Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#10.5 - 2019 i Good Organic Gardening

For me, one of the best things about summer is the insects. It’s also the worst thing. I dearly love the butterflies, dragonflies, hoverflies, damselflies and bees on our patch of planet Earth — like that beautiful creature opposite, which fluttered around our crepe myrtles last summer — but do we really need the midges and mozzies and March flies? Of course, there are also the critters we hear but don’t see so much: the singing cicadas and the chirping crickets. Are they lovestruck males serenading their prospective lady bugs? Or are they trying to send off carnivorous birds, or making calls of distress? Whatever the reason, their choruses are the soothing sounds of the Aussie summer, especially that wall of sound the cicadas create. Then there are the creepy-crawlies…

CHLOE THOMSON A horticulturist, writer and passionate organic gardener, Chloe is co-owner and presenter of the web-based series The Gardenettes and has been a regular presenter on The Garden Gurus. The mother of two little boys, she has a great following of Australian gardeners on her social media profile Bean There Dug That. GARLIC ‘MAMMOTH PURPLE’, ALLIUM SATIVUM The plant: As the name suggests, this garlic is a beast — a beautiful garlicky beast! Each bulb weighs in at 80g plus, which is almost double the size of regular garlic bulbs. But it doesn’t forgo flavour for size: each succulent clove is pungent, with a distinct flavour and a heat scale of around 6/10. Growing: Plant in autumn before the shortest day of the winter solstice but ideally before the…

Who do you call when you want a nice garden but don’t know where to start? Or you just need a bit of a hand? Try craft gardener Robert Wilson. Robert, who lives on a suburban block in the western suburbs of Brisbane with partner Chelsea Allan, her three children and Louie, the black and white rescue cat, has made a successful career of gardening, garden design and workshopping. For many years, he says, he struggled with the term “gardener” when he knew as a professional fully trained horticulturist he had far more to off er than just lawn mowing, hedging, quick garden makeovers and green waste removal. It was when he was working for Gardening Australia’s Jerry Coleby-Williams that Robert first heard the European term “craft gardener” and thought,…

COOL & HIGHLANDS JANUARY Basil, beans (dwarf), beetroot, burdock, cabbage, carrot, celeriac, celery, chives, collards, French tarragon, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, marrow, mustard greens, oregano, parsley, radish, salsify, shallots (eschalots), silverbeet, squash, sweet corn, turnip, zucchini FEBRUARY Beetroot, broccoli, burdock, carrot, cauliflower, chives, collards, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, onion, oregano, parsley, radish, salsify, shallots (eschalots), silverbeet, swede, turnip TEMPERATE Amaranth, asparagus pea, beans (climbing, runner beans, dwarf), beetroot, burdock, carrot, chives, cucumber, eggplant, kohlrabi, lettuce, marrow, mustard greens, okra, radish, rosella, salsify, silverbeet, sunflower, swede, sweet corn, turnip, zucchini Amaranth, beans (dwarf), beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, burdock, carrot, cauliflower, chives, collards, cucumber, endive, fennel, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, onion, radish, rosella, salsify, silverbeet, swede, turnip SUBTROPICAL Amaranth, asparagus pea, basil, beans (climbing, runner, dwarf), beetroot, burdock, cape…

Once upon a time, this humble staple root veg wasn’t grown for its distinctive orange root at all. In fact, in the 7th century, wild carrots in colours of purple, white, red, black and yellow grew throughout the area that is now Iran and Afghanistan. Back then, carrots were a popular forage food that people gathered both for their tasty, nutritious green tops and, albeit tiny, brightly coloured roots. Through cultivation and selective breeding, the orange, larger-rooted carrots we know today began to appear in European marketplaces around the 16th century. There’s an apocryphal tale that orange carrots became popular as a show of pride in the colour of the national flag when the Dutch celebrated independence from the Spanish empire in the 17th century. CARROTS GROW BEST IN WARMER…

Years of living with my grandmother and countless hours spent in the garden gave me a true appreciation of and sense of wonderment about the natural world: plants, seasons and wildlife. That included insects and their close relatives. We spent many an afternoon going through books to identify a caterpillar or beetle we had found earlier in the day. Nowadays, when delivering my workshops on creating backyard habitat, I ask the question: how can we expect the next generation to care for the planet when we ourselves have lost our connection to nature? Observation and curiosity are the keys to maintaining healthy natural ecosystems within our urban spaces. Be a backyard observer. Take the time to truly see what insect activity is going on in your location. The more there…

