maldon : photos : Our growing dome : Shaughan building the walls of the main perimeter garden. Treated tongue and groove timber. Shaughan is one of the old time builders. Doesn't know how to do less than a good job. Those walls ain't gonna go nowhere.- powered by SmugMug

Here it is -- the first "Growing Spaces" dome in the southern hemisphere! WE live on six acres just 20 mionutes north of Christchurch, New Zealand, and we have been increasingly alarmed at what's in our food. We decided we weren't going to dance to that tune any more. So I did the homework and, for me, the dome is the best. So after lots of talk and emails, here it is. This site will tell the story of its growth and its part in our lives. At the time of writing, April '08, there's still a lot to be done, like the water tank and we don't have the floor finished yet. But it's extraordinary. I am watching climbing beans grow up the wall four inches a day. Amazing.

Gallery pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 >

Buy:

this photo

multiple photos

| view cart

< 29 of 39 >

maldon > The liner begins. NExt was the boards down the inside of the posts, then builders' plastic inside that, and stones/gravel a foot thick then more than a foot of first-class, organic soil and mulch. We went to a lot of trouble with this stage.

maldon > Shaughan building the walls of the main perimeter garden. Treated tongue and groove timber. Shaughan is one of the old time builders. Doesn't know how to do less than a good job. Those walls ain't gonna go nowhere.

maldon > This is the dome side of the water system. Tap, which is obvious, but then there's a sprinkler system that goes around and stops just short of the tank. There's a similar arc of sprinklers on the other side of the dome. There's a main tap for each side and then........ (see next pic)

maldon > The distributor line is just visible in the bottom left of the picture. Then secondary lines go off into the garden. Each one has its own tap. So there's the two main taps either side of the door, then the feeder lines have their taps, too. And then..... (see next pic)

maldon > ... the delivery system. It's possible to screw the tops of the sprinklers up or down to increse or decrease coverage. Overkill perhaps, but Thad, my Florida-born sprinkler expert, was flexing his muscles. Thad married a girl from Oxford, just down the road from our place and he's having a lovely time helpign with the watering system for the entire 6+ acre property. we have a hose too.

maldon > It begins. Karen found organic seeds and things and we became very dirty one day, filling seed beds.

maldon > Karen's first little "children". There's beetroot, carrots, couple different kinds of lettuce, ditto tomatoes, cabbage and cauliflower, radishes, lotsa different seeds. Sprouts. Kale. Garlic. Lots of marigolds around the perimter to chase off the beasties. We may put up a sign outside the windows. Arrows pointing to the window with the words "friendly insects this way". Can they read, do you think? More later, as things happen.

Shaughan building the walls of the main perimeter garden. Treated tongue and groove timber. Shaughan is one of the old time builders. Doesn't know how to do less than a good job. Those walls ain't gonna go nowhere.

Camera: Canon (Canon Powershot G9) |

More details: exif |

Original size: 1000px x 750px |

Current: 400px x 300px |

Other sizes: Small · M · L · O · save photo |

Share photo: links, forums, blogs |

Gallery pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 >

Buy:

this photo

multiple photos

| view cart

< 29 of 39 >

Comments

New comment:

Comment on: | Rating: stars

Name:

Link:

To foil spammers, enter this code:

in this box: Code unreadable?

Available Feeds | What are feeds?

gallery photos:

Atom |

RSS