Bromeliads are common here at Xanadu — here are a few examples. Many are considered noxious weeds in Florida because of their mosquito breeding potential.

[Show as slideshow]

More on Bromeliaceae at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromeliaceae

Although too wet to work in the garden, the rain has brought some interesting visuals. On going out to organize a water change for the fish, this web awaited a snap or two.

This bloom appeared sometime during the day. We think it’s an Easter lily Lilium longiflorum. There are more about to bloom where they have never bloomed before — just as we decided to dig up this bed.

A relatively mild day here at Xanadu – temperature 25⁰ C, humidity only 65 per cent, no rain but threatening so ideal for some compost movement. Emptied two bins and moved contents to a staging area for it to dry out for eventual sieving and then moving to the next stage prior to distribution. Here’s a pic of the bins – black tub at bottom-right is the new worm farm – uber productive.

The bins take a mix of kitchen scraps, garden refuse such as leaves, shredded paper and larger soil that won’t pass through the sieve. To keep the mix moist, I add litres of fish water from the twice-weekly change. Takes about two months to fill a bin and another two months to mature. With six bins and three staging slabs, space is no problem. The snap below is fresh from two bins.

This one is a staging slab for oversized sievings and greens such as hedge clippings. As it breaks down I remove the woody pieces and recycle the residue into the compost bins. Despite this process, we still put out a green recycling bin every two weeks.

And here is the final manufactured soil, rich in earth worms, ready to distribute on the vegie garden (a bit late for sowing but we’ll get something to eat).

Twenty-two degrees C, light rain, humidity 93 per cent at 8:00am – just another Sydney summer day. Great conditions for the garden which is alive with flora and fauna.

[Show as slideshow]

And on another matter

For great oratory check out Obama’s State of the Nation speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLYphVUutTs

A single, subtle bloom outside the back door.

Something clicked in both of us this week and gardening has resumed – principally weed clearing from the vegie bed. The worm farm is producing many litres of ‘worm tea’ and weeding precedes distribution. And there are barrow loads of manufactured soil from the compost bins to be spread.

http://stoptheloss.org.au/

Well worth adding your name. You might also consider not shopping at a Woolworths owned business — they own the most poker machines in Oz. See the excerpts below and the links.

Woolworths started to expand into liquor businesses with the acquisition of Dan Murphy’s in 1998. By 2001, the BWS chain had been established. With Queensland licensing laws dictating that retail outlets must be operated by a hotelier, Woolworths moved into the hotel industry in 2005 in a joint venture with experienced hotel operator Bruce Mathieson, purchasing hotelier Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH). Later in 2005 the ALH Group expanded its portfolio to 250 hotels by acquiring the Taverner Hotel Group and the Bruce Mathieson Group. The ALH Group is 25% owned by Bruce Mathieson and 75% owned by Woolworths. Statistics provided during the acquisition of the Taverner group showed that over one third of sales are made up of gaming/poker machine takings. The number of poker machines owned by Woolworths and Bruce Mathieson after ALH acquisitions was 10,722 (2006).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited

This link is particularly interesting – Woolies have been deforesting Indonesia.  Some more up-to-date info.

Woolworths is Australia’s largest owner of poker machines (13,480 machines) and the largest seller of tobacco and alcohol. http://www.ethical.org.au/issues/?issue=16.

But I see from this that Wesfarmers (Coles) also own 3000 machines. And Aldi, where we do most of our grocery shopping, is guilty of “…sweatshop labour, worker exploitation, and palm oil supply chain”.

We have spent the week tinkering with our new fish tank — the Fluval Edge Aquarium Fish Tank. It all began when Beryl bought me a Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens) which spent several days in a one metre jar. The next stage was responding to Frances’ request to check out, on the web, her new tank for Jimmy and this led to the uber-spiffy Fluval Edge. It arrived two days later but Patipan (our B. splendens) had to have his new water conditioned which required buying a container of Ph Up to change it from 7.0 to 6.5. Then sub-strate for the plants to root in and gravel and rocks and a heater and a magnetic glass cleaner (to get rid of the bubbles under the top glass) and plants and Blue Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) and a yellow sucker fish to keep him company. Much water was sloshed about the dining room as we adjusted the aesthetic before we were able to sit down and watch our new entertainment system.

Here’s a video of the effort — The Fish Tank

Dirk Bracegirdle and Lady Eugenia and King Billy conquered the desert and discovered the lost city by Coopers Creek (according to Michael Cathcart on the ABC). In honour of this awsome feat we named our fish after them and today they are showing off. Unfortunately King Billy expired due to the hardship of the journey so isn’t present on today’s video.

Fish cavorting

Some people vote on Harry’s Pies, if the ASX index will ever see 5000 again, will Tony Abbot flame out (my vote is ‘yes’), etc. I want a vote on whether this is a Pelargonium or a Geranium. My betting is that it’s a Pelargonium karl offenstein. It is near our fish tank and very fine blooms.