It's Blooming Hot! - A Call to Plant

Blooming hell. It is one of those days when you want to utter every expletive under that yellow orb,  called the sun, and more, and that's because of the havoc being wrought by that all mighty self-combusting orb, and the low cloud cover!

Today it was 45 degrees celcius in parts of our state, and we are a hot continent, but this is blooming ridiculous.  It's meant to be only spring. Currently, it's still 36 degrees at the Tullamarine airport. (Okay, keep it nice, Nicolle. We know you can tone the language down.) So here we Melburnians sit, with our air-conditioners buzzing at top speed - hmm .. but not me of course, and as I walked back from my tram  stop, after a scorcher (as we call a hot day in Australia) in the city, I noticed there were not many houses with their air-con on.  It's probably because of the electricity prices soaring over recent years. But, money or  no money,  us greenies were put on this earth to suffer, and never use our ACs (well I rarely use it when my son is at his father's), because I'm such a blooming martyre like so many others.  I'm not a devout - dark green greenie, but there are a couple of green things I do well - I catch public transport, and I don't use my AC.

So out comes the large damp towell which gets draped over the shoulders, and then, if I can track down the spray bottle, out it comes too.

So what do we do? Sit here and complain? Yes, a lot of that.  We aussies, are a bit like our ancestors, the brits, we do so love a good whinge. But there is something else we can do, in addition to whingeing and that is :

- To Plant

Yes, I know you're going to say - but it's too late, it's almost summer, planting a deciduous tree the requisite distance from the house, isnt' going to help me this hot season. No, that's true.  But maybe, it's something we all need to think about with springs turning in to summer, and winters turning in to spring, and so forth.

Over the next day or so, I am going to post up some photos of a house near me, and how they have cleverly kept the lawn on their nature strip and planted fruit trees all around their garden, and along the nature strip as well. It's truly sensational, in every sense of the word.  Their home faces north and west, and this means they cut out a huge amount of the heat island effect, which would  exist if the trees and lawn weren't there. Sensibly, apart from the footpath, and road, which can't be avoided - really, there are no hard surfaces.  I will probably go overboard and photograph a gorgeous Crepe Myrtle and a few others.  All I can say is thank you - to the trees, and thank you to the people who plant them!

There is every reason, given looming 2 degree temperature increases across the globe, to be planting where ever possible.

Watch out for weed trees (cough splutter, as I have a very large desert ash in my midst which gives a lot of shade for which I'm grateful. Well, I never said I was perfect!) Here is a link to some old posts where I went on and on (as we greenies tend to do) about all the benefits of gardens -  but I think worthy of being revisited on a day when November temperatures broke the all time record, in Melbourne!

http://bloomingandbold.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Benefits%20of%20Gardens%20vs%20Outdoor%20Rooms

There are around 20 fruit trees in our midst, including owners yard!

Street Garden - Community Garden - Verge Garden Extraordinaire

What we feed our earth feeds us!

Rather worrying when you ponder that what we feed our gardens can end up playing havoc with our body functions in more ways than one.  Indeed, people are getting sick from eating mussels, due to algal blooms.  An entire shellfish farm has been closed in Tasmania and the shellfish has had to be recalled.

Typically, these algal blooms are not just due to natural processes in the waterways, but are caused by man-made land-management factors.  So that means that what we feed our gardens and agricultural crops ends up in the waterways (nutrients such as phosporus and nitrogen) and ends up in our rivers and potentially then ends up in our stomachs, depending on our diet, of course.

(I wrote a few blogs on this a while back, as these algal blooms have been happening all over Australia.)

So, let's remember to avoid over-feeding our gardens with fertilisers, as this gets in to the drains and ground-water and creates a chemical imbalance in our eco-systems at large.

Rotating houses and increased amenity

Was out having a coffee yesterday and happened to stumble on this article about a rotating house being constructed in Canberra, which allows for a change of view, and it occurred to me what a good idea this was from a few different perspectives (pardon the rotating house pun). If you have trees around your property it allows for you to adjust the amenity of  shading at a particular time of day. It enables passive solar elements as well as charging up the photovoltaics.

If the property had extended eaves or an overhang this could also help with produce plant shading at hotter times of the day. Particularly useful for those practicing crop rotation.

Apparently the energy use involved in operating the rotation is that of a typical light bulb.

The world of design is an exciting phenomenon in this world of climate challenges! These houses are getting more common overseas.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/efficient-design-follows-sun-in-roundabout-way-20121114-29cpq.html

Let's remember hurricanes and the importance of gardens

Just wanted to write what great news the Election result is for Mr Obama,and all of America. Such a happy day! Of course, it's  a long road ahead too, but at least there is hope for the health care policies that have been introduced, and for laws that will make America a fairer country for all.  I was just having a think whether or not the Democrats policies have anything interesting in store for landscapes and gardens (anything blooming, new and bold). I had a quick look but the usual topics being covered were 'oil', renewable energy, 'gas' policies and such like.  Now what do the topics all have in common - they are resources and they all come from the ground. This set me thinking about all things topical, including the recent Hurricane Sandy that TreeHugger blog is saying has broken all manner of climatic records.

What people forget is how important gardens are in the context of storms, heavy precipitation and hurricanes. Gardens provide permeable surfaces which help absorb stormwater which otherwise pools in our laneways and roads. Stormwater drains are limited by their capacity to accept these water flows, as we see with any flooding event.

So let's be bold about gardens, parks, and any other form of plantable surface, including rain gardens, verge gardens, community produce gardens, and roof gardens.   They are all bound to help out in a serious storm by helping to absorb water overflows and divert the rain away from homes and public buildings. Also, gardens provide us with oxygen, clean out carbon dioxide, provide shade and mitigate the heat island effect - the benefits of gardens are endless. (I have spoken a lot about water sensitive urban design in my early posts and the benefits of gardens over built up areas).


Rainwater Fact: According to a site The Groundwater Foundation (a U.S site), compared with a conventional lawn, rain gardens allow for 30 per cent more water to soak in to the ground.

http://www.groundwater.org/ta/raingardens.html


And finally, watch this video which might have had some influence on why Mitt Romney didn't win the election:

http://grist.org/politics/the-most-brutal-ad-youll-see-this-election/