Save our River
Red Gums Petition
I invite all Australians, but
most particularly Victorians, to sign our online petition.
It concerns the destruction of
the ancient River Red Gums, in my home municipality of the City of
Whittlesea, by greedy developers and a compliant council.
Our aim is to submit this
petition to the Victorian Parliament and we are going to need some
substantial ammo in the form of hundreds of thousands of signatures.
If we are to stop these big
developers we need stop acting as individual citizens and individual
towns and start acting as a collective by supporting each others
causes. So please help us in the City of Whittlesea.
http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/15131.html
Click here to
view it.
I am proud to announce that I have recently
received a Green Gardeners certification from Melbourne Water and
Sustainable Gardening Australia. It has re-affirmed
many of the ecologically principals that I apply to my landscaping
projects.
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You can purchase a variety of plants directly from me
at my very own online nursery. It is not quite as sophisticated as Oztion in that payments
are not integrated into the 'shopping cart' and must be made once
you receive an invoice, via email, from me. You can still pay
via direct bank deposits, Paypal
and Paymate but you must do
so from the relevant websites rather than mine.
Try it out and email
me if there are any problems.
Alternatively, please visit my Oztion
vShop.
Myoporum parvifolium
This native ground cover is
attractive, tough as nails, very fast growing and one plant will
cover several square metres.
This is a fast growing shrub to
about about 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres. Despite its lush looking
foliage it is quite drought tolerant. If it dries out or is trampled
you can cut it back to the stump and it will quickly re-grow.
Alternative Garden Edging
If you don't like the idea of the arsenic
in treated pine sleepers but you are also concerned about the
fact that untreated hardwood sleepers come from unsustainable
logging of old growth forests then perhaps this alternative is
for you.
They are coir logs made of the same
material that coir front door mats are made off. The consist of a
cargo net woven into a tube and densely packed with coir fibre. The
come in lengths of 3 metres with a diameter of 30cm and in either a cylindrical
or square profile. They made from
the by products of the coconut processing industry.
Advantages:
- They are a sustainable product.
- They contain no toxic
preservatives.
- They are flexible and will mould
to the ground profile and can be tightly curved as long as they
are adequately anchored.
- They can be stacked to form small
retaining walls.
- They have a much softer and more
organic look than sleepers.
- They are very easy to install
simply requiring some tent pegs or star pickets to anchor them
in place.
- They will not buckle or tilt as a
result of earth movement.
- They have a similar life span to
untreated sleepers.
They can be lined with builders
plastic, or any waste plastic, to prevent soil infiltration thus
further prolonging their life.
Click here if
you don't understand what indigenous plants (also
called local native plants) are and how they differ
from exotic plants and Australian native plants.
Here are some very good reasons why you should
consider using indigenous plants in your garden:
- They thrive in the heavy clay soils of the
basalt plains region of Melbourne, in the poor sandy soils of
the coastal areas and in the stony Silurian soils to the east
and north east of Melbourne.
- They easily withstand Melbourne's hot dry
summers and periodic droughts with little or no watering.
- They are very efficient at gleaning what
little nutrients there are in our impoverished soils.
- Most indigenous plants grow quickly and
flower within the first season of being planted.
- There is no risk of indigenous plants
becoming environmental weeds.
- Indigenous gardens provide badly needed
habitat for our unique native fauna.
- They cost considerably less.
- Indigenous plants plants are far easier to
plant in hard soils because they only require a small hole.
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- Full range of plants indigenous to the
basalt plains region of Melbourne.
- If I don't have it on hand I can normally
get it within a couple of days.
- Orders delivered FREE of charge if
you are local (Epping) or if ordering 48 plants or more.
- Forestry tubes and cell trays.
- Limited range of advanced indigenous
plants.
Click here for
further details.
My indigenous landscapes/local native
landscapes are based on ecological principals and:
- Meet the expectations of gardeners while
harmonizing with the surrounding natural
landscape.
- Provide badly needed habitat for local
wildlife.
- Contain no environmental
or noxious weeds.
- Require little or no watering or
fertilizing once established.
- Naturally suppress weed growth.
Many landscapers only consider what their
landscapes look like upon completion. But coming from a Conservation
& Land Management background I know what they can end up looking
like 12 months later.
Without incorporating effective weed
suppression measures in the design and appropriate regular follow up
your nice new landscape can quickly turn into an unsightly weedscape.
Bare soils, sparse planting and the use of
regular soil mixes from landscape suppliers can lead to a very
disappointing result.
My landscapes also contain more plants and are
less expensive than traditional landscapes because:
- They don't require sub-surface drainage.
- Cultivation, soil replacement or soil
improvement is unnecessary.
- It is far less labour intensive to plant
the forestry tubes.
- The plants are far less expensive.
What others normally do with
traditional exotic plants I can, in many cases, do with indigenous
plants. All it requires is knowledge of the range of species
available, their growth habits and how to get the best out of them.