Traditional produce gardens borrow heavily from commercial agriculture practices: they use monocultures with lines of the same plants arranged in widely spaced rows. Whether we’re talking about rows of vegetables, berry plants or fruit trees, it’s pretty much the same. We need to ask the question: does a broadacre agricultural model really scale down that effectively to a backyard? Commercial farms plant this way for convenience, not sustainability. Wide spacing allows for the use of agricultural machinery and mass plantings are employed to produce enormous quantities of the same crop all at once. This may be sound rationale in an industrial setting but it definitely doesn’t make sense when considered from an ecological perspective. Permaculture takes a very different approach when designing small-scale intensive food production systems, emulating natural ecosystems…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES Edible plants need daily watering while it’s hot, dry or windy. Leafy crops such as lettuce and parsley can bolt (begin to flower and seed) if they dry out while tomatoes often develop blossom end rot, a nutrient deficiency. Seedlings are particularly vulnerable to sudden hot temperatures or drying winds. Shade crops to prevent sun damage and to allow new plantings to establish. Liquid feed leafy vegies every seven to 10 days with organic plant food. Inspect plants daily and take fast action if problems are seen. In particular, search for 28-spotted ladybirds and pumpkin beetles; these pests skeletonise leaves on squash, pumpkins, zucchini and their relatives. Squash adults, larvae and eggs. Protect from insect bites by wearing long sleeves and trousers along with a repellant.…

Cannabis, marijuana, weed — call it what you like — is a plant best known as an illegal drug due to a mind-altering chemical contained in some strains, called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). All forms of cannabis have been illegal to grow, use and sell since 1937. However, in Australia, changes to legislation around the growing of some types of cannabis have opened up a valuable horticultural crop that is in demand for its medicinal use. The legal cultivation of medicinal cannabis (also called medical cannabis) in Australia became possible in February 2016 with amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. Another form of cannabis, known as hemp, which has no THC compounds, is also being grown as a commercial crop in Australia. Since 2017, hemp seed can be added to foods.…

As is often the case with the more unusual vegies, I first came across this one in a food market — in Hobart’s wonderful Salamanca market, in fact. So, given you don’t see this tasty green in shops very often, if you want to enjoy its slightly mustardy flavour in stir-fries, soups and salads, as well as its considerable health benefits, why not grow it yourself? Originating in the Mediterranean and long enjoyed as a wild green in that region, garland chrysanthemum is cultivated extensively in Asia these days. While the flower petals are edible, it’s the plant’s greens that feature in Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cuisines. HEALTH BENEFITS Rich in the minerals iron and particularly manganese and with decent amounts of calcium, magnesium and potassium (even more…

Like his fictional countryman Don Quixote of La Mancha, José Pedro Enrique Paronella grew up enraptured by the romance of medieval castles and knightly chivalry. He loved his grandmother’s tales of the Spanish nobleza and their dramatic deeds of derring-do. Unlike the deluded Quixote, however, José was more than just a dreamer. Leaving his Catalonian village in his teens, he worked for a time as a baker and pastry chef. Then, in 1913, aged 26, he emigrated to Australia to make his fortune. Jobs were plentiful in the canefields of North Queensland. Though he hated the hot, backbreaking work, José saved his money, buying and selling property after property until, by the age of 34, he was quite wealthy. It was time for the successful landowner to return in triumph…

Fruit trees are changing. Most are becoming smaller in stature and more compact overall. This downsizing is in line with a move to apartment living and smaller gardens. Today there’s a dwarf form of just about every popular fruit tree including the apple. Some are grafted on dwarfing rootstock while others are naturally compact or narrow (such as the Ballerina apple series). Despite being smaller in stature, fruit is usually normal-sized. While small-growing varieties are likely to suffer the same pest and disease problems as their larger relatives and may also require cross-pollination for fruiting, smaller trees are easier to manage than large, particularly for pruning, crop protection and harvesting. DWARF AND COLUMNAR APPLES The trend to small wasn’t driven by the home garden. Apples have long been grown on…

If I only had the space to grow one plant this summer it would have to be a cherry tomato. Why? Because they are such prolific producers of the sweetest lolly-like fruit — so good in fact, I tend to eat a lot of them straight from the plant! Last year I grew a tiny blueberry-sized tomato called ‘Candyland’ — that was incredible. I’d pop a bowl full of them on the kitchen bench and everyone in the family would wander past and grab a handful for a tasty quick fix. If you’ve never grown tomatoes before then start with a cherry tom; they are so easy to grow and such heavy croppers. These pint-sized delights also come in a range of colours including yellows, blushed pinks, ruby reds and…

Show poultry a garden or orchard area they can forage in and you’ll be astounded by the intensity of their hunting and gathering. Despite centuries of domestication, they’ve retained their instinct for live food — and gardeners can put this innate drive to use and so reduce their reliance on other forms of pest control. But one species is not likely to solve all your needs. Poultry are specialists; each species has specific behaviours along with likes and dislikes. Happiness and success come from matching the right species to the garden pests they like most and to their style of hunting. Species such as fowls alternate pecking the ground with scratching movements of the feet, behaviour ideal for locating larvae and grubs living around fruit trees. By contrast, ducks like…

