It seems to be quite easy here in Bulgaria to live off grid , well for water, solar panels for electric, generator for backup ( soon to be converted to run on bio-gas ).
We have nothing installed properly......as I don't know were to put it yet or if the systems are as correct as they need to be.
Thee well is connected to a 240v inverter driven well pump, to use water i flick the mains switch and then turn on the tap, the drop in pressure triggers the well pump that pumps through a multi stage filter system that cleans bacteria using UV light......great setup if it was installed and not in a heap on the table with water hose and wires everywhere.
Hot water is on the same system, using a propane gas bottle water heater ( will be replaced by biogas , wood or solar heating )
The solar electric seems to be working fine , no problems with anything going flat we are always showing more going in during the day than we use , even including what is used at night, but it wont be so easy in the winter when the light levels drop, more batteries and panels needed and the generator as a top up will be needed in the darkest months
Even running another inverter to charge the laptop for a few hours a day , no problems the electric still charges the battery and volts rise on the battery even when charging the laptop through the rather larger than need be 1500w inverter
The citrus trees are all coming along fine, the one that had no leaves when it got here, has sprouted new growth at almost every bud about 2 weeks ago, now every bit of new growth is about 4 inch long and growing quickly.
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| 7 foot tall lemon tree, all old leaves fell off when left in van for a week, now new growth everywhere |
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| New growth photo taken 2 days ago, now almost twice as long as this. |
A few of the trees still haven`t started growing any new shoots, they are on a root growing cycle at present as they were re-potted just before bringing them here,
Today I have started assembling the winter greenhouse for the plants , made from a 20 foot by 10 foot marquee style garage bought at Costco about 10 years ago, I have about 8 of them in the UK as we used to use them at outdoor exhibitions as trade stands, I have only one here for now as an experiment to see if it works.
The bars are 2 inch steel tubes, I plan to dig down into the soil a bit ( maybe ) and concrete the bars in, wooden frame will be added and polyethylene cover pulled over, wooden frame doors at the end will be added as well
The last week I have been potato harvesting, the yield was not as good as it should have been due to Colorado beetle eating the shoots while I was in the UK , Still I have 100 KG so far, and only half dug up , mostly very small varieties such as Pink Fir Apple and Red Duke of York , some supermarket ones have given a low quantity of large ones and very small ones as well, 3* or 4* 5 inch long potatoes and maybe 10* 1 inch potatoes these are Bluebell and another I forget what it is.
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Potatoes...Pink Fir Apple....mainly
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Some more citrus photos taken today
Small Aldi lemon tree variety has much larger lemons than my large trees, not as nice though
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| Meyer lemon cutting , growing in 1 litre air root pruning pot |
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| Bears lime mini tree |
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| Smaller lemon tree |
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| Large Calamondin, just starting to flower |
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| Loads of lemons.... |
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| Mini limes on Tahiti lime tree |
Tomatoes are doing quite well, they had early blight but after a spray of copper/lime they are OK now, they are all twisted together in some weeds....but plenty of tomatoes if you can find them!
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The beans I planted a couple of moths ago are full of pods, just twisted into weeds so hard to find....new beans are now planted!
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| Fig tree, bigger every year |
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| Lots of figs |
Air layering plants is a favourite technique of mine, things root while still connected to the parent plant, so are easier to get established, I am currently doing a few air layers on the fig tree and the trumpet vine.
The fig tree is fully hardy , no protection and it gets very very cold here, so I am trying to root a fairly large branch for another tree, as well as a couple of smaller ones
I cut a strip of bark about 20mm high from right around the branch, dust with rooting powder and then pack damp compost around it, holding it in place with a plastic cup or bag, its then made airtight with cling film , 4 to 6 weeks later you will be able to see roots in the cup, when you can , cut the branch off and remove the cup etc and pot it up. Easy!
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Air layering in a plastic cup of compost in cling film...
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The next crop of plants is ready to go in, this time I am using weed control cloth!
Broccoli ( purple sprouting ) marketmore cucumber ( probably long enough season to get some still ) , and some squash....maybe long enough season here in BG , rainbow chard and beetroot
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| Purple sprouting broccoli |
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| Chard on the left, cucumber,squash, beetroot on the left bottom to top |
We only bought late last year, with an internal and external bathroom, new roof and wiring. An external staircase only but maybe next year we will have an internal one fitted as we are currently in the process of getting the basement habitable. When we return at the end of this week I intend to continue the basement works as on this occasion I'll have the use of a car so I can buy DIY stuff in, The family are coming to see what their old Mum is spending their inheritance on and staying for a week while I stay on for a further week to carry on with some work and close the house up for the winter. I would like to build a Rocket Mass heater in one of the basement rooms eventually but don't think that I'll ever achieve off grid living.
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