Studying eco-gardening

Ecology and organics lecturer Roddy Hale explains 

worm farming beside the BHU worm farms

I am short on time to blog (and garden) at present because I have a temporary job (this semester only) teaching Environmental Policy 302 at Lincoln University. But imagine my surprise (and delight) on discovering that some of my students are keen eco-gardeners. They let me know that the Campus Greens were organising a visit to the organic gardens at the Biological Husbandry Unit (adjacent to the university), and last Wednesday I went along to learn what was happening there.

Our tour guide was Roddy Hale, who teaches ecology and organics at Lincoln. At our first stop on the tour he showed us the worm farms and explained the finer points of worm farming. He also pointed out a pile of compost nearby with a sign saying that it is not to be used until further notice, and told us the sad story behind it. It was brought in to the gardens as certified organic compost – and it killed the tomato plants that were grown in it. Roddy got his students to do an assay of the compost and found that it contained miniscule amounts of a weedkiller which is commonly used on lawns. The amounts were below those required for organic certification (which are very small indeed) and yet it was still enough to harm the plants. This is a good lesson in why it is better to make one's own compost, since even the best commercial composts may be contaminated. 

  

Bailey does a sunflower impression. 

(He said it was not one of his best.)

 Despite this setback with the tomatoes, the rest of the gardens did well this year. A few autumn crops were still growing in the open ground, and in one of the tunnel houses brassicas were flourishing. This tunnel house is a (highly successful) experiment by Organic Training College student Ilan Egoz. Simply by stacking large black drums filled with water along the south wall of the tunnel house he was able to raise the temperature of this tunnel house 4-5 degrees above that of the drum-less one beside it,  plus keep it frost-free. (In my much smaller glasshouse in the Eco-Garden I use 50 litre black plastic containers stacked on the south wall to get the same result.) 

These very cheap and easy 

water-filled drums are enough to keep the plastic tunnel-house frost-free 

and 4-5 degrees warmer than

a tunnel without such drums.

 Our next stop was a trial of different kinds of non-chemically treated but still durable strainer posts for use in vineyards (an interesting discussion on the energy embedded in posts ensued), and then we moved on to the apple orchard, where there is a good collection of heirloom apple varieties. Only one tree had many left on it – the appropriately named Tydeman's Late Orange. In the packing shed at the end of our visit there were big boxes of late apples, which are sold on campus on Fridays, along with other organic produce.

The Organic Training College based at the BHU runs NZQA courses in organic growing, but the site is also used by amateur gardeners who want to keep this little piece of organic paradise fulfilling its mission in teaching, learning and producing good food. 

 Shannon and Aran enjoy the sun at the end of the tour