Phil Stevens

I've had a greenhouse for ten years now and I can easily identify the three limiting factors working against productivity in the winter months. Heat is the least of my worries, since the climate here is so mild. I can run the RMH on cold nights and keep the temperature well above freezing despite the single layer of thin glass radiating all the heat away.

The bigger issues I need to solve if I want to get a better yield are humidity control and light. Even though I cut back on watering in the cooler months, the inside of the glasshouse is close to saturation most of the time. I have to remember to open things up in late morning and close it down by midafternoon to air it out, and even with this habit a lot of plants suffer from fungal and bacterial incursions. I've been brainstorming some sort of air exchange that will help mitigate this.

Light levels are the other major limiting factor. No point trying to grow warm-season crops under glass if they're only getting a few hours of sunshine at best, and little or none on cloudy days. So I need to put in LEDs for augmentation purposes, and then dedicate a power source with enough headroom to get through a week of stormy weather. Bonus points if this setup can also drive a bit of active air circulation to help me get on top of the humidity situation.

Microinverters will continue to be a worthwhile option for roof-mounted installations, I think. Ease of expansion and tolerance of variation between panels are selling points and I certainly see the benefit this time of year when the afternoon sun gets occluded on the lower panels first. But for any situation where you've got distance to cover, HVDC looks like more of a winner to me.

The reason AC has been the choice for so many long-distance transmission systems is because it's simple to step up and down the voltages with transformers. DC requires boost and buck circuitry, which is more complicated (and costly), but it's not impossible. The advantages include elimination of inductive losses.

You'll get voltage drop with a long cable run whether it's DC or AC, but at higher voltages you can use thinner wire and that is a cost savings. There will usually be a sweet spot where a higher voltage allows a conductor size that limits voltage drop but doesn't impose the need for extra insulation. So, if your panel configuration and inverter support higher voltage strings, that will give you better returns across distance.

If working with higher voltages is daunting to you, getting a qualified electrician to advise and do the hookup isn't a bad idea.

I find mixing some wood ash with lime plaster helps it cure faster and harder than plain lime on its own. Keeping it damp while it sets up is important, too. If you can cover it with some muslin or old sheets and mist it a couple of times a day you'll get a much better carbonate reaction and that's what provides the hard skin.

Ask a windshield repair shop what they use. I suspect it's probably impractical in terms of cost, but the sealant they put in to seal and fix chips and small cracks to prevent spreading is slightly magical. Maybe it's a cyanoacrylate (super glue), in which case you could look at just getting a bulk container of that stuff and pouring it on. Look for the low viscosity type to creep into all the voids and prevent moisture getting in there later.

My climate is cool and wet enough that peaches struggle. There are some heirloom varieties that soldier on and give me a decent crop, but I treat them all as short-lived trees and keep planting seedlings to replace them, because they inevitably give up. I used to spray the trees at bud break with dilute wood vinegar or horsetail infusion to control leaf curl, but now I just lean toward varieties that show natural resistance.

I don't like to use copper because it builds up in the soil. I prefer to put lots of biochar and wood chips around my fruit trees, along with understory plants, in the hopes that a diverse soil biota will overwhelm the pathogens and tip the balance in favour of the things I want to grow.

There is a relatively fast-growing and abundant native tree here called houhere or lacebark that has edible leaves and flowers. The leaves are best when young, reminiscent of mallow, and it's usually easy to spot the lighter green shade that indicates tender new growth. They're evergreen and will have 3-4 phases of new growth in an average year. The flowers are mild and sweet and come out in profusion in late summer.

Every tile floor that I have installed has used coloured grout. The darker, the better. That way dirt and staining are less of an issue.

My kūmara patch produced lots of winecaps this year. They mostly shut down as autumn progressed, but other mushrooms were popping everywhere, including some big basket fungi. When I was digging the kūmara I must have unearthed at least a dozen "eggs" that were probably on the verge of bursting to create baskets...too bad, but the harvest was the priority.

Rico Loma wrote:Agreement among us all that certain situations require housing of  some sort.
Predation is my primary concern as John most emphatically says.  Losing a chicken or two is part of the game, yes.  But I must draw a line in the sand..... I have experienced wholesale chook massacres, only from skunks or raccoons.  Another critter notorious for that bloodlust is the weasel.  A fortified coop is essential when these marauders are on the prowl.  

Mustelids are the worst. I've been lucky so far, but not far from me someone has lost dozens of birds to what was probably a single stoat. They get in through small gaps and go on a killing rampage, hardly eating any and leaving behind ridiculous waste.