Next: how do I double glaze the windows?

So, your house isn't warm enough yet.

You've done all the obvious:
- insulated walls and ceiling (and floor?)
- put pelmets on your windows and hung some close fitting curtain/blinds
- insulated the hot water pipes (ummm...)
- draughtproofed your windows and doors (courtesy of the WHEN Draught Busters program)

- what else could you do?

Well, you could come along to the DIY Double Glazing Workshop at Sustainable Living Tasmania on 26 August.  You will learn about a range of cheap and easy ways you could retrofit double glazing to different sorts of windows. You'll be cosier in no time!

Where:  Sustainable Living Tasmania, 71 Murray St, Hobart
When:  Wed 26 August 6pm to 7.30pm

Get your tickets via the Facebook event.

Adding Winter Windows

Gardening notes for August

Thanks to Margaret for her lovely messages from the garden.

The daffodils have been flowering for weeks, the daphne is filling the air with perfume, the chooks are laying again and I think the green manure patches may be about ready to dig in, ready for spring plantings.

I've just been to WA for the 21st birthday of a grandchild - it seems just yesterday he was a toddler in my back garden discovering that he can make footprints on the path from a puddle. The cycles of the seasons and of us humans are a real comfort in a crazy world!

Here are the August planting notes - lots to do:

AUGUST

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Parsnip - keep damp 3 weeks plus to germinate

x

x

Carrot - keep damp for 3 weeks,  start picking mid Dec

x

x

x

x

Radish

x

x

x

x

Beetroot - not too many as often goes to seed Nov/Dec

x

x

x

x

Shallots/Spring onions

x

x

x

x

Celeriac - keep damp 3 weeks plus for Autumn/Winter

x

x

x

x

Mini Cauliflower "Garant" - punnet into ground

x

x

Lettuce - direct seeding and punnet into ground

x

x

x

x

Sugar Snap Pea and Snow Pea - 3rd planting.

x

pregerminate then sow direct. Protect from birds to 100mm

Into Punnets Tomatoes - for greenhouse only

x

x

x

Celeriac - keep damp 3 weeks plus

x

x

Capsicum - for greenhouse planting only

x

x

Lettuce

x

x

x

x

Update on safer roads campaign

What are these wombat crossings that we are talking about?

As zebra crossings are almost non-existent in Tasmania, most of us are not sure what a wombat crossing with zebra markings would look like.  Your roving reporter has just returned from a visit to the northern beaches of Sydney, where they are commonplace.  Here are some photos:

On a descending street (Lawrence St) in Freshwater (one of several examples in this shopping centre)

At The Esplanade, Manly

On North Steyne, Manly Beach

There are numerous other examples, near schools, in shopping centres, anywhere where pedestrians and vehicles are likely to clash.  Drivers are well used to them, and they certainly offer protection to people crossing the street.  They are usually accompanied by the yellow "walking feet" signs.  There are all sorts of arrangements at the kerb, from kerb bulbs to mini garden beds.  Some have a cut through the kerb bulb so that cyclists can ride over the crossing safely without being forced into the path of cars.

Another dangerous spot identified
A couple of residents of Poets Rd have let us know that the intersection of Poets Rd, Lansdowne Crescent and Allison St is another danger spot.  They say this area is "quite busy with pedestrian traffic (young and old), especially before and after school. 

Poets Road

Sight lines are obscured by the blue house built to the footpath edge, and opposite is a very high fence. One corner even has steps! The other squeezes in a bus stop, phone booth and frequent stops by drivers ducking across the road to The Lansdowne Cafe. 

Drivers coming down Poets Road, do so at alarming speed. Drivers going up Poets Road, speed even faster! - (if their car is up to it). 

We need traffic calming measures like trees in the road centre and a safe place to cross. It is difficult to cross with a pram.

Allison Street

The cafe corner is very busy. The bus stops directly at the front of the cafe and the outdoor patrons. When a second bus stops opposite - we all hold our breath and squeeze through.

The other corner is definitely a candidate for a 'kerb bulb'. We know of one Lansdowne student hit by a car crossing this road."