Alternatively I can create a
representation of natural indigenous plant communities, such as
grassy woodlands and herb rich woodlands. Why not have a little
piece of the unique Australian bush in your own garden? It can
manicured a little to keep it looking neat but still retain its
natural look
You can contribute to preserving our
unique and endangered Australian flora & fauna. In a
largely cleared & eroded landscape your garden could provide
desperately needed habitat for our fauna and act as an 'ark' for our
flora.
Why not create a natural looking indigenous
pond that stands apart from all the rest. With such a varied
range if local native water plants and a good range of regional
native fish it can be achieved.
With this pond water trickles out from beneath
the top boulder beside the branch. The small cascade is supported by
a sleeper and the pond pump is in a pit behind it (covered with leaf
litter).
I use a unique double lining system that
creates are far more natural effect. The whole base of the pond is
lined by natural clay or bentonite (refined clay) while only the
inner deep zone is lined by conventional rubberised pond liners.
This system allows the aquatic plants to be
planted in the ground rather than in containers and creates a
wetland around the pond due to slow seepage of water.
The rubber lined inner zone ensures a minimum
water level for any fish and tadpoles as well as preventing
rhizomatous aquatic plants from completely overrunning the pond.
Bentonite is used by the agriculture sector to
seal damns or repair leaks. It is also used in the wine industry as
a fining or clearing agent and will therefore clarify your pond
water.
With careful species selection your pond can
become a self contained wetland ecosystem and largely take care of
itself. Small native fish and fresh water invertebrates will consume
mosquito larvae, native fresh water snails will graze the algae and
water plants will help oxygenate the water and provide shelter.
So called natural ponds, that are fully lined
with rubber or plastic, still end up looking like a glorified
swimming pool with a few plants. And without a muddy bottom and rich
variety of plants they can never develop a complex ecosystem.
Many exotic water plants are also a threat to
the environment if they are released or escape into our water ways
from your pond.
Gold fish are about as unique and interesting
as MUD. They are also a type of Carp and we all know about the
damage that Carp, and other exotic fish, do to our water ways.
Try a few native fish in your pond instead.
They require a little more patience to introduce and establish in
your pond however they are well worth the effort.
Here are a few of our native fish
(Permission granted to display
images)
For small ponds - around 15cm in length:
Barred Galaxia
Spotted Galaxia
Flathead Galaxia
Southern Pygmy Perch
Tupong
For large ponds - greater than 20cm in
length:
Australian Bass
Trout Cod
Golden Perch
Spangled or Jewel Perch
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- Lawn mowing
- Pruning
- Weeding
- Mulching
- Watering
- Specialising in maintenance of
indigenous plants and landscapes.
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The integrated management techniques used by a
farmer to control weeds in his pastures or crops is every bit as
relevant to your garden, all be it on a smaller scale.
A professional management plan means the
difference between a garden that is generally over run with weeds
with occasional weed free periods and a garden in which the weeds,
although always present, remain inconspicuous throughout the year.
An integrated management plan must take into
consideration the following:
- The weed seed bank in you garden soil,
providing a continual source of new weeds for decades to come,
and strategies in which to diminish it over time.
- The most optimal times in the year to
eliminate weed seedlings.
- The use of selective herbicides or
application techniques to eliminate the weeds without harming
garden plants.
- Non chemical techniques such as ecological
competition to suppress weed growth.
Click here
to find out more about weed control in general or here
to find out about my weed management services.
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- Transform your small rural
property from a bare & wind swept paddock to haven for local
fauna.
- Why tolerate your bare muddy damn
when you could have a thriving billabong or wetland.
- Revegetation plans prepared
including weed control, erosion control and suitable plants.
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The subjects that I feel most passionate about
are:
- How indigenous plants can be used to create
an attractive garden.
- How to maintain indigenous plants in order
to get the best out of them.
- Exotic and alien Australian native plants
and environmental weeds.
- Applying ecological principals to
gardening.
Click here
to see further details.
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This consists of a CD containing
my plant list in Microsoft Excel format with linked photos of each plant.
At present it is restricted to indigenous species however I plan to
expand to contain some Australian native species.
It is a work in progress and will
require a great deal more time to accumulate photos of all or most
of the plant species. However there are currently photos of a good
range of indigenous plants and, at this stage, the fee for this CD
is $6.00 (including $1 postage & $1 CD).
To obtain a copy of the CD post
me a bank cheque or money order and I will post you the CD. Or
alternatively pay me a visit in Epping.
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Ever seen a native bee? Here are
two that I have found in my garden. This
one is is Hyleoides coccinea or the Wasp Mimic Bee. At first
glance it looks like a wasp right down to the way it holds its wing
in a classic wasp V-shape, except that wasps don't visit flowers and
collect pollen. Wasps are more aggressive than bees and so this one
gains protection from its predators by pretending to be a wasp.  This
one is a tiny Lassioglossum or Wahlenbergia bee. Lassioglossum
exclusively visit native Wahlenbergia flowers.
