G'day from Queensland Australia!

[green-girl]

Hi Everyone

I've just signed up to this forum and wanted to introduce myself.

I'm 22 years old and I am very new to all of this. My goal is to become as self-sufficient as possible, but I think I will need help with this!

So far, I have started my own organic container garden (snow peas, chives, tomatoes, alpine strawberries, radishes, parsley, cucumbers, salad mix and carrots). I think I'm doing okay with them! I've never had a garden before, so I'm learning as I go.

I've also started to purchase only organic foods (obviously I want to grow my own fruit & veg and only have to purchase meat etc - but I don't have any growing yet! LOL).

My next step is to change all of the bulbs in my house to energy saving bulbs. I'm switching to biodegradable/organic soaps so that I can use my bath water etc for my gardens/yard and I also intend on changing all of my household products to environmentally friendly ones - of course as funds permit.

Ideally what I am looking for is a list of steps that will tell me exactly what to do to switch to being as self sufficient and environmentally friendly as possible (ie what projects to concentrate on first and so on).

I am also having trouble knowing exactly what I should grow. I'm trying to get as much as possible and want to eventually grow many more vegetables, but I have trouble knowing what to grow when and where etc... hopefully this site or someone on here can help me.

I would like to make a website/diary to show my conversion so that others who want to take the same steps can follow it!

Anyway, that's a bit about me!

green-girl

[Wombat]

G'Day Green-Girl,

It sounds like you are making a pretty good start!

I am in Sydney, so I may be able to be of some help

Nev

[green-girl]

Thank you!

Any knowledge of a step by step guide to 'greening' your home & life?

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Green Girl, welcome to the forum.

Whereabouts in Queensland are you? I have loads of cousins and uncles and aunts there. I travelled around just about the whole of Q'land back in 85 - it's a great place.

The veg you are growing sound so ordinary! I thought you would be growing all sorts of wonderful exotic things that us poor folk in the cool bits of the northern hemisphere can't grow!

Hints and tips on being green - I think you will get lots of help on this forum. First thing - don't spray your plants/garden with chemicals but you probably already know that!

Good luck with it all

[Muddypause]

Hello GG, and welcome.

Have a look at the Eco-Logic Books link on this page. I haven't read many of the books listed, but there seem to be some mighty interesting titles there. I don't know if they can ship to Oz, but you may be able to find the books locally.

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello there Green Girl.

Nice to have another person from Oz joining us, as nev (womabat) said he will probally be one of the best people to help you as he is knows your cliamate better than we do. - I thought it was heading into winter over there, but I guess a lot of oz has an all round season.

Eco-logic do deliver abroad, but it is probally far less polluting and cheaper to check out the titles on Eco and look for them over there.

One thing that I keep saying is plant more herbs, especially the perenial ones (grow for longer than a year). There is nothing like a big rosemary bush or sage plant to keep you inspired. Even when nothing else is growing I can get fresh rosemary and the bush is huge now! I noticed the other day that someone was using a few big rosemary bushes instead of a fence around their garden looked really good. Definetly going to give that a go when I get a garden.

Home brew is a good way to be self sufficient too if you drink that is. This year I am going to try out my cider again, really easy to make just need tons of apples!

[Wombat]

GreenGirl,

I don't know of anything step by step, but a few books to look out for are -
Anything by Jackie French is going to be good, but I highly recommend "Backyard Self sufficiency".

The Yates Guarden Guide is a good standby with lots of info - even some on organics.

Peter Bennets' "Organic Gardening" is a classic.

That's a start.......

Nev

[Lyds]

Hello Greengirl and welcome to the forum. You will find this a jolly good place to pick up info on self sufficiancy, everyone has a tip or hint to pass on.

