Judy J Johnston

Well...I'm asking a question related to composting heating....but prompted by the video of the guy warming his greenhouse. I live on 100 acres in Australia so have fallen wood aplenty for heating my cottage....but I'd love to keep my grow tunnel warmer in winter. I followed the video step by step and I thought it was doable for me (70 years old Grandma and new to living in the bush)....but he lost me when the pipe had to go into a water barrel....that wasn't explained...and it didn't seem to be working....any ideas on why he needed the water to run, and what the connection with the compost heat was....other composting greenhouse warming systems have lots of pipes in trenches I can't physically handle.

You said you'd try shade cloth to maybe dial back the heat....I have a polytunnel that doesn't have ventilation except the doors at either end so gets way to hot in summer...it surprises me that stuff still grows in there! I was thinking of putting shade cloth over it...but was concerned that being dark in colour it would have the reverse effect and make it even hotter! Any ideas about this?

Definitely sweet potato leaves. A definite winner. It serves well even in our 40°C days. Malabar spinach does well, unfortunately no-one in my family like it....it's a texture thing, a bit slimey sort of ..not the outside...more the juice/sap sort of.

I cut it back often....I grow it for the flowers and because it's good in compost....but it grows very(too?) well

Along the same line...I plan on letting the chooks into sections of my veggie garden to clean up some beds for me...but one has tansy growing in it....I believe it can be toxic to some animals....are my chooks likely to be poisoned??

Re the long grass near the electric fence...in Australia you need to be careful how low the fence is to grass because it can arc on dry grass and burn...not sure if that is likely in moister conditions

Tank water only...so definitely no dishwasher for me...dishes aren't an issue really, there are only two of us, and grew up doing dishes. A quick rinse...if I've still water in the tub from the previous meal then it can be used for the rinse, then scrub with a soapy cloth...and rinse with the smallest amount that comes out of the top...we have solar power and a heat pump for hot water so the water is pretty hot. The rinse water gets saved for first rinses or used to soak crusty pans or used on plants outside....

In Australia farms often have poplars growing as they can be used for sheep in a drought when there's not enough feed. It's funny looking at paddocks with them growing on the fence line. The ones on the road side have leaves all the way to the base...the ones on the paddock side where the sheep are are stripped up to the height sheep can reach....they certainly like it even when they don't "need" it. No idea if that would work for chooks

The cupboard part would be about 400mm X 300mm X 800 mm....I can adjust it depending on the number of rows of cans...

I am making a solar dehydrator from empty beer cans that are joined together and painted black to form tubes which make the solar panel....the air goes through them into a box/cupboard that has flymesh shelves. I like reusing stuff, and I was given a white cupboard that is the perfect size and would be easily modified for the solar/cans panel to slot into. I think it is melamine...(you know the cheap type furniture you can get and eat Swedish meatballs) BUT....it will get pretty hot in the cupboard (Aussie summer), and I'm concerned that the melamine will off-gas...and leach into the drying food. Any body know anything about this...what else could I use to make the walls of the cupboard?....thinking plywood would have the same issues??