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The Consumption Conveyer Belt...
I think you will find this
video presentation very interesting:
http://www.storyofstuff.org/
It brings into perspective all the environmental,
social and economic crises that seem to be mounting up on us of
late.
Some how have all
allowed:
"government
of the people, by the people, for the people"
to become:
"government of
the people, by the corporations, for the corporations"
Sir David
Attenborough on Elders with Andrew Denton
The following are
comments made by Sir David Attenborough during his recent interview
by Andrew Denton. This sort of world view is held by pretty much all
respected members of society who have at least a reasonable level of
ecological literacy. They certainly do not represent the wild
fantasies of environmental lunatics, as many politicians and
business leaders would have you believe.
ANDREW
DENTON: I know that you
said that one thing that gets you gloomy is over population. Why do
you respond so strongly to that?
SIR DAVID
ATTENBOROUGH: Every every um disaster that's striking the
world today, aggression, ah pollution, um famines, ah anti-social
behaviour, ah all these things can be attributed to human beings
living in densities ah which are, ah, have increased very greatly. I
mean I've been making films for over 50 years but in that 50 years
the number of people living on this earth has tripled.
ANDREW
DENTON: Do you feel society, human society, has changed under
the pressure of population?
SIR DAVID
ATTENBOROUGH: Yes I think um wars ah people will say well
there have been wars since humanity ah existed. Ah well that's true
but ah where people have got room to escape and to separate, where
societies are getting in one another's hair and really feeling
aggressive with one another, 100 years ago 200 years ago 300 years
ago you could separate and they did ah but now we are we are so down
and cheek by jowl I mean ah there is there is the amount of
Lebensraum, the number of living room. I mean that's what Hitler
said, you know, I need more living rooms ... for the, for the German
people. And what's going on in the Middle East. I mean people
wanting living room ah and and in the past you could say OK well
there's that patch of land there with nobody on it, go there but the
notion that nobody was living in Israel before is a mistaken one to
put it mildly.
ANDREW
DENTON - VO: Are you optimistic for the future of the planet?
SIR DAVID
ATTENBOROUGH: No, no. Ah well I, ah, I think it's very
difficult to think that it won't get worse. I'm not necessarily
saying that it's going to um become intolerable or that we're going
to disappear or anything of that sort. Um but I think that living
conditions will get worse.
Dr. Albert Bandura professor in
the Department of Psychology at Stanford University
Dr Bandura has written a scientific paper titled 'Impeding
ecological sustainability through selective moral disengagement'.
The introduction to his paper is as follows and nicely sums up
the immoral stance of our business and political leaders on our
current environmental crises.
1 Introduction
The present paper examines the
selective disengagement of moral self-sanctions as an impediment to
collective action designed to stabilise and reverse the ecological
degradation. Human conduct can be distinguished in terms of whether
it falls in the realm of social custom or morality. This distinction
is based, in large part, on the gravity of the social consequences
of the conduct. Harming others by one’s practices becomes a matter
of morality. The harm to the earth is largely the product of human
activity. Societies, therefore, have a moral obligation to preserve
the environment so that future generations have a habitable planet.
We are witnessing hazardous global
changes of mounting ecological consequence. They include widespread
deforestation, expanding desertification, rising earth’s
temperature, ice sheet and glacial melting, flooding of low-lying
coastal regions, severe weather events, topsoil erosion and sinking
water tables in the major food-producing regions, increasing loss of
fertile farmland, depletion of fish stocks, loss of biodiversity,
and degradation of other aspects of the earth’s life support
systems. As the unrivalled ruling species atop the food chain,
humans are wiping out species and the ecosystems that support life
at an accelerating pace (Wilson, 2006).
Environmental degradation of human
origin stems from three major sources: population size, the level of
consumption; and the damage to the ecosystem caused by the
technologies used to supply the consumable products and to support a
given lifestyle (Ehrlich et al., 1995). A comprehensive approach to
environmental sustainability must address all three resources of
impact on ecological systems and quality of life. There are limits
to the number of people the earth can support sustainably. The
world’s population was 3 billion in 1950, more than doubled to 6.5
billion in the next 50 years, and is increasing by about a billion
every 15 years toward a rise of over 9 billion in the year 2050.
Adding billions of consumers will take a heavy toll on the earth’s
finite resources and ecological system. The diverse forms of
environmental degradation suggest that we have already exceeded the
size of the human population the earth can sustain. Clean, green
technologies, renewable sources of energy, and adoption of less
consumptive lifestyles will help. But adding billions more consumers
will offset the benefits of these other remedies. Lifestyle changes
must, therefore, be coupled with reduction of population growth.
Click here
to read the full scientific paper.
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