[hay331]

Welcome! I love this site, always get an answer to any query.
I have been finding all sorts of things on the Internet and it is difficult to know where to start, but you sound as if you are doing just fine. I found this site good for recipes for cleaning products amongst other things. http://mrsl.forumsplace.com/index.html

My sister has piles of apple trees and never told me she had a bumper crop last year until all the apples had rotted on the ground
. I'm hoping she has the same this year and I will be watching them closely (by the way, shes buys Prepacked apples from supermarket ). Does anyone have an easy recipe for cider, I've never made my own brew before? I would also like to try my own beer, what kind of equipment would I need? Have got this vision of exploding bottles and have still to convince hubby it would be a "good idea"!

[ina]

Hi green-girl

If you are starting off with containers, I found that courgette, peppers and climbing beans are great to grow like that, too. I even tried pumpkin, but only had one the size of a tennis ball... (Mind you, that was in a slightly colder climate than yours!) Nowadays I grow them on a compostheap. The beans climbed up to my roof, and if you have a variety with colourful flowers, that looks pretty, too! Edible flowers are another thing to grow, for the looks as much as for the plate: nasturtiums, calendula, borage for example.

Potatoes work in containers, too, but you'd need a really big one to make it worth while. On the other hand, they are a great crop if you are starting out with a new garden; they kind of prepare the soil for crops to come. Are you planning on a getting a "proper" garden?

Whatever you do, have fun!

Cheers
Ina

[Magpie]

Hi Greengirl

Have you seen Grass Roots magazine? Also -
http://www.earthgarden.com.au/

These are still my gardening "bibles" - have been reading them for about 10 years now.

[Andy Hamilton]

Does anyone have an easy recipe for cider, I've never made my own brew before? I would also like to try my own beer, what kind of equipment would I need? Have got this vision of exploding bottles and have still to convince hubby it would be a "good idea"!

Home brew cider, the trick is to get the apples pressed properally. The natural yeast is apparently just under the peel of the apple. Get a bucket of hot water, lob in some apples that you have cut up with a non-metalic knife. Lod in a bit of bruised root ginger, cover and leave for a month returning once in a while to press the apples. I used a potato masher last year but was not the best, I met someone who converted a car jack to make his. - now bottle in screw top bottles and leave for 3 months. Hmm cider. I used this recipe last year - http://www.selfsufficientish.com/ciderish.htm - there are some links to other home brew stuff on their too also take a look at http://www.selfsufficientish.com/Forum/ ... .php?t=482 - to make wine from dandelions, this is my current experiment.

[green-girl]

Hi Green Girl, welcome to the forum.

Whereabouts in Queensland are you?

The veg you are growing sound so ordinary! I thought you would be growing all sorts of wonderful exotic things that us poor folk in the cool bits of the northern hemisphere can't grow!

First thing - don't spray your plants/garden with chemicals but you probably already know that!

Hi Millymollymandy

I'm in the Central Queensland region. Where abouts are you?

I know my veges sound boring, but I am only just starting out! I figured I'd try the ones I thought would be 'easier' - especially considering that I haven't actually ever done any gardening before. I had a cactus plant in a little pot once... but that's at my parents place now. I would LOVE to grow mangoes and all sorts of fruit trees, but I rent the place I'm in at the moment, so I am confined to container gardening for now... Still better than nothing!

So if anyone has tips on how to better set up a top-knotch container gardening system, please share!!!

Nothing has died yet! Although my radishes seem to be being attacked by something, despite having sprayed everything with Neem.... any suggestions on that?

[catalyst]

SCRUMPY: our neighbour has a proper press, for pressing grapes to make wine... we used this to make scrumpy... the same as for grape wine, you just leave the apple juice in an open container (cover with cloth to keep out flies) for 4 or 5 days... until primary fermentation has finished... then put into a container with an airlock.... barrels work because the gas can escape thru the wood... but i used demijohns with airlocks as we only made 20 litres...
it was well good...
we´ve just bought a masticating juicer (mm carrot & celery juice for breakfast!) which would press the apples, if a little slow....

[green-girl]

Thanks everyone for your references! I do have one organic book... I will check tonight and post the title on here -it's very good so far!