Sunday 20 October 2013

Spring in our Garden

What space do we have in our garden?

Our house - shiny and new two years ago
We bought a 'battle axe' block - think long driveway with our house built in what was once our neighbours back yard. So we have 28 metres of driveway (with garden beds on both sides) , a small decorative garden bed at the front, a small courtyard and long narrow side and rear gardens. One of the  nice things about our garden is there's no lawn to maintain (there's a huge park across the street).


Since we bought our house a little over two years ago the biggest changes have occurred in the garden. Our priorities were edibles, or native.

What did we do?

Our courtyard (Oct 2013)
Firstly we brought in a lot of organic matter, and dug out a lot of clay! We built up the garden beds along the driveway. One side for fruit trees, the other for vegetables. Closer to the house we raised the main bed in front of the house and created a herb garden. In the courtyard we removed stones and box hedges and replaced theses with lavender, rosemary and 'snow in summer'. We also planted Wisteria. We also planted a lot of climbers, which are trained onto wires in front of the garage. 

So just how many fruit trees can you fit on a 500m2 block?

Quite a few! We've got six apple trees, three pear trees and a lemon and a lime. In addition we've got passionfruit, a grape vine, a tayberry (a cross between a black berry and a raspberry), kiwiberries, rhubarb, three types of raspberry and lots of strawberries.
Apple and pear blossom, apple tree, strawberries, rhubarb and passionfruit flowers

What are we growing for spring and summer in the veggie patch?

While we still have lots of greens (think lettuce and spinach) right now we are gearing up for spring and summer so we have lots of seeds and seedlings on the go (pumpkin, beetroot, leek, beans, lettuce, rocket, watermelon, tomato, cucumber, zucchini... to name a few). More photos to follow.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Powered down

How much power does the "average" household use each day?

While it's hard to pin down a figure (a five person household would use a lot more than a single person household) most estimates are around 18 to 20 kWh. The Australian Energy Regulator has a handy little online tool that provides a more meaningful average household usage for your 'localised zone' (you provide your postcode) and number of people living in your home. 

For a two person household in Melbourne's east here's the averages:

Just what is a kWh?

Thankfully one of us has a degree in physics and can explain this one!

A kWh is 'kilowatt hour' - which is a unit of energy (not power). 

Energy is power multiplied by time, so the 'kW' is the power and the 'h' is the time (in hours). So if you have a 1 kW appliance running for 1 hour, then you've used 1 kWh.
As a point of reference:
  • A typical electric kettle about 2 kW
  • A split system air conditioner is between 3 and 9 kW 
  • An electric oven around 1 kW

How does the typical household use their electricity?

About a third goes on heating and cooling - so good insulation and putting on a jumper when you get cold can make a huge difference. White goods have the next biggest impact - so think about what you need plugged in and running year round and buy the most efficient product you can afford, it will make a difference to each quarterly bill. Lighting while around 10 percent can easily be reduced by replacing old inefficient bulbs with compact fluorescents. Better yet replace them with LEDs - expensive just now, but prices are coming down and the range of options getting better every year.


What's our average electricity usage?

About 4.5kWh (per day) in winter; about one third the average use. Here's some of what we do to use less electricity:
  • We have gas hot water
  • Heating and cooling - our house is well insulated, so we use a lot less of both. Our heating is underfloor hydronic heating, so uses very little power. In terms of cooling we have invested in good quality outdoor blinds and inside we have thick curtains. Last summer we ran our air conditioner no more than half dozen days, and when we run it we have it set for 24 degrees.
  • We make an effort to turn off lights when we leave the room. All of our lighting is compact fluorescent, which use less electricity. We are investigating the use of LED lighting which would reduce this further. 
  • Other than the fridge we don't have any appliances on standby, even our wireless Internet is off at the mains when we're out.
  • We've bought the most efficient appliances we could afford - washing machine, fridge etc.
  • We try to run a full load in the dishwasher and washing machine - and we line dry the washing, no tumble dryer in this house.
  • And finally a confession we don't own any of the following: TV, microwave, stereo, toaster or hair dryer - which also has an impact.