Blooming and Bold


Without the buzzards and bees

Where would we bee?


A blog by Nicolle Kuna

A blog about sustainable landscaping and some eco-humour and eco-creativity.

Inside this blog we look at everything that is encroaching in to our natural urban landscapes – outdoor rooms (errchkem), weeds, urban noise, excess nutrientsThere’s a bit of art to add extra colour and inspiration. We believe in making sustainability fun - more gaming, less shaming.

Also see website on social marketing for greenies

To contact us – go to the contact us page http://www.converseconserve.com as the contact facility on this blog has been giving us mischief.

Attribution for above garden design goes to

Andrew Jones, talented artist and designer.

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Friday 27 July 2012

Lawn (grass length) and carbon emissions

Speaking of long lawn ......
I am always writing things down on scraps of paper.  Not very modern, of me.  The notes I'd made say that farmers are making a point of  keeping their grasslands at a good length to sequester carbon, keeping grazing land grass at a length of 15-20cm and maintaining the green leaf. I understand many farmers are taking the sheep off when the grass gets to 15 cm which is quite long. Similarly, residents in urban areas ideally shouldn't cut their lawns too short.   Keeping the grass long holds in the carbon, holds in the nutrients and moisture too.

In our very obsessive compulsive age, we are tending to keep our residential lawns short, gardens very tidy, very few species (the minimalist effect, and this affects habitats) and we forget that OCD and nature are at odds with each other.  It's common knowledge that if you cut the lawn too short, it will die.

I'm merely flagging this point about lawns, as I'm sure there are more informed posts out there, which I'll  link to in due course.


Saturday 21 July 2012

Intestinal worms and gardening

Now this is not a topic for the faint-hearted (or intestined), but I thought it a worthy one considering it can affect us all, and the more we share the information, the less these little ‘gems’ need to be shared in the physical sense. We gardening officionadoes are known for going on about the godliness of earth worms.  But, God clearly did not create all wormies equal! 

The last couple of years not so coincidentally, whilst doing more vegie and general landscaping I have noticed an increase in certain unmentionable symptoms, which I’ve long known to be intestinal parasites (fortunately of the smaller/microscopic variety). I tried the traditional medications available at the chemist, but just found that a little while later the symptoms and the little blighters would reappear (well, not literally under my nose. And friends have occasionally commented - why are you so thin - it must be all those intestinal infestations!)  So, the last six months I've noticed I've been more susceptible than usual to infections and flus so this led to some research. 

I was doing some maintenance at a friend's house and she said, 'don't pick the silverbeet. It'll give you worms'. I remember thinking what a strange connection …. and then dismissed it as unimportant.  However, I am still investigating whether there is a high risk of ingesting the blighters (or their larvae) by eating vegetables grown in infected soil.  I've read elsewhere this is why vegies should be washed thoroughly, but the risk may be higher with salady vegies which don't get cooked. 

I do know that threadworms are a common parasite that can be picked up by walking on contaminated soil without shoes and similarly can be contracted by getting soil under your finger nails – ie gardening without gloves.  And unlike other sensible gardeners who keep their fingernails short – I do not do so.

So the long and the short of this wormy (and parasitic) parable, is that my son and I are now on this herbal medication - Paracea Forte which you take for around 3-4 weeks and possibly do another treatment to make sure you nip them in the bud.   With such herbs as Berberis vulgaris, and Juglans Nigra… it’s bound to be something that takes them out! So I shall write another post soon to inform any readers how we are getting on on the PF. 


Tips:  Keep the finger-nails short and wear sturdy - non porous gardening gloves when gardening, or handling soil. 


When growing your own vegies, definitely wash them thoroughly, in fact probably several times. 


Keep herbal anti-parasitic tablets handy! 

Friday 6 July 2012

The best of the Independent Games Festival ACMI

Today my son and I were at the above festival at ACMI Melbourne which showcased (supposedly) some of the best of indie electronic game design. My 13 year old liked some of the games, and I was particularly interested in 3 (for obvious reasons).  


One was called Fez, one Botanicula, and one Lume.   These three were particularly interesting for their eco-digitilization inspiration and content.


Have written much more on this at my other blog which is located at http://www.converseconserve.com  where I have a number of posts on eco-creativity and related topics.