N-phosphonomethylglycine, better known as glyphosate, is a broad-system herbicide marketed since 1974 as a weed killer. Discovered by a Monsanto chemist, it is widely recognised as the herbicide Roundup, a trade name now owned by Bayer after the chemical giant acquired Monsanto in 2018. Specifically, glyphosate is an endocrine communication molecule disruptor, inhibiting the transfer of enzymes essential for life in many plants and micro-organisms — though not in humans, it must be said. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. WHO has three broad categories of carcinogenic assessment, in order of certainty: • Group 1: Known to be a human carcinogen• Group 2: Probably carcinogenic to humans• Group 3: Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen Glyphosate is listed in Group 2. Others…

EASY ONE-TRAY PRAWN TACOS Serves 4 INGREDIENTS • 3 capsicums (we use a mix of red and yellow), sliced• 1 red (Spanish) onion, sliced• 1 small red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil• 3 tbsp Mexican seasoning• Pink salt• 600g raw prawns, tails on, peeled & deveined• Juice 1 lime, plus extra wedges to serve• 1 tbsp garlic salt• 8 flour or corn tortillas Avocado Salsa (Optional) • 2 avocados, mashed• Zest & juice 2 limes• 25g (½ cup) chopped coriander leaves, plus extra chopped, to serve METHOD 1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.2. Place the capsicum, onion and chilli in a bowl and add the olive oil, seasoning and 1 tsp salt. Mix well to ensure the vegies are well coated. Spread out to…

Kylie Treble’s block sits on a hill just over 5km inland from Port Campbell, a small town in southwest Victoria on the Great Ocean Road. It’s something of a microclimate, with high rainfall in winter, salty winds in spring and a dry summer. Frosts are rare and, as Kylie points out, “I’m lucky to have both a northeast and a southwest aspect, which allows me both a winter and summer garden.” Kylie comes from a line of dairy farmers. She started gardening at around three years old when she planted her first gladiolus bulb in her dad’s vegetable garden. “My dad’s mother was an avid gardener and my favourite thing to do when young and visiting her was to walk around the garden with her as she explained what was…

JANUARY 2020 Mid-summer is a time of high productivity but the heat can be very harsh. Protect your plants with some shade and keep the watering consistent if the weather is dry. FEBRUARY 2020 This month you can start to focus on sowing some cooler-season crops, but you may need to keep them under cover until it’s time to plant them out in the garden. New moon First quarter Full moon Last quarter When the moon is waxing from new moon to full moon, it is increasing light and drawing sap flow upwards. During the waning from full moon back to new moon, light decreases and sap is drawn downwards. This movement of sap flow has an influence on how well new plants will grow. There are four phases, each…

By this time of year, any of your friends who are growing beans may already have been pressing bagfuls into your hands. In some seasons, beans can be as generous and overabundant as zucchinis. They are also best eaten fresh, which is why growers are often urgently looking to offload some when they have more than they can eat. If you’re not growing beans yet and would like to be generous to your friends, there’s still ample time to plant a crop. The choice is generally between climbing beans, which are productive over many weeks, and dwarf or bush beans, which crop quickly and are ideal for a container, small space or even to edge a garden bed. Plant seeds of either now and you’ll be harvesting into autumn. CARE…

My earliest memory of eating macadamias is sitting on the back steps of my grandparents’ house with my brother and cousin. We’d have a pocketful of macadamias each and the hammer. We’d put the nuts on the concrete path then use the hammer to break open the brown shell. Now you can buy fancy nutcrackers to break open a home-grown macadamia but we made do and even became quite skilful in cracking rather than smashing the nut. If we were lucky, Papa would take pity on us and crack them cleanly with the vice he had in his workshop under their Queenslander house. Back then I didn’t even know they were macadamias. We called it the Queensland nut and also spent a lot of time climbing the tree, which grew…

COOL & TEMPERATE VEGIES Summer is a time of bounty but there can be seasonal complications from heat, pests and lack of water. Tomatoes may stop flowering when temperatures rise. They also need to be well watered to avoid blossom end rot in the fruit, a calcium deficiency that can be exacerbated by erratic watering. Mulch the soil to reduce soil temperatures. Set up systems to manage heat stress so plants can remain healthy and grow for longer. A temporary shade screen prevents sun damage and reduces the damaging effects of hot dry winds. On heat wave days, move potted plants into a shaded spot, check vertical and hanging gardens and cover nearby hard surfaces to stop reflected heat damage. The number-one summer pest is fruit fly. In fruit-fly zones…

Summer spells fun in the sun with the family, long lazy days at the beach and summer barbecues on the deck. Summer is also a great time to grow a bountiful harvest in your potted vegie garden. Use free-draining containers and fill with organic potting mix, 20 per cent compost and 20 per cent manure. Choose pots with care: small pots will dry out rapidly and dark-coloured pots will absorb more heat. Searing summer sunshine scorches plants, so position pots for adequate warm morning sunshine and partial shade. The beauty of a potted patch is it’s possible to create a veritable garden on the go! SEARING SUMMER SUNSHINE SCORCHES PLANTS, SO POSITION POTS FOR ADEQUATE WARM MORNING SUNSHINE AND PARTIAL SHADE. Seeds will dry out, wither and die more readily…

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