what the questions are for when I get your reply.

To which Tessa replied:-

Hi Stewart,

Sorry, your email got stuck in spam. Well, my soil is pretty good.
The lettuce was sown late summer for winter harvesting, along with corn salad and spinach. All the other varieties are not bitter- and this one is usually not bitter.
My soil in the cold frame is good. Loose, loamy, and I put compost in there after each crop is harvested- just a layer on the no-dig surface. I also add greensand, rock phos, and some other amendments in a blend.
I have run into this problem before, occasionally, and it's driving me nuts, because I can't seem to narrow down what the problem could be. Watering is regular, but I go by if it needs it not a 'schedule'. Winter watering is at a mimnimum, of course, as it is not needed too much. I hope you can help. Luckily for me the one that is bitter is also one that I need to figure out how to collect the seeds as it is no longer offered by Johnny's. I do have a whole other flat, however.

Thanks,

Tessa

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 4:30 PM, Stewart wrote:

Hi Tessa, Two things I picked up from your reply. First is lettuce like to be grown quickly. I see you use compost and add greensand, rock phos, and some other amendments in a blend which is all good. I'm courious about your nitrogen though. Being a leafy crop lettuce need a good supply of nitrogen. Here, I use blood and bone in the soil prep and then weekly applications of half strength liquid fish emulsion fertilizer. It's possible your nitrogen could be a bit low.

Second you mentioned you like to transplant them a few times. Lettuce don't like any check in growth and transplanting can cause this. You mentioned you direct sow your lettuce which is what I do and recommend so as to keep them growing without any check in growth.

My question regarding soil pH was to find out if your soil is slightly acid of alkaline, either of which can effect bitterness and growth. Your soil pH needs to be around 6.0 to 6.7.(slightly acid to netural)

Anyhow that's what I've got for now. If you have any questions or feedback I'm happy to hear from you and I hope some of this helps

Cheers

Stewart.

And finally:-

Thanks Stewart, I do put blood meal in the fert. mix. Our soils are acid- I lime somewhat to counter that. Maybe more is needed- however, getting too much can cause long term problems here too- so I may be a bit too cautious. I have found that transplanting lettuce seems to stimulate good root growth (also have read this, in Colman book), but I really think it depends on the time of year. If light levels (such as fall and winter) are low, and soil temps are cool, most crops can't take up nutrients. So, fertilizing in winter can cause nitrogen build up. It could be that they didn't get big enough in fall for the winter harvest. Starting them just before the light levels dip and getting them to a size just under full maturity, is key for winter harvest. They just sit and wait until you either harvest, or warmer weather and light levels return. Timing is everything ;) and my timing was off, I think! I think maybe I'll do a soil test just in the cold frame this year- so I can rule that out, and come late summer, plan a little more carefully so the timing is better...assuming the weather cooperates!! Thanks so much for your help- you gave me some things to check and consider. It's nice to know I have another knowledgeable gardener to turn to! Take Care,

Tessa
I also made a final comment to Tessa asking permission to use our exchange and added that I thought her lettuce are far more spoilt then mine. I had thought about timing but as I can grow lettuce all through winter here I was unsure how that would effect yours. I'm interested about your comments about transplanting stimulating root growth, I'll experiment with that and see what happens.

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