It was already last year that I started planning a simple solar power system for the greenhouse, since the next power outlet is a tad bit away. After much back and forth, I finally dug up enough time and nerves to complete it by the end of may.
How to: Grow Basil at Home
I sincerely love Basil. Best used fresh, this herb an enrichment for for a lot of dishes from pesto to all kinds of pasta, also poultry and countless sauces and even soups. Always a great addition.
Unfortunately, Basil a is a little diva-ish to have around and grow. I f***ed up numberless times when I tried to grow or even just maintain my basil plants, but finally, meanwhile I seem to have developed at least a little knack for it. I have actually managed to germinate as well as propagate, grow, perpetuate and correctly prune several basil plants on my southern windowsill! Here’s what I can share:
New Chickens!
We’ve got new chickens! Three more beautiful girls to reinforce our flock of trusty pretty ladies! It’s “Annabelle“, “Emma” and “Nera” (italian for “the black one”). There’s a lot of clucking, chattering and bustle going on in the den right now, and I suppose it’ll take two or three days until everyone has got accustomed to each other and until a new pecking order is established.
That’s animals – they’ll settle this in their own way as they always do, no human interaction required. Main point is, they seem to not fight seriously and they all slowly get used to the new situation. Meanwhile, the newcomers are busy exploring their new surroundings.
Mushroom Cultivation Logs
I tried inoculating some logs from the garden with mushroom spores. I had some month-old beechwood logs here from the last annual spring tree cleanup which were fresh, solid and wet enough for the task. Furthermore, I stumbled upon some reduced Oyster Mushroom (pleurotus ostreatus) mycelium dowels from the garden center. I don’t know if they’re still capable of reproduction since they’re a little over their expiration date but they seemed lively and fresh enough, so I tried them out.
Greenhouse Heater – Upgrade
My new greenhouse heater that I luckily got hold of. Since the previous one unfortunately was a real letdown, I gave another product a chance.
Originally, this an emergency kerosene heater, even suitable for living spaces, more expensive but also much more potent and durable. (This one to be precise, but it’s available as several different models for different prices and in different qualities).
I tested this product thoroughly and over several days before writing another enthusiastic article, and in this case I can indeed give a clear recommendation. It’s got a capacity of about four liters of kerosene which it burns in about 36 hours on the lowest setting – a thirsty sailor. But it works! As soon as it’s heated up, it doesn’t stink very much anymore, it doesn’t self-extinguish with a half-filled tank and it heats my 6 m² greenhouse to 3 °C when it’s -10 °C outside reliably.
Also, it just looks cool, doesn’t it? Let’s keep that one.
Grumpy Molting Girl
Poor Priscilla in the middle of molting. She has already grown a lot of brand new feathers and many pinfeathers are waiting to develop, but she still looks like she got under a lawnmower.
Update: Chicken Care Cheat Sheets
Now that a year and a half have passed, I have learned geometrically and gained a lot of experience tending to my brave and pretty chickens. So here are my updated notes on chicken care and feeding. Maybe someone will find this useful, since they’re solely born from experience and, well, trial and error – but that makes these notes all the more “original” and reliable for me.
Flower Pot Candle Heaters… Debunked a little
Fall is here again and winter is approaching inevitably. So the annual posts on clay pot candle heaters are prospering again as they do every year. With germany’s energy crisis becoming more and more obvious, lots of untrustworthy and even mainstream voices rise recommending tealight-ovens as an alternative means of heating. In the light of a recent discussion, let me clarify things on this issue a little bit if you allow, ok?
I have one of these contraptions (home made of course) running in my greenhouse – they work fine and as long as you know what they’re really doing you can use them adequately and rely on them properly.
Spoiled Girls
My beautiful and nice girls enjoying their favorite snack: Dried mealworms. Sooooo gudd!
They’re in the middle of molting at the moment and unfortunately, they picked up a bad habit from earlier again, namely occasionally pecking at each others feathers. Therefore I guess this extra protein allowance from the worms will do them good. Alongside, they’ll get more calcium over the next weeks.
New Mushroom Cultivation Bags
The last self made mushroom cultivation bags I tried were such a success that I made new ones and challenged my luck again. Here’s the three new bags that I hope will thrive and prosper:
- Some “Mystery Mushrooms” (I found an old and non-specified mycelium bag in the shed. Let’s see… 🙂 )
- King Oyster Mushrooms (lat. pleurotus eryngii)
- Regular Oyster Mushrooms (lat. pleurotus ostreatus)
Read here how to make your own mushroom growing bags and here’s where I buy (de) my mycelium and accessories.
