New Bottle Garden design

I am working on the old green wall / living wall concept I had and used the new hanging garden idea to come up with a free standing Hanging Bottle Garden Farm wall panel that can be moved anywhere.
I intend to make it part of my Aquaponic set up .

video update will follow soon.

Solar can heater update

Slowly working away on my solar can heater, just got to add a solar powered electric fan and exhaust pipe .
will put together a video once its complete and working.

all the cans mounted and ready to paint

A nice black Matt paint finish

Solar cells

I have just got my first batch of solar cells.
I was very surprised how thin and light they are as they are printed on a thin metal sheet and not silicon
I intend to cover all the inside of my conservatory windows that are facing sun exposure.
but project will have to wait as I have 3 others in progress
heres a link to the ebay store in florida, free worldwide shipping and great service.
Click here for Solar cell ebay store!

Hanging Bottle Garden Farm Update

Just a look at the progress of my hanging bottle garden farm and a new idea of 2 holes in the bottle , 1 in front and 1 in back.

Aquaponics Update

I did some work on setting up my aquaponics set up! after watching the DVD i learnt the basics, I did break one rule of having a too small set up, but my experiment is for small spaces so will go forward and see what happens.

My 2 grow beds above the fish tank.
i used two plastic under bed storage containers from a KMart, they were $16 each and are 35Lt's, the fish tank is a 120 Lt's plastic storage bin cost about $22

I built a wood frame around the fish tank to support the grow beds, including a chook (Chicken) coop.

the wood was from an Ikea futon bed that was recycled.

I driled a 1" hole in bottom of grow bed to add a bell syphon, to flood and drain system, I wanted to see if I could create my own version using plastic bottles, I will update latter once the silicon seal is set.

Pumps are very expensive and i wanted to keep the cost low so I went for a cheap filter /pump combo that sprinkles water on surface and filters, this was $17.85 from Hong Kong on ebay!

I also picked up a small aquarium pump at the garden center for $15

Worm Farm

I went to a compost and worm farm community talk and class, anyway it was very informative and got to watch the worm farm put together.
at the end there was a raffle for 2 worm farms.
I am now the proud owner of 1 of them.
it was my intention to make one out of recycled stuff , but hey whose complaining.

The class given by Steve Batley of Sydney Organic Gardens

The new Worm farm tower

Far right! The base with legs, and tap, 1st tray, 2nd tray, and lid

2 composting bins, will only use one , as it fills up with worm castings will start using 2nd one, the worms make their own way up.

the first bin is filled with a peat coconut coir soaked in water till its expanded, not wet just damp, place cardboard at bottom of 1 tray to stop the dirt falling threw, spread the mix and add the worms , cover with damp news paper. the brown bag was just  temporary added at the class!

The first tray is placed in the bottom of the tower where the worm tea will collect and the tap for harvesting.

add the 2nd tray but will remain unused for time being.

Place the lid on

You dont feed the worms for the first week, just cover with damp paper, then slowly add the scraps of food under the paper, there is no smell, but if you add more than the worms can eat at one time this will rot and start to smell, or if it gets to wet! so dont over feed or make too wet!

also add some bits of card paper with the food to keep a good consistency.

DONT: feed meat, fish or dairy products, (egg shells are ok) or onion or garlic.

It will take about 3/4 months before 1st bin is full and can spread the castings in the garden or in my case on my planter boxes, the worm tea can also be diluted and used as a plant growing tonic.

It will also provide additional food to feed the fish and chooks they will love the worms!!

As my worm farm only came with a sample worm set up, i went to a local garden center and purchased 500 red worms.

FACT: did you know out of 100s of types of worms there are only 3 types that will compost food, the red worm being best?

Hanging Bottle Garden Farm

Hanging Bottle Garden farm video now finished. Step by step guide for making a Hanging bottle garden farm.